Is Matt Bonner having a good season or a great season?
by greyberger on Mar 19, 2011 3:16 PM CDT
Email
Print
On the surface of it, this should be a career year for the Red Rocket. The Spurs are fiffy-five and thirteen on the strength of a three-point offense, and nobody shoots the three-ball like Matt Bonner. Team success, a crazy 3pt percentage, and those Coach B videos - what's not to like? Just like Evita, however, there need to be some stanzas about his Rainbow Tour being a qualified success.
Among Spurs who get a significant amount of minutes Bonner is last in Usage Rate, which measures how many shots, free throws and turnovers come from each player on a per-possession basis. He attempts the same number of field goals per 36 minutes as Tiago Splitter or Antonio McDyess, but gets to the line very rarely.
The three-point barrage is impressive - he makes nearly three per 36 minutes (most on the team) and shoots 'em at 50%. You don't get to heights like that without being very selective on your shots, and his low turnover rate shows that when he does pass up the three he can make smart decisions with the ball.
It still seems a shame not to make the most out of our most efficient option. Manu and Gary Neal attempt 6.6 threes per 36 minutes to Bonner's 5.5 attempts - Manu takes threes off the dribble and behind screens, but Neal gets his attempts high by getting out in transition and making himself open and available. If Bonner could attempt an additional one or two three pointers a game without his percentage dropping much it would amount to free points.
Here on PTR I've seen a lot of people point out his improvements when it comes to team defense. This is something that's hard to get to with statistics but is extremely important in the playoffs. Improved or not I don't think he's in McDyess's class of defenders. There are always going to be trade-offs when you give minutes to a 'specialist' like Bonner in the post-season so it's a matter of getting the most out of the positive things Coach B brings to the team.
I'll leave you with this tidbit table of how many field goals Matt Bonner attempts per 36 minutes this season:
| Month | FGA |
|---|---|
| October | 7.71 |
| November | 10.82 |
| December | 7.28 |
| January | 9.87 |
| February | 8.38 |
| March | 9.88 |
| Average | 8.99 |
22 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
First 30 + Oklahoma and Memphis games was good, after that played like shit, no rebound, no score, no D, stupid fouls
naw he hit some shots and spreads the floor all the time when hes in…by far the most underrated value he has is opening up the floor for the offense when hes in there even when he doesn’t hit a shot.
there is no stat for that so its hard to see unless you watch the games and understand the offense. his def is also way better this year (again no stats but hes stayed in front of his guy and def shots at the rim without fouling much better this year)
He is having a good season, but it has a lot to do with expectations, role and mins. effort and team D is fine but spreading the floor and hitting 3s is his main role. He is having a good solid season for a 7-8th guy on the team.
His team D is ok and better then in the past but hes not athletic or lock down guy. he has no shot creation in him and everyone cringes (or should) when he starts trying to do anything dribbling. he is a spot up shooter who can spread the floor and hit open shots…thats about it. he would have a role on any team if he was 6" shorter and hes a mismatch cause of his height but thats all he is.
Keep in mind his shots per game are effected by defense. As a spot up shooter if they close out hard on him he might never take a shot because he isn’t open. there isn’t a stat for this if he doesn’t take a shot cause he wasn’t open but it also doesn’t mean he isn’t helping the team by spreading the floor, it also doesn’t mean the offense isn’t getting (or trying to) him the ball.
one of the basic ideas drilled into everyone’s head by pop is if you are open you take the shot and Bonner does…if you are not open thats different. part of any high efficiency shooter (high FG%, low TO%) is that they work in the offense. its easy to say wow look Bonner should be shooting more, but part of why he shots so well is he takes mostly “open” shots and he isn’t taking all the shots so the D isnt locked into him.
The three-point barrage is impressive – he makes nearly three per 36 minutes (most on the team) and shoots ‘em at 50%. You don’t get to heights like that without being very selective on your shots, and his low turnover rate shows that when he does pass up the three he can make smart decisions with the ball.
It still seems a shame not to make the most out of our most efficient option.
you just answered your own question
he is having a good season and is a 7-8 player off the bench and is a specialist. i love bonner and love the role he has on our team but i wouldn’t over state how good he is playing. if he plays great in the playoffs and has a horry/kerr moment or 2 then he gets bumped up a notch maybe by right now hes solid.
i liked his role last night…some good reb in the 2nd half but in the first things not gonig well at least he was physical. some teams have a pf/c on the bench jsut to be physical and knock down some people…if bonner can be 6 physical fouls a game when his shot isn’t going down thats awesome
His best season, so by that definition, it would be great in context to his career. He’s really become more than one dimensional. He’s not at least 1.5 dimensional. His defense has become much better which is saying a lot because there was no defense a year and a half ago. He’s learned how to play smart and that helps him stay on the floor.
He also look like he improved the quickness to his release. My guess is Chip is working with him on improving the speed. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it even quicker by the start of next season.
He definitely has more hop to his step. He really got slowed by his injury though.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
if we qualify it by saying his best year then we also have to say does that even matter…in the context of bonners career is he that good…is a great year for him that good. is it great if its his best year but he cant crack the top 7 of our rotation?
again i love bonner and his role on the team im just saying he is only having a good season
I don’t think there’s anything to crack. He’s not meant to be the main 5. He’s arguably the best big off the bench now that McDyess is in the lineup even though he is slumping.
