The "How are Aldridge, Batum, Lopez, and Matthews Doing?" Thread

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Matthews is getting destroyed by mavs fans. He doesn't look like the player he was in Portland but it's still pretty brutal.

 

Wes is not a starting quality 2 anymore....I watch him all the time and the dude is a shell of himself. I hope he finishes out his obligations in Dallas takes early retirement and comes back to be an assistant on our bench. Cuban took a hell of a gamble giving him that contract.

 

That's unfortunate

 

I feel bad for Wes he was a warrior but my goodness he's so bad this year. What gets me is how does your percentages take a noise dive like that? I understand the Achilles thing and all that obviously but I don't get how you shoot THAT BAD when you weren't that athletic in the first place

 

He put A LOT of pressure on his ankles when you watch closely, dude took hard steps.

You can't play that way after an Achilles, look at Kobe for example.

 

Wes was always a workout warrior and has put a lot of wear and tear on his body. It wouldn't surprise me if his career is shortened. He's a maximum effort guy in everything. Which is just sad because what a player.

 

Batum with a classic disappearing act last night.

 

He probably came back from surgery too soon. Guarantee he will be better next season. I remember somebody did a study of people coming back from achilles surgery and it took a year every time.

 

The Texas Trash are destroying the wrong person. They should be destroying the person who offered the injured Wes the max contract, and signed it. Then those fans should look in the mirror and get a reality check: What the F did they expect? Give Wes another year before freaking out.

 

He is going to have to adjust his game this summer though. I expect Matthews to expand his post/mid range game to be successful for the Mavs. I don't think think we will ever see him be a guy who runs off screens over and over while playing full tilt defense again. I could very well be wrong of course, I really hope I am too.

 

Why on earth did Cuban give him the max after that achilles injury? I was astounded by the offer.

 

And why did Wes accept it? I get that players almost always grab the guaranteed money, but I'm always surprised that they don't connect the dots and realize their standing with the fans would be much improved by taking a lesser one year deal as a rehab contract, then sign for big dollars once healthy. Overpaid and under-peforming is a terrible combination in the eyes of fickle fans.

 

Some things are more important than the opinions of fans. Like ensuring your kids and then someday your grandkids will never know poverty or worry about affording college.

I would have signed that contract in a heartbeat even if I knew every fan in the NBA was going to hate me.

 

No he had to take it because of the uncertainty that he might never get a chance at another big contract. I do think he can get better next year and with all the other big contracts out there his might not look as bad. But to be honest as much as I liked Wes, I always felt like he would have been better coming off the bench for us as well. He would have been the perfect 3 and D 6th man.

Nic's ability to dribble well for a SF covered Wes' weakness as a guard. (below average handles) But for most teams that weakness will be more noticeable. Wes IMO is a very good role player off the bench.

 

Wes could have signed something like a 1 yr $5M deal (or whatever necessary to retain Bird rights, say with team and/or player options), been fully embraced by the fan base, and signed for a much bigger deal a year later with the new TV contract. He would probably have come out ahead financially and not tarnished his reputation for cashing in at the expense of the team.

Yes, it's a bit of a gamble that he never gets healthy enough to get the big contract. But, a) would you be happy in that position, being someone that millions of people despise? and b) for someone like Wes who had absolute certainty he would come back healthy this year, the risk should have been a very minimal concern.

Y'all can say whatever you like about Wes being a great guy. The fact is, he is a typically greedy professional athlete who put his bad health ahead of the team's good health financially. It's no wonder that the owners try to shaft the players whenever the CBA is up for renewal, if even the "good" ones are like that.

 

You have a good point there. I never really considered that. Plus, in Stotts' system it's mostly about ball movement and player movement, and if somebody is going to get broken down it's either our PG doing it or Aldridge. As an SG on a max contract, you should either have a fantastic handle or at least the ability to run off screens like Rip Hamilton. Paying Wes max money is like paying Bruce Bowen max money. You just don't do it.