The Portland Trail Blazers have been a fantastic team over the past two seasons. The team has been absolutely dominant over stretches of the season and it hasn’t been much different to start this year. The Trail Blazers are 12-3 to start the year and have looked better than ever in a tough Western Conference.
Over the past few seasons, the Trail Blazers have been largely fueled by the magnificent duo of LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard and it has largely been the reason of the Blazers success. What many people forget is that a team is more than just two star players.
In fact, in today’s NBA (also known as the “Big Three era”), the third star player of the team is just as important as the other two stars. In Portland’s case, Wesley Matthews is one of the most important cogs to the team’s success.
The Trail Blazers have been better than ever the past two years. It isn’t a coincidence that Matthews best seasons have come with major success for Portland. Matthews has excelled in his role as the teams third wheel, being a consistent scorer to help out with scoring duties.
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This year, Matthews is averaging 16.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. Those are career-high numbers in assists and rebounds. He is shooting a stellar 47.9 percent from the floor and 37.1 percent from long range. Those are stellar percentages, but it hasn’t come without its struggles.
For example, Matthews has been horrid from the free throw line, shooting 68.4 percent from the charity stripe. Those are Rajon Rondo-esque and are unacceptable for a player who is a career 83 percent shooter from the line.
That percentage should definitely raise as the season goes on, as it has been a small sample size over 15 games.
That isn’t all. Matthews’ success has also shown through in his advanced statistics. Here are his advanced numbers to start this year:
| Season | PER | TS% | 3PAr | TRB% | AST% | USG% | OWS | DWS | WS | WS/48 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-15 | 16.4 | .598 | .559 | 6.5 | 12.9 | 20.7 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 1.6 | .157 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/28/2014.
A lot of these numbers are career highs for Matthews. His 16.4 Player Efficiency Rating (PER), 59.8 percent True Shooting Percentage (TS%), 6.5 Total Rebound Percentage (TRB%), 12.9 Assist Percentage (AST%) and .157 Win Shares per 48 (WS/48) are all career highs for him.
While his PER and WS/48 won’t ever lead the league, and he himself won’t ever be one of the very best in the NBA, that doesn’t mean he isn’t a good player. If this pace keeps up, Matthews will have a career high in Win Shares as well, since Win Shares are an accumulative statistic.
People will always remember the LeBron Jameses and Dwyane Wades of big threes. With good reason, since those two players are the driving force for any successful team in the modern NBA. However, without the Chris Boshes of the group, those teams can quickly find themselves out of the playoffs.
After Aldridge and Lillard, no other player is more important to the Blazers success than Wesley Matthews. He is the player that helps the bench unit the most and he keeps the pressure off of Lillard and Aldridge.
The Trail Blazers can only go as far their big players can take them. And Wesley Matthews is definitely one of their biggest players. He is having an amazing year and that’s one of the reasons why the Trail Blazers have started off so hot. Hopefully, Matthews and the Blazers can keep it up over the course of the season.