Wes Matthews in London

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Has Nothing to do with playing, it does however have to deal with HOW Crean used him.

I partially agree with that, but let's not get basketball confused with football.

Coaches do design offenses and defenses in basketball, however, the game is much more fluid, and good players will always rise to the top, regardless of coach.

I think it's really hard for a coach to truly "hold back" a talented player on the court.

Wes certainly had his best year as a senior, and Buzz's scheme helped, but so did his experience the previous 3 years, McNeal's improvement, Lazar's improvement and James' improvement.

[dbwarriors]

Right now Wes is leading the Jazz in scoring against the Bulls. I know it is only preseason but I am excited to see Wes in the NBA he's a five tool player and I think he will be similar to Scottie Pippen in the NBA.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_ylt=AitQ4bNjwWKM3hdNx3tlXkA5nYcB?gid=2009100604

That is just delusional.  Pippen (whether someone agrees or not) was voted on the Top 50 list of all-time NBA players in 1996.  No matter what point in time (1970, 1980, 1996, 2009, 2020), Matthews will never be a top 50 NBA player.  Let's have him make an NBA roster (not start, not make All Star Teams, not win 6 NBA Championships) in the regular season before comparing him to Scottie Pippen, or even mentioning "similar to".

http://www.nba.com/history/players/50greatest.html

[MR.HAYWARD]

wow mu2002 that is really an ignorant statement....i inderstand your unending devotion to Tom crean but please that is a joke and while you may have convinced yourself of that give the rest of us a break.  

Tom crean ran a Set based offense, with a progression of options.  One set may be a series of screens or cuts to get a certain player a shot from a certain place on the floor.  it created alot of standing and certain players getting many shot becuase the sets were designed for the,.  Brian Wardle got a ton of shot becuase the sets were run for him.  Novak god tons of shots for the same reason.  Crean erred of biblical perportions during DJ's sophomore year by trying to make him into a jump shooter and a 2 guard and running so many sets for Dominic that did not fit his style.  Then when it bcuame clear that Dominic was not going to be the next DWAde or at least in that mold Crean turned his eyes to Jerel who started gettting all the shots.  meanwhile Wes set screens and got a few shots typically as the second or third option in the set.  

2002 i know you will defend Crean at all costs but please even at the expense of making your self look like a fool?  My goodness  Wesley Mathews at senior day publucally thanksed Buzz for taking the chains off him... by going to a motion equall opportunity offense the player that gets open gets the shot not a forced set that as we saw for 9 years many times does not work resulting in a last second 3 attempt.

really scary devotion your analogy is like saying a quarterback onlythrows to his #1 receiver 5x as often as his #2 becuse that plaeyr rises to the top.  well maybe alittle but if they are both open and his #1 read is always the #1 receiver he is not going to look off the #1 option to see if the #2 option is open.  Wesley was often the 3rd or 4th option for Mu prior to his senior year

I beged for a motion offense for 3 years with the 3 amigos,  it fit our talent so well.  also players like it.  Crean was too full of himself to change, wes and the team suffered for it.  until Dj got hurt we were a light years better offenseive team last year.

sell your story to someone who does not know any better

[MarquetteFan94]

It shows he is being aggressive with the ball. I prefer to look at the positives. 50% from the filed, 75% from 3, no turnovers and a positive +/-

Pretty good game.

+1
How/why people are being dismissive about Wes' performance last night is beyond me.  Yes, it's preseason NBA which isn't much, if any, better than 4th quarter preseason NFL but the facts above and that he started is a pretty positive sign....let's take it at that and hope there's room for him on the roster.

[lurch91]

The reason he started was Utah wanted to take a good long look at him.  With his performance last night I would assume he's raised some eyebrows out in Salt Lake City.  I also think he'll get 2-3 more preseason games when he plays 20+ mins plus, if he can perform just as well as last night, he'll stick.

[damuts222]

That is just delusional.  Pippen (whether someone agrees or not) was voted on the Top 50 list of all-time NBA players in 1996.  No matter what point in time (1970, 1980, 1996, 2009, 2020), Matthews will never be a top 50 NBA player.  Let's have him make an NBA roster (not start, not make All Star Teams, not win 6 NBA Championships) in the regular season before comparing him to Scottie Pippen, or even mentioning "similar to".

  I meant that his style of play is similar to pippens, that is all.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

wow mu2002 that is really an ignorant statement....i inderstand your unending devotion to Tom crean but please that is a joke and while you may have convinced yourself of that give the rest of us a break.  

Tom crean ran a Set based offense, with a progression of options.  One set may be a series of screens or cuts to get a certain player a shot from a certain place on the floor.  it created alot of standing and certain players getting many shot becuase the sets were designed for the,.  Brian Wardle got a ton of shot becuase the sets were run for him.  Novak god tons of shots for the same reason.  Crean erred of biblical perportions during DJ's sophomore year by trying to make him into a jump shooter and a 2 guard and running so many sets for Dominic that did not fit his style.  Then when it bcuame clear that Dominic was not going to be the next DWAde or at least in that mold Crean turned his eyes to Jerel who started gettting all the shots.  meanwhile Wes set screens and got a few shots typically as the second or third option in the set.  

2002 i know you will defend Crean at all costs but please even at the expense of making your self look like a fool?  My goodness  Wesley Mathews at senior day publucally thanksed Buzz for taking the chains off him... by going to a motion equall opportunity offense the player that gets open gets the shot not a forced set that as we saw for 9 years many times does not work resulting in a last second 3 attempt.

really scary devotion your analogy is like saying a quarterback onlythrows to his #1 receiver 5x as often as his #2 becuse that plaeyr rises to the top.  well maybe alittle but if they are both open and his #1 read is always the #1 receiver he is not going to look off the #1 option to see if the #2 option is open.  Wesley was often the 3rd or 4th option for Mu prior to his senior year

I agree somewhat, but if the #2 receiver was really, really, good, he'd get enough chances. Chris Carter was the #1 receiver when Randy Moss came in, and Randy got plenty of balls. Marvin Harrison was the #1 option, and Reggie Wayne got plenty of balls.

