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Bonner contributed quite well tonight. He's no all-star, but he's a valuable member of this team.
I have myself felt and perceived in others a fear that coming off the bench would render Bonner useless due to confidence/rhythm issues. He came off the bench tonight and played pretty well. He shot well and judiciously. He defended competently, nothing spectacular, but he wasn't bad. Best of all, he rebounded well. While watching the game I didn't find myself saying "wow, Bonner is really crashing the boards tonight", but he ended up with a very solid 9 rebounds.
So do we think now that he can come off the bench and still contribute?
Bonner contributed quite well tonight. He's no all-star, but he's a valuable member of this team.
Yeah Bonner looked great. His D On Dirk was decent he had a hand in his face and did about all you can do. His shots looked solid and the rebounding was surprising.
IMO against OKC I'd do the same 5 if Duncan can't go with Blair Dice RJ KB and Hill.
Bonner is a serviceable bench player. Always was. Always will be.
No doubt. Bonner is a good fit - off the bench - not as a starter.
I made a thread about this in the off-season..there was a lot of mixed opinions, which always happens with Bonner..
He's one of the best 3-point shooting big men in the NBA..he has some ability to drive and shoot his little hook-shots..he can make the mid-range J..
the problem with Bonner is that he can't defend against top-tier big men..Bonner is a smart defender though..he gives effort, he gets in good position, and he contests shot..he just doesn't have the physical ability, which is a huge part of defending in the NBA..
When you move him to the bench, this isn't as big of an issue..he's gonna be going up against guys that are A LOT less talented than the players he's facing as a starter..when he's going up against guys like Drew Gooden, it's not a big deal, but when he's going up against Dirk, it's different..
Bonner as a bench player is usually going to be as good or better than his opponent, or at least as good of a mismatch..
I was just elated to see that neither him nor finley started tonight. But yeah Bonner played pretty good tonight. He has shown to be quite reliable when Pop doesn't over use him. Definitely a good role player as hard as it is to admit sometimes.
to this thread.
I agree completely. The concern I had, and that I perceived from others, was that Bonner might not shoot with the same confidence/success and play with a general sense of rhythm off the bench. I now think and hope these fears are baseless.
I agree. And those fears have now been transferred to Mason.
He is a nice spark to have off the bench.
15 mins top against the other team's bench, and when Finley is not out there is ok with me.
I understand him playing more minutes now that TD is injured, but one Tim comes back that should be his role IMO.
Agreed. Hopefully he can be a sharpshooter/minimal ball handler off the bench when the rotation is at its full capacity, but I don't think any of us are sure he can still be in rhythm with his jumper in limited minutes.
I gotta give Bonner props tonight. That three he hit late saved the Spurs from a brutal collapse.
Bonner is just fine against other team's bench bigs.
The thinking about him being this horrible burden on the team has just gotten ridiculous.
True. We'll see. Hopefully, this is just a slump. But too early to know...
Nice thread!
Bonner is bench fodder and can compete against other team's bench fodder. There was no doubt about that. He just can't compete with other team's front line bigs.
cosign 100%
Indeed, he's awesome off the bench. His game-saving 3 was almost as good as his driving one-handed two-hand dunk.
I never wanna see Finley, Mason, and Bonner on the floor at the same time, but i love to see Bonner come off the bench. He fits much better in that role unlike Finley and Mason who both have to start to have a good game but i dont wanna see that.
Only took Popovich last year's playoffs, entire off season & training camp, preseason, and part of a new season to figure out what seems fairly obvious to anyone with a modi of intelligence - that Bonner is not starter quality and is best suited to come off the bench where he is infinitely more comfortable and productive.
I'm still holding my breath however, when Duncan returns to the starting lineup I would not be surprised to see Popovich in all his infinite wisdom totally mess the team over again reins uting Bonner as the starting center.
If that happens just please shoot me.
Well I'm going to enjoy this while it lasts. I'm about 5 mins into watching the maverick game and I am happy as seeing McDyess in the starting lineup and knocking down two early J's and smothering Dirk defensively. This is the kind of guy Duncan needs next to him to act as a pressure valve.
Bonner's actually a decent player. He just isn't starter material, but he's serviceable off the bench. I hope POP finally realizes this because the Bonner experiment is a complete failure
And just what exactly would benching Bonner during last year's playoffs have accomplished?
Getting players acclimated to the system while still trying to win early games seems sound enough to me. Barring injury, Bonner will not start any important games when it truly counts. Get over yourself.
"Getting players acclimated to the system" I should hope a full training camp and pre-season would be enough to accomplish this. Once the regular season starts you really need to get your starters together so they can get acclimated to each other as soon as possible. That is how players develop chemistry with each other.. you know by playing with one another.
And then there's the fact that with Bonner out there starting, Timmy has to carry not only his load defensively but most of Bonner's as well. Popovich is doing a huge disservice to Tim Duncan at this stage of his career by putting a defensive liability like Bonner next to him especially when there are better options on the team. Even last year there were better options - Oberto, Thomas, and Gooden were all better than Bonner defensively.
This is a pretty good sign IMO. If he can come in and hit a few open shots (or miss) and stretch out the floor, he can be very valuable in spot minutes.
Also, his new newly acquired skill to drive the basketball may come in handy. So far he hasnt made any dumb or careless mistakes, so if he can effectively surprise his defender and drive the ball once every few games, that's a big plus too imo.
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