Doubt it, rockets had Harden at the time, they were desperate for a role player like house. We are in no rush to payout for role players like Mathews, we aren't contending
What's funny is he had a massive impact at Lipscomb which is a D1 school. They improved hugely in offense, defense and were not the same when he left. He got shut down by North Carolina in the tournament, which probably affected his draft stock. But he looks like a hidden gem that GMs slept on by his history. Here's Lipscomb's records before, during and after Mathews joined the team: Garrison is a Freshman at Lipscomb in part time minutes: Record: 12-21 (7-7, 5th in A-Sun) Coach: Casey Alexander SRS: -8.85 (271st of 351) ORtg: 104.8 (175th of 351) DRtg: 108.8 (311th of 351) Sophmore Garrison becomes the star of the team: Record: 20-13 (11-3, 2nd in A-Sun) SRS: -1.55 (175th of 351) ORtg: 111.4 (46th of 351) DRtg: 101.7 (154th of 351) Record: 23-10 (10-4, 2nd in A-Sun) SRS: -2.10 (184th of 351) ORtg: 105.0 (163rd of 351) DRtg: 99.4 (77th of 351) NCAA Tournament: (#15 seed in West) Lost West First Round (84-66) versus #2 North Carolina* *first and only NCAA tournament appearance in school's 20 year program history A Young Garry Bird is a Senior: Record: 29-8 (14-2, 1st in A-Sun) SRS: 9.21 (63rd of 353) ORtg: 111.0 (38th of 353) DRtg: 93.7 (13th of 353) Garry Bird leaves, also coaching change: Record: 16-16 (9-7, 3rd in A-Sun) Coach: Lennie Acuff SRS: -7.08 (255th of 353) ORtg: 102.0 (171st of 353) DRtg: 102.3 (254th of 353) https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/lipscomb/2016.html
I feel like we really lowballed this dude but whatever better than being unemployed guess they think he will move down the rotation when other guys come back but I think his spacing is what makes the first unit work, him and Gordon’s
This dude, Tate, Sengun…the all hustle all heart team. Love the young nucleus of hard nosed hustle players. I don’t know if we have a franchise guy but I enjoy watching these guys play
Oh not saying here, he was an UFA, he could probably have gotten a piece of the MLE somewhere with more guaranteed. DD
If Matthews would have been here with Paul and Harden the Rockets would have never gone 0-27 and they would have added one more championship. There I said it....
Lu Dort kind of deal, amazing for us. Garrison seems to appreciate it too since he was going to give up on basketball before he got to play for us.
Reason why it has to be perfect when constellations align. Sometimes you just stomach the fact that you have the stars and not the role players, and now you have the role players and not the superstar.
Its unfortunate, Harden is possibly the biggest choker in NBA history but he is still in my opinion an absolute great point guard. Which is exactly what Rockets need right now. Its quite impressive what this team has accomplished this season already without a point guard but with Harden I think they could be in the running for a title in just a couple of years. Harden and Sengun would be unstoppable...