it's Bonners fault

[alchemist]

LOL @ this thread back firing on the OP

@ you thinking this

[Obstructed_View]

Look, Bonner is a very good guy, but he is just not a very good ball player. Sadly this is pro-basketball.

Disagree. Bonner's an excellent basketball player. He's a great shooter, a very good dribbler, he has good hands, good instincts, he has a high basketball IQ, and he plays smart team defense.

That's what he is.

Here's what he is not:

An NBA center
A starting-caliber power forward
A good individual defender of starting-caliber bigs
A rotation big

Here's how he should be used:

Put Bonner in.
Let him shoot.
If he makes shots, he stays in
If he misses shots, he comes out
Double teams on his man when they isolate on him.

And as others mentioned, if RJ and Dice and Hill aren't complete vomit, and if Manu is playing like he played much of the season, Bonner doesn't hurt the Spurs even when he goes ohfer.

[ElNono]

Disagree. Bonner's an excellent basketball player. He's a great shooter, a very good dribbler, he has good hands, good instincts, he has a high basketball IQ, and he plays smart team defense.

That's what he is.

Here's what he is not:

An NBA center
A starting-caliber power forward
A good individual defender of starting-caliber bigs
A rotation big

Here's how he should be used:

Put Bonner in.
Let him shoot.
If he makes shots, he stays in
If he misses shots, he comes out
Double teams on his man when they isolate on him.

And as others mentioned, if RJ and Dice and Hill aren't complete vomit, and if Manu is playing like he played much of the season, Bonner doesn't hurt the Spurs even when he goes ohfer.

He's not even a backup caliber power-forward against good teams. It's not isolation against him that's (only) a liability. He's a mediocre pick and roll defender, he doesn't box out, he's a mediocre team defender (disagree on that one with you, seeing he's been 3 seasons in the system and he still misses rotations on a nightly basis) and he has a complete inability to rebound at a decent rate, which costs us actual points and possessions.

He can probably a rockstar against Sacramento or Cleveland. But against the likes of Odom, he has no place on the court.

[gospursgojas]

Dear Matt Bonner,

Thank you for your dead eye shooting throughout the season. Alot of the Spurs #1 record is bc of your great contributions from beyond the arc. That Miami game we won by 30 was fun...your 6 3 pointers made it a great game to watch.

Since then, however, you are shooting 12 for 50 from 3 pt land. Now I now you can smell the playoffs are just weeks away and that is obviously the reason for this decline. No worries...it was expected from us Spurs fans, but now if you would just have a seat on the bench while the REAL season begins, that would be greatly appreciated.

[Sean Cagney]

Disagree. Bonner's an excellent basketball player. He's a great shooter, a very good dribbler, he has good hands, good instincts, he has a high basketball IQ, and he plays smart team defense.

That's what he is.

.

He is not a excellent player! He is not a good shooter or great later in the year! As usual! LOL defense and Bonner in one? Come on bro get real there! WHO YOU FOOLING THERE? He is an okay shooter and a horrible one late in the year, if he is not hitting he is horrible!

[Hooks]

@ you thinking this

LOL @ you thinking Bonner actually contributes something to this team .

[itzsoweezee]

Bonner's an excellent basketball player.

Wrong.

He's a great shooter

Yes.

, a very good dribbler

, the no. The guy looks at the ball when he dribbles. Get the out of here with this bull .

good instincts

Nope, he pretty much has no idea whatsoever what to do unless he's running part of a play. If the play breaks down, he's completely clueless. The opposite of what you claim.

he has a high basketball IQ,

You couldn't be more wrong. He knows how to follow instructions. But he clueless about how to play basketball.

and he plays smart team defense.

he follows instructions and cant guard 1 on 1

[Sean Cagney]

Wrong.



Yes.



, the no. The guy looks at the ball when he dribbles. Get the out of here with this bull .



Nope, he pretty much has no idea whatsoever what to do unless he's running part of a play. If the play breaks down, he's completely clueless. The opposite of what you claim.



