Wes Matthews

[HammerDunk]

So, watching this kid play has been a lot of fun. I think everyone can agree that he has filled a needed role for this team, and he has done it well. I am starting to value him much more than just a temporary replacement for injured players.

I personally think he has gone beyond this and has shown that he may very well be the answer to our wing woes. It's always impressive when a player rises to challenges and plays better than was expected. I believe it also shows a high basketball IQ and incredible work ethic. I think he may become the Paul Millsap 2.0 for this team, not in his playing style, but in the fact that he has been an absolute steal. He will be very cheap to hold onto for quite some time.

I know I'm gonna catch some flames for this, but I think he may also be exactly what we had hoped CJ and Brewer would become. He is showing he can be a threat from the outside, he can create his own shots or get to the hoop AND FINISH. He shoots well from the line. He is averaging a steal a game over the last 5. He brings a great spark off the bench, but is also solid to start a game, as we saw tonight.

With him looking good, and Maynor playing a very solid game tonight, the future is bright for the Jazz. Now, if we could just get our 4/5 problems figured out! It's always a welcome treat to see a rookie get a double double in his first start, speaking of Maynor.

[Ming Kong!]

9.8ppg over the last 5 games, who would of thought this would happen before training camp. Hope he starts from here on, Brewer also benefits at the SF position.

[@ndrew]

You guys are overreacting. It happens every day and night. You give a minutes to a 15th guy and he is going to produce because the level of talent in nba is preatty high. But then teams are going to take him in a consideration and he will start to look soooo bad, that you will try to kill Sloan for that decision. Look at GSW - they think they got future MJ in every player - from Morrow to CJ Watson. Curry is the next great thing, AR is GOAT. I hope Wes will play his best till Price, CJ and Korver will comeback. Then he will returh to the bench where he belongs.

[red4hf]

I don't think anyone is expecting Matthews to be an All-Star, but he has been solid, and if he makes Brewer expendable (I think Brewer is overrated, especially on defense) all the better......

[@ndrew]

I agree about Brewer, but to make him expendable, Wes has to be a better finisher.

[HammerDunk]

You guys are overreacting. It happens every day and night. You give a minutes to a 15th guy and he is going to produce because the level of talent in nba is preatty high. But then teams are going to take him in a consideration and he will start to look soooo bad, that you will try to kill Sloan for that decision. Look at GSW - they think they got future MJ in every player - from Morrow to CJ Watson. Curry is the next great thing, AR is GOAT. I hope Wes will play his best till Price, CJ and Korver will comeback. Then he will returh to the bench where he belongs.

I never said he would be the number 2 or even 3 option on this team. With Deron, Okur, AK and Sap, he won't be keyed in on as much as you may think. He is like Brewer in that he can get to the hoop and get easy layups, but he is unlike Ronnie in that he can create his own shots WITH THE BALL. This is a big deal. One of the reasons why Brewer has lost so much is because teams don't have to respect his outside shot AT ALL. With tonight's game, he showed that he can hit from outside. This will demand respect from his defenders. This kid doesn't belong on the bench, at least until he has a performance that is deserving of it. All of this from a rookie that was not expected to even make the team.

I could be wrong, but I hope not.

[HammerDunk]

I agree about Brewer, but to make him expendable, Wes has to be a better finisher.

He is a great finisher! Have you not been watching him get to the hoop and finish?

[schneiderjazz]

The thing I've really liked about Matthews so far is that he's playing great defense. A lot better than Brewer. Even if his shot is not falling, he will still defend and be agressive on offense. That's something we could use night in and night out.

[@ndrew]

I agree about Brewer, but to make him expendable, Wes has to be a better finisher.

He is a great finisher! Have you not been watching him get to the hoop and finish?

OK, my jazz fella. Let's make it this way - after 3 weeks we are going to check our oppinion on him. In case in next three weeks you're going to say that Wes still deserves big minutes ( or he will get more then 20 minutes by coach decision) I'm going to put anything you want on my avatar and sig for a month. Otherwise, you're going to put russian flag in your avatar and sig. Trust me, I would love to lose you, just not to see that.

[DelaneyRudd]

He has so far proved he is an NBA player and a contributer. He should continue getting minutes while the rest of the NBA figures this out. Then we can think about the future.

[HammerDunk]

He has so far proved he is an NBA player and a contributer. He should continue getting minutes while the rest of the NBA figures this out. Then we can think about the future.

What's with the O rings delaney?

[DelaneyRudd]

These are the finest O-Rings for your organ. If your organ's O-Rings are wearing thin not only will these O-Rings be making your organ play like it used to it may even sound better. I guarantee it.

