Matthews knew he was slumping and did something about it. Gotta love it! http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2010/11/portland_90_milwaukee_76_pract.html
What's sarcasm? I will note that ever since the Wes Matthews era started, our future has looked much, much worse than it did before this season. Thanks a lot, Matthews!
Matthews has a PER just barely over 15 and that will definitely rise after tonight's game, in which he was extremely productive, had okay scoring efficiency and no turnovers.
Just as PER does not capture how bad K-Love is on defense - it does not capture Wes's contributions on the defensive end. We got lucky with that guy.
Matthews has a Drtg of 109. The team has a team Drtg of 107. He's a streaky player at this point of his career. Perhaps he'll develop into more than that, but an Ortg/Drtg 111/109 ratio isn't great. He's a defensive liablility while on the court, at least in terms of the overall team Drtg.
Means absolutely nothing. The Blazers switch so much that DRTG - if it is not absolutely out of whack of the team (as Oden was tons better than the team last year, for example) - is not a reflection of his defensive prowess - the Blazers defensive efficiency this year is better that it was last year - and this is without the good contributions we got from Oden/Joel at the start of the year and the great contributions we got from Camby at the end of the year - and most of it comes from the improved perimeter defense thanks to having Wes and Nic play a lot together.
He was 14.8 going into last night's game. If a 15 PER player with a 109 Drtg is some sort of "gotcha!", I fail to see how that is the case. Besides, he was struggling early this season, and as a starter, he's proven to be a downgrade over Brandon Roy. That said, he has his moments, and is playing well the past two games. Let's hope he carries the momentum into after the AS Break.
