Red Rocket in the Dog House

[remingtonbo2001]

He's been recieving a number of DNP-CD lately.

Is Pop still tinkering with rotations?

Is Elson recieving limited minutes so the Spurs can shop him around?

Was some of Bonner's minutes sacrificed to get Horry back on track?

Was Bonner throwing dirty looks at Pop's mother?

He played so well at the beginning of the year, then as his minutes declined, so did his play. I really don't understand.

[ploto]

Bonner was a placeholder for Horry. The Spurs will look more to him next year when Horry presumably retires.

[m33p0]

elson should be the answer to the trades la and suns made. somebody shake that guy up. he lost his mojo.

[BonnerDynasty]

He is unathletic (compared to most of the guys he must defend), looks lost on the court, and his defense isn't that good.

Because of this, we can only play him in special circumstances where his 3 pt shooting and rebounding outweigh the negatives.

[diego]

unathletic, lost, bad D? to me that's 80% effort, and my problem with the brief minutes i've seen of him lately is precisely that, he is no longer bringing the hustle that made him good early in the season.

for all the talk about getting younger, bonner is one of our younger players and he has been quite disappointing. if you dont have the experience at least compensate for that by bringing some energy!

[remingtonbo2001]

Bonner was a placeholder for Horry. The Spurs will look more to him next year when Horry presumably retires.

:tu I'll take that.

If the coaching is good as I suspect, I'd imagine Bonner is capable of learning our defensive schemes. His B-Ball IQ is relatively high (In comparison to Elson)
He has height, weight, and an outside shot. Pop needs to teach him how to slide his feet and body up.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Him and Elson are done to me.

[T Park]

unathletic, lost, bad D? to me that's 80% effort, and my problem with the brief minutes i've seen of him lately is precisely that, he is no longer bringing the hustle that made him good early in the season.

for all the talk about getting younger, bonner is one of our younger players and he has been quite disappointing. if you dont have the experience at least compensate for that by bringing some energy!

Great take :tu

[T Park]

His B-Ball IQ is relatively high

Eh......

I respectfully disagree.

[SequSpur]

Bonner sucks.

[VaSpursFan]

bonner is a hustle guy and when you're not hustling, you have no use. plus with horry coming around, bonner has little value in the rotation.

[Ronaldo McDonald]

bpnner isn't an answer guy. like, i can't think of him as a guy that is able to fill a void somewhere and be the missing piece to a team. if u are lucky, he gives you a nice spark off the bench and energizes your team. but that is it. he'll hit a three, if he's wide open, and he'll crash the boards and hustle his ass off. nothing more, nothing less. he's trash for more than like 15 mins a game though because defenses start to catch on. and he's got nothing else in his arsenal once that happens.

[Indazone]

Trade him to the Celtics.

[Spuradicator]

I've never been a Bonner guy and have often wondered why so many have/had a hard on for him.

[AFBlue]

I think Elson's DNP-CDs are more telling. Unlike Bonner, Elson has a skill-set that isn't matched by any other player on the Spurs roster. As someone else mentioned, Bonner will get a chance to show what he's got when Horry retires...presumably next year. What he does with his extended time will tell whether or not he'll be around for the full length of his contract.

Having said that, I wouldn't be surprised if either Bonner or Elson were traded to shed salary or get someone that could help them compete this year.

[Bruno]

I don't what to think about Bonner lack of playtime.

Is it just because of Horry or is it because Pop doesn't like him anymore ?

The trade deadline is in less than two weeks. We will see if he is traded or not. If Spurs want to trade him, it shouldn't be that hard to do.

[E20]

Bonner sucks.
Elson too.

[remingtonbo2001]

I don't what to think about Bonner lack of playtime.

Is it just because of Horry or is it because Pop doesn't like him anymore ?

The trade deadline is in less than two weeks. We will see if he is traded or not. If Spurs want to trade him, it shouldn't be that hard to do.

I'm under the same umbrella. I don't think it's as simple as Bonner sucks.
He showed early on that he is capable of playing good basketball.
So it must be something else. My guess is his minutes are being sacrificed to get Horry going. At this point Horry does the same things offensively and plays better defense (esp. weakside).

[The Truth #6]

Then why the hell did we give Bonner that contract? It's not like we didn't know what kind of player he was.

[Indazone]

Cause ya wanted to keep Bonner and give up Scola! LOL

[tav1]

Bonner was a placeholder for Horry. The Spurs will look more to him next year when Horry presumably retires.

Some expensive placeholder. If Bonner was going to be useful, it should have happened by now. In theory, I like a 4 with a a high 3 pt% on future rosters. I just hope it's not Bonner. Nice kid. Lots of heart. No game.

I'd rather they find a 3 who can play small ball minutes there or go with a 4 that has a decent 3 pt shot and other attributes. This is one reason why Charlie Villanueva is appealing, given the right price.

[BonnerDynasty]

All Bonner has to do is improve his defense to the extent of him staying in front of his guy and not go straight to a foul. He WAS getting better at defense. The only time his man got the easy basket was when Bonner didn't see the whole court (low IQ?) and got out of position.

