My first comment on this forum was to lampoon David Lee and James Harden getting votes. Then it was to discuss Mike Rice's homerism strangely enough a guy from MSG network gave Matthews a first team vote. While Rice had him second team, and Batum first.
Top 10 defenders? Maybe not. It's an unfair comparison since both guys usually end up guarding the opponents' better offensive players. They're going to get burned, but the goal is to slow them down as much as you can. I wouldn't say they're merely decent defenders. Voters like Rice who are more familiar with the way the team uses Batum and Matthews on defense are in a better position to cast the vote for either of them. Just because you don't like the way someone voted doesn't mean that you're right and they're wrong or even more qualified than they are to make that determination.
He has also established himself as extremely knowledgable about the game of basketball. Those two things are not always mutually exclusive. Thanks for agreeing with everything else I said.
