San Antonio Spurs resign Matt Bonner

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Matt Bonner watercolor by Jesse BlanchardThere have been no reports of meetings pitched diagramming how Matt Bonner can own his own sandwich chain, nor have there been any accounts of musician Matt Weddle being brought in to recruit him a la Jay-Z, but the Spurs appear to have settled on a fair price on Matt “the Mendoza Line” Bonner.

New Hampshire’s UnionLeader.com is reporting that the San Antonio Spurs and Matt Bonner have agreed to a four-year contract extension with a slight raise from his previous salary.

“In the end, if San Antonio was going to make a fair deal and give me a long-term contract, that’s what I was looking for at this point in my career,” Bonner said. “To not have to uproot my family and my living situation and go back where I’m established and where my daughter was born, it’s a great feeling.

It would appear to be an average contract for an (in the right circumstances) average player, and one that the San Antonio Spurs could not have given out to attract a better player without dipping into their exception money, which we all assume is earmarked for Tiago Splitter. Or maybe Shaq.

Without rehashing previous arguments too much, Bonner should supply the Spurs with spacing and absorb some much needed regular season minutes at the very least.

If the Spurs bring in Splitter or another defensive presence, perhaps they can even stop using him on the opposing team’s best post player, magnifying the contributions he does make by deemphasizing his weaknesses (defense).

It’s not a terrible deal, nor a terribly exciting deal, but it’s one that benefits the San Antonio Spurs. Because Matt Bonner with a reasonable contract is an entirely moveable piece. And in trades where salary needs to match up, Matt Bonner is good enough to stomach taking back in return.

So Matt Bonner might not be as sexy as bringing in LeBron James and Chris Bosh, but outside of Mike Miller, he’s still likely better than anyone else the Miami Heat can bring in for the veteran minimum.

  • http://www.bpifanconnect.com Alix Babaie

    NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

  • Dr. Who

    And per Mike Taylor TIAGO AND THE SPURS HAVE REACHED AN AGREEMENT!!! Still not signed but an agreement has been reached. So today is :) and :( Hopefully Bonner is way deep on the bench and doesn’t hamper Blair’s minutes. Send the Big Cactus off to Miami.

  • Big Whit

    I stole this from over at pounding the rock

    http://ticket760.com/pages/pp_spurs.html

  • BigJ

    There you go Spurs. Glad to hear Splitter is with in the mix now.

    Bonner…make more shots.

    And at the right times.

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  • http://[email protected] mvg03

    Me and my girl were bout 2 get into it when i heard the news and i lost my “bonner” hahaha

  • Robert

    Good signing. Hopefully the increase in salary doesn’t mean increase in minutes.

  • VP of Common Sense

    Do Work Splitter.

  • mrliksternow

    are you serious, why? im tired of him, looking at him reminds me of the demise of the spurs, when they tried to play him at center!! the guy CHOKES in the playoffs or under pressure!! im mad, use 3 million on someone else, 4 years!!! are u serious !! 4 years aghhhh how about getting a center that can block shots and play some defense coming off the bench, we can use 3 million much better somewhere else or not at all

  • ThatBigGuy

    Signing Bonner is good.

    Signing Splitter is better.

    Now let’s work a sign and trade with Jefferson and send him to Orlando for JJ Redick and parts.

  • agutierrez

    Limousine company owners in every NBA city are rejoicing.

  • mrliksternow

    Dear Peter Holt,
    please dont allow bonner to sign a new contract with the spurs. if we have learned anything from the ”old” celtics is that u dont have to outscore the lakers to beat them, u have to outDEFEND them. we need to go back to playing DEFENSE, remember the good old days when we had centers who defended, rebounded and blocked shots. please!! no one cares if bonner can make a 3 in the regular season if HE CANT IN THE PLAYOFFS. sir DONT U KNOW HOW EMBARRASSING IT IS TO WATCH HIM DEFEND ODOM, OR PAUL OR BYNUM. i know we’re getting splitter but more than 3 mil for bonner is insane, in my eyes he is worth the minimum. That money should b used on a wing that can shoot the 3

  • SpursfanSteve

    Actually, in the regular season Bonner defended Odom better than anyone else the Spurs had.

    And because of the way the cap works, we COULD NOT have given the money to anyone other than Bogans or Mason. Their “bird rights” also belonged to us, so we can pay them whatever we want over the cap. Other free agents, because we did not have their Bird Rights, were ineligible to recieve offers.

