#2 – Ray Felton & Wes Matthews, Portland Trail Blazers – Switching out Andre Miller for Ray Felton very quickly turned Portland from a creaky, aging team to one with quite a bit of youthful promise. Felton and Matthews both really came into their own last season, and while neither is an All-Star just yet, both could be in the discussion at some point in their careers. They're definitely among the most talented pairings in their conference, and one has to wonder what Portland could be if the rest of the roster were able to stay healthy. http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=20463
Among the most talented or the most scrappy? Seems like a very sketchy choice of words. And both could be in the all-star discussion??? That's some mighty wishful thinking. But then, I can't remember the last time I read a hoopsworld article that seemed remotely credible...
I hope HoopsWorld is free. They may make a nice backcourt tandem, and obviously I hope they do, but I will fall right over if Felton or Matthews is ever an all star. Yeesh.
Well, Felton was in the all star discussion while playing in Mike "inflated stats" D'Antoni's offense, but he'll probably average half of his NY statline under Nate lol.
You're wrong. Our backcourt scares ME, because it's so average. I'm afraid LA is going to have to do all the work again.
Niether. The word they used was promising and he defines it as younger guard combinations, giving special credit to those who have done the most so early in their careers. Defining "youth" as "players who will enter the 2011-2012 season with five or fewer years of NBA experience underneath their belts." Teams that appear to be conspicuously missing from this list may have a vet with six or more years of experience, even if their frontcourt mate coming in is a rookie. Both guys have to be below that threshold. Not saying it the best article just clarifying they never said most talented or scrappy. I think the critertia he is using for "promising" make it a little more understandable, IMO, why the Blazers are highly ranked . . . a lot of teams are off the list by default.
Wes is definitely one of the most promising young guards.When healthy the first half of last year he was consistently scoring and draining the 3, all while playing great D, making people say Roy who? When Oden finally gets healthy were gonna need him and Felton to be reliable from downtown, while I'm still sour about loosing Dre, Felton meets a need that was not previously being met.
I think they can be a passable backcourt pairing -- Matthews can shoot from distance, Felton likes to create off the dribble, so conceivably there will be opportunities there. Maybe we'll even get to see this "promising pairing" by February ...
Did you miss this line? "They're definitely among the most talented pairings in their conference..." I guess the very limited scope of their definition makes it sort of work, but only because it rules out so many teams.
Yea I did miss that that line (wondering where you got that). You're right, when you limit the group to a young back court of 5 years of experience or less for each and in the same conference, it is easy to be among the most talented back court.
Theres probably 15 backcourt players with under 5 years experience I'd gladly exchange for both Felton and Wes. Put a crappy D league scrub next to them and I'd consider it more "promising" in the long term. Kind of a stupid article. Gosh we are desperate for news being almost a month into the lockout.
