Garrison Mathews - Professional Shooter

[payitforward]

When we signed Garrison Mathews undrafted last Summer, Dat's first comment was that he couldn't guard a chair, which I then turned into the claim that a chair had actually dunked on him.

Mathews has now played in 8 games for us; I've been watching his defense, & in fact it looks like he moves pretty well. He also plays hard. In short, he doesn't seem to be a defensive liability, at least not as far as I can tell, although he fouls at an above average rate (fairly typical for rookies).

As one would hope, Mathews is shooting extremely well -- he sports a 64.7% TS%. In 84 minutes, he's 6 for 16 on 3 pointers (.375), 6-7 from the FT line, & 1-1 on his only 2-pointer.

So... he needs to shoot more. Now, when Garrison has the opportunity to shoot, he shoots! Which means that what he really needs are more opportunities to shoot.

I.e., he needs to see the ball more. For example, I don't remember seeing Brad pass him the ball even once so far -- literally not even a single time. I could be misremembering of course. & in any case, if he keeps making shots he'll see the ball more often.

Anyway, in all it's so far so good for Garrison Mathews.

[DCZards]

Mathews has indeed shown he can shoot the ball, which was his claim to fame coming out of college. And, as you say, he plays hard. I’ve noticed that Garrison gets his hands on a lot of balls coming off of the offensive board, often tipping it back to teammates. This is something that Brooks recently pointed out in one of his postgame interviews.

What Mathews hasn’t shown is the ability to put the ball on the floor. I don’t know if I’ve seen him dribble the ball even once…although I’m sure he has.

Right now, teammates only seem to be passing the ball to Garrison when he’s open for a shot. I’m sure that Brad and the other Zards will find opportunities to pass the ball to Mathews more often once he learns to do more with it, such as putting it on the floor and looking to create for himself and/or teammates. Hopefully, that day will come.

[payitforward]

Yup. You never know with a kid like GM, who comes from a small school & obviously has never faced competition anything like what he sees as a Wizard -- even against an opponent's bench.

It wouldn't be a big surprise were he to look lost on the court. But, he doesn't; he actually looks to have a pretty good grasp of the game & more than adequate confidence. With that, playing hard, & hitting 3's (some of them pretty hard shots too) you have to think he has a solid chance to be a rotation player in the league.

For another thing, if Tommy & his guys/gals can find prospects of this kind, it bodes well for us.

[nate33]

Yeah, I've been commenting on his defensive footspeed in several game threads now. He does move his feet real well and can generally stay in front of his counterpart. He's not very strong though. More experienced NBA players know how to overpower him, but he'll probably get stronger in time.

I like how he aggressively crashes the glass at both ends.

To be fair to Beal, he doesn't often share the court with Mathews. Mathews has played a total of 18 minutes alongside Beal.

[payitforward]

No doubt it's how few minutes they've shared that made it easy for me to notice that Brad had never passed the ball to Mathews!

[Ruzious]

Yeah, I've been commenting on his defensive footspeed in several game threads now. He does move his feet real well and can generally stay in front of his counterpart. He's not very strong though. More experienced NBA players know how to overpower him, but he'll probably get stronger in time.

I like how he aggressively crashes the glass at both ends.

To be fair to Beal, he doesn't often share the court with Mathews. Mathews has played a total of 18 minutes alongside Beal.

I love his hustle, but... wow, he cannot stand up to any contact. Maybe adding 10 or more lbs of muscle would help him - at least psychologically. Really, the only things he provides are a good 3 point shot threat and hustle in limited minutes. He NEEDS to get stronger.

[popper]

It took JJ Redick a couple of years to put things together. Is it too much a stretch to think GM could do the same?

[Illmatic12]

Man, this kid is a pure SHOOTER .. his balance and footwork is up there with the best I've seen in a long time
G-league is too easy for him now

Watch on YouTube

[80sballboy]

It took JJ Redick a couple of years to put things together. Is it too much a stretch to think GM could do the same?

J.J. Redick's numbers were not bad in his first five or six seasons, but he was never given the chance to start. He was basically a role player and a shooter off the bench. I think what separates the good shooters with the great shooters is footwork, quick release, movement without the ball and the ability to forget the last miss. Matthews has potential, but I don't know if he's capable of being J.J., who was one of the greatest college shooters of all time.