  • mrliksternow

    I laugh at the fact you used bonner and defense in the same sentence in a positive way.
    otherwise let bonner walk unless the spurs have a trade setup

  • Joe

    Bonner is a three-point shooter in a big-man’s body. The Spurs need all the perimeter shooters that the can find. He is an underrated defender.

  • Jim M

    Yessssssssss - I cannot wait for next season to get going, last year before his injury he was on fire. Defense? He is way under rated, same with his rebounding - he may not pull down ten a game but he’s the guy putting a body on opponents so the black & silver end up with the ball.

  • 1kangaroo

    Bonner was a horrible signing 4 years please it should have been a 2 year deal at a pay cut. They was benched in the playoffs because he could not find the bottom of the ocean and was getting abused on defense. This after doing nothing for 2 years before that for the Spurs.

    His defense is not under rated it is terrible he lacks the foot speed, he can not block shots and his rebounding is sub par.

    4 years at 4 million a year Bird rights or not way over payed and he hurts the team long term because he is not worth his contract. The contract will eat into future salary cap. No one was going to pay Bonner 4 million a year other than San Antonio they tried to unload him in the past at 3.2 million and could not because no one wanted him then. He is now a dead anchor around the Spurs neck that is basically un-trade able unless you are Packing him with Tony Parker.

    Sorry Bonner is another Malik Rose an over priced Spur who is getting a contract he should never have gotten.

  • duaneofly

    Bonner’s an underrated defender? Oh please, give me a break. He seems to be a nice guy, and he tries, but he still sucks. He was doing pretty good off the bench until he got hurt, but then, once again, he disappeared in the playoffs.
    If we didn’t sign him, Miami might have, because they need nine more players at the minimum salary to fill out their roster.
    If we didn’t sign him, and Miami didn’t sign him, he either would not be in the NBA next year, or at best would be sitting on some team’s inactive list at the veteran’s minimum. That’s not a guarantee, but something I feel quite sure of.

  • Grasse

    Hmmmm can anyone else smell a trade? Maybe Bonner and RJ for someone? As previously stated 4 mil is a easy salary to absorb if someone wants RJ and we can get a decent defensive wing?
    Just my 2 cents

  • Hollywood

    Reasonable? Anything over minimum salary for this choke artist is unreasonable. Usually, players get their contracts for what they deliver in the playoffs. Yet, Pop and RC have blocked off reality so that millionaire Matt doesn’t have to go through the horror of moving towns to another secluded subdivision.

    Matt, I’m sure you’re a nice guy but so is my drunk neighbor and I don’t want him shooting 3s in the playoffs for the Spurs either.

    Signing Matt Bonner says to the team and the league: “We aren’t serious about winning anymore. We’re soft and we have no ideas left.”

  • lvmainman

    4 yrs - $16 million for Bonner?

    Wow, talk about a waste of money.

  • Jim Henderson

    From the main post:

    “It’s not a terrible deal, nor a terribly exciting deal, but it’s one that benefits the San Antonio Spurs.”

    I disagree, and I have no idea why the FO apparently agrees. Bonner cannot play good “D”, cannot rebound, cannot block shots, and cannot shoot in the playoffs, when it counts the most. He’s taking up a roster space that should go to a better all-around player that meets more needs than just shooting the three during the regular season. If we use a stretch 4 with such limited abilities we should trash the stretch four idea. Most importantly, this team needs to get back to the defense that won them championships by improving defensively at EVERY position. Bonner’s re-signing does not accomplish this basic fact.

    “So Matt Bonner might not be as sexy as bringing in LeBron James and Chris Bosh, but outside of Mike Miller, he’s still likely better than anyone else the Miami Heat can bring in for the veteran minimum.”

    I’m assuming this was said tongue & cheek, with a jab at the Heat, but we do in fact need better role players than the Heat, and Bonner does not in any meaningful way meet that definition.

  • Jim Henderson

    mrliksternow
    July 9th, 2010 at 3:01 pm

    “Dear Peter Holt,
    please dont allow bonner to sign a new contract with the spurs. if we have learned anything from the ”old” celtics is that u dont have to outscore the lakers to beat them, u have to outDEFEND them. we need to go back to playing DEFENSE, remember the good old days when we had centers who defended, rebounded and blocked shots.”

    Exactly. Nice post mrliksternow.

    SpursfanSteve
    July 9th, 2010 at 4:23 pm

    I understand your point, but I would still not have re-signed Bonner. If I had too, I would have traded him to anyone that could defend, even if he had limited other skills.

