Bruce Bowen is out as a television analyst for the Los Angeles Clippers following critical comments he made about Kawhi Leonard.
Bowen appeared on the Dan Patrick Show to discuss his ousting.
“Kawhi never said I want to play for the Clippers. Kawhi said he wanted to play for the Lakers, and so unfortunately, if you’re going to run your organization based on hopes, maybe, and getting rid of others…
“If I tore him down and I was disrespectful to him that’s one thing, but that’s not the case. As an analyst I’m supposed to talk about what I see and what I feel for this game that I love. If you can’t do that, what does that say about your organization?
“I don’t think I’m that powerful where I would be the reason why someone would not want to go to a team… [players should] listen to the words that are said and receive constructive criticism because that’s my job. If you can’t get free agents in California — in Los Angeles, that is — that has nothing to do with Bruce Bowen. That has more to do with the organization.”
Bowen does here exactly what got him fired in the first place. He tells it like it is. Bowen was giving his opinion on an issue, and he was axed on the off chance that the Clippers have a shot at signing Kawhi Leonard. They are trying to show Leonard that they will have his back if he comes to LA, but there's no indication that he wants to play for the Clippers.
And if Leonard really didn't want to play for the Clippers because he was criticized by a television analyst, is that the type of player a team would want leading the organization? Criticism comes with the territory of being a professional athlete. If critical, yet fair, comments from Bowen were enough to keep Leonard away from the Clippers, then good riddance.
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