That and he looks lost on the offensive side a lot. He'll have his back to the ball and hop around waiting to set screens only the guy who he wants to set a screen for is not even aware of Bonner ????

He's not as bad as some people on here make him out to be. Early this season he was a HUGE spark for the Spurs when no one other than him, Manu, and Vaughn were trying to win.

Don't forget 12/11! He's got it in him!

[veruca]

I'm under the same umbrella. I don't think it's as simple as Bonner sucks.
He showed early on that he is capable of playing good basketball.
So it must be something else. My guess is his minutes are being sacrificed to get Horry going. At this point Horry does the same things offensively and plays better defense (esp. weakside).


I TOTALLY agree. Anyone that has consistently watched the Spurs knows what he's capable of. With him being benched many games, I hope it doesn't hurt his confidence--this is a young player we're talking about here. The bad thing about playing Horry too many minutes is you don't want him with nothing in the tank come playoff time. Oh well, I guess I gotta trust Pop on this one. But I do like what I've seen out of Bonner in the past and I love his hustle. I hope tptb don't give up on him.

[SequSpur]

DNP-CDs are given because he sucks. Any questions?

[timvp]

Only the blindest of Spurs homers can currently say the Spurs made the right decision in picking Bonner over Scola for the same amount of money. Scola is just the much better player. Perhaps that'll change down the line but I think it's safe to call that a mistake.

That said, I'm not ready to give up on Bonner. He makes dumb plays and I question his basketball IQ but he has shown some needed qualities. He can shoot, he can rebound and he has energy. There aren't many cheap players in the NBA who you can say all three things about. Plus, outside of Tim Duncan, Bonner might have the most team-first attitude on the team. He seems to genuinely care just about winning -- even if he doesn't play.

Like Bruno said, it's difficult to tell right now if Pop just doesn't like Bonner or Bonner is just a victim of the increased playing time for Horry. If it's a matter of not liking him, the Spurs should be able to easily salary dump him at the trade deadline.

I hope Horry can continue to play at a high level for the rest of the season and into the playoffs. If not, then Bonner is a decent replacement. He's not as good as Horry but he too can space the floor.

Eventually Horry will retire and by then, hopefully Bonner has learned the defensive schemes. Until then, Bonner will just have to sit tight and Spurs fans will have to be happy that they have the best 12th man in the NBA.

[SequSpur]

Paying Bonner instead of Scola should've costed someone their got damn job. How stupid can you be?

[Tek_XX]

Pop is waiting for that last second shot situation, that is Bonner's specialty

But seriously, if he was doing anything special he'd still be on the court.

[TDMVPDPOY]

fok off,

i dont want pop to set up last plays for bonner

he cost us 2 games damn it

[slayermin]

I don't think we should give up on Bonner. He's proven he can shoot. We should keep him for his 93.8 free throw pct. alone.

Here are Bonner's career three point stats.

M A Pct.
04-05 Tor 39 92 .424
05-06 Tor 102 243 .420
06-07 SA 36 94 .383
07-08 SA 39 104 .375
CAR 216 533 .405

He's sort of at the point where he needs to prove he's a killer from the outside.

[Twisted_Dawg]

Here is a thread I started last summer about why we signed Bonner instead of going after a younger more athletic player. I was routinely blasted for questioning the Bonner signing. Now I don't look so wrong.

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73130&page=1&pp=26

[Bruno]

I find that you are a little too harsh with Bonner.

He is a limited player but he has done some good thing for Spurs. He was playing well in December and he could help Spurs with his ability to stretch the defense.

He is quite bad lately but he hasn't been put in an easy situation. Pop has decided to bench him to play Horry, who, until last week, was arguably the worst player in the NBA.

When Horry will retire or if the last three games are a fluke and Horry has nothing left in the tank, Spurs will need to have big able to stretch the defense. Right now, their only player able to do that is Bonner. Bonner will never be a great player but he could be damn useful.

[boutons_]

If the tactic is not playing Matt to bring along others, then there comes a point at which Matt's reduced PT and DNP begins to hurt/regress Matt.

[ploto]

I don't think we should give up on Bonner. He's proven he can shoot. We should keep him for his 93.8 free throw pct. alone.

Here are Bonner's career three point stats.

M A Pct.
04-05 Tor 39 92 .424
05-06 Tor 102 243 .420
06-07 SA 36 94 .383
07-08 SA 39 104 .375
CAR 216 533 .405

He's sort of at the point where he needs to prove he's a killer from the outside.
So he was a better three-point shooter in Toronto...

I never quite got why the Spurs were all so gung ho over Bonner last season. He is a nice guy and all, but they seemed to really fall in love with him. They quickly worked out his three-year contract instead of spending the same money on Scola- whch never quite made sense, but seemed to me to signal just how bad the relationship had deteriorated between the Spurs and Scola.

I suppose that all NBA teams believe they need a big man who can shoot 3's and spread the defense.

[The Truth #6]

Paying Bonner instead of Scola should've costed someone their got damn job. How stupid can you be?


Perhaps it's one of the reasons someone got their job. I wonder if giving the Rockets Scola was a way for us to get their GM.

Though honestly, I can't even remember his name. The Express never mentions him. Does anyone know what the former Rocket FO/Sam Presti replacement guy does?