Bruce Bowen: Tim Duncan would’ve left Spurs for Magic in 2000 if Doc Rivers allowed family on flights

by **bobheckler** Sat Dec 23, 2017 3:24 pm

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/bruce-bowen-tim-duncan-ve-200002866.html

Bruce Bowen: Tim Duncan would’ve left Spurs for Magic in 2000 if Doc Rivers allowed family on flights

Dan Feldman,NBC Sports Thu, Dec 21 12:00 PM PST

Bruce Bowen: Tim Duncan would’ve left Spurs for Magic in 2000 if Doc Rivers allowed family on flights 1ffc6636923782c828d620b2ed364813

In the summer of 2000, the Magic pursued three major free agents: Tim Duncan, Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady.

Hill and McGrady signed with Orlando, but the biggest fish got away. Duncan seemingly came close to picking the Magic before re-signing with the Spurs, spurring numerous questions about the saga.

How good would Orlando have been with Duncan and McGrady, especially if Hill stayed healthy in this alternate timeline? How did David Robinson, who cut short his vacation to meet with a wavering Duncan, convince his star teammate to re-sign? And did Doc Rivers, then coaching the Magic, blow their chance at getting Duncan?

Duncan’s long-time San Antonio teammate Bruce Bowen, who now does color commentary for Rivers’ Clippers, on Fox Sports West:

When Tim went out to meet with Orlando, he asked this question: Can family come on the flights to some games? And from what I understand, Doc said no, and that’s where he lost Tim Duncan.

This theory has been floated before, particularly with Duncan’s then-girlfriend (and future ex-wife) Amy Sherrill wanting to join flights.

Maybe Bowen, through his relationships with Duncan and Rivers, has second-hand insight into the situation. Or maybe this is further-removed hearsay. The possibility of the former makes this intriguing.

But these major-life decisions rarely come down to a single factor.

Would Duncan have liked his family to join some team flights? Probably. Did that turn him from the Magic back to the Spurs? That’s a much harder question for anyone – even Duncan himself, who never faced the counterfactual and all the feelings that would have come with it – to answer.

bob

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by **worcester** Sat Dec 23, 2017 7:27 pm

That was a major factor in my not signing with the Celtics. Red simply would not allow Pedro, my poet llama, on the plane.

by **bobheckler** Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:14 pm

worcester wrote:That was a major factor in my not signing with the Celtics. Red simply would not allow Pedro, my poet llama, on the plane.

worcester,

Should have told him it was a lama. Red was religiously non-sectarian.

bob

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by **k_j_88** Sun Dec 24, 2017 5:49 pm

Duncan to the Magic with McGrady could've netted at least 1 title, if not more.

KJ

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Bruce Bowen: Tim Duncan would’ve left Spurs for Magic in 2000 if Doc Rivers allowed family on flights

Bruce Bowen: Tim Duncan would’ve left Spurs for Magic in 2000 if Doc Rivers allowed family on flights

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Re: Bruce Bowen: Tim Duncan would’ve left Spurs for Magic in 2000 if Doc Rivers allowed family on flights

Re: Bruce Bowen: Tim Duncan would’ve left Spurs for Magic in 2000 if Doc Rivers allowed family on flights

Re: Bruce Bowen: Tim Duncan would’ve left Spurs for Magic in 2000 if Doc Rivers allowed family on flights