Wesley Matthews

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
League NBA
Personal information
Born October 14, 1986
San Antonio, Texas
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight 220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High school James Madison Memorial
(Madison, Wisconsin)
College Marquette (2005–2009)
NBA draft 2009 / Undrafted
Pro 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

Matthews was born in San Antonio, Texas to Pam Moore (an All-American runner and basketball player) and Wesley Matthews, Sr. 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.

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 2008–09 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, making 15 of 18 free throws.[4] 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.[5]

College statistics

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2005–06 Marquette 23 13 24.9 .399 .438 .788 4.0 2.2 1.3 .2 9.0
2006–07 Marquette 34 34 31.2 .438 .288 .770 5.3 2.2 1.4 .1 12.6
2007–08 Marquette 35 35 28.9 .434 .313 .790 4.4 1.7 1.0 .3 11.3
2008–09 Marquette 35 35 34.0 .475 .368 .829 5.7 2.5 1.2 .5 18.3
Career 127 117 30.2 .444 .341 .799 4.9 2.1 1.2 .3 13.2

Professional career

After going undrafted in the 2009 NBA draft, Matthews joined the Utah Jazz for the Orlando Summer League and the Sacramento Kings for the Las Vegas Summer League. In September 2009, he signed a one-year deal with the Jazz. 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 29, 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.[6] On July 10, 2010, the Trail Blazers signed Matthews to a five-year, $34 million offer sheet.[7] On July 21, 2010, following the Jazz's decision not to match the Trail Blazers' offer sheet, Matthews officially signed the five-year, $34 million contract.[8]

In his first season with Portland, Matthews averaged 15.9 points per game and 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.

The durable Matthews played in 250 consecutive NBA games before being forced to sit out of a game on December 10, 2012 due to an injury to his left hip.[9] Matthews' ability and willingness to play through minor injuries and pain has earned Matthews the nickname "Iron Man," an appellation used by Trail Blazers fans, television and radio commentators, and arena public address announcers alike.[10]

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.[11]

On January 17, 2015, Matthews became the Trail Blazers all-time career leader in three-point field goals made, surpassing Terry Porter's franchise record of 773.[12] On March 5, 2015 in a game against the Dallas Mavericks, Matthews tore his left achilles tendon and was subsequently ruled out for the rest of the season.[13]

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
2013–14 Portland 82 82 34.0 .441 .393 .837 3.5 2.4 1.3 .3 16.4
2014–15 Portland 59 59 34.0 .449 .391 .748 3.7 2.3 1.3 .2 16.1
Career 381 321 32.0 .442 .394 .835 3.0 2.0 1.1 .2 14.0

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
2014 Portland 11 11 38.7 .412 .324 .813 3.8 1.3 1.3 .5 14.5
Career 27 27 37.0 .415 .344 .818 3.4 1.4 1.3 .4 13.7

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 BORN TO PLAY ...
  2. ↑ Marquette 88, Lewis 40
  3. ↑ Chism's big second half lifts Tennessee
  4. ↑ Chism's 21 second-half points lead Tennessee past Marquette
  5. ↑ Matthews hits all of his shots as Marquette stops Rutgers
  6. ↑ "Jazz make qualifying offers to pair". ESPN.com. June 29, 2010. Retrieved June 29, 2010.
  7. ↑ "Trail Blazers sign free agent guard Wesley Matthews to 5-year, $34 million offer sheet". OregonLive.com. July 10, 2010. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
  8. ↑ "Matthews signs with Trail Blazers". ESPN.com. July 21, 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  9. ↑ Joe Freeman, "Wesley Matthews' Iron Man Streak Will End Tonight When Blazers Host Toronto," The Oregonian, Dec. 10, 2012.
  10. ↑ Dane Carbaugh, "Most Known Unknown: Wesley Matthews and the Portland Trail Blazers," The Sporting News, Oct. 30, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Mo Williams Suspended, LaMarcus Aldridge & Wesley Matthews Fined After Scrum Between Blazers & Warriors". BlazersEdge.com (SB Nation). November 25, 2013. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Wesley Matthews passes Terry Porter for most 3-pointers made in Trail Blazers history". Retrieved January 17, 2015.
  13. ↑ Wojnarowski, Adrian (March 5, 2015). "Wesley Matthews to miss rest of season with torn Achilles tendon". Yahoo.com. Retrieved March 5, 2015.

External links