Matthews is clearly the best of that lot hands down. Unless you have a time machine packaged into a Raja Bell signing. By the way is it just me or doesn't his name sound like an Indian fast food joint?
The difference is that Matthews was asked to guard Carmello and Kobe as a rookie. He kind of had his hands full. It's not hard to see why his playoff offensive numbers were down. Interestingly enough, despite the bad stats Sloan still played him more than all but two other Jazz players throughout their playoff run. Including far more minutes than the vaunted (and five years older) Kyle Korver. Who was Rudy guarding in the playoffs? Oh that's right, nobody. How many minutes did Rudy log a night during the playoffs? Oh that's right, about half as many as the rookie Matthews. Whose team actually advanced past the first round? Oh that's right, Matthews again.
Um, not in my opinion. Now what? You won't "rep" me because you don't agree with me? The Blazers admitted they overpaid for Matthews. Brilliant!
Wow, very confrontational of someone else stating an opinion. Same old PapaG. Rather nitpick an argument than actually try to have a discussion. As for Matthews, meh. We did overpay. We wanted him, and that was likely the only way to get him. So be it.
If the market values Travis Outlaw at $35 million over 5 years, I'd call Matthews's contract a bargain.
There are different types of things we can talk about on this board related to basketball: 1. Facts. 2. Opinion on facts. 3. Speculation. 4. Opinion on speculation. Re: Matthews, those break down something like this: 1. The Blazers offered Matthews a contract and the Jazz could match. 2. I think we're offering too much and/or the Jazz could match. 3. The Blazers probably talked to Jordan Farmar first and/or Matthews will be the first SG off the bench. 4. If the Blazers talked to Farmar first, then Larry Miller is a moron and/or if Matthews is the first SG off the bench then the team will be hurt. We're into area #4 in this thread. The OP seems to be posting about speculation by some guy from BlazersEdge. It's a legit thing to talk about, of course, but it's silly to draw CONCLUSIONS based on speculation. Ed O.
Who has about 5 million times more contact and interaction with the Portland TrailBlazers than anyone here. If he's just "some guy from Blazers Edge" I'd shudder to imagine the titles we deserve.
I don't care who he is. If he writes: "The timing appears to be motivated in part by a rash of free agent signings of backcourt players that Portland had targeted." then that says it's speculation. If he had some information, whether it was a source or a quote or even "word around the Blazers" then presumably he would have written that. But he didn't, and it seems clear that he's just speculating. Ed O.
Providing statistics is now considered "nitpicking". The statistics say that Matthews is a mediocre to below-average player, and the Blazers want to pay him $9 million next year. But, I'm just "nitpicking". If Matthews is such a hot prospect, the Jazz should match no matter the cost. If they don't match, then Portland (IMO) massively overpays for Utah's sloppy seconds. If Matthews does end up here, he'd better produce immediately, because I'd have rather seen help at PG.
Not only that, but false speculation, if he is trying to say they moved fast because their other targets were already signed elsewhere. Since they were still available when Matthews' offer was made.
All this blazerboy dude does is respond to posters to elicit some response, and not actual points of debate. Does this make him a master baiter?
This doesn't even make sense. Saying the "Jazz should match no matter the cost" is silly. Nobody is claiming WM is worth a max deal. Nobody is claiming WM should be signed "no matter the cost". People are claiming he might be worth the MLE, which is what he was offered. You want to keep bringing up the $9million without acknowledging that the offer is still just the MLE, because that is how you troll. And if Utah was willing to pay up to 90% of the MLE, we overpaid by ~10%. The point is, you don't know how much Utah was willing to pay (assuming they DON'T match) which means you can't make any realistic guesses as to how much we overpaid.
What is it you're doing? As opposed to who? I'm sure you'd understand if I regarded his speculation with greater regard over almost anyone else's in the city.
You're right. I have not been paying attention to BlazerBoy31. What am I missing? Has he been taking more deadly internet shots at bgrantfan? Do tell. I'm on the edge of my seat. I can only imagine the importance of someone who was wound up by someone he's never met starting a twitter account. Hold on, hold on.... Is he Lee Iacoca? how many guess do I get? Is he Bono? Wait, wait.... Stanford.... Dull as fuck..... OH MY GOD!!!! IS HE TIGER WOODS!!???!!!???
I don't understand why people are so caught up in overpaying Matthews. There have been many discussions on this board about how small market teams are fucked in the NBA, that Ptd in particualr is a not high on FA's list because of taxes and rain and whatever other bs people throw out. I've always said those factors may matter to players, but "small mrkt no young kid wants to live in Ptd" has an ace in the hole . . . Paul Allen. PA gives players a reason to come to Ptd ($$$). If this is what it takes to get Matthews to sign a MLE with the Blazers over other teams wanting him, why are Blazer fans complaining about it. We should be thankful we have an owner who can overpay players and make the Portland Trailbalzers an attractive organization to play for. Hell I wish there was no salary cap . . . imagine what PA could offer Lebron, Wade and Bosh to play here.
