Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011...7:33 pm
Best three point shooter in the world?
This is not your game recap. That will come.
Good times in the Spurs locker room after their defeat of the Cavaliers tonight. There was a lively inter-team debate—all in good, self-deprecating fun—about who was the better open three point shooter, Matt Bonner or Gary Neal. One could tell that the conversation was, in some sense, a sound ribbing of Neal, Bonner, or both. It’s hard to say what they did to bring on the harassment—Bonner was clearly embarrassed to be the subject of the argument.
The best part? As we gathered around the lockers of Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess and Manu Ginobili, Ginobili put Express-News reporter Mike Monroe on the spot, asking him to choose between Neal and Bonner. Both were within earshot of Monroe. Monroe, to his credit, wisely chose Bonner.
Jefferson, whose sympathies were with Bonner, pointed out that Matt Bonner is the best three point shooter in the NBA (but, oddly, never deserving of an invitation to the All-Star Three Point Shootout). And if the NBA is best league in the world, then Bonner was not only the best open three point shooter in the world, he was also the best three point shooter in the world, no qualifications.
If there had been a football within reaching distance, Jefferson would have spiked it and shouted “QED”.
Jefferson’s argument brought a spirited defense from Manu Ginobili, who began to wax eloquent in defense of three point shooters in places not named North America. In fact, Ginobili described Jefferson’s comment as “xenophobic” and a discussion of what constitutes xenophobia ensued. It was actually smart stuff, even if the discussion’s genesis came to life from a team-wide joke.
If only Matt Bonner had reminded everyone that he’d love to be Canadian—and he sort of, kind of is—the United Nations might have been moved to hoist a flag outside the AT&T Center prior to Friday’s game against the Heat.
Manu Ginobili’s argument against Jefferson, by the way, sounded eerily familiar to one Gregg Popovich often employs.
I suspect the team is currently on their way to Hopkins International Airport discussing the finer points of U.S. foreign policy, or some such.
23 Comments
March 2nd, 2011 at 7:46 pm
With all due respect, I really don’t like being a hater here, but if you’re gonna brag about whose an awesome three point shooter then I want to see more 3′s being made. This is like debating whose the best poop shoveler when in the end you’re still shoveling poop.
Yes, I know that was negative, but hopefully it lights a fire under some of these guys to step it up and bring their A game for Miami.
You wanna brag about shooting? Prove it on Friday and you can talk all you want to……
March 2nd, 2011 at 8:03 pm
Totally right. The Spurs players should live a joyless existence until they win the championship. Innocent fun little locker room shenanigans after a win have no place in a locker room of a winning basketball team. They should be banned from such frolicking until they have the championship trophy in their hands. Then when they do they can sit around and in a polite way tell each other all the funny things they would have said during the year if they were not so focused.
March 2nd, 2011 at 8:25 pm
Ryan and Johnny, lighten up boys. I’d leave the locker room laws to the fellas with a championship track record. If Timmy, Manu, and the other leadership presences make the call to have some fun, let them. It obviously wouldn’t have happened had they lost, or even won in a shabby way. They took care of business. Besides, Los Spurs are the last bunch of pro athletes in the world who need to be lectured on off-the-court behavior. They could call themselves the sporting saints.
March 2nd, 2011 at 8:27 pm
Oh and Ryan, if you don’t want to be a hater, don’t be one. Your silly, ignorant, and absolutely incorrect comment will not light a fire under anyone, if for no other reason than that no one from the Spurs organization will ever see it. Sorry to burst your bubble, kiddo.
March 2nd, 2011 at 8:30 pm
Geeeeeez! Can’t these guys be human beings for a few minutes? They have the right to laugh, kid around, and let their sense of humor show once in a while.
In case you forget, they have Popovich to keep them from being practical jokers and clowns 24/7.
March 2nd, 2011 at 8:37 pm
One word:CHEMISTRY.
March 2nd, 2011 at 8:43 pm
@SamBunnel
Johnny was clearly joking. Lol. What’s really impressive is the intellectual portion of the discussion.
March 2nd, 2011 at 8:45 pm
So they are not allowed personalities? They are serious on the court and regular guys off it. I don’t want them to be robots. They also have the RINGS to disprove those 2 guys idiotic views.
March 2nd, 2011 at 10:39 pm
Sarcasm can be pretty hard to read online, but I’m pretty sure JOHNNY was being just that: sarcastic… Ryan on the other hand, not so much.
I love this inside the locker room stuff… Hopefully more will come. Also, I wish they had a channel where you could here the players on the court. No play by play, just all the sh*t talking going on.
March 3rd, 2011 at 12:13 am
I was totally being sarcastic. It is hard to read sarcasm online, because the amount of crazy stuff people say online that they are serious about. But seriously I love little stories like these. Good job.
March 3rd, 2011 at 1:12 am
Nice to see the guys are loose and enjoying themselves. They’d have even more laughs if they read some of the panicky stuff written by fans during this historic regular season.