In Pop’s system, there’s really nothing he can do to move up in the rotation. He’s pretty much scored the best place he can. He can only lose his current spot.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
I think he has been great this season but from what I understand about Bonner is he has to play lights out in the playoffs for anyone to be singing his praises this year. Watching Bonner this year he does seem to be much improved on the defensive end and a lot of that is just effort, want, and desire too be better defensively. No one is a natural great defender. It takes hard work desire. Ask Bruce he wanted to be a great defender worked hard, and is one of the best if not the best defenders that has ever played this game. How is his number still not retired by the Spurs?
what I understand about Bonner is he has to play lights out in the playoffs for anyone to be singing his praises this year.
Please..Bonner has more apologists than probably anyone else on the team. Which is understandable considering that he’s a likeable guy, good in the locker room and the community, and has won some regular season games for us the past several years. Unfortunately, he was assign to fill the role left open by Robert Horry, but other than “floor spacing big man” he has none of the intangible skills that Horry brought to the team. Nevertheless, he still gets ample playing time. This tends to frustrate lots of people.
That being said, maybe we should have a debate over who is the more polarizing spur amongst the fan base: Parker or Bonner.
As for your last question, my opinion is that if Avery had his number retired, there’s no reason why Bowen shouldn’t already.
Bonner is definitely more polarizing. Our love/hate for Bonner has been a prominent theme of PTR ever since Iv’e been visiting. Parker vacillates between love and hate, with Matt both are usually present at the same time.
"SMH!!! ITS THAT BAD IMMA A BEAST LOL!!!!" - DeJuan45
Parker also gets the underrated portion, where there isn’t hate, but there isn’t a lot of praise either.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
It’s very rare that role players (especially ones that have one really good specialty) will play lights out. I don’t think Bonner needs to play lights out. He just needs to continue to hit shots, keeping the defense honest. Last year, he began to show his improvements.
Honestly, he shouldn’t have as many problems now that there are more shooters on the team. The spacing should be pretty good. And Bonner’s learning to attack the basket if he gets chased off the 3-pt line will benefit the Spurs a lot.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
After a spurs game, there are 2 stats I look at from the box scores when it comes to Bonner: 3-pt shooting and +/-.
The first stat is obvious since it is one area where Matt excels. The second, +/-, gives me an indication of the effect of his presence on overall team play. It is not a coincidence that Matt almost always has a positive +/-, even if he did not have a particularly good 3-pt shooting night.
So to answer the question: I believe Matt is having a good season individually, but his positive impact on the team is even greater, given the Spurs’ gaudy W-L record.
by tuxedo on Mar 20, 2011 7:43 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
Bonner is number 36 in the league in the +/-.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
Bonner is what he is. He’s an excellent spot up shooter, who plays smart basketball, but suffers from a lack of athleticism compared to most of the players he’s matched up with.
He also has a tendency to drop off come playoff time. This occurs because he’s dependent on open shots that he loses when the defenses become more effective in the playoffs and teams make a concentrated effort to stay home on him. They also start to target him on the other end, which diminishes his confidence. When this happens he tends to get gun shy and will pump and drive to the lane more often than he should, usually to negative consequences.
I’m not sure Bonner is that much better than last year, but rather the team around him is much better. Let’s hope he’ll keep it up when the playoffs come this time around, but the past couple of weeks haven’t encouraged me much.
His jump shot is better than it was last year in terms of speed of release. It’s still slow, but it is faster. His game has improved more on the defensive end than his shooting game. He’s also improved his inside the arc scoring game. That’ll help him hurt the defenses.
It’ll also help when the Spurs have a Gary Neal on the court at the same time as Bonner as defenses will have issues keeping honest on each man. Someone is going to see an advantage on the Spurs.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
I think it should be noted that in two of the three playoff series that Bonner has had an important role, he was matched against Dirk. The amount of mental and physical energy it takes to focus on defending such a great player, especially in your first ever playoff start when all you’ve been is a role player, is tremendous. He was asked to start at that time because Manu was injured and we needed the offense. Imagine how our playoff opinion of Bonner would be different if at that time he was only a bench player, with fewer minutes, receiving passes from Manu. I bet most people don’t recall how well he played in the final two games of the PHX series last season simply because we lost.
- Thank you SF Giants for an incredible 2010 season and painting the City orange & black!
- I vow to never again mention "playoffs" and "49ers" together until we have a "quarterback."
- You gotta bring ass to get ass.
One place you can look for evidence of Matt spacing the floor and spreading the defense is in player’s on court/off court shooting splits.
You can find it at the very bottom of player pages like this one, where it says “On Court / Off Court Stats”. As you can see the Spurs shoot 2.4% better when Matt is on the floor (54.1% eFG to 51.8%).
Unfortunately there’s no way to distinguish Bonner’s positive influence on the team’s eFG% from every other player’s effect on our shooting. Bonner shares the court a ton with George Hill (73% of the time), and Hill has a similar effect and is also an efficient scorer. So all we can say for sure is that the Hill-Bonner combo has led to some good shooting…
Bonner has had a significantly positive effect on the team’s shooting every year he’s been here. At the very least we can say there’s some truth to the whole ‘spreading the floor whether he shoots it or not’ meme, at least in the regular season.
"SMH!!! ITS THAT BAD IMMA A BEAST LOL!!!!" - DeJuan45
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
NBA Playoffs Content Module
Related FanPosts on Pounding The Rock
Related FanShots on Pounding The Rock
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recommended FanShots
Recent FanShots
Featured Stories
In Association With
Ball Don't Lie - NBA - Yahoo! Sport
- ‘Deep Thoughts’ and Cheap Thoughts: San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
- C-a-C: This is probably as close to LeBron James working with John Waters as we’ll ever get
- Dwyane Wade’s hot pink pants: The kind of thing you can get away with when you drop 41
- Lamar Odom to New York? Dwight Howard on the move? For now, it’s all talk
- David West hilariously denies each and every one of his young fans a high-five (VIDEO)
