Why Bonner?

[objective]

if you remember, bon bon was getting more and more consistent minutes before the injury, and one can only wonder how many more minutes he will get next season, with horry another year older. it is not out of the question to thing that bon bon will get significantly more minutes to rest mr. playoff for the hmmm what a concept .... the playoffs

people forget that the only reason Bonner was getting 'more and more consistent minutes before the injury' was because Elson was out with the torn rotator cuff.

In fact the first game Elson missed (of 11) was the very first game of the 9 game increased minutes streak that everyone here remembers so fondly before Bonner hurt his knee.

[phxspurfan]

how much did we pay sean marks? was it anywhere close to this? Right now I see him as a locker room guy who can (but probably wont in the playoffs) give horry a few minutes of rest.

but a good signing for the next 3 years, nonetheless.

[Marcus Bryant]

Because he's a ing 4 with some muscle who can hit it from 23 feet. Figure it out. ing Spurs fans ing such nowadays.

[Tek_XX]

3 million to ride the pine, damn guys what are we doing here. I'll come in and brick a three for tres mill.

[Grand Wizard Tubbs]

Anglo superiority.

[O-Factor]

[AFBlue]

Reasons why Bonner won't make a significant impact next year:

1) Pop will not expand his rotation to include an 11th player receiving regular minutes.

2) Horry will not be "supplanted" by Bonner during the regular season or playoffs.

3) Bonner will not supplant any of the other frontcourt mainstays (i.e. Elson) because they fulfill a different role than he does....and not a duplicate one, like he does.

Again, I think this move was made for the season after next when Horry will most likely retire, leaving a rotation spot open for the big, hustle guy with an outside shot.

The only time he'll get "regular" minutes (not based on whether the game is a blowout), is when Horry is sitting the second night of back-to-backs or injured.

That all sounds fine and good until you remember that Bonner WAS receiving regular minutes up until his injury.

On top of that, you have to consider that - especially with a 37 year old Horry - injuries in the front court are not unheard of. So even if Pop doesn't have him in his first 5 off the bench, that doesn't mean that he won't spend long stretches there just the same.

K-State,

Below is the rebuttal I was looking for. I thought I'd find it with Horry missing time, but it turns out it was Elson, that was the reason Bonner was getting more time. Any other significant minutes can be attributed to "blowouts".

Again, I think injury will give him the opportunity to earn minutes, but I don't see the Spurs expanding their rotation to include another person. Unless he completely supplants someone in the rotation, he's likely to get the same spot minutes as last year, IMO.

people forget that the only reason Bonner was getting 'more and more consistent minutes before the injury' was because Elson was out with the torn rotator cuff.

In fact the first game Elson missed (of 11) was the very first game of the 9 game increased minutes streak that everyone here remembers so fondly before Bonner hurt his knee.

Thanks, Objective....

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Bonner has some pretty decent upside and is a good fit for the Spurs system. I think $3M is not a bad price (comparitively) for what he brings. Not a bad signing.

[timvp]

Matt Bonner re-signs with San Antonio (three years, $9 million)
Short-term B-, long-term B+
I'm not sure how much Bonner will play this coming season, but at some point he's going to succeed Robert Horry in the 3-point-shooting power forward role on this team, and he should do a pretty good job of it (though worse than Horry in other respects, he's a much better shooter). As with the Oberto deal, the real benefit comes further down the road, as the Spurs don't have an ugly final year or two of the contract to deal with.

[CaptainLate]

Bonner is a good player to have around. He also fits a need. With this upcoming season being Horry's last, the Spurs need to have a perimeter shooting big in the fold. If the Spurs don't have a big who can knock down shots, teams can much more easily double Duncan.

Besides shooting, Bonner became a much better rebounder last season. He also doesn't turn the ball over and is tough. His ceiling isn't that high and he has a lot of work to do defensively, but he's going to help this team. [snip]

Bonner will never be a star but he's a solid 7th-8th man in the rotation down the line and he has a very reasonable contract.

Consider him to be like Matt Bullard when he was playing well for the Rockets.

[CaptainLate]

I understand RC has the whole trust thing going on but this one seriously eats into what we can do next summer (we could be in the running for an Elton Brand type star). Anyway, Oberto compliments Duncan well but a 2-year deal would have been more in line IMO.

I'm figuring the forward-thinking Spurs FO is planning for 2008 trades (around All-Star time in February) in preparation for signing another all-star to join the Fab 3 and bring 3-4 more championships to SA before Tim and Manu hang it up. Manu because he'll burn out.