Am I The Only One Who Thinks . . .

[timvp]

Matt Bonner has played better than any bigman on the team in the last month outside of Tim Duncan? He seems to be really finding his niche on the team and he's playing better and better.

Elson peaked in the first game of the season and has been coming back down to earth ever since. So far his flash has been more impressive than his substance. Oberto was playing well ... but then it seemed like the NBA caught on to what he was doing and now he's much less effective. Horry has been inconsistent all year.

Bonner has been knocking down his shots (48% from the floor, 46% from three point land) and he's even been rebounding at a pretty high rate. In December, he's been grabbing more boards per minute than Elson. He still has a ways to go defensively, but I like that fact that he's unafraid to shoot, hustles and plays physical down low.

I'd like to see him get a play more in the upcoming weeks to see if it's a fluke or if Bonner is really outplaying all the other bigmen.

However that said, if Bonner is your best bigman outside of Duncan, something is probably wrong.

[GINNNNNNNNNNNNOBILI]

Nope, I've been calling for Bonner bandwagon since the Chicago game. His play isn't very pretty, but it's effective.

[GINNNNNNNNNNNNOBILI]

I'd really like to see him take over Oberto's minutes sometime soon

[MannyIsGod]

Shit, what was I saying the other day? Bonner will replace Oberto in the rotation before long. In the end, for this team to have success Elson HAS to learn the defensive rotations and become better on D, but Bonner next to Duncan allows them to run better "small ball" rotations if Pop is set on doing that shit.

He hustles like crazy and I LOVE THAT. He's just solid as all hell, and he's the kind of player I hope the Spurs keep around. Dude is a great fit.

[Bruno]

Bonner deserve more playtime. The main reason why he hasn't played a lot is that he is quite redundant with Horry : when Pop want to ahve a big who spread the floor, Bonner is only the second option.

[Sam]

Bonner should get more time. He's the everyman. The white boy that hustles and can shoot it, but doesn't look real pretty doing it. He just had to learn the system. In Toronto if he got more than 10 minutes then the boy was in double digits if they could get him the ball. He's going to be a real asset in the second half especially going back to the old leather ball.

[VaSpursFan]

bonner is the high energy guy that we need off the bench. he should move up in the rotation. i'd like to see manu and bonner play together...they'd be all over the place making good things happen for this team.

[AFBlue]

Bonner's shooting shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, but I do like his rebounding #'s. He seems to really be taking advantage of the increased playing time. I think he's earned more playing time and with Elson out of the rotation for the next couple weeks, Robert Horry most likely sitting for the back-to-backs on 3 and 10 Jan, and the flu going around, he should get the opportunity.

[Solid D]

Bonner has a mid-range shot to go with his 3-pt calling card...surprisingly good leaner inside 15. He hustles and he rebounds. He's still not a good answer defensively.

Elson is good offensively and has an occasional emotional blocked shot. That's it.

That leaves Oberto and Horry defensively. Both of them over-achieve defensively. Last night, Oberto was apparently sick, but he was the guy he spotted Tim all that time when he sat with fouls and the game was still a contest. The Spurs pulled away with him playing the bigs tough. He was surprisingly unyielding on Millsap and he guarded out on the floor, something Timmy didn't really do when he was in there. Yes, he does foul though.

[SAGambler]

Well, if you look at all the "trade packages" on here that always include Bonner, you would think he was just a scrub that wasn't contributing, while in actuality, he contributes every time he is on the floor. He hustles, he hits 3s, he hits lean in jumpers, has a hook shot......Why is everyone always ready to trade him?

[samikeyp]

no

[MrChug]

Because he ain't THAT good. But...all in all, championship teams consist of superstars and players that can compliment said superstars. Roleplayers who know their roles make super-teams super. Bonner knows his role, as in the Steve Kerrs, the Jaren Jacksons, even the Mario Elies. I like him if he can keep it up.

LONG LIVE THE RED ROCKET!

[duncanchick21]

Go Red Rocket Go!!!

[Solid D]

no

:lol
:tu

[boutons_]

FE and FO were November surprises, that flashed in the pan. Maybe they'll flash again, maybe not.

MB is theDecember surprise. We knew he could chuck 3Gs, but we've seen him do some driving, and some pretty sweet post-up/low-block moves and shots. And he's hitting the boards, too.

