Tag: Toronto

Miss ‘Coach B?’ Check out Bonner’s latest video wackiness

Lockout be damned, “Coach B” is at it again.

That’s Matt Bonner, of course, aka Coach B, wacky purveyor of basketball tips and life lessons.

Bonner’s latest video efforts center around promos for a benefit basketball game in Toronto, scheduled for Sept. 10. Bonner is recruiting teams to play in the event. The idea is to raise money for Athletes for Africa and the St. Albans Boys and Girls Clubs.

Cost to enter a team is $500, but teams are being encouraged to raise additional money. The payoff: The top money-raising teams get the right to draft some celebrity players. These include Bonner and Nick Collison, of the Thunder. The real draw, though, is Arcade Fire front man Win Butler, who is both very tall and a bona fide indie rock star. He also happens to count Bonner a good friend.

Here’s a link to a video promoting the event that features Bonner on the art of trash talking.

Timberwolves down to final two in coaching search

Minnesota general manager David Kahn is nearing the completion of his head coaching search.  

After considering replacements for Kurt Rambis for several weeks, the Timberwolves are down to the final two interviews with Sam Mitchell and Larry Brown.

Mitchell, who played two stints with the Timberwolves and was a Coach of the Year for Toronto in 2007, , the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports.

Brown is set to meet with the Minnesota braintrust early next week.

Kahn and Taylor already have interviewed Terry Porter, Mike Woodson, Bernie Bickerstaff and Don Nelson. And former Houston coach Rick Adelman discussed the position with them, but didn’t formally interview and said earlier this week he plans to sit out from coaching this season.

With no end of the lockout in sight, there’s no real immediacy for the Timberwolves to make an immediate pick.

But it would still behoove them to pick their new coach as soon as possible, considering the magnitude of the rebuilding job at hand.

Just the thought of trying to teach Ricky Rubio NBA-level defensive principles should be enough to make whoever is hired want to jump into the job as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately for Canada, Bonner still not Canadian

Canadian national basketball coach Leo Rautins really, really wants Matt Bonner to play for his team. One problem: Bonner is still not Canadian.

The Spurs forward has been trying for years to gain dual citizenship, and he would seem to have a cut-and-dried case considering he’s married to a Canadian, has a Canadian daughter and grandfather and lives most of the offseason in Toronto.

His nickname — “The Red Rocket” — is decidedly Canadian,  homage to Toronto’s public transit system.

But Bonner is still not Canadian, and thus ineligible to play for Canada in various Olympic qualifying tournaments. The feet-dragging has left Rautins almost apoplectic, (h/t to for the find).

“I see a lot of Canadians who are less Canadian than Matt Bonner,” Rautins told the Canadian newspaper. “His daughter’s Canadian. His wife’s Canadian. His grandfather’s Canadian. He’s got a home here. When he’s not playing for the San Antonio Spurs, he’s here (in Toronto).”

Bonner’s bid to become officially Canadian has been His motives go beyond basketball.

A native of Concord, N.H., who was granted permanent residency status in 2009, Bonner has requested citizenship in order to simplify his frequent border crossings.

A chance to perhaps one day play in the Olympics would be a pleasant side effect.

The main obstacle to Bonner obtaining citizenship, according to the London Free Press piece, seems to be the unfortunate fact that he spends most of his year in the United States. Considering he plays for the Spurs, that seems to be an unavoidable fact of life.

The Canadian basketball federation has pressed this point to the federal government, but so far unsuccessfully.

“Trust me, we’ve tried everything,” Rautins told the London Free Press. “I feel bad for Matt. I don’t know if there’s anybody who wants to play more (for Canada) than he does.”

If this seems like more hand-wringing than necessary over Matt Bonner, consider that Joel Anthony is the only player on Canada’s 17-man training camp roster with any NBA experience. The infusion of any amount of NBA talent would certainly be welcome.

For now, Rautins will have to be content to coach Cory Joseph, the Spurs’ first-round draft pick in June and Bonner’s soon-to-be NBA teammate. Joseph was born in Toronto. Bonner got there as fast as he could, but perhaps a bit too late.