March 3rd, 2011 at 5:58 am
Bonner should be nervous…….G.Neal is rising quickly up the ladder of best 3pt shooter in the league, plus he can shoot the 3 ball off of a dribble stepback which Bonner is unable to do. All in all I love the locker room harmony.
March 3rd, 2011 at 6:29 am
@SpurredOn
Actually, they do.
At least one of them.
March 3rd, 2011 at 6:47 am
While Bonner has more NBA time logged than Neal, my vote is cast for Neal.
That dude can hit the set 3, bounce around a screen and hit the 3, dribble to the line then hit the 3 and as he did against OKC, drive, then back out and nail the 3.
Did I put enough 3s in that paragraph?
Neal is a rookie in name only that dude is 26 and is absolutely nails out on the court!
Riley will probably win the GM of the Year Award but in my opinion, that award should go to RC because he has assembled some serious talent to a team that was clearly aging….and he did it without issuing a single max contract, even to Tony Parker.
March 3rd, 2011 at 6:47 am
This post got me thinking about an article I read where Bonner talks about his car (I think it was a mid 2000′s Toyota or the like). When I checked his Wikipedia page I realized it was woefully incomplete. To me, Bonner is one of the most interesting professional athletes in the world (world used intentionally/jokingly) and it is a sad day when that is not reflected in the public record.
I put a call out to those in the Spurs community with time and the requisite experience in updating Wiki pages to give him the credit he deserves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Bonner
March 3rd, 2011 at 6:55 am
And yes, while Richard’s comments can not be considered xenophobic in the strict meaning of the word, its not fair for the basketball world.
It’s the same when the NBA calls the NBA champion the “World Champion”, being that the NBA its composed only for teams from USA and Canada.
March 3rd, 2011 at 7:25 am
oh to be a fly on the wall. i agree that the “world champion” thing is a bit narcissistic. don’t we hang banners that say “NBA Champions”?
i think many nba athletes are much more interesting than we give them credit for. it’s nice to see that it extends to intellectually stimulating material too, rather than general quirkiness (which while entertaining, i just don’t find as fascinating). kinda like niels bohr being a great track athlete or mayim bialik having a neuroscience phd.
March 3rd, 2011 at 7:34 am
I believe it Bonner has/had a White Pontiac Grand Prix. He bought it for the leg room.
March 3rd, 2011 at 9:33 am
Johnny
+10
Clearly you were speaking tongue in cheek. And you made a good point.
@AS: “the NBA its composed only for teams from USA and Canada.”
Don’t forget we have more international players in the NBA than ever before. Think Manu and Tp and Dirk and AK47m just to name a few. Do we really think there’s a team outside of the US that could beat the NBA champ each year? I wouldn’t bet on teams even as good as Argentina or China being able to do it. The NBA champ is the World Champ.
March 3rd, 2011 at 9:36 am
[...] 48 Minutes of Hell reports: ”Good times in the Spurs locker room after their defeat of the Cavaliers tonight. There was [...]
March 3rd, 2011 at 10:00 am
@irongiantkc
According to your logic, the champion of the Italian league is the World Champion, because they have international players in the roster…oh, wait, the spanish champion has foreigners too…and the greek…the russian too…
This is the kind of reasoning that make some people think that the USA educacional system isn’t working very well.
Did you happen to know that Argentina (and others) beat team USA in some international tournaments?
The NBA champ is NOT the World Champ
March 3rd, 2011 at 11:25 am
Hey guys.. I didn’t mean for the comment to come across as being an ass and not allowing these guys to have any sort of personalities, Of course they should.. locker room chemistry and fun are what keeps morale up and what keeps this team winning…
What the comment WAS intended for is that karma has a really, really bad way of showing up when you really don’t want it too, and to boast about whose a better 3-pt shooter (for what they did against Cleveland of all teams) is just asking for trouble.. especially from a team who practically does it’s best to stay out of the limelight.
My apologies if it came across that way..
March 3rd, 2011 at 3:55 pm
AS
C’mon. weak reasoning. Do you seriously believe that the winner of the Itanlian League could put up more than 50 on the Celtics, the Mavs, the Heat, the Spurs, the Magic, or the Lakers? That goes for the Spanish champion, the Russian champion, or the Greek champion. How did the US do against the competition last summer? Who played in that tournament?
The 13 finalists for the USA World Championship Team are: Chauncey Billups (Denver Nuggets); Tyson Chandler (Dallas Mavericks); Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors); Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder); Rudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies); Eric Gordon (Los Angeles Clippers); Danny Granger (Indiana Pacers); Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers); Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves); Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Lakers); Rajon Rondo (Boston Celtics); Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls); and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder).
Ya think they might have been any better with CP3, Kobe, Garnet, Dwight Howard, Carmelo, Bosh, Dwyane Wade, and Deron Williams? Those are the guys planning on coming back to defend their 2008 olympic gold.
But hey, I know of one team that could beat the NBA champ this year: the USA team.
One side point. The only time an American team has lost in international play was when all the best players opted not to participate. Do you remember the team USA team led by Allen Iverson, yeah, that wasn’t going to end in disaster.
Leave a Reply