    Joe
    July 9th, 2010 at 5:07 pm

    “Bonner is a three-point shooter in a big-man’s body. The Spurs need all the perimeter shooters that the can find. He is an underrated defender.”

    That’s the same reasoning that we’ve used for years, and look where it’s gotten us: two 1st round & one 2nd round exit over the past three years. Experiment over.

    Jim M
    July 9th, 2010 at 5:26 pm

    “He is way under rated, same with his rebounding….”

    You guys are a sucker for mediocrity.

  • grego

    Without knowing the details, often the Spurs make the last year of their deals partial guarantees.

    Jesse makes a good point that his contract is nice for multi-player trades so make a deal work.

    Also, Bonner did show up, albeit it not as consistently as one would hope in the post season. Although if he gets more time to setup his shot, he’ll more than likely hit.

    With that said, the more he can do in the regular season, the more the older guys can sit if Bonner has one of his 20-25 point games because he’s on fire from behind the arc.

    Because they have Bird Rights, Spurs get an extra exception so to speak to fill in their roster. There’s only so much you can do with the MLE, LLE and vet mins. You have to assume Splitter is eating a lot of the MLE.

    Having the full LLE for a swing man like Dorrell Wright, James Jones or Rasual Butler is key.

    This deal makes even more sense now that Splitter seems to be coming over.

  • Jose

    This move made absolutely no sense. This guy brings nothing to the team other than three-point shooting. Yet, that’s nullified by his inability to either defend or rebound the basketball. He’s already on the wrong side of 30, but the Spurs believe it’s wise to invest 4 year and approximately $10-12 million to him?

    That’s not even addressing the fact that he hurts whomever you pair him with in the frontcourt. The last two seasons Pop thought it was to play Bonner primarily with Timmy, which led to Timmy overexerting him on defense and rebounding the ball. So, eventually Timmy ran out of gas in March-April and the team suffered because of that.

    Now, who else can Pop pair Bonner with and best use his one strength and mask his weaknesses? McDyess is young and doesn’t have the length or low-post offense, Blair is to over matched physically to go against centers every night and Splitter is too green and needs to figure out the NBA game.

    Eventually, Pop will play Bonner at either the expense of McDyess or Splitter. Timmy will once again be saddle with playing primarily with Bonner and wear himself out again.

    The Spurs needed to address and improve three key areas the off-season:1) defense and it’s re-emphasis throughout the season, 2) athleticism/length and necessity to succeed in today’s NBA and finally 3) three-point shooting becoming more consistent and reliable amongst their perimeter players.

    Bonner was an asset in only one of those areas, but hindered the Spurs in the two more important and key areas. The re-signing of Bonner proves that the front-office overvalues his three-point shooting and can’t realize it’ll never make up for his lack of defense and rebounding.

  • Ferenc

    Whatever Bonner’s on-court faults, I think he’s a solid Spur off-court.

  • Cory Clay

    @Grego, I agree 100%
    With the salary cap and the way it is structured the Spurs have been limited in roster additions so a team that needs to improve its overall 3pt shooting doesn’t do that by losing an above average shooter without being able to replace him. Now with hopefully the continued improvement of George Hill, James Anderson, and whoever we sign with the LLE, we should be set on the perimeter.
    On a side note, if Parker wants to be back in the top PG discussion adding 3pt range is a must!

  • Daniel B.

    Glad to have Bonner back. We don’t need another year of trying to integrate pieces. And we do need 3-point range, which he provides better than most.

  • Jim Henderson

    grego
    July 9th, 2010 at 11:11 pm

    “Having the full LLE for a swing man like Dorrell Wright, James Jones or Rasual Butler is key.”

    As I said before, Wright is the only one that might be good enough to really help us, and none of the three are likely to sign for just the LLE.

    Jose
    July 10th, 2010 at 1:52 am

    “This move made absolutely no sense. This guy brings nothing to the team other than three-point shooting. Yet, that’s nullified by his inability to either defend or rebound the basketball. He’s already on the wrong side of 30, but the Spurs believe it’s wise to invest 4 year and approximately $10-12 million to him?”

    My thoughts exactly.

    “The last two seasons Pop thought it was to play Bonner primarily with Timmy, which led to Timmy overexerting him on defense and rebounding the ball. So, eventually Timmy ran out of gas in March-April and the team suffered because of that.”

    Nice point.

