McDonald: Spurs Still Short In The Frontcourt

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Spurs still short in the frontcourt
By Jeff McDonald

PORTLAND, Ore. — An hour before his team's season opener Wednesday night, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich unveiled his no-longer-so-secret strategy for dealing with Phoenix behemoth Shaquille O'Neal.

“We'll put the redhead on him,” Popovich said.

Apprised of Popovich's plan in the pregame locker room, the Spurs' resident redhead grasped the impossibility of the task ahead, and promptly excused himself.

“I'm going to go to the weight room real quick,” Matt Bonner said, “and try to gain about 40 pounds.”

Instead, Bonner, a 6-foot-10 reserve forward known more for his 3-point stroke than defensive prowess, found himself most often assigned to Suns scorer Amare Stoudemire. In that, Bonner might have been better served in the pregame trying to add to his vertical leap.

With a shortage of big bodies, the Spurs had little other choice in their 103-98 loss to the Suns. When Popovich wanted to give either Tim Duncan or Kurt Thomas a rest, Bonner was option A, B and C.

It's a plight that, on the surface, won't right itself before tonight, when the Spurs face the Portland Trail Blazers on the road.

Fabricio Oberto is set to miss his second consecutive game while dealing with a heart condition. He won't even make the trip.

Ian Mahinmi, nursing a sprained right ankle, won't be playing until mid-November. Rookie Anthony Tolliver is still on leave following the death of his mother. For the second game in a row, when it comes to big men, Bonner will be the Spurs' bench.

“We're light in the frontcourt right now, which means extra minutes for everybody,” Bonner said. “It's what we worked for all preseason, to be ready for situations like these.”

Here is where the Spurs get one reprieve: The Blazers will be without their version of Shaq.

Oden, the Blazers' hype-soaked 7-foot rookie, sprained his right foot 13 minutes into his NBA career, after landing on Lakers guard Derek Fisher. He is expected to miss the next two-to-four weeks.

As such, the basketball world will have to wait for that much ballyhooed Oberto-Oden matchup.

The Blazers have little sympathy for the Spurs' mostly temporary injury problems. Oden, the No. 1 pick in 2007, missed all of last season after knee surgery.

“We tried everything we could do to get him ready for the season and the opener,” Portland coach Nate McMillan lamented, “and he steps on a guy's foot.”

The Blazers came out of their season opener cursing their bad luck. The Spurs were cursing theirs before the season even tipped off.

The night before facing the Suns, the Spurs learned their starting center had suffered a recurrence of atrial fibrillation, a heart irregularity.

Oberto first experienced the ailment in April 2007. Its return meant one more big and tall man in a sports jacket seated behind the Spurs' bench.

It also meant Bonner was pressed into 31 minutes as the Spurs' only reserve taller than 6-5. Bonner performed well at first, scoring eight points and grabbing six rebounds before half.

In the second half, Bonner hit a wall, missing all four of his field goals and finding just one more rebound. Defensively, he also found himself in too many unwinnable situations against Stoudemire, who finished with 22 points.

“I think Matty did an outstanding job, not really being a power big man,” Thomas said. “He's more of a shooting big man.”

That Bonner had to spend so much time on Stoudemire betrayed the Spurs' biggest personnel problem in the opener.

“We were undermanned on the inside,” Thomas said.

For one more night, the Spurs will be undermanned inside again. If all goes to plan, this will be the last time.

The Spurs say Oberto's condition is under control. He will remain in San Antonio so team doctors can continue to monitor him.

If he passes a series of daily tests, Oberto should be cleared to play by the time the Spurs return from Oregon.

And, finally, the big redhead can have a breather.

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“We'll put the redhead on him,” Popovich said.