Matthews Bringing it for Portland

[brewcity77]

John Hollinger had a small feature on Wes Matthews today in the Daily Dime on ESPN.com:

http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page/dime-101210/daily-dime

2. Matthews Bringing it for Portland

ESPN.com

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Cancel the funeral dirges. It appears the Portland Trail Blazers may contest the rest of the season after all.

Portland played its most complete game of the season on Thursday, coming from an early 14-point deficit to topple the Orlando Magic 97-83, for its third straight win. The Blazers have clawed their way back to .500 at 11-11, and find themselves tied with Phoenix for the coveted eighth position in the Western Conference.

And for that, they can thank that rarest of rarities: a midlevel-exception player who has proven to be worth his money. While the Curse of the MLE has claimed victims far and wide, Portland's Wesley Matthews -- who signed a front-loaded five-year, $33 million deal with the Blazers this past summer -- has instead been a revelation.

Matthews scored 20 points in the victory Thursday and is averaging 21.1 points per game in nine outings as a starter. Moreover, his contributions are exactly of the variety the Blazers had been missing. He's proven a jack-of-all trades scorer who can hit 3-pointers off the catch, attack off the dribble and get out in transition -- all areas where the post-up heavy Blazers have struggled to produce points, especially with Brandon Roy's gimpiness.

Portland, meanwhile, is starting to figure out how to play through Roy's limitations ... partly because Matthews has proven so capable at creating offense on the wings. For the season, in fact, he leads the Blazers in points per minute and shooting percentage -- even though he's had virtually no plays called for him.

When the Blazers signed him, they thought they were getting a defensive stopper who would hit a few 3s. He's done that -- witness the sequence in which he fought off the bigger Rashard Lewis in the post before drawing a charge -- but has proven to be much more as well.

As a result, this is one midlevel deal in which the signing team doesn't have buyer's remorse. The Blazers still will land shy of the lofty goals they had entering the season, but as long as Matthews keeps delivering, they may not fall as far as originally feared.

[StillWarriors]

It's fun watching Wesley play; it's very apparent he's bursting with confidence but still doing a lot of dirty work and the hustle stuff that got him there in the first place. Awesome to see.

[MUFC9295]

I caught the second half.  Obviously, the League is making him better - realizing his potential.  I was really impressed with Wes.  Did the other amigos hinder Wes?  In hindsight, DJ and McSteal may have plateaued as players, while Wes was budding.  I hope we get or have another Wes (and DJ and JM), but I like that this years crop as they seem to contribute equally and get better together.  Looks at the SOG board.  If only we could have some of the JC guys for more than 2 seasons.  I'm looking for greatness from Davante and Vander especially in the years to come.

[Skatastrophy]

I'm looking for greatness from Davante and Vander especially in the years to come.

Do you think Buzz can successfully develop recruits that aren't from a JUCO? 

[jficke13]

Do you think Buzz can successfully develop recruits that aren't from a JUCO? 

so this is the new pessimism that's come into style? and you're basing that off of the fact that Erik Williams hasn't flourished? Or the fact that in a scramble to keep a program afloat Buzz has brought in JUCO players that have shouldered some of the load during the two whole seasons the man has been coach? Or perhaps the fact that Jamail Jones is riding pine roughly two months into his college career signals an inability to develop non-JUCO players?

[wildbillsb]

so this is the new pessimism that's come into style? and you're basing that off of the fact that Erik Williams hasn't flourished? Or the fact that in a scramble to keep a program afloat Buzz has brought in JUCO players that have shouldered some of the load during the two whole seasons the man has been coach? Or perhaps the fact that Jamail Jones is riding pine roughly two months into his college career signals an inability to develop non-JUCO players?

...and I rest my case, your honor.

[Skatastrophy]

so this is the new pessimism that's come into style? and you're basing that off of the fact that Erik Williams hasn't flourished? Or the fact that in a scramble to keep a program afloat Buzz has brought in JUCO players that have shouldered some of the load during the two whole seasons the man has been coach? Or perhaps the fact that Jamail Jones is riding pine roughly two months into his college career signals an inability to develop non-JUCO players?

Getting a little defensive about an innocuous question, aren't we?  I didn't take a stance on the issue at all.

We can Internet fight if you want to, though. 

FACT:  Buzz just hasn't developed any players straight from HS yet.
FACT:  Bears eat beats.

[MU B2002]

.
FACT:  Bears eat beats.

Bears
Beats
Battlestar Galactica

[Skatastrophy]

Yes!

http://www.youtube.com/v/sOV36T58_fg

Sorry for the OT-ness... cut me a little slack since it's Friday?

