Mathis Back
- Thread starter paultzman
- Start date
I think that is a good thig and a good sign. A year under his belt in "the system" wioll be beneficial, and he has a lot of experience.
No
Johnny Rapper
Well-known member
Great, we at least need stability in the back court. Hopefully he works on his outside shot in the off season.
MakingPlays
Well-known member
If he and Posh can both just improve to just shoot in the low 30's (which at one point in their careers they both shot almost 30%, Posh 29.9% as a freshman & Mahis 29.7% as a sophomore and junior). If they can get to about 32% that would be huge. Mathis last 7 games this year he shot almost 50% from three, although he didn't have a ton of attempts. He also greatly improved his free throw shooting the last several games. He knows this is his last go, so I expect a big off-season from him.
Boo Harvey
Well-known member
Mathis is not a shooter and will never be. Him shooting 30 percent vs 27 percent will, at best, translate into an additional handful of made threes and will not move the needle. We need shooters to space the floor and Mathis will not do that.
Agree and I think he gets it as over the last 9 games he took only 10 shots from 3 (of which he made 4 but not to be expected as a predictor of future "accuracy"). His strength is on the fast break and going to the basket-w/o his 3-point futility he shot around 47%. Also, his assists went up compared to his 3 prior years. His minutes are predicated by playing to his strengths. Summer should work on Ft's and getting to the line more often.
Julian had his ups and downs outside, but he and Wheeler were our best perimeter shooters. To me having Mathis back and adding a transfer like Toussaint or Curbelo does not fill that void. Staff must know they need to get a few needle moving shooters from the portal. If not, imo team will be treading water this season.
Boo Harvey
Well-known member
The thing that bothered me most about Mathis (this has been noted by others) is that he didn’t finish well at the rim. I can live with his poor shooting in light of his excellent defense.
I didn’t follow him at Rutgers so can’t speak for how he did there, but this year he had a propensity for throwing up wild shots at the rim. Scoring buckets is instinctive and I’m not sure he has the instincts to be a consistently good finisher. He’s certainly athletic enough so hopefully he will improve. But in my opinion, the biggest realistic area for him to improve is finishing at the rim.
Don’t think Mathis will ever be confused with a shooter, but he’s not incapable of getting hot for a 10 minute stretch. And with him it doesn’t really matter what the competition is. You know he’ll defend and you know he fits the up and down style. He would be my choice for a energy bench piece.
One thing that I think he could reasonably improve on is his finishing at the rim. He’s got all the natural ability you would want there,
but he too often tries to do to much, ie double clutching, trying to get fouled etc.. Its not the same trouble as Wusu who struggles with shots getting blocked due to lack of explosion. If Mathis improved his finishing, and continued to play within himself like he did towards the end of last year, he could have a really good 5Th year.
4 guys in Mathis, wusu, Pinzon, and Storr who are all in the 6’4-6’5 range and athletic. Can easily play those guys minutes at the 3.
One thing that I think he could reasonably improve on is his finishing at the rim. He’s got all the natural ability you would want there,
but he too often tries to do to much, ie double clutching, trying to get fouled etc.. Its not the same trouble as Wusu who struggles with shots getting blocked due to lack of explosion. If Mathis improved his finishing, and continued to play within himself like he did towards the end of last year, he could have a really good 5Th year.
4 guys in Mathis, wusu, Pinzon, and Storr who are all in the 6’4-6’5 range and athletic. Can easily play those guys minutes at the 3.
Wow, it’s like we were in the same writing room.
Boo Harvey
Well-known member
Great minds!
Boo Harvey
Well-known member
Obviously not the same players, but I think Dom Pointer’s senior year is the aspiration. Dom’s shooting did not improve but he understood his role, played incredible defense and was dynamic finishing at the rim.
If he was anything close to that it would obviously be fantastic. We had to lose Sampson’s and Sanchez before we started playing Pointer at the 4/5. Maybe losing Champ and Wheeler leads to something similar. Their size, build and athleticism are pretty similar.
MakingPlays
Well-known member
Actually that would help move the needle a lot. If we go to his stats right this year and change his 3 point percentage from mid 20's to lower 30's and change his free throw percentage from low 60's to low 70's that alone probably is enough to change the outcome of 2-3 games, which is probably difference in them making the tournament or being a high seed in the NIT instead of sitting at home watching like they are now. A lot of times a season come down to a missed shot or free throw here or there. The late game missed free throws and the wide open airballed 3 pointer from Champ this year against Villanova is clear evidence of that. 1 made shot could have changed the complete outcome of this season, so don't say a few more made shots here or there won't move the needle.
Also, on a scouting reports teams are going to respect the shot of someone who shoots in the 30's from three rather than the 20's. Most teams are going to let a 20% guy just shoot and pack the paint on them, the better your shot, the more respect it gets, the more open the lane is for guys to drive and get shots at the rim.