Garrison Mathews - Professional Shooter

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Posting after the Brooklyn win.

Mathews played 26 minutes on a night when everyone (except Neto and Bryant) was healthy and Mathews wasn't even shooting that well (just 2/6). Brooks left him out there because he was just rock solid all around. He had 3 steals and played sound D whenever he was switched onto Durant or Kyrie. (They still scored, but Mathews forced them into tough shots.) He also had the game-winning steal and assist to Westbrook for the 3.

It felt like a significant moment to me. I think today is the day when Mathews supplanted Robinson as the full time backup SG. He's a good player.

Mathews has a really high bball IQ. The type of steals that he comes up with and his ability to draw offensive fouls help make that obvious.

He needs to get more shots...but he also needs to make more of those open 3s and work on becoming a more well-rounded offensive player.

?? He's at 43.2% on 3s for the season. He gets to the line almost 6 times per 40 minutes & shoots 88% on FTs.

As it happens often, this board was spot on regarding Matthew's potential from the get go....

Uuuhhh... you might want to go back & look at post-draft commentary in 2019 to see who did & didn't think he was a good pick-up.

Let's hope Brooks -aka the stubborn mule- finally realizes he deserves significant minutes. He is a deadly 3-point thereat that mixes so well with Westbrook and Bertans on the second unit. And on top of that he is one of our best defenders!

Per 36, he is averaging 16 points, 4 reb, 1.5 assists, 0.4 TOV and 2.6 steals!! Shooting splits: 50/41/89. On top of that he's got great advanced metrics: ORTg of 137 and DRTg of 114. And positive OBPM and RBPM.

Really you could make a case that on a per-minute basis Garrison Mathews has been the Wizards' best player overall this year. I'm not making that claim, because -- obviously -- you can't compare the load he carries with the load Brad carries.

But, suppose you asked "aside from Brad, which Wizard is playing the best this year?" It's Mathews -- & by a lot.

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Mathews has been exceptionally efficient as a scorer, posting a 67.2% TS%, meaning that on the offensive possessions he uses the guy delivers extremely effectively.

On top of that, he basically never turns the ball over -- he's had only 2 TOs so far this season. So, there's no hidden offensive inefficiency either -- no wasted possessions to speak of.

To take it one step further, note that he gets a lot of steals! Those all increase offensive effectiveness.

Keep in mind that this is an undrafted player in his 2d year who only got 227 minutes as a rookie. We need to sew him up while we can.

[nate33]

As it happens often, this board was spot on regarding Matthew's potential from the get go....

Uuuhhh... you might want to go back & look at post-draft commentary in 2019 to see who did & didn't think he was a good pick-up.

PIF's first comment on Garrison Mathews:

Garrison Mathews has absolutely terrific numbers. Against a very low level of competition, obviously, playing at Lipscomb -- but, as ballboy points out, he's played very well against tougher competition. Can't know whether he's going to work out, of course, but he really seems like a terrific signing! Of course, everything depends on his wingspan....

Don't get the Robinson/Brooks/Davis signings....

One guy I would have liked to have signed went to Orlando: DaQuan Jeffries.
The other, Dedric Lawson, was nabbed by GS. I will not be at all surprised if he turns into a good NBA player.

Both those guys played well in tough college leagues, posting numbers that make them look like solid NBA prospects.

Btw, Garrison Mathews' wingspan is 6' 6.5"

My first comment on Mathews:

And... here we have Garrison the Pale scoring 44 points vs. NC State in the NIT quartefinals:

Watch on YouTube

Holy crap! What a game!

The crowd was great and it was fun watching them try and get into Mathews' head, with Mathews taunting them right back. Mathews certainly looked good in that game. He has NBA size and a quick enough release. I just don't know if he can guard anyone, but I guess we'll find out.

doclinkin:

Garrison Mathews . Every team needs a sweet shooting outside gunner with a quick trigger. Mathews is all of that. Moves well off the ball, shoots from range and has a release that is mantis quick. And at the level he played his defense was overlooked but underrated. Solid, smart, he rebounded played good positional defense and his D rating improved significantly every year. A two-way player, he will be a fan favorite if he hits a sweet streak. At the G-League I'd worry that he'd disappear into the background if we don't have good PG play to find him the ball. But Robinson doesn't need to be a 2-way player to be sent to the second unit team, maybe they are sent in pairs so they can develop continuity and comradery.

