James Anderson winds Gregg Popovich, Matt Bonner available

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Palace of Auburn Hills — Before tonight’s game Coach Popovich provided a little insight into James Anderson’s most recent assignment with the Austin Toros.

Popovich referred to James Anderson as “grossly out-of-shape”. During recent three on three drills, Anderson looked so winded, Popovich, joked, “he made me tired just watching him. He’ll have three good practices this week [in Austin] on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Then they have 4 or 5 games coming up that are pretty quick. That will do him a lot more good than me waiting to see if we’re up 20 or down 20 to put him in for 2 or 3 minutes…we want to get him back ready to be put into a game.”

Random notes from pregame:

  • Matt Bonner will be available for the game. His playing time in coming games is predicated on his pain tolerance. The Spurs aren’t worried about re-injury.
  • Pop on Steve Novak: “He’s not Mr. Defense. If I put him in the game, I want him to make a shot.”
  • Popovich noted that the Spurs wouldn’t mind seeing the D-League rules changed to allow teams more opportunities to rehab players.  Under the current rules, NBA players aren’t eligible for D-League assignments after their second season. “The two year thing is tough. We ran into that last year with Ian Mahinmi. He was hurt  one and three quarters of his time with us. We couldn’t really take advantage of the time we put into him.”

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  • Jacques

    A little dissappointed that Bonner is not in 3-point shootout contest, but it’s good to have him back on the team. Go Spurs go!

  • Wally

    I don’t care if the Spurs switched rosters with Cleveland (next year) — I’d still pay money to watch Gregg Popovich coach.

  • PC

    I’m actually okay with Bonner not being in the three point shootout. I think the rest during All Star Break will be good for him. He says he is still experiencing pain and is now just trying to learn to play thru it. That sounds like someone who could use more rest and less travel/hassle.

  • Jes

    The cavs!! Come on now, you would pay to watch the cavs?

  • rob

    I kinda agree with the two year sentiment. Does Pop think that Ian would have been able to become better (stay on this team) if not for the limitations to the current rules?

    He (Mahinmi) certainly showed promise, but doesn’t there come a point that a player just doesn’t have/develop “all” the tangibles to be an nba player? I mean if “all” players drafted or invited to join an nba team could improve to having that kind of talent…the nba would have to expand team rosters to 20 or allow more teams in the league.

    Of course one could look at Kwame Brown…after nine seasons…he’s finally playing good enough to warrant significant time on the court.

    Regarding James Anderson…I bet it was tough to develop/stay in nba physical condition considering the area of the body that needed to heal and rehab.

  • doggydogworld

    It’s criminal that Bonner is not in the 3 point shootout. Stupid on the NBA’s part, as well, as the “redheaded everyman takes on the superstars” would be good theater.

    Shawne Williams is also above 50% but he missed the first month and after a really hot first 20 games he’s only 36.7% in his last dozen games. Matt has also missed a lot of games but at 62-123 can’t be written off as a 20 game fluke. He’s top 20 in made threes per game and is a rotation player on a top team.

  • grego

    Bonner hurt himself with his last performance at the shootout. Even though he is a better shooter now than he was in the past, it looks like they don’t want to give him another shot.

  • http://bleacherreport.com BJ

    It’s cool to be rewarded for individual accomplishments but I wouldn’t care, and I’m sure the the players wouldn’t either, if any of the Spurs ever got individual recognition… that’s all fluff.
    Gotta stay focused on the main goal - another CHAMPIONSHIP!
    At the end of the season that trophy tells everyone without a doubt who the best players are, as individuals and as a team.