I beged for a motion offense for 3 years with the 3 amigos,  it fit our talent so well.  also players like it.  Crean was too full of himself to change, wes and the team suffered for it.  until Dj got hurt we were a light years better offenseive team last year.

sell your story to someone who does not know any better

The point I'm trying to make about Wes is that several factors helped him have a great senior year... let's not just make it a Buzz vs Crean thing.

Hayward improved, McNeal improved, DJ improved, etc. Wes improved, and was helped by the improvement of the other players as well as the new offensive scheme. Doesn't seem like rocket science to me. This isn't a Buzz vs Crean thing.

[Pakuni]

I think it's really hard for a coach to truly "hold back" a talented player on the court.

Who's the only man to hold Michael Jordan to under 20 points per game?
Dean Smith.

I think one would have to be blind not to see that Buzz's system, specifically that it encouraged Wes to take the ball to the hoop more where he racked up tons of points at the line, better took advantage of Wes' skill set.

It's not a Crean vs Buzz thing. Not saying one is better than the other. Just that the way Buzz wanted his players to run things on the offensive end better fit Wes' strengths than the more rigid, play-oriented scheme Crean preferred.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Who's the only man to hold Michael Jordan to under 20 points per game?
Dean Smith.

I think one would have to be blind not to see that Buzz's system, specifically that it encouraged Wes to take the ball to the hoop more where he racked up tons of points at the line, better took advantage of Wes' skill set.

It's not a Crean vs Buzz thing. Not saying one is better than the other. Just that the way Buzz wanted his players to run things on the offensive end better fit Wes' strengths than the more rigid, play-oriented scheme Crean preferred.

Yep, Dean Smith held Jordan back so much he was drafted #3 overall.

I'm not saying the coaching scheme has no effect on a player, I'm just saying basketball is a fluid game, and good players will rise to the forefront not matter what "system" the coach uses.

[mugrad99]

Yep, Dean Smith held Jordan back so much he was drafted #3 overall.

Yep, arguably the greatest basketball player ever was drafted #3 in his draft class.

Some players are able to showcase their skills better in certain types of offenses. Is that so hard to understand?

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Yep, arguably the greatest basketball player ever was drafted #3 in his draft class.

Some players are able to showcase their skills better in certain types of offenses. Is that so hard to understand?

Guys, I'm NOT saying a coach's system has NO EFFECT, I'm just saying that there are multiple varibles in Wes' improvement.

Also, as far as Jordan's draft position, there are a lot of guys who end up being better than the guys they were drafted behind, but it doesn't mean they were held back in college. Marvin Williams was drafted #2 behind Bougut. Is that because Roy held him back? How about Chris Paul?

Great players will always be good performers, no matter who the coach is. Now, certain players skills can be maximized in certain systems (Steve Nash in PHO)... but certainly they were good players before that (Steve Nash in dallas).

[IAmMarquette]

Guys, I'm NOT saying a coach's system has NO EFFECT, I'm just saying that there are multiple varibles in Wes' improvement.

Also, as far as Jordan's draft position, there are a lot of guys who end up being better than the guys they were drafted behind, but it doesn't mean they were held back in college. Marvin Williams was drafted #2 behind Bougut. Is that because Roy held him back? How about Chris Paul?

Great players will always be good performers, no matter who the coach is. Now, certain players skills can be maximized in certain systems (Steve Nash in PHO)... but certainly they were good players before that (Steve Nash in dallas).

You've made their argument for them. Wes was a good player under Crean. Wes was a much better player under Buzz. Sure, being a senior probably had something to do with that, but I believe that Buzz's system, as Wes said himself, set Wes free.

Wes was a better player under Buzz than he was under Crean. One conclusion you can draw from that is that Buzz's system, at least as it pertained to Wesley Matthews, is better than Crean's.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

You've made their argument for them. Wes was a good player under Crean. Wes was a much better player under Buzz. Sure, being a senior probably had something to do with that, but I believe that Buzz's system, as Wes said himself, set Wes free.

Wes was a better player under Buzz than he was under Crean. One conclusion you can draw from that is that Buzz's system, at least as it pertained to Wesley Matthews, is better than Crean's.

Well, I agree that Buzz's system helped him, I just don't think it's the silver bullet that some others think. It's 1 FACTOR is Wes' improvement.

As far as the Nash comparison, he was already an all-star before he went to PHO, which is exactly my point. He's better in the PHO system, but it's not like the Dallas system was really hold him back that much. Good players will always be good players.

[mu89]

wes is 3-4 (6pts) and has 1 ast. in 11 minutes playing the blazers coming off the bench. not bad. let's hope.

[KipsBayEagle]

He finished with 12 points, 5 of 7 shooting, and 25 minutes.  Not bad at all.

[mugrad99]

http://www.nba.com/video/games/jazz/2009/10/15/0010900063_por_uta_recap.nba/

[Kramerica]

Nice Dunk by Wes in that video.  I would guess that Wes is very close to making this team.  At least, let's hope....

[mugrad99]

http://www.nba.com/jazz/media/101509wes_mathews_1_on_1.mp3

Talks about the blocked field goal attempts, starting, and getting his IU shorts in the mail

[4everwarriors]

Really represents well. The players from Memorial and MU are articulate and well-spoken. Sets a very good example for current and future recruits.