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On the NBA | Doing their part

Bruce Bowen knew early in his career that he was going to be a satellite, revolving around bigger NBA planets. He was in Miami, which had just brought in burly Anthony Mason to play in the post with Alonzo Mourning, which meant one thing: Bowen had to expand his shooting range.

The Cavaliers' LeBron James (right) can't do it alone. Daniel Gibson led Cleveland in Game 6 of the conference finals.
The Cavaliers' LeBron James (right) can't do it alone. Daniel Gibson led Cleveland in Game 6 of the conference finals.Read more

Bruce Bowen knew early in his career that he was going to be a satellite, revolving around bigger NBA planets. He was in Miami, which had just brought in burly Anthony Mason to play in the post with Alonzo Mourning, which meant one thing: Bowen had to expand his shooting range.

"Dan Majerle and I used to fight to get to the corner," Bowen, now in San Antonio, recalled recently. "You know you're going to get the spot-up three if the [defensive] rotation goes the way it should."

Taking hundreds of jumpers with a young assistant coach named Stan Van Gundy fetching the ball, Bowen went from an offensive liability to a dependable three-point shooter. And because he was now a more capable offensive player, he could stay on the floor longer, allowing his best skill - suffocating man-to-man defense - to shine.

In such ways are championship teams built.

While it's nearly impossible to construct an NBA winner without a superstar like Tim Duncan or LeBron James, it's just as important to find complementary players who can help carry the burden. As June's draft approaches - with its implications for rebuilding teams like the 76ers - the lesson provided by such teams as the Spurs and Cavaliers is that getting the elite player is but one step.

The league is littered with star players desperate for help - think Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant. While Garnett has been left high and dry in Minnesota for nearly a decade, and Pierce has had to wait for young players to develop in Boston, Duncan has been surrounded by emerging stars such as Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, with hard hats such as Bowen, Robert Horry and Fabricio Oberto playing key roles.

Now, make no mistake: Having someone like James makes finding role players much easier.

"If you've got the honey," Spurs general manager R.C. Buford said, "the bees will come."

James' ballhandling ability, for example, means the Cavaliers don't really need a pure point guard. Instead, Cleveland can, and did, take a flier on a shooter such as guard Daniel Gibson in the second round of last year's draft.

After getting sporadic playing time during the regular season, Gibson exploded against the Pistons in the conference finals, scoring a game-high 31 points in Game 6, continuing the tradition of grunts such as former Bulls guard John Paxson, who won two championships for Chicago on the strength of his fourth-quarter shooting.

"Daniel wouldn't be conceived as a true point guard," Cavaliers GM Danny Ferry said. "But I think he's evolving as a point guard, in the meantime, playing with LeBron. LeBron is going to make plays, and he'll be a playmaker, too, and that takes pressure off. Shannon Brown [Cleveland's first-round pick] the same way."

But teams still have to find the right kind of role player. In a league in which minutes and shots equal contracts, playing a subservient role is not a job everyone is willing to take.

In Miami, playing off Shaquille O'Neal's post-ups and Dwyane Wade's drives, someone who can hit a foul-line jumper, such as forward Udonis Haslem, can quickly become a key contributor. In Phoenix, they like big men who play little, so you fan out to the three-point line or cut hard to the basket and wait for Steve Nash to hit you with a laser-guided pass.

In San Antonio, it's all about Duncan. With three championships in eight seasons - and, as Buford pointed out, ownership that's left the same head coach, Gregg Popovich, in the same position, ensuring the same philosophy - the Spurs aren't going to change their formula.

It's no coincidence that the Spurs seem to have set up satellite offices around the league. Ex-player Avery Johnson now coaches rival Dallas (with former Spurs assistant Joe Prunty on the bench as well), and former Spurs run front offices in Cleveland (Ferry and assistant GM Lance Blanks) and Phoenix (Steve Kerr, named GM last week).

Seattle hired 30-year-old Sam Presti, San Antonio's assistant GM, last week, making him the league's youngest general manager.

"You've got to fit into the system somehow," said Spurs guard Brent Barry, who bypassed bigger contract offers to go to San Antonio three years ago - the latest in a series of veterans, from Kerr to Terry Porter to Mario Elie, to embrace that role.

"It could be said that you could bring in much better veteran players," Barry said. "It could be said that you could bring in some youth. But if you start messing too much with the recipe, it doesn't taste like pizza anymore."

Indeed, a championship team blends different ingredients and spices into a palate-pleasing taste. And the best organizations know both their own personnel and the type of personality that will best fit in.

With San Antonio, one of the first things Buford and Popovich look for in a prospective player is a sense of humor. You wouldn't know that at first glance, for most outsiders incorrectly view the Spurs as a dour bunch because of Duncan's stolid public demeanor. They are not.

"These guys are clowns," reserve forward Melvin Ely said. "Tim and Tony may be the biggest ones."

But they also look for workers.

"When things go bad, at least when you're having rough spots, everyone knows they're going to work with people they enjoy being with," Buford said. "As much as you're together, as long as the season is, there's going to be peaks and valleys. It's easy to get through the peaks, but when the valleys happen, that's when the group needs to know they can work through them."

On the NBA |

Building

an NBA Champion

The June 28 NBA draft offers the 76ers a chance to rise out of mediocrity. Periodically before then, The Inquirer will report on the various aspects of building a championship-

caliber team.

NBA FINALS

Game 2: Cavaliers at Spurs

Tonight at 9 (6ABC)

Spurs lead best-of-seven series, 1-0.