NBA: 'Red Rocket' Matt Bonner embraces his role with the Spurs

Selected 45th overall in 2003 NBA draft, Matt Bonner was almost an afterthought. But a decade later, he's carved out a name for himself as a solid role player and a respected three-point threat for the San Antonio Spurs.

Matt Bonner, christened "The Red Rocket" during his 2004-2006 stint with the Toronto Raptors, was in Manila this weekend to lead NBA Fit and NBA Cares activities in the lead-up to the NBA Global Games in October. After leading a skills clinic with 20 children at the Mall of Asia Arena, Bonner sat down to talk about how he made it in the NBA.

"I've always been a three-point shooter in high school and in college," said Bonner, who played for the University of Florida. "But it doesn't guarantee you'll be a great three-point shooter in the NBA."

For people who prefer their 6'10" forwards to be bruisers in the post, Bonner might disappoint them. But Bonner came at the right time in the league, when coaches were more willing to experiment with "stretch-fours," or power forwards who could become threats from the perimeter. Among his best contemporaries in this mold were the Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki and the Utah Jazz's Mehmet Okur, both prominent players for playoff teams in the first half of the decade.

Bonner had been drafted by the Chicago Bulls, but his rights were traded to the Toronto Raptors. After a season in the Italian basketball league, he was brought over to Toronto, and the head coach at the time, Sam Mitchell, saw Bonner's potential as a rookie to make a difference in the same vein. As Bonner recalls:

"I remember being in the GM's [Rob Babcock's] office on Halloween, it was the day before our first regular season game. After practice, he had a contract on his desk and he explained to me that it was a rookie, one-year league minimum un-guaranteed contract. Basically the worst possible contract you could give someone. Then he explained to me, you played the previous season in Italy and had an amazing year, you've got all these ball clubs in Europe offering you more years and way more money. You can go there and be the star or your can sign this contract and be the fifteenth man, basically.

"I remember thinking, and coach Mitchell was in there and he was like, 'Yo Matt, when you were a kid, did you dream of playing in the NBA or playing in Europe? I said NBA, and I signed the contract, and it ended up being the right move."

Bonner went on to average around seven points in two seasons in Toronto while shooting about 42 percent from beyond the arc.

"[Mitchell]'s a huge reason why I made it. He believed in me, he gave my my chance, my start," Bonner said. "I was lucky enough in my first year in Toronto, I got to play with Donyell Marshall, one of the great stretch big men. He taught me a lot about how to find that niche as a stretch four, how to carve it out and make a career for yourself. Even when I got traded I got to play with Robert Horry, another great player in that category, and he taught me a lot as well."

Bonner made his name as a solid role player in the league, playing a part which he embraced and thrived in. During the summer of 2006, the San Antonio Spurs traded him for Rasho Nesterovic.

Luckily for him as well, Spurs head coach Greg Popovich found ways to utilize Bonner's unique skill set. "I consider myself lucky to have played for him through all these years, to learn from him, and watch him masterfully get the most out of his players and our team, year in and year out.

"I don't know if I can narrow it down to one thing that I like most about Coach Pop. It's more of a collective of who he is and how he conducts himself," said Bonner. "In the NBA, if you're not a star player or a surefire starter, it's about roles and niches and complementing those stars. Being able to stretch the court for Manu [Ginobili] and Tony [Parker] to drive or for Tim [Duncan] to post up is an important thing."

Exactly 12 months after transferring from the middling Raptors, the Spurs swept LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers out of the NBA Finals in the 2006-07 season. But the Spurs haven't won since then. They came extremely close this year, but LeBron James, now with the Miami Heat, came full circle to exact revenge on the Spurs, sweeping them in a thrilling seven-game series in the most recent NBA championship.

Bonner said the loss still stings to this day, but he tries to stay positive about about it. Most of all, he's excited about the prospect of working with Popovich and the rest of the Spurs again for another shot at the title. - AMD, GMA News