Wesley Matthews made a great choice, as did the Blazers

Great signing. I said as much at the time it happened.

Probably my favorite Blazer right now. Goes balls out every game you know he's going to give effort.

 

the answer is "since Rod Strickland" IMO

 

At the age of 25 Ginobili had a PER of 14.7. Second year 18. Third 22. It was only in his fifth year he broke 24.

Steve Nash never broke 20 PER until he was 27.

Wesley may be approaching his peak, but it's very, very early to say he'll never get much better than he is now. I'd really like to see him work on his one-on-one dribbling ability so we have somebody who can work in end-of-quarter isolations, and maybe see if he can take his three point shooting into elite levels.

 

the jazz announcers gag every time he scores

"thats why the jazz drafted him" was said 50 times last night followed by "we got in at 3:30"

 

There are always exceptions and Wesley might turn into one of those exceptions, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

The Jazz never drafted him, he went un drafted. But you are right it is painful for them. They loved him there. The announcers (Who are company men) have to spin the fact that the offer was too high to match. "You can't pay everyone" was kind of funny.

You can't pay your starting SG the mid level exception if you really liked him?

 

He just needs to refine a few things. He is the type of person who will work on a different aspect of his game every summer. But I wouldn't expect him to get too much better than he is now, but he can add a few new shots.

 

Do you have some data or stats suggesting that improving at age 24, or past the 2nd year in the league, would be an exception?

 

My prediction about Wesley Matthews is the single stupidest thing I have ever said in relation to the Blazers...ever.

He has been nails.

Pretty much what I wanted Bayless to be except bigger, stronger, more consistent and flat out better then Bayless could ever hope of being.


I assume that Wesley will end up being as beloved here in Portland as Jerome Kersey has become.

 

On the last play Wesley was in the game last night (where Babbitt drove and was fouled), the Garden was chanting "Wes-Ley-Matt-hews!" *clap clap clapclapclap*. He's definitely got the hearts of a lot of people (lots of Wesley signs). He reminds me of Brian Grant if BG had been a guard: lunch pail, high intensity, well-liked.

 

Is it really an exception? I think most guys who enter the league at the age of 23 and do well in their first two seasons tend to continue to improve beyond that.

In about 100 games he's gone from undrafted to role player to role-playing starter to 19 ppg scorer. That, to me, is a pretty impressive trend over such a short period of time.

Which is more likely--that this trend continues and he keeps adding to his game, or it completely stagnates right now?

I don't know the answer, honestly. But I'm kind of surprised by those with the attitude that it's a foregone conclusion he'll never get much better than he is now.

 

I've always liked the signing. I didn't really know much about the guy before we signed him, but I loved the fact that we were stealing an asset from the Jazz AND I loved what I heard about him. I like guys who play good defense. Similar to football, defense is probably my favorite part of the game.

 

solid steel. he looks good from the outside, and he's good all the way to the center.

 

My only point is that players who are "old" rookies tend to be closer to their overall ceiling than prospects who come into the league at 18 or 19. I'm sure Wesley will make marginal improvements every year and add at least a few more veteran tricks and some refinement to his game, but expecting him to make dramatic leaps from this point forward doesn't happen very often for guys like him.

Granted if he's 90% of the player he's going to be I'll take it and run because I like his game a lot (A LOT!!!) I was responding more to the Steve Nash and Manu comparisons; those guys are MVP level talents and are definitely exceptions to the norm.

 

Oh, Simmons still thinks the tactic and the methods used in getting him were ridiculous, he just thinks the Blazers got lucky and avoided a disaster.

 

Stats that show 24 year olds are closer to their ceiling than 19 year old second year players? Not on hand, but send Jonathan Givony (at draftexpress.com) or Chad Ford an e-mail and see what they think.

And really I didn't say he wouldn't improve, I was just taking issue with the comps to Nash and Manu who developed into MVP caliber players in their mid to late twenties -- those are both extreme examples.

 

No. You made the claim that it would be an exception if Matthews improved at the age of 24. Nobody mentioned anything about comparing his improvement to a 19 year old.

Nice strawman.

So you make a claim as if it is fact, and when somebody asks you to back it up, you want them to validate your lame claim. No thanks, MIXUM.

How many MVPs won it before their mid-twenties? I would guess that most players that win an MVP don't do it until their mid-twenties.

(No, I'm not suggesting that Matthews will ever approach MVP caliber)

 

Don't you think you're overreacting just a little?