Of course, if you play with a John Wall or even a Ish Smith, they can find you if you are open. But McRae is the better player right now because he can score, not just shoot. I think he needs to continue to work on his strength and handle, but I do like what I see. I just don't see a lot of minutes with Beal and McRae around when they are healthy.

[nate33]

Redick was bad his first 3 seasons. He was an awful defender and he couldn't put the ball on the floor at all. He worked really hard on his body, mobility, and ball handling to eventually become a very good shooting guard. It's possible that Mathews could do the same thing, but he's going to have to work really, really hard.

[closg00]

It took JJ Redick a couple of years to put things together. Is it too much a stretch to think GM could do the same?

J.J. Redick's numbers were not bad in his first five or six seasons, but he was never given the chance to start. He was basically a role player and a shooter off the bench. I think what separates the good shooters with the great shooters is footwork, quick release, movement without the ball and the ability to forget the last miss. Matthews has potential, but I don't know if he's capable of being J.J., who was one of the greatest college shooters of all time.

Of course, if you play with a John Wall or even a Ish Smith, they can find you if you are open. But McRae is the better player right now because he can score, not just shoot. I think he needs to continue to work on his strength and handle, but I do like what I see. I just don't see a lot of minutes with Beal and McRae around when they are healthy.

I was just going to comment that it appears to me that G more minutes to get into the flow of a game and those minutes are not available, but I like his potential too....has to work his ass-off though and improve his handles.

[closg00]

It took JJ Redick a couple of years to put things together. Is it too much a stretch to think GM could do the same?

J.J. Redick's numbers were not bad in his first five or six seasons, but he was never given the chance to start. He was basically a role player and a shooter off the bench. I think what separates the good shooters with the great shooters is footwork, quick release, movement without the ball and the ability to forget the last miss. Matthews has potential, but I don't know if he's capable of being J.J., who was one of the greatest college shooters of all time.

Of course, if you play with a John Wall or even a Ish Smith, they can find you if you are open. But McRae is the better player right now because he can score, not just shoot. I think he needs to continue to work on his strength and handle, but I do like what I see. I just don't see a lot of minutes with Beal and McRae around when they are healthy.

I was just going to comment that it appears to me that G needs more minutes to get into the flow of a game and those minutes are not available, but I like his potential too....has to work his ass-off though and improve his handles.

[Ruzious]

Redick was bad his first 3 seasons. He was an awful defender and he couldn't put the ball on the floor at all. He worked really hard on his body, mobility, and ball handling to eventually become a very good shooting guard. It's possible that Mathews could do the same thing, but he's going to have to work really, really hard.

I'm starting to believe - he must have doubled his season's FT's. He's got that Redick jump shot that spreads the floor. That really helps the rest of the offense. He still has a lot to work on, but that shot is golden.

[nate33]

I rewatched the Mathews highlights in the Miami game and came away more encouraged about Mathews than ever.

It's not just that he can shoot; it's that he knows how to seek contact. Watch how on every one of his shots, he manages to land his body toward the closing defender. That's not an accident. Dude has an innate ability to draw fouls. He shot 13 free throws that game, and all of the trips to the line were earned. A different player would not have drawn those fouls.

Watch on YouTube

[payitforward]

Just watched those highlights again myself (in AZ & can't watch game). nate nails it. Mathews definitely gets it. Has an outstanding talent (shooting) & is figuring out how to make the absolute most of it as an effective NBA player.

[Ruzious]

He made a brilliant hustle play at the end of the 3rd quarter last night - seeing Ish's 3 pointer was off, he ran toward the spot it was going, in the same motion caught the ball and passed to Brown - perfectly set to hit the 3 and did so right at the buzzer. He followed up the career game with a very solid game. Mahinmi sure didn't.

[payitforward]

5 trips to the line in 17 minutes.... gotta like this kid.

[payitforward]

As of this morning, Garrison Mathews has played 172 minutes. Looking at rookies who've played that many minutes or more, you can make a strong argument that he's been the 3d best NBA rookie so far -- after Clarke & Silva.

Of course that doesn't mean that if he was at 800 minutes now we'd be seeing the same thing, & it doesn't mean that when he gets to 1720 minutes we will either.

But... it's still pretty cool!!

[nate33]

This tweet is from a few days ago, but I just wanted to make sure it's memorialized in this thread.

Garrison Mathews is a Professional Shooter.

Read on Twitter

[payitforward]

Sweet...!