Don't tell me Matt Bonner is starting C again

[mfanatic]

Show how you divvy up the 96 minutes at PF/C without playing Bonner.

Duncan (28) / Blair (12) / Ian (8)
Theo (6) / Mcdyess (26) / Theo (6) / Blair (4)

[Agloco]

I heard some stuff that Blair aint gonna get that much light. So Bonner will most likely get those minutes. Ian/haislip have a casual approach toward the game.That wont fly with Pop. How bout we trade Blair/Mcdyess/Ratliff for Diop?

No way Blair doesn't get at least 15-20 mins per. Contrary to the crap which has been posted here about Bonner, Pop HAS taken note of his superior talent:

"He's gonna be a good player in the NBA. Without any doubt, he's gonna be a good player quickly.....".

Coach Pop - http://www.nba.com/spurs/multimedia/091020_pop.html
@ about 55 seconds.

You don't become a good player quickly without the minutes needed to develop. It's quite obvious that Pop plans to play him, and play him a healthy amount of minutes. It might not be right up front, but I see it coming long before the stretch run begins.

[Kool Bob Love]

[ElNono]

Show how you divvy up the 96 minutes at PF/C without playing Bonner.

C: Duncan 20 - Blair 28
PF: Dice 28 - Ratliff 10 - Ian 10

Unfortunately, knowing Pop, he won't hand 28 mpg to a rookie.

[lefty]

Matt Bonner reminds me of Larry Bird.

Only less athletic

[Mel_13]

Duncan (28) / Blair (12) / Ian (8)
Theo (6) / Mcdyess (26) / Theo (6) / Blair (4)

That's 90 minutes, perhaps you're factoring in 6 minutes of SmallBall, which may be about right.

Good luck with getting 12 mpg out of Ratliff for the entire season and having him intact for the playoffs. Recent history says that's not going to work.

IMO, the Spurs are going to play Bonner or trade him. I can't see him sitting and watching, that will be Haislip's job and he'll have one of Ian, Theo, Tim, or McDyess to keep him company behind the bench.

[Agloco]

I haven't really a problem with Bonner starting. What sucks is Finley starting, Mason should be the starter.

IMO this is as moot as the "should Bonner start" argument. The assumption by most is that Mason will be much more productive than Finley on any given night. And, while I certainly hope that's the case, there might be stretches where Finley gets hot and we should definitely ride the lightning at that point. Regardless of whether or not he starts, playing Finley more than 20 minutes per game would worrisome indeed. I don't think that will be the case though.

Bottom line? Pop has the option of choosing between two deadly shooters off the bench at any given point during the season. No other team in the league can lay claim to such a luxury. I say it's advantageous regardless of who starts.

[portnoy1]

No way Blair doesn't get at least 15-20 mins per. Contrary to the crap which has been posted here about Bonner, Pop HAS taken note of his superior talent:

"He's gonna be a good player in the NBA. Without any doubt, he's gonna be a good player quickly.....".

Coach Pop - http://www.nba.com/spurs/multimedia/091020_pop.html
@ about 55 seconds.

You don't become a good player quickly without the minutes needed to develop. It's quite obvious that Pop plans to play him, and play him a healthy amount of minutes. It might not be right up front, but I see it coming long before the stretch run begins.

Thats funny cause Everytime Bonner is mentioned by Pop he talks him up bigtime. When they talk about Blairs contribution he always says something negative. That tells me something is going on. Pop didnt deal with GHill like this. GHill got his playing time and Pop gave him due praise. When it comes to Blair He says stuff like he'll be a good player n junk. But he always says something like we did fine without him. Pop is a nice dude, and for him to say something in that conotation makes me think theirs a problem behind the scenes.

[Mel_13]

C: Duncan 20 - Blair 28
PF: Dice 28 - Ratliff 10 - Ian 10

Unfortunately, knowing Pop, he won't hand 28 mpg to a rookie.

Nor should he, minutes for a rookie should be earned. I believe Blair will earn a regular spot in the rotation, but 28mpg is unlikely.

Not because of Pop's 'trust' issues, but because it may not make sense. Blair's knees are an unknown factor and he has never played more than 37 games or 900+ minutes in a season, and that against a lower of compe ion with much less traveling. Projecting him for 80 games and over 2200 minutes may well be unrealistic and imprudent.

We'll see, but 75x20 for 1500 minutes is about what I expect to be the upper limit of playing time for our great young prospect in his rookie season.

BTW-do you really want to see TD play only 20mpg?

[ElNono]

BTW-do you really want to see TD play only 20mpg?

