Hooped Up

Bruce Bowen has known for some time that this day would come. And now that it’s here, he’s feeling surprisingly calm about it. The former Spurs great is retiring from the NBA.

“I’m very happy,” Bowen, 38, said this morning. “It hasn’t been difficult. I was content about it and understood it was going to happen.”

At a news conference this afternoon at the Yardley’s Salon and Spa, the business he owns with his wife, Yardley, Bowen will officially hang up his sneakers and move toward a future that will still include ties to basketball.

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Two league sources confirm that Milwaukee and San Antonio have agreed to the framework of a deal that would send Richard Jeffersonto San Antonio for Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas andFabricio Oberto. A source said the two sides are working toward setting up a trade call with the NBA for late Tuesday.

The Bucks are sending Jefferson away less than a year after acquiring the scoring forward in a draft day trade last season for Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons. Jefferson’s contract has two years and $29.2 million remaining on it.

Bowen, Thomas and Oberto give the Bucks a veteran group and financial flexibility. None are signed beyond the upcoming season.

ESPN

The Nets are working the phones to see what Vince Carter is worth these days and the Spurs might be interested. 

“They are contemplating whether Vince puts them over the top in the West, and the key component to any discussion would be Roger Mason ($3.5M) coming East. But the SA payroll is very top-heavy, so that makes it very complicated: They’d have to pile on some contracts to make it add up, and not even throwing in Bruce Bowen ($4.0) and Michael Finley ($2.5) would accomplish that. Still, at least one side believes some creative accounting can get it done (we doubt the Nets would also be able to land George Hill, a kid they like), though it would obviously involve a body count – probably with Bowen/Fin returning to the Alamo after the Nets cut them.”

NJ.com

While receiving an honorary degree from his alma matter. Phil Jackson had this to say regarding the best athlete he has ever coached when asked as reported by the OC Register.

“No, the player Jackson called the greatest that he has coached is that wedding dress aficionado and Newport Beach police’s favorite basketball bad boy, Dennis Rodman. That’s right. No need to rub your eyes.

“He could probably play a 48-minute game and play the 48th minute stronger than the first minute of the game,” Jackson told the crowd at UND. “He was that terrific an athlete.”

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Wolves guard Randy Foye and assistant coach Ed Pinckney are in Turkey taking part in the NBA’s Basketball without Borders program, promoting education and health among Turkish youth.

Foye and Pinckney joined Turkish natives Mehmet Okur and Hedo Turkoglu, in addition to Bruce Bowen, David Lee and Mickael Pietrus to participate in NBA Cares events throughout Istanbul. NBA.com kept track of several days of events, which we’ll include below:

NBA Supports Turkish Youth/Family Development
Led by Turkish natives Mehmet Okur of the Utah Jazz and Hedo Turkoglu of the Orlando Magic, Basketball without Borders Europe will continue to use the platform of sport to promote education and health among youth with three NBA Cares events, the National Basketball Association (NBA), the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF) announced today.

NBA

Bruce Bowen of the San Antonio Spurs has been suspended one game without pay for striking Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets with his leg, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice-President, Basketball Operations.

The incident occurred following a foul call on Paul with 5:15 remaining in the third period of the Spurs’ 100-75 loss to the Hornets on Wednesday, March 12 at New Orleans Arena.

Bowen will serve his suspension tonight when the Spurs visit the Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills.