I felt a lot of kinship with Ky Bowman while putting together this highlight video. Not because of any kind of shared physical traits, though. Bowman’s light-colored hair combined with his dark-colored beard makes his head look like a dessert item. I support his autonomy when it comes to hairstyles, but I cannot honestly say that I support the decision he has made in regards to his hair. Bowman and myself basically share no physical characteristics other than we’re both male and we’re both in possession of four functional limbs.
No, the kinship came from the way that Bowman was getting his shots. He was just pulling from midrange for many of his points. That is something I like to do at the park or at the gym because nobody is expecting it. In today’s pickup game culture, everybody wants to shoot threes, especially if you’re playing ones and twos. Most players aren’t shooting jumpshots unless they’re behind the arc. They won’t even shoot if they’re open from sixteen feet. Meanwhile, I’m hunting out those shots and taking advantage of defenders who either don’t know what I’m gonna do or they don’t care that I’m taking an “inefficient” shot. It’s like, I’m way too skinny to drive to the basket, plus I can’t make layups, so you might as well guard me for the jumper.
Bowman was finding that the Mavericks didn’t care if he shot those shots, so he shot them. That’s exactly what I do. Am I usually as successful in the midrange as Bowman seemed to be in this game? Probably not. But sometimes I get going and people call me Dirk Nowitzki. That feels pretty good. I wonder if anybody on the Mavs bench was likening Bowman to Nowitzki. I’m think no, but you never know.