So Matt Bonner was (controversially) re-signed. I thought it was a good move, and an important one. He is a very solid defender against many opponents. While he's not the toughest cover out there, he demands coverage every play all the way out to beyond the three point line unlike many stretch posts who are inconsistent or whose range only extends to about 18-20 feet. He is also a repository of corporate knowledge, a totally unselfish player, a good locker room guy, and of course is Coach B on and off the court. No matter how ungainly and Scalabriny he looks, it is impressive that the Spurs were able to secure a 6-10 solid defender who knocks down 43% of his threes for the vet minimum.

PtR came out with this article today.

http://www.poundingtherock.com/2014/8/12/5940373/portrait-matt-bonner

How does everyone (probably mostly Spurs fans, since others won't have seen him play a whole lot) feel about the Battier comparison and other things this article mentions? Am I the only one who thinks his re-signing was important?

Also, I am going to buy that painting to put over my fireplace if it takes all the money I have.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 8/13/2014 1:04p).]

I am firmly in the pro Bonner camp. I love him. Pretty pumped he will be back next year.

And some of those stats in the article are crazy. I always thought he did a good job defensively. He is very solid, doesn't fall for pump fakes often, physical and the effort is through the roof.

Love him.

The Battier comparison is off IMO. Battier was a legitimately good defender, capable of bothering some of the better wings in the league. Bonner is in the perfect role for someone of his skill set. He's the random trick up the sleeve of Pop that he pulls out to throw teams off, whenever he feels he needs it. The article summed up Bonner's defensive "prowess" pretty well. He comes in limited situations against players that aren't elite scorers down low and they see a goofy, unathletic ginger and try to exploit the match up. But they're being baited into it. Bonner isn't a good defender by any means, but he isn't bad either. He knows where he's supposed to be, where his help will be, knows he can't block shots so he stays on the floor, and uses his fouls wisely to not give up easy buckets. If Matty B had to play heavy rotation minutes, he'd be exposed against the better low posts players, similar to the Memphis series mentioned. But Bonner sits on the end of the bench dreaming of sandwiches until Pop calls him and he gives about 8-10 minutes against some non threat like Ibaka and makes them look silly because they try to do more than they're capable.

I love Bonner, but it was frustrating watching him those season where he was our 4th big instead of the end of the bench floor spacer that he is now.

Red Rocket!

He was a starter for one year. That was definitely too much for his skill set, but I think he's a little better defensively than you're allowing.

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He knows where he's supposed to be, where his help will be, knows he can't block shots so he stays on the floor, and uses his fouls wisely to not give up easy buckets.

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Doesn't that make him an above-average NBA post defender? There are an awful lot of guys who constantly swing between committing dumb fouls after late rotations and being useless because they are in foul trouble and swinging at shot attempts is the only card in their deck. He'll get bowled over by the Howards and Gasols of the world if he has to cover them for very long, but so does everyone else.

I bet when Tim practices against Bonner, neither of them ever leaves the floor.

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I think he's a little better defensively than you're allowing.

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I said he wasn't a bad defender, just not good either. Like I said, he's in the perfect role where his defensive inabilities aren't exploited because he's not on the court enough and not asked to cover guys he's not capable of. My argument was that comparing him to Battier wasn't fair because Battier was a very good defender and could handle a larger role and not be as exposed as Bonner.

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I bet when Tim practices against Bonner, neither of them ever leaves the floor.

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They probably don't run either.

You know it is the offseason when long articles are being written about the greatness of Matt Bonner.

I am very happy that Bonner re-signed, he was overpaid the last couple of years, but now he is a bargain at the league min for the defending champs so it all balances out. Part of me thinks that if the Spurs hadn't been so infatuated with Bonner the last few years and used his money on a true stretch four or athletic big, we could have stole at least one more title since 2007. I think they wanted a Diaw but were stuck with a Bonner for a few years. Bonner is a good end of the bench guy but not a starter or huge contributor.

This offseason if the Spurs had gone out and gotten a better stretch four to compliment Diaw then Bonner's worth would be pretty negligible to the Spurs and the league and I would have been fine with not signing him. Since we didn't, he definitely fills a role and could still legitimately be called on to help the team situationally as he was in the playoffs. There is a reason he wasn't offered a ton of money by other teams though.

I don't think I would go as far as to say that his signing was of huge importance or that he is on par with a player like Battier. Heck battier would be in higher demand right now, if he didn't retire.

Bonner is a classic Pop and Spurs system player. He wouldn't have good enough stats to write an article about if he played for any other team. He is smart, he knows his role, he knows his limitations and he doesn't try to do too much so he fills a role. Add in that he is a great guy and good for team chemistry (and can shoot the three ball and be a warm body to guard a post) and it is a no brainer to bring him back if you don't have a better upgrade waiting in the wings.

It still cracks me up, that someone wrote this article about Bonner. Talk about the media making the news.

Pounding the Rock, a fantastic Spurs site, is doing at article on every player from the Championship team. Nobody is making news.

Yeah, they managed to write complimentary articles about Jeff Ayres and Austin Daye. If you can pull that off, you can sure manage one for Matt Bonner.

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Pounding the Rock, a fantastic Spurs site

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anything is better than that 48 minute of hell garbage ESPN peddles.