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good read
June 22, 2006
A Moment With Matt Bonner
Daniel Banks, spurs.com
http://www.nba.com/spurs/news/bonner_060622.html
Matt Bonner sat in the Spurs Practice Facility on Tuesday afternoon looking comfortable in shorts and a University of Florida t-shirt. It was the attire he had with him when his whole world was turned around. "I was at the University of Florida working with Coach Donovan's basketball camp when I got a call from Bryan Colangelo telling me the trade was going to happen," he says. So Bonner hopped a plane to Texas to see the city he'll be calling home.
Matt is quick to answer when asked about what he hopes to add to the Spurs lineup next season, "Definitely my outside shot - try to stretch out the defense and open things up a little for Tim Duncan." Last year, Bonner averaged 42% from beyond the arc and sank over 100 three pointers.
He expects to contribute more than threes in 06-07 even though he doesn’t know yet what will be asked of him, "I'll do whatever the coaches want to the best of my ability to help the team. I haven't been to the playoffs in two years so I'm really excited to be able to contend for a championship next year."
He is also excited about playing in this city as well as for the Spurs: "I had a tremendous respect for the team. Everyone from the NBA that I talked to said it was the best organization in the league." As for the city, Matt showed an affinity for it back when he was a visiting Raptor. "We stayed down by the River Walk and I went to the Alamo both times we were here. I went through the whole museum...headphones and everything."
While Matt is eager to begin his role with the Spurs, there are a few loose ends to tie up first including relocating to Texas. He's already spent time overseas traveling to China as part of the Basketball Without Borders program and will spend the next three weeks hosting the Matt Bonner Basketball Camp in his home state of New Hampshire. He also plans to get in a few mountain hikes before returning to San Antonio to get acclimated.
His official welcome was quick in coming. After landing in town he ran into none other than Tim Duncan in the airport and chatted with his new teammate about the upcoming season. Bonner jokes, "Yeah, he gave me a playbook as matter of fact."
good read
He definitly sounds like he'll fit right in, and will do whatever it takes to fit in as well.
I can already see Bill Walton buying into him.. No, I can actually HEAR the son-of-a- .
Academic All American, indeed.Matt is quick to answer when asked about what he hopes to add to the Spurs lineup next season, "Definitely my outside shot - try to stretch out the defense and open things up a little for Tim Duncan." Last year, Bonner averaged 42% from beyond the arc and sank over 100 three pointers.
Let's Go Spurs!!!
You guys do know that he's one of the very few (if not only) players in the NBA who does not own a car? He likes to walk around.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...410/index.html
Your typical NBA player gets his driver's license at 16, his first pro contract at 20 and -- if he's lucky enough to be drafted in the first round -- a different car for each day of the week. The Heat's Gary Payton, for example, has so many Bentleys he once told The Miami Herald he couldn't remember how many he owned. "I've got four or five of them," he said.
But Toronto's Matt Bonner, a frugal forward in a world of frequent excess, has put off investing in a set of wheels. The car-less Bonner, 25, prefers to get around Toronto by streetcars, the subway or his own size 16 feet. Fans and teammates call the 6-foot-10 Bonner "the Red Rocket" -- the nickname of the city's streetcar system. "I'd rather buy something that appreciates in value than something that loses half of it when you drive it off the lot," says Bonner, who majored in business at Florida.
Traveling among the people has helped turn Bonner -- who'll often stroll the one mile from his home to the Air Canada Centre -- into one of Toronto's most popular sports figures. He truly does have the common touch. A Concord, N.H., native who's the son of an elementary schoolteacher (his mother, Paula) and a mailman (his father, David), Bonner spent the 2003-04 season playing for Sicilia, an Italian club so near to bankruptcy that he didn't draw a paycheck for half the season. Even though he signed a two-year deal with Toronto for $4 million last summer, he still needed a talking-to from Raptors coach Sam Mitc , who advised him (it was pre-NBA dress code) to bring his wardrobe up to league standards.
Bonner, who averages 7.1 points a game, lives in a furnished, one-bedroom apartment in downtown Toronto and has used a portion of his earnings to move his parents from a two-bedroom condo to a three-bedroom house. But he hasn't splurged since -- not even for a little extra protein. "Just the other day I was at Subway and wanted to double the chicken in my sub," he recalls. "But it was $2 more. I was like, What a rip-off!"
Frankly, I know more than I need to at this point -- and it's only been one day.
We'll call him that every time he s up.
So yes there will be alot of "boner" jokes.
Well, we got Bones and Boner in our lineup. How do you like the sound of that?
The Spurs had Tim Duncan pick him up at the airport? They must think this guy has a chance to be a nice piece to the puzzle.
P.S.
Duncan is the man. How hard would other superstars be laughing when asked if they wanted to go pickup Matt Bonner at the airport?
Did the Raptors include a tanning booth?
So if he was the Red Rocket in Toronto, does he become the Via in San Antonio?
All that's good, but can he play any defense? He'll be spending some time guarding Dirk.
He's not a stellar defender or a big rebounder. He is a shooter.
I don't know if you're joking or not, but I read it as Duncan just happened to be at the airport at the same time as Bonner... kinda like a coincedence.The Spurs had Tim Duncan pick him up at the airport? They must think this guy has a chance to be a nice piece to the puzzle.
P.S.
Duncan is the man. How hard would other superstars be laughing when asked if they wanted to go pickup Matt Bonner at the airport?
Na, it wasn't...
Or at least I don't think so. Duncan has met players in the past too. I think the "who do I see, none other than tim duncan" was jsut a way of saying he was shocked TD came to greet him.
I thought they called it an "official welcome" so I thought they sent Duncan to meet him, too. In addition, I can't imagine Timmy having a playbook on him in June.
duncan is the . you know he's ready to get back on the court and kick someone's ass.
That just sounds like they ran into each other, not that he was there picking him up.After landing in town he ran into none other than Tim Duncan in the airport and chatted with his new teammate about the upcoming season.
So I guess it wasn't "official" after all.
Yeah, I'm sure Duncan just so happened to be hanging around the San Antonio Airport striking conversations with people as they reached their destination.
yeah that was I was thinkingYeah, I'm sure Duncan just so happened to be hanging around the San Antonio Airport striking conversations with people as they reached their destination.
Just imagine Allen Iverson getting a call from Billy King, telling him to pick some scrub up
Tim Duncan is the man, he's gonna kick ass this year.
So far the only thing I don't like about this guy is that he replaced Sho.
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