You couldn't be more wrong. He knows how to follow instructions. But he clueless about how to play basketball.




he follows instructions and cant guard 1 on 1

I disagree on great shooter as well, late in the year he is hardly that! NOT AT ALL! He sucks shooting later in the year his % first half!

[rr2418]

The thing that gets everyone pist is that when Bonner isn't hitting his shots, Pop doesn't replace him. Why not put Novak in? And another thing, there might not be any football, so we're stuck with baseball.......snoooooze!!!

[ElNono]

Splitter played better in 4 mins... I don't know that Splitter is ready to play against the good teams, but tonight he was playing pretty well.

[rmt]

Disagree. Bonner's an excellent basketball player. He's a great shooter, a very good dribbler, he has good hands, good instincts, he has a high basketball IQ, and he plays smart team defense.

That's what he is.

Here's what he is not:

An NBA center
A starting-caliber power forward
A good individual defender of starting-caliber bigs
A rotation big

Here's how he should be used:

Put Bonner in.
Let him shoot.
If he makes shots, he stays in
If he misses shots, he comes out
Double teams on his man when they isolate on him.

And as others mentioned, if RJ and Dice and Hill aren't complete vomit, and if Manu is playing like he played much of the season, Bonner doesn't hurt the Spurs even when he goes ohfer.

You're contradicting yourself. If Bonner is an excellent basketball player, why is he not a rotation big (unless you think he's should be a rotation wing/guard).

He is not a great shooter. Ray Allen is a great shooter. Bonner is a great 3pt shooter when he's wide open and it's before the ASB.

He is not a very good dribbler. He does not have good hands; Duncan and Blair have excellent/good hands. He does not have good instincts or high basketball IQ or plays smart team defense - that would be Robert Horry who Pop in his stubbornness thinks Bonner is replacing.

WTH does Pop have him out there at all much less in crunch time? He plays over 25 mins and scores 0 points while Splitter scores 4 pts in 3:48 If he's not hitting 3pters he's useless.

Also, why did Pop go with Hill so much when Neal was heating up?

Popovich's lineups are what is most wrong with this team. Maybe if they keep losing, he'll come to his senses and bench Bonner and RJ and play Splitter and Neal.

[ElNono]

Popovich's lineups are what is most wrong with this team. Maybe if they keep losing, he'll come to his senses and bench Bonner and RJ and play Splitter and Neal.

"That wouldn't be fair to the team"

[objective]

Here's how he should be used:

Put Bonner in.
Let him shoot.
If he makes shots, he stays in
If he misses shots, he comes out
Double teams on his man when they isolate on him.

And as others mentioned, if RJ and Dice and Hill aren't complete vomit, and if Manu is playing like he played much of the season, Bonner doesn't hurt the Spurs even when he goes ohfer.

that is just as wrong as playing him the way Pop is now.

Here is the ONLY way to use Bonner as people like me have written about for years, and been proven right again and again:

He can only be a situational shooter. 13 seconds left in the first . . . put Bonner in to have as an option to shoot a three. One possession left in a half, or quarter, or down 3 to end a game? Put him in.

Otherwise he has no business being on the court unless it's garbage time, foul trouble, or there are injury problems among the good players.

That's it.

[temujin]

Missing all those 3's is pretty damn bad, when you're a 3-point specialist. (If you're Pop, wouldn't you give Novak a look in a game like this?) But people miss shots, and have mini-slumps.

But near the end of the game, the Spurs ran a play with Tony sitting in the corner. Bonner went over and stood around in the same corner. It was like Tony had his spot and he didn't know what to do, so he just stood right next to him. Tony had to push him out of the way and point to another spot on the floor for him to go stand.

I've defended Bonner on this board, but that was one of the most seriously ing stupid things I've ever seen. He's been around too long to do something like that.

Good post. I noticed the very same thing.

I think Popovich is trying to prove something to a couple of guys on the team by playing Bonner.

This team is going nowhere.

[temujin]

I guarantee you that Bonner would NOT have played in any quarter final games of the Euroleague these past two weeks.