Back Home, Bonner Reflects

[Sam]

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070707/COLUMNISTS11/207070351/-1/opinion

[Solid D]

Thanks, Sam. It is always interesting reading a player's local/home coverage.

[Spurs Brazil]

Thanks for the link Sam

Tell Bonner that a big Spurs fan here in Brazil hope to meet him in São Paulo

[wildbill2u]

Nice read. Have any of you found the Bonner vids on YouTube with him and his brother shooting horse at their local gym? Good stuff.

[Sam]

Nice read. Have any of you found the Bonner vids on YouTube with him and his brother shooting horse at their local gym? Good stuff.
Yeah, I posted it several months ago and a local SA station did a spot on it even. He and Luke are talking about doing another one soon. Right now they are concentrating on the charity concert.

[Borosai]

Nice read. Thanks.

[duncan228]

Sweet article. Thanks for posting it.
I love how every player on this team seems so grounded.
The lack of ego show-boating continues to impress me.
Probably one of the biggest reasons I love this team. (After Duncan.)

[Deede4525]

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070707/COLUMNISTS11/207070351/-1/opinion

Thanks for posting this article. I love reading how the hometown people still love their boys. :clap

[HJNTX]

I bet he's really just a nice guy ..

[Clutch20]

We're thinking Bonner had but a thin slice of that Championship pie but then he takes that skinny slice home and it's put into perspective, once more proving the impact and validity that a championship ring brings.
__________________________________________________

“They do a great job of their system and staying true to form,
making big plays in big moments,” Suns coach Mike D'Antoni
told reporters in Phoenix on Thursday. “That's what we're
trying to get. Mental toughness, being lucky, I don't know
what it is.”

The Spurs, D”Antoni added, just seem to “believe a little bit
more.”
“All the time,” he said.

[bigfundamental21]

Great article. Shows Bonner is down to earth. Typical Spurs player.

[dave]

i wish bonner were still on the raptors

[Taco]

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070707/COLUMNISTS11/207070351/-1/opinion

Article published Jul 7, 2007
Back at home, Bonner reflects

Kids lined up along the railing on the first base side at Holman Stadium about 20 minutes before the start of the Nashua Pride’s contest Friday night with the New Haven County Cutters. Their focus was not on the field but on someone who towered over everyone except the Pride’s 6-foot, 10-inch pitcher Steve Palazzolo.

It’s something that Concord’s Matt Bonner, the Pride’s 6-foot-10 guest of honor Friday night, is still trying to get used to. But, after all, he is a member of the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs.

“Yeah, but no matter what, I’m still a kid from Concord, New Hampshire,” Bonner said. “I’m just like everybody else here, and always will be.

“I’m very proud to wear the state’s flag on my back while I’m playing.”

It’s that humble attitude that has made Bonner the cosummate role model for young New Hampshire athletes. He’s had a fantastic spring and early summer. Heck, he’s had a fantastic life since winning multiple state titles on the hardwood at Concord High School back in the late 1990s. He enjoyed a great collegiate career at the University of Florida and parlayed that into an NBA gig, first with Toronto and then the Spurs after a trade last year.

What did that get him? Why, an NBA title, that’s what.

His change of venue took place a year ago last June when he was dealt to San Antonio for center Radoslav Nestevoric

“I was surprised, I wasn’t expecting to get traded,” he said. “But both teams made moves that they needed to make. If I hadn’t gotten traded, I would have never left Toronto. But I’m not complaining, I went to the best team in the league.”

And Bonner got to play with, arguably, the game’s best player, or at least the best center, in Tim Duncan.

“Him and Robert Horry,” he said. “They have so much experience. I mean, every day in practice I learned something new from them.”

He also learned that dating celebrities will create a glitzy atmosphere. When asked how he felt about Tony Parker being able to handle it, Bonner said with a grin, “That’s what he gets for dating someone like Eva Longoria (the couple got married this week).”

Hey, the guy didn’t finish first in his high school class for nothing.

Bonner also stood behind his former college coach, the once and future King of Florida, Billy Donovan. Donovan, you remember, was the Orlando Magic coach last month for about, oh, a day.

“I just look at it as it’s better to make a 24-hour mistake than a five-year mistake,” Bonner said. “He was rushed into the decision, made a mistake, realized that, had the guts to admit that, and do something about it, and I respect that.”

Bonner still thinks Donovan would have made a good NBA coach, though.

“I think he’s a great guy, he’s smart, and he knows the game,” Bonner said. “Even though he has no NBA (head) coaching experience, he could figure it out.”

Bonner’s figured out a lot – like how to survive. He had an up-and-down season in establishing a role. In the beginning of the year, as he said, he had no role. Then he worked his way up to about 20 minutes a game, then tore his MCL. Then he was limited, brought in, as he said, “to make shots and bring energy. Then as the playoffs came, the bench tightened and I kind of got squeezed out.”

As a result, Bonner saw limited time in the playoffs. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t taste their intensity, far different from an NBA regular season.

“It’s like a switch goes off,” Bonner said. “It’s night and day. So much emphasis on every detail, every play. You lose, you’re out, so guys really turn it on.”

And he will get that ring in November.

“It just goes to show you hard work pays off,” he said. “You work your whole life to put yourself in a position to have a chance to do something like this and it worked out for me.

“The sentimental value of that ring will far exceed any gold or diamonds. It’s something I’ll be able to look at, it will bring back a flood of memories.”

Bonner’s learned how long an NBA season can be. He’s home for a bit, has a basketball camp coming up and also is hosting a Boys Club charity concert next Saturday night in Concord with several bands performing under the label “Sneakers and Speakers”.

But don’t worry, he won’t give up his day job, one he said he’d keep “until the wheels fall off.”

Bonner’s pitch at the start of the night to the Pride’s Jason Paul reached the plate on a short hop. It was probably the first time the kid from Concord has been short of anything in his life.

Play on, Matt Bonner, play on.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 2006, Telegraph Publishing Company, Nashua, New Hampshire



SWEET

thanks for the link

[SenorSpur]

I'm glad for Bonner. He's a good guy and a functional role player. I believe he's just scratching the surface. He'll never be a superstar or an above average player, but I'm certain there are more good things to come from him.

[stepmonkey]

Nice read. Have any of you found the Bonner vids on YouTube with him and his brother shooting horse at their local gym? Good stuff.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it6BohnnRfI&mode=related&search=