[doclinkin]

Funny. I had forgotten my early read on him. Pretty good. We still don't have good PG play to find him the ball...

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In a way, the title of this thread seems a little misleading, doesn't it? To be sure, he can shoot the 3. & he's approaching 90% from the FT line. But, he is showing well in lots of other ways too.

B/c he came out of Lipscomb -- i.e. nowheresville -- there was concern about his athleticism & quickness.

Dat was pretty vocal that he might not be able "to guard a chair," which I turned into Dat claiming that "a chair can dunk on Mathews" -- just to pull his leg.

When guys are picked low or go on undrafted, & especially if they come out of Division Zero schools, it's perfectly sensible to be concerned whether they are going to be good enough to play in the NBA.

Even a guy like Dedric Lawson, whom I mentioned in the post Doc quotes above... A number of us liked him. He was a guy who played big-time college ball & put up pretty good numbers. But, his athleticism was lacking, & he's playing in Korea right now.

In all... good for Garrison Mathews -- & good for Tommy Sheppard for finding him.

Now it's time to cut Gill & bring over Dedric Lawson!

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Here are Dedric Lawson's G League numbers for 19-20: https://gleague.nba.com/player/dedric-lawson/

They are extremely good. I'm glad his name came up!

[closg00]

Funny. I had forgotten my early read on him. Pretty good. We still don't have good PG play to find him the ball...

You will often see Matthews and Bertans waiting for that pass that never comes

[nate33]

Funny. I had forgotten my early read on him. Pretty good. We still don't have good PG play to find him the ball...

You will often see Matthews and Bertans waiting for that pass that never comes

We were spoiled watching John Wall. John Wall's single greatest skill was his ability to make the skip pass to a shooter on the weak side of the court. He would have had a field day with Mathews and Bertans on the floor with him.

[DCZards]

Funny. I had forgotten my early read on him. Pretty good. We still don't have good PG play to find him the ball...

You will often see Matthews and Bertans waiting for that pass that never comes

We were spoiled watching John Wall. John Wall's single greatest skill was his ability to make the skip pass to a shooter on the weak side of the court. He would have had a field day with Mathews and Bertans on the floor with him.

That’s why I was sooo looking forward to Wall’s return and seeing him on the court with shooters like Bertans, Beal, Bryant and Mathews. Oh well...

[doclinkin]

You will often see Matthews and Bertans waiting for that pass that never comes

We were spoiled watching John Wall. John Wall's single greatest skill was his ability to make the skip pass to a shooter on the weak side of the court. He would have had a field day with Mathews and Bertans on the floor with him.

That’s why I was sooo looking forward to Wall’s return and seeing him on the court with shooters like Bertans, Beal, Bryant and Mathews. Oh well...

Same. This team was built for John's comeback. Ted shuffled in and swept all the papers off the desk and felt like he cleaned things up then tottered away with a smug grin. Job well done. Obnoxious. This team with John would have been really interesting to see.

[doclinkin]

Even a guy like Dedric Lawson, whom I mentioned in the post Doc quotes above...

Nate.

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Right, my mistake.

I hadn't thought of Lawson for quite some time.

[Ruzious]

My first comment on Mathews:

And... here we have Garrison the Pale scoring 44 points vs. NC State in the NIT quartefinals:

Watch on YouTube

Holy crap! What a game!

The crowd was great and it was fun watching them try and get into Mathews' head, with Mathews taunting them right back. Mathews certainly looked good in that game. He has NBA size and a quick enough release. I just don't know if he can guard anyone, but I guess we'll find out.

Watch at around the 9:00 mark. That pass he made wasn't exactly the same as the one he made to Westbrook, but it felt eery - as to the similarity of how it affected the game - and his unselfishness. Everything he does - I come away thinking that's how basketball's supposed to be played.

