He still has $42M owed to him, I would assume Utah would rather pay Al Jeff that then 35M to Mathews.
Absolutely. Middling wings who can shoot it a little and play D aren't that hard to find, legit low post threats that are 6'10"? It's no contest.
But you do have to take into account his injury concerns. Could be a big time reward for the Jazz if they get him, or it could really bite them.
Utah's whole offense has been geared around a good PG and a good PF for 20+ years. SG is a lower priority.
Injury concerns? He tore his ACL 2 season ago and came back to play 76 games this year. I would say he should be fine moving forward.
Nothing is for sure. I hope for the best, hate to see players get hurt, but problems can reoccur or a new injury could happen. We thought Oden would have hopefully got past Microfractur surgery, and he did. However, another injury can hit. Even if it isn't the same injury, there can be others and that injury was a pretty bad one. I wish him and the Jazz luck, hopefully it works out for you guys.
Okay dude, whatever you say. I mean ACL injuries are no big deal or anything. On top of that he looked nothing like what he was before injury. Still good, but not exactly the same.
Everything I've been hearing out of the Oregonian's beat writers, anyway, is that the Blazers are pursuing Kevin Pritchard's free agent strategy. So, either these are KP's moves, or the Blazers are saying that, so that if they don't work out, they can blame him after the fact (which would be highly unethical, of course, but this is business...). Either way... defensively minded swingmen who can hit outside shots and who demonstrate grit, hustle and toughness? I'll take several. the price is a little steep, but if he's an improvement over Webster in shooting and defense - I'll swallow the flexibility it costs.
Al Jeff just played 76 games last season, I would say he didn't have any difficulty getting healthy. ACL injuries also take 2 years before you get back to 100%, any player that tears his ACL doesn't look the same the following season either. Jefferson will be fine unless he hurts something else, but all players are exposed to that risk.
Even IF that was so, he's not the one pulling the trigger, and I don't think it means much. Something tells me McMillan is behind the Wesley Matthews move, as he sees him as the perfect scrappy player for his team. Knowing what McMillan likes and knowing what Matthews is, it's not very hard to come to that conclusion imo. If the team for one minute tries to blame any move on KP after he was officially fired(when the draft was completed), then that's just ridiculous. It's on them now, and right now it's not exactly out to a glorious start. Surprise, surprise.
we're paying him 1M less than what NJ offered Travis for 5 years. I haven't paid attention much of this Matthews guy but I heard he's the Batum SG version, who can play some SF. Sloan assigns him to take on Kobe/Melo & such defensively in the playoffs.
Why would the team "blame" KP for moves they make after they fired him? And while the Matthews signing seems like overpaying, we have no idea if he's going to be a bad pickup or not until he actually gets on the court. Surprise, surprise.
I doubt that Nate was behind it. Sure he probably gave his "Blessing" but to me Matthews was such an obvious target based on our needs that I think they all probably had him on the "wish list for the Blazers. Yeah I know many of you think the BU PF spot is needed more with MLE, and that is debatable, but I think Wes has been a target since May.
Good gamble for the Jazz. It could work wonderfully for them - replacing Boozer with another low-post threat, and like Boozer - Al-Jeff is not exactly a defensive stopper. Of course, Al Jeff has some issues - he is much more Zach Randolph methodical one-on-one player and a lot less of a motion offense guy. As for us getting Matthews - I love it. Championships are won on defense, the Blazers were more than decent last year before Oden went down (#2 in d-efficiency), and that was without Batum. Next year, if we are lucky, we will get Oden, Camby, Batum and Matthews (if the Jazz do not match) - with possibly JPEC coming back mid-season. That's going to be a very, very good defensive team.
If I were a Jazz fan, my concern with Jefferson wouldn't be physical. My concern would be how is he going to respond to Jerry Sloan riding him like a mule. Some players thrive, others crumble. There's no doubting Jefferson's talent.
I don't see why folks are upset over Mathews. 34 million over 5 years is only about 6.5 million a year, that isn't a lot of money for a good player. Secondly, I believe it would be a very hard argument to win to show that Mathews is not an upgrade over every backup SG we have. He is efficent, physcial, and can defend. Whereas Rudy can do none of those things and Bayless struggles from the outside (he could pull it together though and add that into his game). Lastly, we take a good piece away from an in division opponent. Secondly, I see people bitching about not picking up a big, who exactly do you expect management to somehow pick up? Who is going to want to come and play here when we already have Oden Camby and Aldrige. There isn't much playing time there to be had. I think if we had a player like Mathews instead of Rudy last year, maybe Phoenix would have been out after the first round, not the other way around.
2 of those three guys have missed significant amounts of time every year they have been in the league. Insurance to some degree for them would be nice. You can't have too many quality big men and you most definitely can have too many guards. Frankly, it has that Trenton Hassle signing feel. It's not a bad signing but it isn't going to mean the difference between Portland making it out of the first round or not. And don't tell me Mathews would be a better replacement for Roy if he gets hurt. Mathews wouldn't be able to fill in for Roy much better then Bayless or Rudy were able to. How many isolation plays were run for Mathews in Utah? How well can he create his own shot? If he can't do that, then he can't replace Roy in any way, shape or form. I am not upset about the Mathews deal more then I am apathetic. I feel it isn't going make much difference and I would have liked Portland to make a deal that would. Add to all that the fact that Nate likes him and color me unimpressed.