[HolyToledo]

He reminds me so much of Matt Harpring without the dirty play. I was shocked at his outside success. He is a solid 7-9 man on the team. He kind of makes Brewer or Korver expendable. Sloan has said he plans on shaking up the line up. I predict Sloan does the following to help the bench.

PG Williams Maynor Price
SG Brewer Miles Korver Price
C Memo Boozer Kosta Fess
PF Boozer Millsap AK-47
SF Matthews Ak-47 Miles

I personally think this would be unfair to AK-47, but AK-47's feelings are never cared for by SLoan but he will bend over backwards to keep Boozer happy. Im just saying next home game for Jazz will likely feature this line-up.

[seejaydeja]

With Matthews playing so great, we're almost gonna be TOO DEEP when Korv and Miles come back. How do you split minutes between Brew/Wes/Kyle/CJ? Not to mention Price, who will probably come back around the same time as everyone else...The wing positions just got even more crowded...

[DelaneyRudd]

Price should be the odd man out. Wesley will pretty much take over Harpring's role from last year.

[blackham9258]

I too am excited about Wes. His greatest attribute is his ability to create his own shot, drive and finish. To become a real player he needs to be a great jump shooter and 3 point maker. He has hit his shots, but they are set shots so that worries me. I also disagree that he is better than Ronnie defensively. He gets beat badly, Ronnie is at least athletic enough to keep up with players. That is why sloan took Wes off Iggy after he saw how much space Iggy got on him, and he put Ronnie on him last night. Wes just might become a very good role player.

Overall though, lets not get too excited about being too deep! That makes me laugh! What we have at our SF & SG positions are mediocre NBA players. I base my mediocre player comment on facts. I like our players but ask yourself to take money, age and your feelings for our players out of the math and ask would you rather have the following as your starters at the respective positions? I ask myself a simple question....who is better at SG right now or in the future...Ronnie, Wes, CJ, Kyle or:

Consider
SG's
B. Roy,
K. Bryant
Joe Johnson
Manu Ginobili
Josh Howard (when healthy)
Ray Allen (when younger)
Dwayne Wade
OJ Mayo
Vince Carter
Michael Redd
JR Smith
Kevin Martin
Jason Richardson
Rip Hamilton
Ben Gordon
Courtney Lee
Andre Iguodalo

All are better than Ronnie, Wes, and Korver.

Consider
SF's
Lamar Odom
Ron Artest
Rashard Lewis
Carmello
Lebron
Paul Pierce
Richard Jefferson
Trevor Ariza
Dirk Nowitki
Luol Deng
Turkoglu
Granger
Tayshawn Prince
Gerald Wallace
Caron Butler
Kevin Durrant
Rudy Gay

All are better than AK, CJ, and Matt Harprin

You may not agree with all of my choices, but when you get more than 10 guys down the list at each position you can understand why our wings are mediocre when compared to the rest of the league. I would take a star at one of these positions than our group of 6 mediocre players. Meaning I would rather have Kevin Durrant at our SF spot than AK/Korver/and CJ combined. You can always find a mediocre shooting guard to pair with him. Seriously, if you are the GM would you trade Durrant for all three of AK/Korver/ & CJ? The answer is no.

On the SG side, I would rather have a Brandon Roy over 3 mediocre shooting guards, because I could pair him with any mediocre SF and we would be better.

This is a star league and we need a star. My hope is that we get the #1 pick, and this John Wall is more of a SG and the second coming of D. Wade. That would put us back on the map.

Besides the 4/5 defensive and effort debacle we have going on, the lack of a legit 2 or 3 is what is hurting us. AK was never an ALL*STAR 3. He was an ALL*STAR 3/4. Hopefully we can get a stud SG or SF in the draft and sort out our 4/5 spot via trade.

I am open to trading anyone but Deron to make the necessary moves for the 2-5 positions.

But too deep? We are not. We just have mediocre wing players like everyone else in the league has sitting on their bench if they are legit contenders.

[TexFTW]

He's doing great for a rookie. I knew he was a good defender but I had no idea he was the team's BEST defender.

"I think he's played pretty well," Sloan said of Matthews. "His defensive statistics are the highest on the team, and I think that's a tribute to him."

I used to think he was going to be a Dahntay Jones type of player. But now I think he will be able to do better than 16 PPG, 4 RPG, 2 AST.

[Spre_4_3]

How about Matthews making the Rookie Ratings Top Ten this week?...emphasizing props from Coach Sloan.
http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/1 ... ef:nbahpt1

[WesWesley]

Price should be the odd man out. Wesley will pretty much take over Harpring's role from last year.

I'm not as tough as Harpring.

[carrottop12]

You're Amaechi tough.