During his rookie season, Bowie made it to the NBA All-Rookie Team, however, in the second season he suffered a leg injury again. "He went to make a move, fell, and threw the ball down hard off the court. To top that off, they had just acquired high scoring Kiki Vandeweghe as their small forward (after trading center Wayne Cooper among others). If anything, if you take into account the fact that Bowie's senior year was mainly spent on rehabilitation on a balanced team, Bowie's collegiate career looks as impressive as Jordan's. There's a kid who wishes he had a leg to break. Doctors at first thought the pain in the left leg was due to shin splints, but just before the season in 1981, new X-rays revealed Bowie had a stress fracture he had been playing on. He's responsible.
But I’ve never been one to say, ‘Why me?’. Serious injuries to Joel Embiid (left) have invoked the name of all-time draft bust Sam Bowie.
"Bowie subsequently had surgery, with three screws being placed in the bone to keep it together. The first pick was center Hakeem Olajuwon [then known as Akeem]. The games were labeled the "Gold Medal Series".Bowie's sophomore season saw him average 17.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks per game. I'm a Christian and I've always felt that tomorrow is predetermined and that you will never be put through more than you can handle. He was in a cast for 44 weeks. Having not played in two years, he played in all 34 Kentucky games and averaged 10.5 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks. ""It was not a pretty sight," Portland teammate Clyde Drexler recalled. It was thought Thompson would do better at the power forward position if they could add a force at center. The Blazers’ move with Bowie was considered as the worst draft pick in North American basketball history by ESPN, due to his injury-laden college career. They turned down last-minute nibbles for Jordan while reviewing the next step in the rebuiding process.
Again, to pass over a gifted center in order to take another guard would require a lot of explaining by the Blazers at that time.Another claim by the critics is that Jordan demonstrated much more talent than Bowie during his collegiate career and they cite the performance in the 1984 Olympic games as evidence. But, two screws did not hold and another operation was needed to put in three new screws.Once again, Bowie came back to play. He grew up with blue-collar people who knew what it was like to work for a living. Sure, I've had my share of surgery and broken bones, but these things were meant to be.
Drafting Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan was the single most colossal blunder in the history of basketball. The first sentence in Sam Bowie’s obit, undoubtedly, will reference that he was infamously drafted second overall by the Portland Trailblazers in 1984 when Michael Jordan was available.
All the evidence suggested that in order to have a contender, the team needed a dominating big man, whether you looked to Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell in the 50's and 60's, Willis Reed, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Moses Malone etc. ... Bowie averaged 17.4 points a game as … I feel I should have an MD behind my name from all the education I've received from my own cases. In a vacuum, why was he drafted this high?
The center averaged 10.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game for his career; while he managed to put up a few solid seasons in New Jersey, his career pales in comparison to the rest of his draft class. From the article (Rod) Thorn spent Monday night phone-sitting in the Bull's office with vice president Jonathan Kovler, Loughery and his assistants - Thibault, Fred Carter and Bill Blair.
Kentucky finished 29-6 and advanced to the The 1980 U.S. team, was the youngest American national team ever assembled.
