He has shot well these playoffs on a limited role. Perhaps removing some of the pressure of having to produce a lot when given a lot of time has worked well for him. Just a guess.
ElNono, I think I've covered this with you before, but Bonner's value is not in the 3 pointers he does or doesn't make. It's in how other players perform on the floor when he's out there.
Yes, it almost doesn't matter if he goes 100% from 3. Likewise, it almost doesn't matter if he goes 0% from 3.
bonner is consistently a great asset to the team during regular seasons.
bonner consistently falls apart in every postseason.
none of this is new.
He has a career .323 3P shooting percentage in the playoffs coming into this season, vs. .414 during the regular season. Why is "Bonner is bad in the playoffs" nonsense?
Bonner's great value is his 6'11" shooting guard role on offense, which s up opposing teams playing defense. Do you put a big on him way out at the 3pt line, leaving the paint open, or cover him with a small that he can shoot over the top of?
Unfortunately this mismatch is less likely to be created when he's not making his shots.
Defensively he is below Spurs' average, so really it's all about if those 3's are dropping.
Sample size.
Not true. Read the thread.
So when his PER drops from 14 to 8 and his WS/48 drops from .141 to .067, you just ignore it and assume it will average out over time? That's asinine.
In the 5 seasons where he's played more than 10 total playoff minutes, only once has he had a double digit playoff PER, and that was last year when he was rocking a still-below-average 11.8. Meanwhile, in 8 regular seasons, he's never logged a season below a 12.4.
I'm not fundamentally a Bonner hater, and I'm willing to keep trotting him out there for a few minutes a game to see if he can start pulling through. But it's simply a fact that he hasn't been doing enough during the playoffs.
I don't know if he psyches himself out or thinks about things too much, because I have no idea what's actually going on inside his head. But surely you admit that basketball players are human beings and that things like that can happen to them, right? They're not little random number generators that have a true average and then just fart out little statistical anomalies every once in a while, they're people.
I do agree he's performed much worse in the playoffs than he has in the regular season.
I disagree with using PER as a good playoff metric, because of its heavy emphasis on utilization. Aside from that, Bonner might actually be the #1 player in the NBA in terms of which player's PER is least reflective of his value.
But yes, sample size. His playoff career consists of 552 minutes, roughly 18 30-minute games. Even a full 62 game season can show a lot of variation for a player.
Oh heck yeah, absolutely. And I also acknowledge Bonner has the type of mind that's more prone to be affected by that sort of thing. It's definitely possible (though unlikely, imo) that his lower 3P% is because he feels more pressure in the playoffs and has more performing his shot.
Bonner, as much as any player in the NBA, practices repeating his 3-point shot over and over and over and over. To him, I doubt the shot is pressure-driven at all anymore. Once you've taken tens of thousands of shots in your lifetime, my bet is it's just automatic. Catch ball, take your shooting motion.... very little thought involved.
I've seen Bonner a couple times now at HEB but haven't bothered him. Maybe next time I'll ask him that question -- if he feels pressure in those situations, or if the shot is automatic. I'm actually very genuinely curious.
Compared to Matt, Robert Horry 3P%, both on the regular season and playoffs is dismal... yet he was a much more effective stretch 4 simply because he hit when it mattered, and built a name hitting when it mattered.
Stephen Jackson is another guy that just has that "edge" or knack to hit when you need it.
You don't teach that, you don't practice that, it's not mechanical. It's all in the head.
I've discussed this for 3 years...
I appreciate you taking the time for a civil discussion. I never discard being wrong either.
I'm just glad that he's an afterthought nowadays and that his poor playoff performances aren't as impactful as previous years.
He's a born loser and choker but he's surrounded by winners now instead of RJ so his deficiencies are better masked.
Fair point on the utilization, though I did notice that his playoff 3PA/min is nearly identical to his career regular-season rate, so it's not that he's simply not getting the shots.
I understand what you're saying, but I'm calling this an agree to disagree thing. The sample size is low, but it backs the experience from watching games. We can all easily remember moments from regular season games where we think "Wow, that was a real momentum-changing 3 from Bonner right there." It just doesn't seem like he hits those kind of shots in the playoffs for some reason, despite sometimes having the opportunities.
I'd love it if you were right and he started regressing to his mean, though. I'd love to go back to having confidence in him in tight playoff games.
Edited to add: I do agree with you that he adds value without ever taking a shot. We've all seen that. I'm just afraid of situations coming up where nobody on the floor really believes he's going to hit, so the Thunder give him space, and he can't make them pay. At that point, his hidden value dissipates.
Bonner needs to be relegated to what he truly is...a player that comes in the game, if he hits a shot or two, give him more minutes. If he doesn't, yank him and let him ride the pine. That should be the extent of who he is on any basketball team.
Predictable. It's all match-up related, so relax. Pop will probably continue to give him a first half stint -- even though his minutes overlap the Thunder's small ball lineup -- because they can hide him defensively on Sefolosha or Cook. If he can make a three or two, great. If not, he won't play in the second half (he probably won't either way, unless he get's obscenely hot).
The great thing from here on out is that he's not really needed. Between the Thunder and Heat, the Spurs don't need a true backup four, because both play four perimeter players in their second unit.
This ceased to become a huge issue when "starting center" was removed from his job description.
Game 2 too...
what's ya point, son?
That IMO Blair would be more productive on this series as previously stated
We're in the playoffs now. No point in complaining about Bonner. His role isn't going to change and Pop has shown that he is willing to yank him if he struggles. If anything, we should support and believe in him.
I think my thread and posts are not bashing Bonner but highlighting that IMO Blair would be more effective "nasty" vs. this team. Heck maybe even Splitter should be the first big off the bench.
Isn't this game 3 currently going on the right time to play Blair? We're 22 points down and he hasn't even tasted the floor when bonner is getting beat for the rebounds by their SG and Anderson is seeing minutes.
Yes. More Blair. Less Bonner. ing please.
bbb bonner gives us a few boards and tons of toughness
Bonner can't play one more minute in the playoffs. He's ing scared, as aways.
Play a 3 men rotation or small ball
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