Matthews signs a 5 year $34 million offer sheet (Portland)

[J~Rush]

The Jazz have until July 19th to decide.

[carrottop12]

The decision has been made and it's no.

There just isn't any real reason for the Jazz to spend that kind of money on Matthews at this point in his career or at this point in the life of the organization.

I'm not trying to be a downer for the Blazer fans, but looking at young guys who come in and play well for the Jazz as "system" guys rarely go on to be big time players in the league. Going over the rosters from the last 10 years I picked out all of the young guys who have played for the Jazz who appeared to have bright futures and broke down what they turned into after they left the Jazz. All of these guys came into the league and looked like they had some promise because of how well they played in the Jazz system, so lets brake down what happened to them after they left the Jazz.

Jacque Vaughn - After being Stockton's main back up for a few years, left the Jazz and became an NBA journey man. His best years were backing up Stock.

Scott Padgett - Solid role player with the Jazz, fit well into the system as a hustle player, he left the Jazz and got worse every year.

Carlos Arroyo - Looked like a very promising young PG. Played well for an overachieving Jazz team, got traded and has barely been able to keep his name on the map since.

DeShawn Stevenson - Traded during his peak with the Jazz, never really improved to anything more than a role player and a journeyman.

Sasha Pavlovic - Most people thought the Jazz were crazy to leave a young guy who looked as promising as he did available for the expansion draft. Was picked up, moved to the Cavs where he had one good year and again appears headed for mediocrity.

Mo Williams - Left the Jazz after one season, and is really the only guy on the list who improved significantly after leaving. The Jazz made a mistake letting him go for nothing.

Keith McLeod - Had a decent season as a role player for the Jazz and looked like a capable back up PG, was traded, and fell out of the league in about 3 years.

Then you can go back to guys like Shandon Anderson and Howard Eisley who looked like very good players after there initial years with the Jazz, got nice contracts to leave the team and just never turned into anything near what they looked like they could be with the Jazz. I hate to say it but I see the same thing happening with Matthews. He fits perfectly for the Jazz, and he has a few NBA level skills. But I think as soon as he leaves this system and goes to a team that isn't tailored to his game like the Jazz are, he'll fall off a little bit and never live up to what seemed possible.

[RipCity71252]

None of those guards had close to the year Matthews had last year, especially shooting efficiency wise.

I do agree though that Matthews probably wont shoot the near 60 TS% he shot with Jazz if he does indeed become a blazer. Matthews runs the floor hard and got a lot of transition buckets and those are sure to fall in Portland's slow paced system. He also is a good finisher but doesn't have great handles so those double screen curl plays and flex cuts really helped Matthews as well.

[The59Sound]

Matthews will always be a solid performer, in my opinion, but his potential in the Jazz system is much better than his potential outside of it. He'll always be a well-liked and reliable role player, but he'll also be known as a guy the team's paying too much for.

[mgraphix]

I think the writing is on the wall.
http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wireta ... son_brown/
Looking at other guys says to me they have no intention of matching.
It's too bad really but that's life in the NBA.
I am glad Portland got their bluff called for once. Now they can eat a bad salary.

[Bruteque]

I think the Jazz meeting on Matthews will go something like this:

"So who's for finally sticking it to Portland for once?"
"Aye."
"Aye."
"Aye."
"Aye."
"Aye."
"Aye."
"Aye."
"Aye."
"Aye."
"Aye."
"Aye."
"Okay, let's not match. Meeting adjourned."