DCZards wrote:nate33 wrote:My original post was in no way a criticism of Mathews. I love Mathews and I am very impressed with his improvement and work ethic. He has gotten much stronger over the past year and his defense is way better. And we are now even starting to see him make a few plays off the bounce when a defender closes too aggressively.
My post was a criticism of how bereft our team is of legit NBA talent. At the moment, I don't think Mathews is well rounded enough to be a starter on a decent team, but he is the clear and obvious choice as the starter on this team. That's sad. And it's not just an indictment of the scouting and player development. It's an indictment of Brooks. How can he have all these recent 1st and 2nd round pick wing prospects (Avdija, Brown, Bonga, Robinson) but not give them a consistent role so that he can build confidence in them? The only guy they seem worried about developing is Hachimura. (And they've actually done a nice job with him.)
Mathews has been a real find for the Zards and an important contributor. But he is not a starting quality NBA player...thus my "mostly sad" response to your post/question.
Speaking of Rui...and getting back to last night's game. I thought Rui was very impressive in the 4th quarter when he scored 8 or 9 pts. He scored in a variety of ways...fadeaway jumpers off the bounce, getting to the FT line and running the court for easy hoops.
Rui stepped up last night when the Zards needed him the most.
Seems to me Matthews has fallen into the hustle & D role, I'm sure getting positive feedback from coaches and teammates and recognition that it is what has earned him playing time. But he spends so much effort flailing around that he seems to have forgotten what got him into the league which was his shooting stroke. Watching him run around and waving his arms and flopping on the floor, kicking his legs and falling every time he shoots now looking for a foul... IMO he needs to get back to his true special skill of stroking that 3ball and focus on his shooting form and making his shots instead of looking for fouls...