Blake Griffin Injury Could Be a Break for Denzel Bowles
Former JMU big man Denzel Bowles is set to make his NBA summer league debut this weekend. He will be suiting up as a member of the New Orleans Hornets summer team when they face off against the Portland Trail Blazers on July 15 in Las Vegas. The number one overall pick in the NBA draft, Anthony Davis, was also named to the New Orleans roster. Austin Rivers, the 10th pick of the draft, is also on the team.
Davis’ summer league participation is in doubt now however. USA Basketball asked him to rejoin the Olympic team to fill in for an injured Blake Griffin. Not only is that a potential break for Davis, but it could open the door for Bowles. In addition to Bowles and Davis, the Hornets named 4 other players 6’10” or taller to the summer league roster. There are only so many minutes to go around, so with Davis out of the picture, Denzel could get some more minutes to show his stuff.
Bowles should enter summer league with plenty of confidence. Since leaving JMU, he’s played very well overseas. He started out at BC Siauliai in Lithunia, where he used his 208 cm, 116 kg frame to average 19 points and 7 boards a game. I have a firmer grasp of the Higgs boson than I do of European basketball, but Denzel earned a bunch or honors despite apparently only playing 12 games. Eurobasket.com named him the Baltic League’s Center of the Year and Import Player of the Year, and selected him to the all league first team. Or maybe they didn’t. He’s listed as a first teamer, but Mantas Kalnietis is pictured with the first team instead of him. Whatever. It’s the Baltic League. Some team just up and quit after one game in the playoffs to focus on something else. The NBA it is not apparently. The point is that Denzel led the league in scoring and then moved on to the Philippines.
In the Philippines, Denzel played for B-MEG Llamados of the Philippines Basketball Association (PBA). Again, he proved himself as a scorer, averaging over 26 points a game. He also grabbed 12 rebounds a game. Plus he earned some cool nicknames like “The Bomber” and “Invinci-Bowles” while leading his team to a PBA Championship. In game 7 of the championship series against the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters (I hate that team), Denzel nailed 2 free throws to send the game into OT. He scored 10 of his game high 39 points in the extra session and pulled down 21 rebounds in the 90-84 win.
Denzel was a tremendous scorer at JMU and he’s continued to thrive offensively overseas. B-MEG and BC Siauliai aren’t household names in the states, but Bowles took advantage of the opportunity each provided him. He led one team in scoring and led another to a championship. It’s a long way from summer league to “the league”. However, if Denzel keeps progressing like this, he’s at least got a shot of eventually finding his way onto an NBA roster.
You know it’s a good post when you reference particle physics
I wish there was a stat to measure a player wanting to play defense. If there was, Bowle’s would somehow score below zero (with zero being the lowest).
It’d be tough to make a counter-argument to that Tedward. He’s got a ton of talent offensively, but certainly lacked a commitment to defense while at JMU. It’s going to be his Achilles heel if he can’t change it.
Yep, no question reading his stat line looks awesome from across the pond. But give me 2 minutes of game tape, and I’m sure it is the same old lazy defender. Prove me wrong, Denzell!!!… then again, I doubt he reads this blog. But, you never know… okay, maybe not.
While I agreed w/those who criticized his defensive effort, I still loved watching him play and would be thrilled to see him prove his critics wrong. He’s got so much offensive talent, it would be a shame to see it go to waste due to his shortcomings on D.
I like the side comment “I hate that team”.. nyahahaha..