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Thanks for the link.
Matt Bonner, MIA
by Timothy Varner
Whenever I talk with Matt Moore the conversation invariably leads to Matt Bonner, someone I do my best to defend. Moore thinks Bonner stinks. Shouldn’t be on an NBA court, or something to that effect. He’s the cause of much beard-tugging consternation for our favorite hoophead. My response, the easy response, is to tell Moore that Bonner eats APM for breakfast, and then smugly kick my feet up and call it a day. No rants against redheads here, thank you.
But the story is starting to shift. And the ranting is increasingly justified.
Keep reading →
Thanks for the link.
Bonner has played pretty well tonight.
Actually, the last two games.
His long ball is dropping again, which opens the lane for Tony and Manu, which leads to kick outs to open three point shooters...
Lol the guy is a good bench big. The hate over him is hilarious.
Well, the hate is because he is a poor rebounder and shot blocker, is slow, has no mid-range game, and, and.... Perhaps that is unfair, because he DOES spend so much time at the 3 pt line.
When Dice is better, do you favor putting the Beast out of the rotation again? I see bonner's strengths, but if it is between dice and Beast, I take beast, and have bonner in spot minutes as the 4th big.
And he isn't even THAT poor a rebounder. Here are some comparables:
Rebounds per 48 minutes:
Paul Millsap: 10.8
LaMarcus Aldridge: 10.4
Michael Beasley: 10.4
Hakim Warrick: 10.0
David West: 10.0
Matt Bonner: 9.5
Carl Landry: 9.5
Brad Miller: 9.4
Channing Frye: 9.0
Rasheed Wallace: 8.5
Jeff Green: 7.9
Boris Diaw: 6.8
Bonner continues his efforts to diversify his game. This is a sign of a person not willing to coast along in his comfort zone but one who iseeks to improve his overall game.
His ability to drive into the lane and either attempt a layup or pass to an open teammate worked quite well.. plus his main strength, hitting the 3-point, is starting to return. He made at least one mid-range jumper when the opportunity presented itself.. no hesitation.
He seems to be playing more instinctively .. maybe some of Manu's unpredictable style of play has rubbed off on him.. also, even if West was lighting him up early on he continued to play defense good enough for Pop to give him substantial minutes.
Those names seem to make him look like a reasonable rebounder. However, that places him at around 70th best in Rebounding per 48.
So, 30 teams have 2 players that are better rebounders, and another 10 to spare.
It is fair to say he is not BAD by that standard; he does rebound at a respectable rate compared to 3rd or 4th bigs. But as a starter, he is not rebounding well for a 4 or 5.
But Bonner is the third or fourth big in the rotation, so he's a decent rebounder for his role. He's not a starting big, so it doesn't matter how he stacks up against the starters.
Matt Bonner in the role he played tonight against the Hornets is valuable to the Spurs.
This is not a situation of Blair vs. Bonner. There are more than enough minutes between the PF and C spot (including TD and spot minutes for small ball) for those three to be effective.
He can be decent to average at moments during the regular season. Until proven otherwise, he is still unreliable for playoff games.
Not for the center position.
Agreed, 23 minutes is a bit steep for my liking but when his shot if falling you gotta leave him in.
Bonner has worked hard on perfecting those behind the backboards shots that hopefully will pay off at some point in some game, .. maybe, ... you never know.
Two good games in a row.
Matt played great the last two games. Great timming too, since Dice missed both games too...
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