Sorry, I got some of the quotes attributed wrong. If I try to fix it, I'll just mess it up worse.

[nate33]

My first comment on Mathews:

Watch at around the 9:00 mark. That pass he made wasn't exactly the same as the one he made to Westbrook, but it felt eery - as to the similarity of how it affected the game - and his unselfishness. Everything he does - I come away thinking that's how basketball's supposed to be played.

If Mathews was, say, the #25 pick in the 2020 draft instead of a walk-on, we would probably all be very happy. And he sure as hell would have gotten more playing time by now.

[Ruzious]

My first comment on Mathews:

Watch at around the 9:00 mark. That pass he made wasn't exactly the same as the one he made to Westbrook, but it felt eery - as to the similarity of how it affected the game - and his unselfishness. Everything he does - I come away thinking that's how basketball's supposed to be played.

If Mathews was, say, the #25 pick in the 2020 draft instead of a walk-on, we would probably all be very happy. And he sure as hell would have gotten more playing time by now.

The Jerome Robinson vs Garrison Mathews competition was all about who was drafted where. Give the Wiz credit for getting Mathews, but they messed up the rest.

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Fair enough, but at least it's finally trending in the right direction.

[Halcyon]

He's honestly the type of player that every team wants. Incredible shooter, plays hard on defense, and has the game sense. We have to sign this guy to a multi-year deal.

[dckingsfan]

Question - does this make Robinson and Brown expendable?

[nate33]

Question - does this make Robinson and Brown expendable?

Robinson should definitely be out of the rotation when everyone is healthy.

There's only room in the regular rotation for one of Brown or Bonga. The other won't play unless there's injury. (Right now, Brooks is inexplicably benching both and forcefeeding Bertans extra minutes at SF, but normally, there should be room for one of them at backup SF.)

I really hope Brooks gives Brown another shot at minutes. I don't understand what happened there. Brown has been fairly bad this year, but he hasn't had any chance to get a rhythm. Brooks is bad at many things, but one thing he typically does pretty well is giving guys multiple opportunities to fail before benching them for good. He has extended that courtesy to everyone except Brown. I don't know why.

I think Brooks has more or less given up on Bonga. We know what we have there - a 3&D guy who is very limited on offense and merely good but not great on defense. I think he can help us due to the uniquely bad defense of the rest of the team, but at the moment, he probably isn't a rotation player on most rosters. And I don't think another 800 minutes of development will really change that. Bonga can still carve out an NBA career for himself, but he is going to have to do the work in practice, in the gym, and in the film room. Mostly, he needs to get stronger, a lot stronger. Hastening his release on his shot would help too.

[dckingsfan]

Question - does this make Robinson and Brown expendable?

Robinson should definitely be out of the rotation when everyone is healthy.

There's only room in the regular rotation for one of Brown or Bonga. The other won't play unless there's injury. (Right now, Brooks is inexplicably benching both and forcefeeding Bertans extra minutes at SF, but normally, there should be room for one of them at backup SF.)

I really hope Brooks gives Brown another shot at minutes. I don't understand what happened there. Brown has been fairly bad this year, but he hasn't had any chance to get a rhythm. Brooks is bad at many things, but one thing he typically does pretty well is giving guys multiple opportunities to fail before benching them for good. He has extended that courtesy to everyone except Brown. I don't know why.

I think Brooks has more or less given up on Bonga. We know what we have there - a 3&D guy who is very limited on offense and merely good but not great on defense. I think he can help us due to the uniquely bad defense of the rest of the team, but at the moment, he probably isn't a rotation player on most rosters. And I don't think another 800 minutes of development will really change that. Bonga can still carve out an NBA career for himself, but he is going to have to do the work in practice, in the gym, and in the film room. Mostly, he needs to get stronger, a lot stronger. Hastening his release on his shot would help too.

Given that - getting a 2nd rounder for Bonga would be awesome.

Brown, well if Brooks is your coach, try to move him, no?