Matt Bonner, beyond the +/-

by Jesse Blanchard

Statistical geeks love him, casual fans and traditionalists abhor him. Given that the team manages to stay out of the headlines and no longer employs Bruce Bowen, perhaps no Spurs player is more polarizing than Matt Bonner.

How polarizing? Just take a look at the opening paragraph of one of Timothy Varner’s more recent posts.

Whenever I talk with Matt Moore the conversation invariably leads to Matt Bonner, someone I do my best to defend. Moore thinks Bonner stinks. Shouldn’t be on an NBA court, or something to that effect. He’s the cause of much beard-tugging consternation for our favorite hoophead. My response, the easy response, is to tell Moore that Bonner eats APM for breakfast, and then smugly kick my feet up and call it a day. No rants against redheads here thank you.

Unless you have an obsession with Daryl Morey and Shane Battier (and most fans advocating Bonner probably do), the thought of changing a game without being directly involved in many plays is a hard concept to grasp.

Any discussion on players who make their teammates better inevitably turns to playmakers like Chris Paul, Steve Nash, Lebron James or Manu Ginobili. Or to a defensive presence like Dwight Howard or Tim Duncan, who cover for their teammates.

Such narrow views are why people rail on and on about “pure” point guards without realizing that a player who can completely break down a defense makes it easier for his teammates to find open shots by operating against scrambling defenses  even if they aren’t racking up a great deal of assists.

Or, how a big man with three-point range can devastate a defense even if he only makes three or four shots on any given night.

But in discerning the value of Bonner and his +/- the question remains—is Bonner’s advanced statistical value the result of the teammates he shares the floor with, or his own unique skill set?

The simple answer is that it’s a symbiotic relationship. Bonner would not be nearly as effective on a bad team, and the Spurs are a much more dangerous team when he plays well.

The Spacing

There is a valid argument in stating Bonner’s viable NBA skill set is limited to being merely a floor spacer, but to view this skill set as being quantifiable by a term such as “merely” is in itself a limited view of the game.

In Duncan, Ginobili and Parker, the Spurs have a trio of stars that excel at both scoring and generating shots for teammates. The flipside is, for all Duncan’s length, Ginobili’s craftiness or Parker’s speed, none are particularly explosive leapers, thus each requires sufficient space to work at peak levels (Ginobili less so).

And not all spacing is equal. It is important to consider what part of the defense is stretched thin and what section of the floor the three-point shooting  is coming from. Pulling a big man out of the lane is much more valuable than keeping wings and guards at home. It changes the dynamics of defensive sets and rotations.

Furthermore, most of the Spurs shooters comfort zones are from the corner to the wings. Outside of Ginobili, Bonner might be the only other player with comfortable range out to  the top of the key right now, creating another stress point for defensive rotations to get to. This is vital.

By receiving the ball as a threat at the top of the key, Bonner has the option of reversing the ball with an extra pass and opening up the entire court. In the NBA, wide open three-pointers are those taken with unbelievable athletes closing out within fractions of seconds. The attention Bonner receives opens up the three-point shooters even more, providing another shooter to chase and, after a few passes, nets more time for shooters to gather and get a shot off.

Which leads me back to a final point of his offensive game, which is very underrated. While not a slasher–his forays into the paint look awkward at best–when chased off the three-point line Bonner is able to put the ball on the floor and make a sound decision without turning it over.

These drives may not seem like much, but those two or three dribbles into the paint keep the defense rotating and create more driving lanes, as opposed to simply stopping to reset the entire offense and allowing a defense to get set again. So in addition to spacing, Bonner also keeps the ball moving.

The Defense

Individually, Matt Bonner is a below average defender, even if he has improved. I think one of the best assessments of Bonner’s defense can be found in John Hollinger’s scouting report:

Defensively, he doesn’t move well but has enough bulk to battle big forwards in the posts, and he proved serviceable on the defensive boards. Additionally, his defense improved a lot this past season in situations like pick-and-rolls and isolations that tax his mobility to the limit. He’ll never be a good defender, but last year he was passable. The way he shoots, passable is all he needs.

The simple truth is, there are many offensive role players whose defense is found wanting (Channing Frye comes to mind) that do not receive nearly the amount of criticism that Bonner does.

Bonner at least hits his rotations, and generally does a decent job of making players try to shoot over the top of him. Lately he has even put in some gems, going back to the New Orleans-Memphis back-to-backs in which he played some good defense on David West and Zach Randolph, two of the tougher covers in the league (seriously, go back and watch the tape).

Because his IQ and size, when placed with teammates who are familiar with the defensive scheme, Bonner is an adequate team defender. Plus, as Wayne Winston pointed out, Bonner’s offense helps boost the defense too.

With Bonner in Spurs have Eff. FG % age of 55% with him out only 51%. I think this means when Bonner is in Spurs spread floor and get good shots. So less transition baskets for opponents. Our defensive rating is based on team points given up; it’s not based on 1 on 1 defense. So if you cut your team’s turnovers and cut transition baskets you can have good rating even if your one on one defense is so so.

The Role

Do not confuse the amount of words dedicated to this piece as an attempt to paint Bonner as some sort of star. He is admittedly a limited player, which will always prevent him from being a full-time starter or getting huge minutes, but all role players are.

Rotation players on good teams generally have at least two NBA quality skills, whether it’s defense and corner threes or setting picks and rebounding. Bonner combines the obvious (a great shot) with a good IQ and NBA size–unlike a tweener such as Steve Novak, Bonner is a legitimate power forward–making him a valuable 20-25 minute a night player.