I may get laughed out of this forum but....

It's not my dream... Just a reply to a debate. I like Batum coming off the bench, just as much as I endorsed not trading Wallace because he is a BEASTMASTER!

 

You won't get laughed at by me. That probably doesn't comfort you very much though. I have never thought Matthews should be our starter

 

I like Matthews and while I wouldn't mind trading him for a quality SG/SF, I think we'll have to wait 2-4 weeks before considering his impact on the team and if he's worth trading.

 

Can always move Wes to the 2nd and have a shot-off between him and Crawford

 

Hey we agree!!!

Now which June are you referring to?

 

Matthews is at 8.9 right now. A shooting guard who can't shoot, and does nothing else on the offensive end, is a liability. I trust Matthews will end up somewhere in the 12-14 range of PER for the season, meaning it's a position that should probably be upgraded at some point.

 

Good thing Matthews can shoot, and do other things on offense.

 

I don;t think Wes is all that awesome, but better than what you propose in the trade.

 

What else does he do on offense, other than shoot? He's averaging 1 apg, and mainly seems to stand on the perimeter looking for 3 point shots. He's averaging almost 2x as many 3 points attempts/game (5.5) than FTA/game (3.0). As I said I expect him to get better, but he's a very limited player on offense.

 

He's good at fast breaking and getting himself open for layups.

He's not an offensive wizard, but he's more than just James Jones sitting in the corner waiting for threes. Only about 33% of his points last year came from threes, so obviously he's doing something else.

I'm not even going to answer stats after two games. You know very well those don't mean much.

 

He had a PER = 15.5 last season playing on a bad ankle. What makles you think he'll be worse this year; 2 bad games after a short training camp and a 2 game preseason? He's only 25 and should be entering his prime in the next couple years, not regressing.

BNM

 

Matthews' biggest advantage is just that, that he's big. He bowls through people. I don't know what his listed weight is, but he looks 230.

 

Well I know I was starting this topic with a trade of Matthews, I will say what I think is his importance offensively. Many in here all agree that easy offense is keyed from great defensive. I think Matthews accels in this area. I've seen many times when Matthews forced a turn over, or a steal that results in points. So maybe he's not the one scoring, but he's a very important piece for the collective to score.

 

This whole idea of trading Matthews is idiotic. As a starter last year he nearly averaged 17PPG on shooting percentages of 45.1/42.0/84.3 (FG/3P/FT). Those are darn good numbers, pretty efficient.

Wes is not Brandon Roy, he won't do the same things for us. However, Wes is a good defender (I saw him defend the Nuggets PGs pretty well last year including Lawson before he twisted his ankle) and just plays the game the right way...has a winning attitude. Everything I've seen about him supports this idea. He's a gamer, and a good teammate.

Suggesting that someone with a PER of 9 is someone we want on the floor is horrible. I think I could maybe put up a better PER and I didn't even play high school ball (ok, not really, but it's pretty damn bad).

There just aren't many good (decent even) shooting guards available in the league and we happen to have one. If you haven't read it yet, you should read this article: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7323610/the-third-day-nba-christmas

In addition, Wes has a very attractive contract for a player of his caliber. If we had Roy and he was healthy that'd be one thing, but since that isn't the case I think you consider Wes a piece...well not necessarily to build around...but he's close to it. He's more likely to be a Blazer in 3 years than just about anyone else on the roster.

For what Wes brings (efficient scoring, plus defense, hustle, teamwork, and salary situation) I don't think we'd get back comparable talent for him. I hope he's around, because I think he'll continue to be an above average SG for the next few years in the league.

 

I think Wes may be feeling a bit of internal and possibly random fan pressure to replace Roy and what Roy once did. He's coming off an offseason where he had ankle treatment, a short camp, after a pro-longed lockout, and 'replacing' a guy who was THE MAN at his position. I fully expect him to settle down and improve on Wes of last year with his great defense included.