I was absolutely shocked when I saw this stat. Yes, it's a small sample size, but even at that, it's a bit ridiculous. http://www.82games.com/1011/10POR7.HTM He plays 11% of the minutes at SG and 35% of the minutes at SF. His opponent counterpart PER for SF is 19.2, which is ~7 higher than his. His opponent counterpart PER for SG is 33.7, which is ~20 higher than his.
I try not to put a ton of stock in a measure like that because, as far as I understand, 82games isn't watching each game, and tracking who he is covering. Matthews, in the 11% of th eSG minutes he plays, isn't 100% of the time covering the opposing SG. If he is covering, say, the PG, or SF, and the opposing SG scores on our PG or SF, it makes it look like it was against him.
Just by the eye test I've been pretty underwhelmed so far. EDIT: Which isn't to say that he's not trying, I just don't think he's actually affecting shots all that much.
Part of this might be that he plays D against the opposing best player often. Hopefully this is just a sample size issue, because he certainly was a good defender last season. I have not been super impressed with his D so far, but I thought it was decent. He is only in his second year, so being decent now, could mean good in the future. Time will tell.
He didn't even defend Afflalo on two straight three attempts. Nowhere to be found on the first, so Aldridge had to try and cover, and he didn't even try to close out on that last three.
He is scrappy In all seriousness, he seems to have good defensive instincts, so that's half the battle
Small sample size. I haven't been overly impressed so far, but I'm not going to come to a judgment just yet.
I've been dissappointed by that too. Especially when he gave up on Westbrook at the end of the OKC game...I know he thought Batum was there, but it was still his assignment.
You are going to judge a big stong SG/SF on his ability to guard the quickest player in the NBA? (Or at least top 3) Can he guard every player. No. But fuck the stats. You can see the guy is a pretty good defender. But he is better suited for the bigger more physical players. The guys we sucked at guarding in the past. The stars in the NBA who will get their points every night.
