Return of the Red Rocket
Jun 24, 2008 04:30 AM
Dave Feschuk
While the Raptors brain trust spent yesterday morning presiding over yet another workout for prospects in the furious lead-up to Thursday night’s NBA draft, an established NBA asset loped into the Air Canada Centre to keep in shape.
Matt Bonner, who has been employed by the San Antonio Spurs since the Raptors traded him a couple of summers ago, isn’t simply living in Toronto during the offseason; he’s getting married here in August. Bonner was scarce with the details, but he did offer that his bride-to-be’s name is Nadia, that she grew up in the Beach, and that they’ve known each other about two years.
“I never knew her when I played here,” said Bonner, 28. “It’s a long story. I’m not going to let the tabloids have the details …”
Bonner laughed, and then he talked some hoops, providing a post-mortem on the Spurs’ five-game bow-out to the L.A. Lakers in the Western final.
“I don’t want to make excuses, but we caught a tough break with the scheduling,” he said, noting that San Antonio, after winning a seven-game Western semifinal against New Orleans, was forced to spend the night on a team plane beset by mechanical troubles.
“We had half a day on no night’s sleep to prepare for the Lakers, who’d been waiting for five days … and we blew a 20-point lead (in Game 1).”
And as for Manu Ginobili’s bum left ankle: “I think it was worse than he lets on. When I was watching (Boston’s) Ray Allen go right by (L.A.‘s Sasha) Vujacic and lay it in every time (this after Vujacic hamstrung Ginobili) I was like, `Yeah, it must have really been hurting.’”
Bonner, who said his wedding’s guest list is expected to number about 140, about half as many family and friends as he’d like to invite, can scratch one could-be invitee. Sam Mitchell, the Raptors coach, said that while he is more than happy to open Toronto’s gym to an old friend, he’s not so sure there’s an opening in his August schedule.
“I don’t think I’d want to go to Matt Bonner’s wedding,” said Mitchell, chuckling. “It would be Dorkville.”
Indeed, Bonner does little to play down his image as the league’s resident geek, a rare proponent of public transit over private jets, Timex over Rolex, old-fashioned rock over new-school rap. Some NBAers come to Toronto to frequent various late-night hotspots. Said Bonner, nodding his head: “I’ve already hit Tim Hortons and Mr. Sub.”
If it’s an act, it’s elaborate and sustained. Last summer, Bonner turned down an invitation to the celebrity nuptials of this young century because he had a previous engagement at a basketball camp. No matter that the Paris wedding of Spurs teammate Tony Parker to actress Eva Longoria fetched breathless reportage around the globe; Bonner said he didn’t want to let down the hoop-loving kids in his hometown of Concord, N.H. Not that he’s averse to cashing in on his big day.
“We’ve got people offering a few mill to cover (the wedding) exclusive,” he said, and he shrugged. “It pays for the castle. … No, I’m joking.”
Indeed, the kid they called the Red Rocket proved his lack of cachet a little later yesterday, when he strolled through Union Station. He was spotted by a couple of reporters and exactly nobody else. Perhaps it was because he was wearing a Red Sox cap and a T-shirt and shorts, a backpack slung over both shoulders. Perhaps it’s because a wedding-day tux will be a stretch, and not because he’s 6-foot-8.
“If it was me, we’d get married at, I don’t know, Sneaky Dee’s,” said Bonner, speaking of the College Street rock-and-nachos dive. “But you know how it is, the guy doesn’t have much say about the wedding day. We don’t grow up dreaming about our wedding. It’s her day. I understand that. Girls like nice flowers and stuff.”