Sure, our big-man dropoff after Tim (when Tim plays like Tim should rather than stinking like "number 2") is steep, but the 4 of them, combined with the defense and hustle we saw vs Jazz, should suffice to take us all the way.

[samikeyp]

:lol

Thanks Solid.

Hey...its a yes-no question...I answered accordingly. :)

Timvp was right on though.

[Gummi]

He's been a surprise to me. I knew he could shoot, esp. from 3P land, but he has impressed me with his toughness and rebounding. His defense is average, but the coaching staff will improve that.

The past few games he's been playing well and I would like to see him more on the floor esp. with Duncan. I think the Spurs have found themselves a future PF/SF that can spread the floor ala Robert Horry.

[angel_luv]

:lol

Thanks Solid.

Hey...its a yes-no question...I answered accordingly. :)

Timvp was right on though.


:lol I had the same thought when I saw the thread title. :)


Bonner is playing really well- he deserves props.

[Kori Ellis]

...
However that said, if Bonner is your best bigman outside of Duncan, something is probably wrong.

True.

[Solid D]

NBA.com Player Efficiency Ratings

1. Duncan +24.73
2. Parker +18.90
3. Ginobili +16.56
4. Barry +10.29
5. Oberto +9.33
6. Elson +9.24
7. Bowen +8.27
8. Horry +6.35
9. Finley +6.17
10. Udrih +4.55
11. Bonner +4.35
12. Williams +4.00
13. Vaughn +2.59
14. Butler +0.33
15. White 0.00

[timvp]

Bonner has a mid-range shot to go with his 3-pt calling card...surprisingly good leaner inside 15. He hustles and he rebounds. He's still not a good answer defensively.

Agreed. Although recently I think his defense has gotten better. He's gone from horrible to almost adequate.

Surprisingly enough, though, Bonner leads the team in defensive field goal percentage against when he's on the court. . .


Elson is good offensively and has an occasional emotional blocked shot. That's it.

:lol ... Nice blast.

Elson started off pretty good but lately I haven't seen much out of him. His offense is pretty decent. Nothing really to write home about.

His defense is pretty horrible. Sure he rotates better than Nazr did but he's so skinny that he can't hold his position. If another team puts a body on him, he's out of the play. He's also easily the worst bigman at boxing out.

It looks like the Spurs are going to go with him as the answer at center, so I hope he improves. The last couple weeks since he got the starting job, he's proven to be probably the worst starting center in the NBA.

Luckily for him he throws down a couple good dunks and will have an emphatic block every now and then to keep Spurs fans happy.


That leaves Oberto and Horry defensively. Both of them over-achieve defensively. Last night, Oberto was apparently sick, but he was the guy he spotted Tim all that time when he sat with fouls and the game was still a contest. The Spurs pulled away with him playing the bigs tough. He was surprisingly unyielding on Millsap and he guarded out on the floor, something Timmy didn't really do when he was in there. Yes, he does foul though.

Horry, for the most part, has been the best defensive big in my eyes. And until recently, he'd been doing a good job of rebounding the ball. Against the Jazz, Horry boxing out and being active defensively and on the boards was probably the main reason for the win.

Oberto is a mystery to me. I like how he plays usually but his effectiveness has diminished over the course of the season. When he's concentrating and hustling, he's a very good defender. But sometimes, he doesn't do his work early and lets his man get too good of post position ... and then that's when Oberto's lack of size and jumping ability is most noticeable. Pop got on him about this a number of times and then just took him out of the starting lineup.

Offensively, Oberto is pretty decent. However, he does struggle to finish around the rim against shotblockers.

Right now it's tough to say which bigman should get the bulk of the minutes when it's money time in the playoffs. Elson probably has the highest ceiling out of any of them because of his athleticism, but he has a long way to go. Oberto has a low ceiling, but you know what you are going to get out of him. Horry is either going to be really good or really bad in the playoffs. Bonner is the x-factor would could be a playoff savior or not even play in the postseason.


P.S.

Solid D - If it was up to you, would you start Elson or Oberto at center and which one do you think has played better to this point of the season?

Thaa-a-a-aaa-a-aaanks.

:smokin

[Solid D]

If up to me, I think Oberto would get the majority of the starts, in the same five with Manu. There are some teams that Oberto isn't a good match, like Miami or Houston but then again, Elson didn't do well there against Yao either.

