The Portland Trail Blazers have ground through a rough start to go 6-3 so far this season, and a great deal of the credit must go to Damian Lillard and Wesley Matthews, the starting guards. But are they given enough credit for what they do on the court?
Although the positional definitions of the NBA are changing with the advent of advanced stats, old-school commentators and analysts like TNT’s Reggie Miller still refer to the “1” and “2” positions on the court as “the backcourt.” In actuality, Matthews is more similar to Nicolas Batum than Lillard because of the positioning they take on the floor. Lillard is at the point (hence “point guard”), while Matthews and Batum occupy the opposite wings.
Batum, since he’s a much better ball handler than Matthews, tends to be closer to Lillard in order to act as a secondary initiator of offense in case Lillard’s trapped or doesn’t get what he wants. Matthews is either spotted up on the three-point line, or in special matchups, isolates his man in the post.
So, while Matthews is the nominal “shooting guard”, the roles he and the other Portland perimeter players are asked to fill are drastically different from the days when Miller, Michael Jordan, Clyde Drexler, and even Kobe Bryant in his youth would have entire offenses built around them and what they do best. While Bryant is trying to reestablish that old-timey dynamic (and failing spectacularly, I’m happy to add, despite him leading the league in scoring) the contemporary shooting guards, from stars like James Harden and Klay Thompson to specialists like Matthews and Jimmy Butler, are just strands in a great offensive tapestry instead of the whole pattern.
During the broadcast of Thursday’s game between Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors, Miller listed his top five “backcourts” in the NBA right now. Putting aside my distaste for the term “backcourts” and the ignorance of the modern NBA it implies, I found it a little disappointing that Miller listed Lillard and Matthews at number five, behind Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Thompson, the Raptors’ Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozen, the Washington Wizards’ John Wall and Bradley Beal, and the Bulls’ Derrick Rose and Butler.
Doing research on all five pairings, I found it’s not even fair to put Wall and Beal on that list; Beal hasn’t played a single minute this season, and while Wall’s having a very good start (20 PPG, nine APG, 44% FG%), he’s not in Lillard’s or Curry’s class as a scorer. Wall is shooting 22% from three so far, and is shooting just 50% from the restricted area (inside that little circle under the hoop). If you get to THAT area, you better score or get fouled, and Wall stinks at both. Matthews, by comparison, is shooting a mind-blowing 86% (EIGHTY-SIX PERCENT!!!) in the restricted area.
Wall also turns it over 3.4 times a game, and though he does have a bunch of steals, steals is often an overrated traditional statistic. It may mean you take away the ball sometimes, but at the NBA level, if you go for a steal, you either get it or irreparably compromise the entire defense. Most coaches (including Portland’s Terry Stotts) no longer place an emphasis on accruing steals because of this dynamic.
As for Rose and Butler, after seeing Rose walk off the court yet again with an injury, I’m starting to lose trust. He has a monster impact on the game when in there, but the in there part of the equation will always be a question. Butler, meanwhile, is putting up 19.5 PPG while shooting 50% from the field, a sterling 39% from three, and 80% from the free-throw line (a 50/39/80 split, to shorten it up).
Butler’s raw numbers are either similar or better than Matthews’ (17 PPG, 47/35/70), but here’s the kicker: Butler plays 39.5 minutes a game…seven more than Matthews. The Bulls’ coach, Tom Thibodeau, is infamous for riding his players to the brink of exhaustion, and Butler will see those numbers fade as he tires out under the gargantuan burden the think-only-for-today Thibodeau will place on him. Butler’s numbers might be inflated anyway because of the extra time; if Wes played 40 minutes a game, I’m sure he’d exceed Butler’s totals #homerism.
Chicago’s offense gives Butler more good looks, but defenses also worry about Butler less than they do Matthews. I don’t trust Rose to stay on the court, or Butler to keep leading his team in scoring.
Steph Curry and Klay Thompson are the only tandem I’d rate ahead of Lillard and Matthews convincingly. Even though they combine for 7.6 turnovers a game (with the point guard, Curry, at a whopping 4.6!!!), the Splash Brothers’ dead-eye shooting and offensive creativity more than make up for it. Thompson, in particular, has been very impressive on both ends of the court, driving into the lane, defending at a high level, and making almost half his threes at 47% (overall, he shoots at a 48/47/87 clip).
I thought Golden State was right to keep Thompson when possible trades for Kevin Love were abounding; the combination of Love and Curry, two craptastic defenders, would have torpedoed the Warriors’ great defense, despite the presence and apparent health of Andrew Bogut, the Warriors‘ fragile center. I’m glad to see Thompson succeeding like he is so far, for his sake more than for anybody else. He will go down as the sticking point in the Love talks for the rest of his career, and it’s heartening to see that stigma hasn’t yet gotten to him.
One thing I can say for certain about Lowry and DeRozen is that they’re not as good a tandem as Lillard and Matthews, and the reasons Miller put the Raptors duo ahead of them are that he was watching them live, and they’re major parts of Toronto’s surprising success both last season and now.
Looking at the stats I spent an hour dredging up, it does look close on the surface. But while Matthews is producing at an efficient rate, DeMar DeRozen is shooting more free throws…and laying so many bricks from the field, he built several new schools all by his lonesome.
DeRozen is shooting 39% for the season, including an awful 56% from the restricted area and an unholy 24-73 from the midrange. That comes out to 33%. Scoring 20.6 points a game could hardly be done less efficiently.
Matthews, by contrast, shoots a much more accurate 30-43 from that same range. He has become more of a bailout option for the Blazers, and that accuracy also shows his aptitude for the turnaround jumper he uncorks after backing smaller defenders down on the right block.
Wes may score a little less than DeRozen, but as I observed in the second half of the Raptors’ game against Chicago, the Toronto guard’s inefficiency will be costly against a great team that knows what it’s doing. Fortunately for the Raptors, Chicago seems like the only team in the East that DOES know what the heck it’s doing.
The point guard comparison between Lillard and Kyle Lowry is interesting; Lillard scores a little more at 20 a game to Lowry’s 18, they both register five rebounds and six assists a game, and their overall shooting from the field is nearly even (Lillard 45.7%, Lowry 47%). Lillard shoots much better from beyond the arc and at the charity stripe (Lillard shoots 44.6% from deep and an incredible 94% from the line. Lowry shoots just 29% from three and an average 75% at the free-throw line), but Lowry is a better defender and also takes better care of the ball.
Lowry turns it over 1.7 times a game, a full turnover less than Lillard; it has to be mentioned, however, that we live in a world that thinks Steph Curry is a great point guard even though he has almost five turnovers a game and sucks on defense. Go figure.
The Trail Blazers’ guards can stretch the floor with great shooting, giving their teammates space to work and enabling Portland to be an offensive juggernaut. Toronto’s guards either can’t or don’t shoot from farther than 20 feet. This is fine against the Orlando Magics and New York Knicks of the league, but against great defenses like Chicago, they’ll get squeezed like a nasty zit until they’re popped. That’s why I can’t abide Reggie Miller–or anybody else–saying DeRozen and Lowry are better than Matthews and Lillard.
Right now, until Bradley Beal returns for the Washington Wizards, and until Derrick Rose can stay on the court (not to mention Jimmy Butler maintaining his production), I’ll place Wes Matthews and Damian Lillard at the number two spot in the NBA’s best “backcourt” discussion. My opinion is just an opinion, but anyone with the time to research and an open forum can make an argument for the other guys I’ve mentioned, and that’s fine.
That’s what makes sports a beautiful thing.
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