More than one year ago, Wesley Matthews tore his Achilles. Then with the Blazers, Matthews’ future was in doubt. Coming off of that particular injury has notoriously been difficult. For many professional athletes, it has been career-ending.
Matthews struggled in his return from the injury. In his debut season with the Dallas Mavericks, the shooting guard averaged only 12.5 points per game (the lowest since his rookie year) on 39% shooting.
Matthews showed flashes throughout the season including a few breakout performances. However, he was never able to string together multiple successful games to put the injury behind him.
As he gets ready for his second season in Dallas, Matthews is confident that he will turn things around. In fact, the 29-year-old believes he will have a comeback season.
Following via Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com:
“I’m a whole different person,” the 29-year-old Matthews said. “I’m a whole different player, and I’m really just excited to get out there and show it, and just to be who I know I can be and just to continue to grow. Obviously, it was different coming off of an Achilles (injury) and not having four or five months to prepare and all that stuff, and jumping right into the season being physically able to play every single game and play heavy minutes. It took until about after the All-Star break for me to get my legs back, because I play both ends of the court. And I feel better than when I got hurt.
“This is me, and I’m pretty sure Dallas is going to love me. I’m going to try and inflict my personality on this team as much as possible. I don’t care who we’re playing against, who it is, what number back-to-back it is, if it’s on the road, what the record was, or the team we’re playing. We don’t care, and we’re coming at you. But what motivated me is I know that I have so much left in the tank. I know that I have a ceiling that I’m not even close to reaching, and I’m trying to get there. I want to get there, I want to ascend, and I feel like I have. I love this game, and the best way to pay it respects is give everything you have.”
Considering the short turn-around from the injury to Matthews’ return, his first season was not entirely bad. He played 78 games and had success at times.
Now, the shooting guard has the ability to train and get stronger before the beginning of the season. He will have some additional help in the form of new Mavericks Andrew Bogut and Harrison Barnes. Perhaps the extra time and help will allow Wesley Matthews to return to form and become one of the league’s best shooting guards once again.
