Wesley Matthews

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This article is about Wesley Matthews, Jr. For his father and former basketball player, see Wes Matthews.
Wesley Matthews

Mathews being interviewed by a KATU reporter during the Rip City Basketball Classic in 2011.
No. 2 – Portland Trail Blazers
Position Shooting guard / Small forward
League NBA
Personal information
Born (1986-10-14) October 14, 1986
San Antonio, Texas
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 5 in (196 cm)
Listed weight 220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High school James Madison Memorial
(Madison, Wisconsin)
College Marquette (2005–2009)
NBA draft 2009 / Undrafted
Pro playing career 2009–present
Career history
2009–2010 Utah Jazz
2010–present Portland Trail Blazers
Career highlights and awards

Wesley Matthews, Jr. (born October 14, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Portland Trail Blazers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Marquette Golden Eagles. He is the son of former NBA player Wes Matthews.[1]

Early life

Born in San Antonio, Texas, to Pam Moore (an All-American runner and basketball player) and Wesley "Wes" Matthews, Sr., who met when both attended University of Wisconsin, Wesley Jr. starred on the James Madison Memorial High School basketball and soccer teams.[1]

College career

Matthews chose to attend Marquette University despite being pressured to play for the University of Wisconsin–Madison like his father did. He chose this after being selected Mr. Basketball in 2005 for the state of Wisconsin while attending James Madison Memorial High School.

Wesley was the biggest of the "three amigos", the three guards in the starting lineup for Marquette. This trio, Dominic James, Jerel McNeal, and Matthews, started nearly every game together from their freshman year onwards. With the lack of height in the 2008–2009 season at Marquette, Matthews learned to play bigger and became one of the most dominant players in the nation while driving to the basket. He grabbed 13 rebounds in a Marquette 48-point win over Division II opponent Lewis Flyers on December 28, 2005.[2]

Matthews missed a shot with 0.4 seconds left in the first half of a game against the Tennessee Volunteers on December 16, 2008. The shot would have given Marquette the lead; instead the teams went into the locker room with the scored tied at 32–32. He avenged this miss with a three-point play to open the second half, and another basket on the following possession. Matthews scored a career-high[3] 30 points,[4] making 15 of 18 free throws.[5] On January 7, 2009, he set a school record for field goal accuracy (minimum 10 attempts) when he went 10-for-10 en route to 23 points in an 81–76 win over Rutgers.[6]

College statistics

College Statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2005-06 Marquette Golden Eagles 23 23 24.9 .399 .438 .788 4.0 2.2 1.3 0.2 9.0
2006-07 Marquette Golden Eagles 34 34 31.2 .438 .288 .770 5.3 2.2 1.4 0.1 12.6
2007-08 Marquette Golden Eagles 35 35 28.8 .434 .338 .790 4.4 1.7 1.0 0.3 11.3
2008-09 Marquette Golden Eagles 26 26 32.5 .529 .391 .816 5.4 2.5 1.3 0.5 18.6

Professional career

Matthews went undrafted in the 2009 NBA Draft, but was invited to play for the Utah Jazz and the Sacramento Kings in the NBA Summer Leagues.

On September 25, 2009, he was signed to the Utah Jazz to a one year deal as a rookie free agent. On October 22, 2009, Matthews made the official Utah Jazz roster, wearing the number 23. In February 2010, after the team's trade of Ronnie Brewer, Head Coach Jerry Sloan made Matthews the team's starting shooting guard.

On June 28, 2010, the Jazz extended Matthews the league-specified qualifying offer, thereby making him a restricted free agent and giving the Jazz the opportunity to match any other free agent offer.[7] Matthews was actively pursued by the Portland Trail Blazers, who on July 10 signed him to an offer sheet providing for a front-loaded 5 year, $34 million contract.[8] Although allowed seven days to match the Portland offer sheet under league rules, on July 14 the Jazz announced their decision not to offer Matthews a matching contract, making Matthews a Portland Trail Blazer.[9] In his first season with Portland he averaged 15.9 points a game. His three point shot improved from 38 percent to 41 percent. After Brandon Roy began missing time due to knee problems, Matthews gained a spot in the Blazers' starting lineup. On November 23, 2013, in a game against the Golden State Warriors, Matthews was involved in an altercation and was ejected along with teammate Mo Williams. He scored 23 points in 25 minutes of action before leaving the game. On November 25, it was announced that he was fined $20,000.

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2009–10 Utah 82 48 24.7 .483 .382 .829 2.3 1.5 .8 .2 9.4
2010–11 Portland 82 69 33.6 .449 .407 .844 3.1 2.0 1.2 .1 15.9
2011–12 Portland 66 53 33.8 .412 .383 .860 3.4 1.7 1.5 .2 13.7
2012–13 Portland 69 69 34.8 .436 .398 .797 2.8 2.5 1.3 .3 14.8
Career 299 239 31.5 .443 .395 .834 2.9 1.9 1.2 .2 13.4

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2010 Utah 10 10 37.1 .386 .357 .813 4.4 1.7 1.8 .5 13.2
2011 Portland 6 6 33.7 .474 .381 .842 1.2 1.0 .7 .2 13.0
Career 16 16 35.8 .418 .365 .821 3.2 1.4 1.4 .4 13.1

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Libit, Daniel (March 9, 2004). - "Born to Play". - Wisconsin State Journal.
  2. ↑ Lewis 40, Marquette 88 - Box score
  3. ↑ Chism's big second half lifts Tennessee
  4. ↑ Chism's 21 second-half points lead Tennessee past Marquette
  5. ↑ (23) Marquette 68, (19) Tennessee 80 - Box score
  6. ↑ Matthews hits all of his shots as Marquette stops Rutgers
  7. ↑ "Jazz Makes Qualifying Offers to Fesenko, Matthews". NBA.com. 2010-06-28. Retrieved 2010-07-13. 
  8. ↑ Jason Quick, "Trail Blazers Sign Free Agent Guard Wesley Matthews to 5-year, $34 million Offer Sheet," The Oregonian, July 10, 2010. Oregonlive.com/ Retrieved October 10, 2010.
  9. ↑ http://m.espn.go.com/general/blogs/blogpost?blogname=truehoop&id=10635

External links

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