Neither of them are playing big enough to inhibit penetrators from scoring over them.
If I wanted to see the team run from the get-go, then I might start Elson and try some things with that. Otherwise, the ball seems to move better with Oberto in the mix. Oberto plays better defensively.

I didn't know that Bonner was the best FGs-against guy on the Spurs but that may not be saying much. After all, Phoenix has a better team FGs-against % than the Spurs do after 30 games :lol

[timvp]

The advanced stats correlate with observations in this thread:

Points Per 100 Possessions
Tim Duncan - 114.9
Francisco Elson - 113.3
Fabricio Oberto - 111.1
Robert Horry - 103.9

Points Allowed Per 100 Possessions
Tim Duncan - 100.5
Fabricio Oberto - 101.0
Robert Horry - 101.8
Francisco Elson - 103.1

So basically, Elson is easily the worst of the bunch in terms of defense, but his offense helps. Oberto has been the best overall, but he's probably reached his ceiling. Horry's defense has been good but his offense has been horrible. Oh and Tim Duncan is good.



P.S.

Bonner's numbers are 108.5 on offense and 99.1 on defense. So according to those stats, he's playing good defense but the offense doesn't run too smoothly when he's in the game. We'll see how the numbers change if given more playing time.

[Spurs Brazil]

http://www.nba.com/spurs/timeout/20secondto.html

by Bill Schoening | December 27, 2006

Matt Bonner admitted that this was going to be a challenge. The place was Bercy Arena in Paris and the Spurs were getting set for their second preseason game, against Maccabi Elilte Tel Aviv. I asked him how he was grasping the Spurs' offensive plays and defensive sets, and he was completely honest. "I've got a long ways to go. You might want to ask me after I've been here for awhile", said the 6'10 Bonner, who had been acquired during the offseason in the deal that sent center Rasho Nesterovic to Toronto.

Fast forward ahead two and half months, and we see that same Matt Bonner looking a lot more comfortable. In the one-sided Saturday night win over the Hornets, Bonner aggressively banged the boards, spaced the floor on offense, and contributed a season high 14 points, his best outting yet as a Spur.

Bonner says he's making progress but still has plenty of room for improvement. With more performances like the one we saw in Oklahoma City last weekend, we may have to get used to seeing the "Red Rocket" on the floor adding more punch to the Spurs bench.

[SequSpur]

Bonner sucks. WTF? Most of you have really lowered your player expectation bar.

[MannyIsGod]

Bonner sucks. WTF? Most of you have really lowered your player expectation bar.Too easy.

[MannyIsGod]

Bump

[ChumpDumper]

:lmao at his attempted Kareem impression.

[Sam]

:lmao at his attempted Kareem impression.
He's been shooting that half hook since his sophomore year of college. Honestly it usually goes down.

[ChumpDumper]

Honestly Pop will never let him try that again.

[Sam]

Honestly Pop will never let him try that again.
He's shot it about 4 or 5 time already this year and he was on TV doing it in practice the other day. I'm pretty sure Coach Pop would have stopped it if he didn't see it go in all the time.

[Spurs Brazil]

Bonner with 11rebs against the Hawks

[ChumpDumper]

When you're shooting 30%, that's not the best time for a hook shot heat check.

[Sam]

When you're shooting 30%, that's not the best time for a hook shot heat check.
He's actually had an off day today shooting wise. He's just hustling his ass off even though he's not a 100% yet. I can't wait for the old ball to come back. His shooting % should go back up to what it was in Toronto.

[Spurs Brazil]

7 offensive rebs

[timvp]

My favorite thing about Bonner is how aggressive he is. He rarely passes up shots and isn't afraid to mix it up on the boards. 11 rebounds for Bonner is pretty good considering Elson's season-high is 9.

His defense is still a work in progress but his energy off the bench is something this team has lacked since Malik.

That Kareem sky hook and the bench reaction was the funniest thing I've seen this year. :rollin




P.S.

Sam needs to learn the difference between his regular hook and the Kareem hook.

[T Park]

Id go ahead and IR Oberto the rest of the year, put Bonner in his spot, and activate Butler.

Oberto is a waste of roster space.

[jbspurs]

He reminds me of Mark Madsen, the only difference is he can shoot.

[Das Texan]

Bonner played really well today.


His energy is very much needed and hopefully he can just continue to earn minutes on this team.