Dwyer: Sam Bowie Said He Lied To Blazers About Health

Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don't Lie writes that former Portland Trail Blazers center Sam Bowie, taken one spot before Michael Jordan in the 1984 NBA Draft, has admitted that he lied to the Blazers about his health in an upcoming ESPN documentary.

Now, some 17-years after his last NBA game, Bowie revealed in an ESPN documentary that his NBA career began with the center needlessly keeping quiet about how much pain he was in during the days leading up to Portland's selection of the former Kentucky center. A selection that, famously, came one spot before the Chicago Bulls took Michael Jordan with the third overall pick.

From the documentary 'Going Big,' which airs Dec. 20 on ESPNU:

"I can still remember them taking a little mallet, and when they would hit me on my left tibia, and 'I don't feel anything' I would tell 'em. But deep down inside, it was hurting. If what I did was lying and what I did was wrong, at the end of the day, when you have loved ones that have some needs, I did what any of us would have done."

...

And Bowie, speaking in 2012, relayed that even while sitting amongst his draft class on that night, he knew that something was wrong. That, "deep down inside I physically wasn't what these guys were."

Be sure to read Dwyer's lengthy take, which includes a call for transparency.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter