Dated, but here's a little light Sunday morning reading material...... http://www.deseretnews.com/user/com...ook-Decision-on-Wesley-Matthews-business.html
Interesting. He is a developing player and only time will tell if this kind of money is well spent on a relatively unknown reserve player. He's way to small to play SF with much effectiveness and certainly isn't going to play PG, so the vast bulk of his minutes will come behind Roy. If he proves to be a good player, then I wonder how he'll like a backup role? He seems to have a very pro active agent. Probably one of the more interesting free agent signings we've had.
He guarded Melo and Bryant in the playoffs. Both players said he was the toughest defender they faced the entire playoffs. I don't think his size is a huge concern at the SF spot as some might think. Also, there has been talk we could see different lineups with Roy at the PG, Matthews at SG, and Batum at SF.
OK, funny post. But Roy isn't playing PG. We'll see how good a player he turns out to be. But one thing is for certain. He's a SG. And if you think he's going to be a 'mello' stopper, then take more pills.
Never said he is a Melo stopper. I was just pointing out that two of the more prolific scorers in the league both stated Matthews was THE best defender they faced in the entire playoffs. My original post was not based off my opinion, but merely from the Blazers staff and players from around the league. So I guess you should be laughing at the All-NBA players and the Blazers coaching staff from these outlandish opinions.
I don't get why you're being incredulous to the point you're insulting someone. While Wes is small for a SF, he's slightly bigger then Roy who has been moonlighting effectively there throughout his career for a good chunk of his minutes. As opposed to fellow 2nd year Blazer Dante Cunningham, Wes actually played there effectively as a rookie guarding a variety of 3's. Should someone who claims that Dante is a SF be accused of being whacked out on drugs? STOMP
I'll sum it up Jailblazers... Wes is stupid and greedy... his agent is evil and self serving... Raja Bell is the goat STOMP
Roy doesn't play point guard? That's news to me judging by the amount of offense he seems to initiate at the end of quarters and at the end of games. I'd say it's almost a certainty that we'll see some end of game lineups with Roy, Batum and Matthews in at the same time (depending on the opponent). Nic has shown that he can cover 1-3 and 1-4 in some instances, I think Roy can cover most 2s and 3s and Matthews was certainly given the task of covering 2s and 3s last year. Offensively Matthews and Batum (and Aldridge) should theoretically be able to spread the floor
Yeah, whatever that means. Roy has been the primary ballhandler for most of his NBA career. Just because he wasn't the smallest guy on the court doesn't mean he wasn't playing PG.
One thing I think that gets overlooked is how often do we see 5th year guys that re-sign for some big $$ contract based on being better than average, only to see the final years of those contracts be seen as horrible contracts that teams are stuck with. Raef LaFrentz case in point. Four decent years in Denver and Dallas, and the Mavs sign him to a 7-year / $70M contract. By the time be came to Portland, it was considered a "contract" and not really the value of the player. Miles was a similar signing for us. He bounced around the Clips and Cavs and then came to Portland, had a decent 11/4/2.5 role player role here and we re-sign him to some long term contract (can't remember how long or how much, but seems to me it was about four years later we were trying to shed like $18M for two years worth of that contract). My point being that we see guys signed to 5-7 year contracts that get upwards to $7M year to $10M year near the end when those guys are broken down and maybe not even starting any longer. Matthews is on year two. It's highly likely by the time this guy is being overpaid on the final couple years of this big contract, he'll be a solid NBA player in his prime.
both Raef and Darius endured a series of knee injuries/surgeries in the midst of their contracts. Without those injuries, I've got to imagine their careers would have gone differently. Hopefully Matthews is able to avoid the injury bug and be the best he can be, but thats a risk for every player STOMP
True. But it does almost seem to be the rule and not the exception. Like they give these guys big payoff contracts to make up for their small rookie contracts, then none of them can make it through them without some type of injury. How many times have we heard of the term of trading for an "expiring contract" instead of for that actual player's skill of joining the team and re-signing? Seems like I can think of many times I've seen contracts trade, Steve Francis also comes to mind for us. Heck, in recent news didn't I just see that Yao Ming re-signed his contract? Then didn't he just announce that his foot injury is bugging him so much that he's going to retire now at the end of this season? Doesn't that tell us that once again we've got a guy that we're going to be talking about trading the "contract" in a couple years unstead of trading for the actual player? Yao will have more money in contract $$ on a team's cap in a couple years while he won't even be playing than Matthews will for most of his contract in Portland.
injuries are a significant part of the game... most every player suffers major ones over the course of their career. But surely you don't need me to list some of the many examples that run counter to your impression of what is a rule.. right? STOMP
It's a valid concern, but you have to factor in age. Nearly all middling guys signed to a long contract like Matthews just got aren't 23*. Due to the rookie scale, they are typically 25-26. They are right near their prime, and that kind of contract carries them over into over-the-hill territory, where you can't make up for your lack of superstar talent with hustle anymore because there are younger guys who can hustle just as much as you can. Matthews is maybe three or four years from his prime. By the time this contract is over, he'll probably still be in it (barring injury). *One big exception are the high schoolers/guys who played a year in college. Those guys have been in the NBA for several years and are through their rookie deals. Some of those guys do get albatross contracts too. But I think it's less common. IMO those are the kind of deals you can see being boneheaded pretty early when they happen. If a guy has been an NBA player since 19, and is now 23, it's a different kind of upside. They've had four years against NBA competition. You should have a pretty good idea what they'll produce. (See Webster and Outlaw for examples of pretty reasonable deals.)
C.J. Miles actually covered Melo a majority of the time, and Matthews only went on him when Miles got in foul trouble. Matthews drew a few charges on Melo, but that's about all he did because Melo could just turn around and shoot over him in the post. If Blazers are going to play Matthews at SF, he loses all his effectiveness defensively because the guy used his upper body strength to really be the harassing defender he was.
My little wacky conspiracy theory: At the time, the Blazers desperately wanted Paul, and were even prepared to trade Roy for him. Thus, in preparedness, they actually signed Matthews to be our starting Shooting Guard.
I thought he was joking. That's how far in left field he was. I wasn't trying to make fun of him. I guess he was serious. But I don't see how. So if any offense was taken, I humbly apologize. Sometimes I forget which board I'm posting on.
Funny how when Matthews was a member of the Jazz he was the greatest things since sliced bread. Now, everything I read or hear from Jazz fans seems like sour grapes that he is gone.