[jficke13]

not so much defensive as it seems like we've been going from one flavor of pessimism to the next around here lately. a little optimism never hurt anybody.

[Skatastrophy]

not so much defensive as it seems like we've been going from one flavor of pessimism to the next around here lately. a little optimism never hurt anybody.

It's hard to drive discussions when everybody is agreeing, though.  Like if I just said "yep, I totally agree with you," instead of typing all of this out you'd come back and read it and say, "Mkay, good then." and that would be the end of it.

I don't agree that Buzz is unable to develop players straight from HS, but he hasn't yet in the couple years he's been at MU and it's an interesting topic of discussion.

[NersEllenson]

I don't agree that Buzz is unable to develop players straight from HS, but he hasn't yet in the couple years he's been at MU and it's an interesting topic of discussion.

The reality is this debate is ridiculous.  Based on Erik Williams??  How's Vander played thus far?  Reggie Smith - did he look better in his last game than his first few?  Did anyone expect Devante Gardner to come in here and dominate in his minutes that he plays?

So we are only 9 games into the career of Jamil Jones..and we really want to debate Buzz's ability to develop kids straight out of high school based on Erik Williams and Jamil Jones?  Re-dick.  U Lous.

If Buzz hadn't brought in JUCO's such as Jimmy, and Jae - I can promise you Erik Williams probably would be on the floor more, and putting up some respectable numbers for a sophomore.  He's stuck behind more experienced players currently (who at present are better.)

[cheebs09]

I'd say Otule's development is very encouraging. Sure he hasn't done it against the best competition, but he's a long ways from where he was as a freshman. I remember being excited about him, but he was a big project and wasn't very coordinated. We got excited over any basket he scored early on his freshman year. Well, within the last week or so he had a 9-9 game with 19 points. This is while missing significant time in his first two years here.

Junior is also starting to take over the majority of time as the point guard. I think we will be fine. I think that Buzz was under a lot of pressure as a new coach to get wins, and the best way was our 4 seniors and Lazar playing a lot of minutes. I think as he gets more comfortable with his guys, we will see more of the younger guys playing. Reggie, Vander, and Gardner when healthy have been getting a solid amount of playing time. Some top 100 guys are busts, some take awhile to get it and perform closer to expectations later on in careers, and some come in right away and live up to expectations. I'd argue the third one is the one that happens the least by a solid margin, especially once you leave the top 10.

[brewcity77]

FACT:  Buzz just hasn't developed any players straight from HS yet.

Well, to be fair, Buzz has only been here for a shade over two years. Kind of tough to develop a four-year player in that time. However, he did sent both Matthews and Hayward to the NBA. Granted, Buzz didn't have them their entire careers, but again, hard to make a case with the amount of time he's been here.

We don't know what Williams will do, he looks like he'll probably underachieve, but we can't really determine that for two more years. Otule is starting to develop into a pretty nice player. Still not the consistent 20-25 minute guy we'd like him to be, but considering that he's already had two games this year where he scored more points than in either his freshman or sophomore (A) years, he's definitely shown significant improvement. Cadougan's looking like a solid prospect, though still developing largely due to him not really getting a sniff last year. Blue and Gardner both already look like solid contributing options, while the minutes have been too few for Smith and Jones to really make a case.

By my count, that's four current legitimate contributors and three guys that still have something to prove. Considering two of the three are freshmen, that's not a bad track record.

While you're technically right that Buzz hasn't developed any players from high school yet, he also doesn't have any players from high school that are anything more than sophomores because he's only been on the job for a couple years. Another one of those statements that will need time to be adequately addressed.

[Skatastrophy]

...you're technically right...

I rest my case.

[Sharpie]

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/540040-ballin-in-rip-city-power-ranking-the-trailblazers-ten-most-important-players/page/11

Pretty nice write up on Matthews. And check out where he ranks. And who was te espn analyst that was very skeptical of wes? And has he written anything since then..?

[chren21]

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Portland Trail Blazers are determined to stay upbeat despite Brandon Roy's serious knee problems.

Wesley Matthews tied a career high with 30 points, LaMarcus Aldridge added 27 and the Blazers beat the Utah Jazz 100-89 on Thursday night, hours after learning that their star guard will be sidelined for a lengthy period because of sore knees.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=301230022

Video highlights automatically come up as well..

[ChicosBailBonds]

http://www.foxsportswisconsin.com/12/31/10/Wesley-Matthews-quick-rise-in-NBA-no-sur/landing.html?blockID=382747&feedID=5059