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Shooting Guard is Suddenly a Position of Need for the Trail Blazers

By Chris St. Jean

March 4, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Arron Afflalo (4), guard Wesley Matthews (2) and forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) celebrate after a scoring play against the Los Angeles Clippers during the overtime period at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
March 4, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Arron Afflalo (4), guard Wesley Matthews (2) and forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) celebrate after a scoring play against the Los Angeles Clippers during the overtime period at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /
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There was a moment in time last season after the acquisition of Arron Afflalo from the Denver Nuggets and before Wesley Matthews tore his achilles tendon and with youngster C.J. McCollum making great strides and edging into the rotation, when the Portland Trail Blazers had a glutton at the shooting guard position.

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How quickly things can change.

On Sunday night, the respected David Aldridge tweeted a report that shooting guard Arron Afflalo would be opting out of his contract for next season and becoming an unrestricted free agent this July.

This had real implications for Portland’s cap sheet.  Without Afflalo and with some creativity (renouncing the Bird Rights of free agents Wesley Matthews and Robin Lopez and likely shedding the unguaranteed contracts at the bottom of their roster), the Blazers could carve out enough cap room to pair another max contract with LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard (assuming Aldridge re-signed as well).

It was unlikely, and maybe would leave them thinner than they would like to be, but it at least gave them an option. Of course the Blazers could always go the other direction and re-sign all of their free agents, including Afflalo, since they still retain his Bird Rights.

This morning, another well-respected NBA writer, Sam Amick of USA Today reported that Wesley Matthews will be pursuing as much money as possible and has no interest in the idea of taking less money because of the injury he sustained last season.

From Sam’s story:

"With the wheeling and dealing set to begin on July 1, those answers still remain to be seen. But this much is clear: Matthews has no plans on being any team’s free agency bargain because of his injury.According to a person with knowledge of Matthews’ situation, he is seeking a multi-year deal that pays approximately $15 million annually. The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because of the private nature of such discussions."

Matthews has returned to basketball activity less than four months since he tore his achilles on March 5th and seems to be progressing very well. It was well demonstrated how important Matthews was to the Blazers as they sputtered defensively down the stretch and then on both ends in the playoffs.

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It’s rather silly to expect Matthews to take less money especially after a career threatening injury. Matthews averaged 15.9 points and 3.7 rebounds per game while shooting .448/.389/.752 across the board and a career high in Defensive Rating (105) and a near-career high in Defensive Win Shares (2.2) according to Basketball Reference.

Of course those numbers do a disservice to how important Matthews was to the Blazers defense as a whole, their offensive game plan, their spacing and ball movement, and their shot creation, not to mention their mindset and attitudes.

When Afflalo was brought in, it was thought he may be the ‘missing piece’ for a title contender and that morphed quickly into a Wesley Matthews replacement. But Afflalo averaged 10.6 points and 2.7 rebounds while shooting .414/.400/.851 and he was clearly less effective on the defensive end.  It was clear he could not replace Wes Matthews.

At this point, almost two thirds of the Blazers roster is up in the air. The fact that Afflalo is not locked in provides them flexibility, but if Afflalo chooses to leave then are the Blazers forced to pay a (admittedly elite) role player shooting guard $15 million annually on top of maxing out their Franchise power forward and signing a starting center (whether that’s Robin Lopez or a higher profile free agent)?

And don’t forget that Damian Lillard’s extension is looming.  The Blazers will have to agree to an extension before the start of next season to avoid letting him become a restricted free agent.

With Afflalo opting out and Matthews playing hard ball, the Blazers are looking at a roster with only C.J. McCollum at the shooting guard position.

McCollum made great strides last season, and he produced on the biggest stage (although certainly not at first), but he has only 100 regular season and 11 playoff games under his belt at this point in his career.

With the draft and free agency looming, the Trail Blazers could be considering their options at the shooting guard position.

Next: Could R. J. Hunter Replace Wesley Matthews?

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