If You Had To Choose … Wesley Matthews Or Nicolas Batum

For the average person, Summer time is what you wait for all year, especially in the Pacific Northwest. The rain finally stops, and the sun comes out from its painfully long 9-month vacation, allowing for many opportunities to get outside and spend time with loved ones while soaking it in for these amazing months of paradise. That is a brief description of Summer for the AVERAGE PERSON. Sports fanatics are a whole different breed and tend to have the oh-so complicated love/hate relationship with this beautiful season, the reason being, unless you are a diehard baseball fan or like to listen to Chris Broussard talk about ridiculous scenarios on where LeBron James will end up next, sports are scarce at best until the glimpse of action that is NFL training camp starts up in late July. This actually has nothing to do with the topic of my article; it is simply a justification if you will, on why I might be overloading the site with basketball news over the next few months. I want to give readers a different outlet for fresh thoughts on interesting basketball topics, rather than the same headlines on ESPN about LeBron and Melo for the next 3 months. So for anyone who might in the future say, “ Why the hell has this guy been writing about the Blazers for 6 articles straight”… now you know.

This brings me to my actual topic, which once again, is on the Portland Trail Blazers. This is something that has been an ongoing discussion amongst my friends and myself for seemingly forever. The discussion has been, if you had to choose, would you rather give up Nicolas Batum or Wesley Matthews? I will make the argument for both players, and in the end come to a conclusion where I tell you which one I would choose to get rid of and why. We will start with the Frenchman, and what he brings to the Blazers.

Nicolas Batum came to the NBA as a 6 foot 8 19 year old prospect with a 7 foot 4 wingspan and an enormous ceiling. Drafted by the Houston Rockets at #25 overall in the 2008 draft, but traded to the Blazers for Donte Green, Joey Dorsey, and Dorrell Arthur (I know you are asking yourself…. Who? ), it’s obvious that Portland got the better end of the deal. Another thing that is nice about Batum is that he was so young when drafted, that next year will be his 7^th season in the NBA, and he is only 25 years old. Nico is an all-around basketball player; he doesn’t dazzle fans with any one stat category, meaning he isn’t going to average 29 PPG¹ or 12 APG² etc. The nice thing is that he does it all at an above average level. In the 2013-14 season, Batum posted numbers of 13 PPG 5 APG and 7.5 RPG³ adding right around 1 SPG⁴ and a little less than 1 BPG⁵. Batum can shoot the deep ball, and get to the basket quite easily with his superhuman arm length. There have been many General Managers calling to inquire about Nicolas in the past, and he was actually the main piece in a deal that almost went through to send then New Orleans Point Guard Chris Paul to Portland (it pains me that I have to say ALMOST in that last sentence). My main Knocks on Nicolas Batum are that he is far too passive at times, and he tends to disappear from time to time also. He will have stretches where he averages 25 PPG 7 APG and 8 RPG, and then he will go weeks averaging 8 PPG 4 APG and 5 RPG. Also, although being known as a defensive specialist I can’t help but disagree at times while watching him, he backs off people he shouldn’t back off of and once again just plays a little to passive for my liking. He seems consistent overall, but I have seen some of the great things he can do, and sometimes it seems as if his mental game just isn’t quite there enough to sustain it in the long run.

Now on to one of the fan favorites, also known as Iron Man in the Portland area for his impressive durability, Wesley Matthews.  Unlike Batum, Matthews came into the league with basically no expectations. Although a star at Marquette, Matthews went undrafted in the 2009 draft, ending up with the Utah Jazz. Wesley put up good numbers his first season while only averaging 10 PPG but shooting 48 % from the field and almost 40 % from the 3-Pt line. At the end of the season he became a restricted free agent, the Blazers offered him a controversial 5-year, $34 Million deal that wasn’t matched by the Jazz. It turned out to be a good gamble for Portland. Matthews is now up to averaging 16.5 PPG 3.5 RPG and 2.5 APG while shooting 44 % from the field and right under 40 % from long range. Wes is known for his catch and shoots and his unbelievable hustle on defense.  Matthews is a big defender who isn’t quite as fast as most in the NBA, but he plays aggressive defense and tends to fluster many people that he guards which probably leads to his 1.3 SPG average (he is usually matched up against the opposing teams best player). A couple of knocks on Wesley is that he seems to only be a score and defense guy, he’s most likely never going to give you an 8 Assist or Rebound per game average.  He has most likely come close to reaching his ceiling, with maybe one or two more years left of slight improvement. He is extremely consistent though, and seems to be the heart and soul of the team, an extremely important factor in my eyes.

Now, if I had to choose to trade away one of these two players my choice would be… wait for it…. Meyers Leonard!  (Just kidding, the Meyers Leonard jokes are just too easy). In all honesty, I would have to get rid of Nicolas Batum at this point. I watch 40-60 of the blazers games each year, and I just see to much inconsistency in his game. There are far to many times when I have seen him pass up wide-open shots and end up making terrible mistakes. I like what we have in Wesley Matthews, he seems to be the glue of the team, and keep everyone fired up through good and bad times. He is a capable veteran without being to old, and should be able to contribute at a high level for at least 5-6 more years. Another reason for my decision would be that I believe Nicolas Batum would have a much higher trade value at this point than Wes Matthews. Essentially, I think we could get more in return for Nico without losing as much as we would if we decided to trade Matthews. I highly doubt either of these two will be traded, and I honestly think management might trade Wesley over Nicolas, but you’ve heard my two cents and hopefully some decent reasoning behind it. If you agree, tell me why. If you disagree, even better! Please comment below on why you disagree and I will be more than happy to explain to you why you’re wrong. In all seriousness, thank you for reading and I hope I can hear some other thoughts on this topic, it has always been an intriguing one to me.