My thoughts: When the Portland Trail Blazers signed Wesley Matthews last summer as a free agent, it was surprising -- in a couple of different ways. First, people immediately thought Portland overpaid for him. He got a startling amount of money for a guy who had been undrafted and played just one season in the NBA. Second, he got a lot of money for a guy who clearly was going to be a backup at off-guard, behind a big-minutes player in Brandon Roy. It's interesting now to look back and wonder if the Trail Blazers didn't have some indication, didn't know more than they said they knew, about the problems Roy was going to have with his knees last season. And it's funny how the whole thing with Matthews worked out. He'd been brought here to be a reserve but when Roy ran into early knee problems, Matthews quickly convinced the coaching staff that he played better as a starter than an off-the-bench guy, which bought him a ticket to the starting lineup. I thought that curious at the time, because the reality is, MOST guys play better as a starter -- and why isn't he getting used to a reserve role because he's still going to have to play behind Roy when Roy gets healthy, right? Well, that was early in the season, before we knew the extent of Roy's injuries to his knees and Matthews never did get forced out of the starting lineup -- even when Roy came back for good late in the season. Fans immediately fell in love with Matthews' hustle, his three-point shooting and his defense. My take on this: there is no question Matthews plays hard. His three-point shooting surprised me, as he turned out to be the team's most consistent long-range gunner. His defense, I thought, was OK. Not terrific, but OK. He works hard. I believe the coaching staff fell in love with Matthews, too. And coaching staffs aren't supposed to do that. I think when Roy returned late in the season, he should have gotten his starting job back -- pro players, particularly all-stars, shouldn't lose their starting jobs because of injury. Roy never got a chance to start and get comfortable in that role, which is the only role he'd ever had in the NBA. But this coaching staff, as you know by now, values "scrappiness" more than just about anything else. Matthews personifies that trait. Breathe fire, run around like crazy, dive for a ball a couple of times a game and you're going to play. That's fine, but talent -- or lack of it -- has to count, too. Matthews is an interesting player whose career is likely still on the upswing. He works hard at his game and probably has another couple of seasons of improvement. But I must add this -- he needs that improvement. For a starting off-guard in the NBA, Matthews' passing skills are horrendous. And his ball-handling skills are just about as bad. He has no handle and can't pass (or won't pass -- sometimes hard to tell which one). These are not the qualities of even an average NBA guard. He isn't much of a rebounder, either. Very often his stat lines were incredibly one-dimensional. You watch him play and often wonder if he actually sees any of his teammates, who are often open and expecting a pass from him that they never get. Players of this nature have value in the NBA -- but most of them are big-time finishers and shooters, guys who can drill it whenever they have just a sliver of room to get off their shot. Those guys are often encouraged not to pass, because they are so good with their jumper. Matthews does not yet have those offensive skills. With the ball in his hands in a one-on-one situation, he's often cringe-worthy. I look at him as he is now and hope that he'll continue to get better. He certainly seems to have the kind of drive to make that happen. If he doesn't, though, he's not even an average NBA guard. He's nothing close to the top tier right now and I don't think a championship-level team would be happy until it found a better starting guard than Matthews. wesley matthews portland trail blazers What I hear around the league: "Not sure about him yet. I've seen him play well and seen him on nights when he didn't do well." "I don't know that the system did him any favors. He might profit from being with a team that ran more. Like a lot of their players." "I thought he was a better defender than what he showed last season. In Utah, he got himself into the starting lineup because of the way he defended. He did not look to be that kind of defender in Portland." "Too often, in their system, he ended up trying to go one-on-one. He's definitely not good at that -- partly because he isn't much of a distributor." http://www.csnnw.com/pages/landing?...sment-Wesley-Mat=1&blockID=526097&feedID=8351
I like Wesley, but there's not much to argue with or add to that description. He plays hard, he shoots pretty well and he's a sucky ball-handler and distributor ... :shrug:
Jaynes nailed it, IMO. I like Wesley, but not in his current role. That said, SG is becoming a secondary position in the NBA, and the SF is much more important in terms of a team's success. Matthews was 16th in SG PER in terms of PER, but looking at the players above him, none of those players are the key player on a team still alive in the playoffs. http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/holl...n.go.com/nba/hollinger/statistics?position=sg
People seem to forget that Wesley played basically the entire season on the bum ankle, yet still produced well for us. He's definitely a keeper and I see him being a big time scorer for us next season.
Matthews reminds me of Jerome Kersey. A lot of hustle and attitude but not a lot of pure talent or smarts. That's ok to a certain point, but I've never seen him as a long time solution at SG.
I like him more as the Hustle guy who comes off the bench and can knock down the open 3. I would much rather have Roy starting then weasley if we could somehow make it so we don't go back to Roy ball.
Umm...duh! The Blazers knew Roy's wheels were going to come off three years ago, even before they gave him that maxed-out long-term contract. They tried to avoid the final year, then caved to the public pressure. Now look where we are.
I just realized if we had Roy/Miller on the court at the same time the 1/2's are gonna torch us like theres no tomorrow lol.
If only. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for Roy to face reality and work on changing his game to fit his limitations and the team's needs.
Roy had an AST% of 23.4 in the playoffs. Wesley Matthews had an AST% of 5.4. Roy has faced reality, plus he proved he can still create offense better than anybody else on the team. Nate needs to figure out how to use him, and Roy should have been starting over Matthews, who was the very definition of a ballhog in the playoffs, IMO. Roy had a USG rate of 20, while Wesley was at 19, yet Roy had an Ortg of 118, while Matthews was at 114. Plus, Roy had a better Drtg than Matthews, somehow, and also had more WS in almost 70 less minutes. I have to laugh at people blaming Roy for anything. Matthews is an average SG who is better served as a bench player. Roy may still be productive, if given starter minutes.
I don't disagree with this at all, what I don't like is if Roy coming back trying to be his old self and resulting in a very stagnant offense. I still think Roy can come back and be very effective just in a different role then he originally had. Still want Aldridge to be the focus of our offense.
I have been told several times by people in this forum that Jaynes doesn't know what he is talking about, so I guess I have to say I disagree with whatever Jaynes says
Wade is secondary to James, and Harden is 3rd-wheel in OKC. So ... yes. The top player of the 4 teams left in the playoffs is not a SG. I never said the SG can't be "key". Matthews was the 2nd-leading scorer for Portland. So, he's "key" as well. He's just not elite. Neither is James Harden. Matthews played much worse in the playoffs than he did in the regular season; meanwhile, overall, Roy upped his game.
