How did this guy go undrafted? That statement isn't based on his performance with us, but his work with the Jazz last year. He played for a big time program (Marquette) and shouldn't have been missed. There are some personnel people around the league that should be embarrassed.
Some? Most of them, including the ones working for this very organization who took Pendy, Dante, Claver and Patty before him (and while I like all these guys, Wes seems like a better player than each and every one of them).
At Marquette he was very much a team player. I remember watching him a few times and he was the guy that did the dirty work. I also think him being a late bloomer has to do with it. Its not common for players to be undrafted and make an impact in the league, but it does happen. The difference between being a mid to late 2nd round draft pick and going undrafted is pretty slim.
I've been wondering the same thing. For the last several years, it seems as though NBA GM's/scouts have been enamoured with the younger "potential" guys and European prospects and forgot about some of the four year college players. Matthews seems to have really benefited from the experience of four years of college ball, not to mention one year under Sloan.
I think it's matter of priorities. For instance, I'm pretty sure Nick Calathes our DeJuan Blair or just about any 4yr college undrafted player could've helped us last year more than Victor Clav-eh. We actually broke the trend by going with 2 seniors in JP and DC...who ended up helping out more than the average 2nd-rounder. But so much of the league is predicated on getting the 2 walks, then 3run homer (high-upside prospect that turns out)...otherwise, why is Ekpe Udoh in the Top 6? Gerry MacNamara doesn't have a place in the league, but we'll spend picks on Freeland, Petteri, etc? Matter of priorities, rather than being embarrassed, imo. And I'm one that usually calls out GMs.
I don't freak out like many around here, so from my standpoint, I will take a game like that with a long-term approach. So far, since I did not watch a lot of him last season, I really only have two episodes to base my opinion on, the scrimmage and preseason game 1. Both have been wonderful, but I fully expect to see some negatives emerge also. About 20 games into the season, I expect I will be forming a more well-rounded opinion of Wes. He is only an MLE player, so anything above average is good, and anything below average is bad.
It's hard not to compare to what we had... Assuming we could've offered the same as everyone else, here are the contracts for some recent Blazers: Wes: 5/32.5M left (6.5M/yr) Blake: 4/16M left (4M/yr) Outlaw: 5/35M left (7M/yr) Webster: 3/15.7M left (5.2M/yr) Looking at that, I'm thinking we got the best use of the money.
Roy's stock soared because of his tournament play. Especially that double overtime loss to UCONN. He practically carried that team. Lorenzo Romar still has a job at UW because of Brandon Roy IMO.
I realize this, I'm just saying you could say the same thing about B. Why was he not the first player picked?
I had a little daydream earlier after watching Batum sky for that dunk a la Scottie Pippen. We benched Miller and went with Matthews/Roy/Batum lineup, which in my fantasy land worked just as well Ron Harper/Michael Jordan/Scottie Pippen. You had Oden in the Dennis Rodman role of dominating boards and defense, and Aldridge in the Tony Kukoc role. Yeah, it was a little bit of a stretch. But it was fun to think about. And hey, 72 wins!
Agree...I never really looked at the Matthews signing as a bad one. It only looks bad if you look at the first year, but that was only to help prevent Utah from matching. Overall, the average isn't out of line with what I believe he will give us. If he performs anywhere near what we've seen so far (although a very small sample), we got a bargain.
I wonder what type of reception Matthews will receive in SLC tomorrow night? I'm guessing it'll be a pretty good one. I mean, who could really blame him for signing for the long green?
I see what you're saying, but Matthews went completely undrafted, so it was a much bigger miss than Brandon being picked 6-7 picks lower than he maybe should have.
It's not like he left an offer on the table, right? Utah never even offered him a contract prior to him getting the offer sheet from Portland, correct? I'm sure he'll get a great reception from the Utah fans...unless they're completely ignorant.
