A Moment With Matt Bonner

Matt Bonner sat in the Spurs Practice Facility on Tuesday afternoon looking comfortable in shorts and a University of Florida t-shirt. It was the attire he had with him when his whole world was turned around. "I was at the University of Florida working with Coach Donovan's basketball camp when I got a call from Bryan Colangelo telling me the trade was going to happen," he says. So Bonner hopped a plane to Texas to see the city he'll be calling home.

Matt is quick to answer when asked about what he hopes to add to the Spurs lineup next season, "Definitely my outside shot - try to stretch out the defense and open things up a little for Tim Duncan." Last year, Bonner averaged 42% from beyond the arc and sank over 100 three pointers.

He expects to contribute more than threes in 06-07 even though he doesn’t know yet what will be asked of him, "I'll do whatever the coaches want to the best of my ability to help the team. I haven't been to the playoffs in two years so I'm really excited to be able to contend for a championship next year."

He is also excited about playing in this city as well as for the Spurs: "I had a tremendous respect for the team. Everyone from the NBA that I talked to said it was the best organization in the league." As for the city, Matt showed an affinity for it back when he was a visiting Raptor. "We stayed down by the River Walk and I went to the Alamo both times we were here. I went through the whole museum...headphones and everything."

While Matt is eager to begin his role with the Spurs, there are a few loose ends to tie up first including relocating to Texas. He's already spent time overseas traveling to China as part of the Basketball Without Borders program and will spend the next three weeks hosting the Matt Bonner Basketball Camp in his home state of New Hampshire. He also plans to get in a few mountain hikes before returning to San Antonio to get acclimated.

His official welcome was quick in coming. After landing in town he ran into none other than Tim Duncan in the airport and chatted with his new teammate about the upcoming season. Bonner jokes, "Yeah, he gave me a playbook as matter of fact."