Wesley Matthews and the Question of Talent

Not a bad article. The Mathews is what you get, a gritty defender who plays with all heart. Good three point shooter but thats about it on offense. I love him in the starting lineup because I think his weakness of not being able to create his own shot is mitigated by how damn talented Lillard/Batum/LA are. He is a great team player but after center we need to try and find a backup SG who can eventually replace Mathews down the line.

 

Hello? Will Barton?

Actually, I was thinking that Will Barton reminds me of Jarrett Jack in his "you love him until one of his bonehead plays" type game. After thinking he was a writeoff, the last ten games or so convinced me that he will eventually find a home in this league, just as Jack has.

 

Incidentally, I know everybody hates +/-, but whenever I used to check, Wesley was either #1 or #2 on the Blazers in it. If we lost Wesley, we would be an entire team of quiet types. You need the loud, fiery type who gets pissed off at losing. He's also our best defender. And, I have to say, I thought at the beginning of the season that his offense was much improved and he'd actually developed a little bit of a handle.

 

Wes has always struck me as a below average defender who plays the passing lanes well on defense and a spot up shooter who can't create his own shot or create for others on offense.

has always seemed really overvalued by a lot of fans.

 

Its really hard not to like his attitude and heart. As others have mentioned I think he is the perfect bench player.

 

At the very least this is why why we hope to keep him. I do not want to see him as a throw in to make a trade, but of course if the right trade occurred.......

Rhal has a good point as well. He does compliment Nic and Damian if both of them attacked the rim. Since Wes can not attack the rim effectively, we need Nic to. If Nic won't /can't then we need a SG who can. Got to have two on the floor who can.

Whether Wes starts or goes to the bench I like his leadership skills. I would rather keep him then trade him.

 

I agree. He's a good trade asset, if we are looking to use one of the starting 4 to upgrade that position.

 

Maybe league-wide, but compared with all his teammates, he's fucking stellar.

Isn't that true of a hell of a lot of otherwise very valuable players? Didn't Ray Allen make a very nice career out of that? Yes, Ray could drive a bit, but so can Wesley, especially if a defender bites on a fake because Wesley is a damn GOOD spot up shooter.

Don't mistake "loving" for "valuing". He's our mascot now.

 

If he's overvalued by the fans, then he's not likely to be a good trade asset, is he? Are we hoping that GMs of other teams are fans of this one?

 

Fans think he's a top 5 sg in the league. That's seriously overvaluing him.

 

I don't know anyone who seriously thinks Matthews is a top 5 SG.

 

You haven't read this forum then.

 

Matthews is top 15 but not top 5. I put him at #13 personally.

 

So if you used Matthews and cap space to grab a top 5 sf, then see batum move to sg; would you consider it an upgrade?

 

I think as I move along in my S2 life, I will be staying away from the bantering back and forth, but I will give it a shot here.

Maybe league-wide, but compared with all his teammates, he's fucking stellar.

I think I'd rather have someone who was a good defender by league standards than against his own teammates at the practice facility. I'd be shocked if anyone felt differently about this?

Isn't that true of a hell of a lot of otherwise very valuable players? Didn't Ray Allen make a very nice career out of that? Yes, Ray could drive a bit, but so can Wesley, especially if a defender bites on a fake because Wesley is a damn GOOD spot up shooter.

It's hard to find the stats, but if you look at each players first 4 seasons, the numbers show something that is a bit alarming to me. Ray Allen shot less three pointers each of his first 4 years, while Wes has increased his 3pt shooting each of his. I'm not sure that says anything, but it seems by the eye test that Wes is settling a lit more, and the numbers back that up a bit.

I like Wes too. I'm just not sure he should be a guy that is considered part of the "core"

 

Is there such thing as a bench core???

 

A 7 mil per bench player? Ouch!!!! Let's solidify our starters first. Then if Allen wants to pay starter prices for bench players; we can go down that road.

 

Find me some evidence. At most it's one or two outliers. A few delusional people don't make up an entire fanbase.

 

On my iPhone but I will when I get on an actual computer.