YES!!!!! Until mid march that's all I want from TD.
I don't care if we sneak by as the 8th seed. We need him, Manu and Tony healthy by playoffs time.

And BTW, Kevin Durant averaged 34 mpg in his rookie season and played 80 games...

[portnoy1]

I wouldn't mind blair playing 10-20 minutes a game for 82 games. Rebounding is something that is a serious issue as of now. I would rank it up their close to the health issue.

[Mel_13]

YES!!!!! Until mid march that's all I want from TD.
I don't care if we sneak by as the 8th seed. We need him, Manu and Tony healthy by playoffs time.

Even if Pop agreed, I don't think there's any way TD would go along peacefully. It will be one of the interesting little internal struggles to watch this year as Pop tries to limit the minutes for TD and Manu and the compe ive spirit of those two fight against it.

[Mel_13]

And BTW, Kevin Durant averaged 34 mpg in his rookie season and played 80 games...

And TD, Finley, and LeBron all played over 3,000 minutes in their rookie seasons. As did quite a few others. None of them, however, were red-flagged by 29 of 30 teams in the NBA. The Spurs are a conservative organization, I don't think you'll see Blair near the top of this list:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...l=&order_by=mp

[Xevious]

Thats funny cause Everytime Bonner is mentioned by Pop he talks him up bigtime. When they talk about Blairs contribution he always says something negative. That tells me something is going on. Pop didnt deal with GHill like this. GHill got his playing time and Pop gave him due praise. When it comes to Blair He says stuff like he'll be a good player n junk. But he always says something like we did fine without him. Pop is a nice dude, and for him to say something in that conotation makes me think theirs a problem behind the scenes.

Yeah I mentioned the same thing in another thread. Pop seems to be putting a negative spin on any question related to Blair - all while saying "he did a fine job" when asked about any other player.

I just hope Blair gets minutes.

[portnoy1]

YES!!!!! Until mid march that's all I want from TD.
I don't care if we sneak by as the 8th seed. We need him, Manu and Tony healthy by playoffs time.

And BTW, Kevin Durant averaged 34 mpg in his rookie season and played 80 games...

Different players, different situation. Seattle wasn't going anywhere. Thats why he played all those games and minutes. Blair is on a Championship caliber team, With a hall of Famer playing his Position who could teach him alot more. Durant tall skinnnnnnny SF Blair Undersized Physically imposing PF.

[SpurNation]

It doesn't matter as long as the results end up as W's.

[portnoy1]

It doesn't matter as long as the results end up as W's.

Thats cool, you say that. But honestly ask yourself can the spurs win against the lakers Bynum/Odom/Gasol Mavs Gooden/Marion/Dampier Nuggets Nene/Martin/Birdman Blazers Pryzbilla/Aldridge/Oden if Bonner is the starting Center or getting significant minutes 20-25??????

[portnoy1]

All the guys i mention above are good/physical/athletic rebounders, which as we know is not Bonners strength.

[024]

i don't want bonner to start because he will be guarding the opposing team's best big. he's fine against bench bigs but having him guard all-star bigs is a pretty bad idea. they will get off to a great start. i rather have them slowly struggle throughout the game and put mcdyess on them from the start and switch off with duncan. with that said, bonner starting in the first half of the regular season makes sense as it gives mcdyess and ratliff some time off. i'm all for that as long as mcdyess eventually phases into the starting lineup and finley does not start with bonner.

[Phenomanul]

Thats funny cause Everytime Bonner is mentioned by Pop he talks him up bigtime. When they talk about Blairs contribution he always says something negative. That tells me something is going on. Pop didnt deal with GHill like this. GHill got his playing time and Pop gave him due praise. When it comes to Blair He says stuff like he'll be a good player n junk. But he always says something like we did fine without him. Pop is a nice dude, and for him to say something in that conotation makes me think theirs a problem behind the scenes.

You do realize Pop was being sarcastic... right??

[SpurNation]

Thats cool, you say that. But honestly ask yourself can the spurs win against the lakers Bynum/Odom/Gasol Mavs Gooden/Marion/Dampier Nuggets Nene/Martin/Birdman Blazers Pryzbilla/Aldridge/Oden if Bonner is the starting Center or getting significant minutes 20-25??????

Point accepted if that lineup produces losses.

I think you are basing your speculation compared to last year and reasonably so if the lineup hadn't changed as much as it has since last year.

This is a new frontline lineup compared to last year. The rotations are going to be different as well as the talent upgrade.

I'm willing to see how it works out. Bonner isn't as much of a mamby pamby that many think he is. Diffenciencies yes...totally useless No.