    “The re-signing of Bonner proves that the front-office overvalues his three-point shooting and can’t realize it’ll never make up for his lack of defense and rebounding.”

    Well, that’s one theory, but it’s probably a bit more complicated than that.

  • Art

    Spurs are about winning the playoffs. Bonner has consistently proved that he’s a disaster during playoffs. Bonner’s a nice guy, but the money should have been spent on someone else.

  • http://www.nba.com fatsocalifornia

    This is my 3rd message - Popovich Raja Bell we badly need a person w/ long range shooting - seriouly Mav and Laker already have eye on him. Please allow Tim Duncan to talk home Boy and bring him to Spur. Pop please do not sleep on this.

  • Jim Henderson

    fatsocalifornia
    July 10th, 2010 at 11:01 pm

    For picking up a seasoned veteran in the back court, I agree, he’d be a great fit. He is 5th on the active ALL-TIME career 3-point shooting % list, and he’s always played gritty, hard-nosed “D” on the perimeter. I think he has some legs left - hell, Bowen was still going pretty strong at Bell’s age! The problem is, I’m not sure how we could get him unless we did a sign & trade for him, but I’m not sure what team holds his bird rights, since the Warriors waived him early this past Spring (stupidly because of “financial considerations”, and because of his injury).

  • td4life

    I just want to say thank you to the following posters in this thread:
    Alix Babaie
    Dr. Who
    mrliksternow
    1kangaroo
    duaneofly
    Hollywood
    Ivmainmn
    Jim Henderson
    Jose
    Art

    Their posts above should be printed on billboards throughout Bexar County.

    Several of the other comments are nuts.

    I had avoided visiting this article until now, out of utter disappointment. But at least these comments show me that the world isn’t completely mad. We’ve been saying much the same thing for a long time, and over in the next thread, but you guys articulated the truth perfectly on this page. Even gave me a few chuckles, to boot.

    “Signing Matt Bonner says to the team and the league: “We aren’t serious about winning anymore. We’re soft and we have no ideas left.”” — Hollywood.

  • Ivander

    4 years?? what the hell happened??

  • BayAreaSpursFan

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope I only high lights of him in street clothes all year long. I hope there is something behind this deal. Terrible, just terrible.

  • http://wallmart.com roboSID

    Peter Holt .Please do not allow POPOVICH to have a PHX style no play off winning offensive sceme.Please dont waste Tim Duncans TWILIGHT years on this failed offense sceme.3yrs have passed doing this with Parker leaving because of this ,Manu getting any younger?and 3 years of Tims shelf life gone.NOOOOOOOOOOO BONNER.Peter Holt do not throw the spurs future away on this any longer.

  • http://wallmart.com roboSID

    Peter Holt i am from a military family all my grand parents an uncles served in every branch of the United States Military and i know stubornes when i see it.Pop is the head and the tail surrounded by yes men and is stubornly willfully making up his mind like a good officer does and goes 100% even if it fails.This sytem with BONNER has failed for 3yr.I almost wanted to count the SPURSout last year when they continued to make BONNER a major piece of the offense.This year its going to happen again?

  • http://wallmart.com roboSID

    I am a retired sports info director of a local college.Never in history of college basket ball did you take out a post player defender center and put in a smaller one to shoot 3’s.It takes you chances of making a shot from 75% down to 20-30%.Every time Manu an Tim would make a great effort an push BONNER comes in and we go down 15 points.

  • http://wallmart.com roboSID

    Insanity is doing somthing over an over expecting a different result.

  • zack in the alamo

    okay i know yall are as upset as i am, and i was already panicking because of tiago so you know what i did??? i called The Spurs customer sales vice president and spoke with him “Joe Clark ” i let him know that as a paying Fan of the spurs org i wanted to know if tiago was in fact being signed as buford practically promised! he then assured me and we talked for a few min he was extremely kind and wanted to hear what would keep me as a customer and that was that. i had my good friends call and put their 2 cents in afterall WE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT KEEP THEM EMPLOYED

    so spurs fans if youre truly concerned about matt bonner as i am and feel like letting the spurs know because honestly they like to know what their fans are thinking because it helps them do their job (INCREASE SALES) & at least theyll know what the average spurs fan is thinking im not saying call but i am saying at least tweet them here http://twitter.com/spurs if you dont they will contnue to think hes Robert Horry!!please do something

