Last year, Dallas shooting guard Wesley Matthews had a subpar debut season with the Mavericks due to an achilles injury slowing him down. Matthews, 29, averaged 12.5 points and 3.1 rebounds for the Mavs while shooting career-lows from the field (38.8%) and three-point range (36%).
Heading into a new season, Matthews is feeling better and can’t wait to prove the doubters wrong with a bounce-back 2016-17 campaign. From Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com:
“I want the season to start now,” Matthews proclaimed last week after surprising 60 kids from Boys and Girls Club of Greater Dallas with a back-to-school shopping spree.
He added: “I was in the practice facility yesterday talking to [Mavs owner Mark Cuban] about how I feel good. I’m excited for it, and I’m excited for the moves that we made. You know, it didn’t look too good to start, but there’s a lot of promise. I think there’s a lot of buzz amongst the team and a lot of edge coming back, and maybe that’s mostly me. But that’s OK.”
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“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.”
It’s great to hear Matthews excited about the season. Prior to his injury, he was one of the league’s premiere two way players, providing the Portland Trail Blazers with stifling perimeter defense and consistently hot outside shooting. The Mavs will need Matthews at his best if they want to return to the playoffs this season. A healthy Wes Matthews is a joy to watch, so I for one am hoping that he returns at full strength.