[Trimble87]

Regarding Pop talking up Bonner and being negative/non commital about Blairs progress... Pop knows how to get the most out of his players, he know when they need a kick in the mouth and when they need an encouraging word. I think that is what this is.

Blair is a rookie and Pop is going to make him earn everything he gets. I'm sure he also wants to proactively lower our hopes because I am willing to bet Blair doesent get a ton of playing time unless he just flat out dominates when hes in there. Blair is also playing with a chip on his shoulder because so many teams passed on him, I bet you anything Pop wants to keep a fan under that fire.

Bonner on the other hand is, as demonstrated by his collapse in the postseason, a total wuss. He needds to be coddled. For him to have any positive impact for us this season and going into march/april he needs to have high confidence in himself, and believe he has the confidence of the coaches.

As for the issue of Bonner starting... I dont mind it so much. Bonner spreads the floor fot TP and TD to start he game and can provide a shot in the arm for a sometimes lackluster spurs offense with a few key 3's. When it comes down to it Pop will play the matchups. I would be highly surprised if Bonner started against teams like the Lakers who have a huge and talented front line. Pop is also quick to pull people out for defensive mis-queues and poor effort/rebounding etc. Last year we had no options for him to go to. But this year with Dyes, Blair and Theo all waiting in the wings I think Pop will be much quicker to sit him when he plays badly.

[portnoy1]

Point accepted if that lineup produces losses.

I think you are basing your speculation compared to last year and reasonably so if the lineup hadn't changed as much as it has since last year.

This is a new frontline lineup compared to last year. The rotations are going to be different as well as the talent upgrade.

I'm willing to see how it works out. Bonner isn't as much of a mamby pamby that many think he is. Diffenciencies yes...totally useless No.

Nah he can hit that 3. But, that rebounding needs to improve. You may say the talent is different, however RJ is not an outstanding Rebounder just like Finley is not. The bigs in the west are still the same. Duncan is older and Bonner is still Bonner. Him going up against the west strong rebounding bigs is a bad combination, wouldn't you say?

[SpurNation]

Nah he can hit that 3. But, that rebounding needs to improve. You may say the talent is different, however RJ is not an outstanding Rebounder just like Finley is not. The bigs in the west are still the same. Duncan is older and Bonner is still Bonner. Him going up against the west strong rebounding bigs is a bad combination, wouldn't you say?

Agreed. But the offense will be better because of the additions and so offensive rebounding hopefully won't be a necessity and hopefully the defense will be improved to not have to worry as much about penetration.

It's all an experiment at this point. We'll see as the season progresses.

And as the season progresses...hopefully Blair, McDyess and Jefferson will absorb enough knowledge about the system that if Bonner is a detriment they could replace his minutes with productivity.

[SCdac]

I'm as a big a Bonner critic as anyone, but I'm not going to huff and puff every time he gets a start. At the end of the day he's a part of the rotation one way or another. With more depth now, Bonner starting isn't as much of a glaring weakness as say last season, but still a weakness (imo). His role simply won't be as big this season, which is good, for him and for the team.

I don't completely agree with the "it's who finishes the games that matters" notion though. I'd argue the first three quarters matter very much for a team that has had serious offensive droughts the past two seasons and still has much chemistry to develop. How many times have we seen the Spurs go through uphill battles in the 3rd and 4th quarter of games (against weak teams too)? Parker generally does alot of his damage in the first half. Both Tony and Tim scored 6.0 points or more in the first quarter of games last season, but were putting up 5.8 ppg and 4.3 ppg in fourth quarters on worse FG%'s. Compared to other teams players, that's not bad, but any chance we get to dominate prior to the fourth quarter, we need to take it IMO. I don't have a stat, but if I had to guess, the Spurs laid a 3rd quarter egg and went into the 4th quarter with a deficit too many times in the recent past. Too many unnecessarily close games last season. We can't count on 4th quarter comebacks and offensive brilliance at the tail end of games, in fact I'd like to see the opposite - more blowouts, more convincing wins, more defensive lock downs.

No, I don't want to see Matt finishing games, but I don't really want to see him starting either, going up against the West/Okafor, Bynum/Gasol, Martin/Nene combinations of the league and giving them a fair chance offensively to stay in the game early on. He stretches the defense for Duncan, but that's not the only way Tim can score, and living by the three-ball isn't very assuring (both Tim and Dyess are 50-55 FG%). Often times those offensive possessions are "one and done". Either all the passes lead to a made three or a defensive rebound for the opponent. Personally, I'm partial to being aggressive off the bat all while showing our defensive colors. Defensively, I'd like to see what McDyess and Duncan can do against starting front courts, versus the offensive complements Bonner and Duncan have going on.