  • mrliksternow

    ROBERT HORRY I HATE YOU, i hated u when u where hitting clutch shots for the lakers, especially the ones u hit against the Kings. i hated u the first year u came to spurs when u couldnt hit a three, especially the one u missed against the lakers that rimmed out. but then u grew on me, ur shot came back, u kept playing GREAT D, u rebounded, u helped timmy, u drew fouls, u blocked shots, u dunked on people, and u helped us beat the pistons. BUT NOW I HATE YOU ALL OVER AGAIN BECAUSE EVERY WASTED MINUTE THAT BONNER PLAYS FOR US THE SPURS ARE THINKING OF YOU. dont the spurs remember that we won CHAMPIONSHIPS BEFORE U, WE DONT NEED A BIG THAT CAN SHOOT A THREE. PERIOD. I want a big who can put gasol in foul trouble, or block his shot, or dunk in his face nasty garnett style. I WANT OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS!!! I WANT PEOPLE TO THINK TWICE BEFORE THEY DRIVE IN OUR LANE!! but no no no, Horry, all the spurs remember is that u were a big that could shoot a three

  • Kyle

    It’s all about Bird-Rights and the Spurs are already over the cap. Which means to replace Bonner on the roster, the best we could do is sign someone for the league minimum.
    Please Bonner haters, name the FA out there that would realistically sign with the Spurs for the veteran minimum that would be an improvement over Bonner. There aren’t any. Add that to the fact that it usually takes new guys a year or so to catch on to how the Spurs system runs (see: Brent Barry) and this signing is a slam dunk.
    Is Bonner worth $3 million/year. Probably not, but his value isn’t that far south of that. At least we are not throwing max money at guys who don’t deserve it (Amare and Joe Johnson). And when the time comes, Bonner’s contract is very trade able. The same can be said about McDyess and as we will soon all see, RJs new contract. Yeah, he’s coming back too, its just a matter of time. Just like Bonner, it’s all about the Bird rights. Lets just hope RJ can make a year 2 difference the same way Brent Barry did.

  • Jim M

    I’ll say it again, you Bonner haters must think that flash equals greatness, teams need work horses, players that give 110% every night. Bonner is not a human highlight reel but the stats show we are better with him on the court than off. I’m just happy that we knuckleheads that post here don’t have the authority to make decisions cause it’s obvious we don’t have the ability to!

  • mrliksternow

    @ kyle
    you seem pretty reasonble, and i do see your point of view on the bird rights. i was hoping we would sign him for about 2m for 3 YEARS just to have a trade asset. slightly disagree on how tradeable he is, would of liked a 2 or 3 year deal better for a player over 30. i due believe he has regular season value, to help give tim a break when we play average or sorry teams. but i guess i just dont care about the regular season really, cause i want to win championships. in the finals, WHOEVER WON THE REBOUDING BATTLE WON THE GAME. when you have a BIG whose offense is shooting threes, you have a player out of position and YOU decrease your ability to get an offensive rebound or a put back. as great as dirk(mavericks) is, he will never win a championship because he hurts his team on the boards because he is many times too far from the basket to help rebound. (CAN OF FEEL BAD FOR DAMPIER, CAUSE HE GET ALL THE BLAME) Then you get guards running in to help rebound which then puts them out of position to help out in transition defense. BONNER IS REALLY OF NO USE TO US IN THE PLAYOFFS. even orlando a couple years back, breaking records on 3’s , had to put in gortat along with howard to help rebound and defend against the lakers. look at phoenix’s inability to get to the championship, same reason. i dont want to get to the conference finals with him in the rotation and then realize that we cant match up, and have to switch what weve done all year. our 3’s should come from our guards and our small fowards. SO THOUGH HE CAN BE OF REGULAR SEASON USE, I THINK WE SHOULD BE PRACTICING WHAT WE WILL TRY TO IMPLIMENT IN THE PLAYOFFS, THEREFORE, I DONT THINK HE SHOULD BE IN OUR PLANS.

  • Kyle

    @mrliksternow

    Even though Bonner is close to 30, his two qualities are the two NBA qualities that are shown not to diminish as quickly with age. Height and shooting. So he will probably less removed from his peak ability at 34 then someone like Tony Parker will be (Not that I think 34 year old Bonner will be better then 34 year old Parker, just that Bonner will be closer to the same player he was at 30).

  • mrliksternow

    Not going to disagree there, thats a very good point. nevertheless, not even a 25 year old bonner could help a contender win a championship. hope ur right, and i hope we trade him

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