Charles Matthews (Transfer Commit)

Well, a couple things.

First, the offers for 2018 signal to me they expect Wagner to leave, which is hardly surprising since he almost left this year. No doubt they’ll hold a scholarship for one elite guy (Iggy, then longshots like Shittu and RJ Barrett), then take any of Ahrens, Locke or Tyson for the other spot.

Second, I think Wilson left because he was confident he would go in the first round, and he was right. If anything, his Big Ten and NCAA tourney performances suggest he would have gotten far more touches next year, not less, especially with Walton and Irvin leaving.

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DJ Wilson entered the NBA Draft because he thought he could be paid good money to play basketball. Turns out he was right. It had nothing to do with Charles Matthews.

As far as the 2018 class size, I think it has looked like a 5 man class for a while and that hasn’t really changed. With Wagner, I think it is a fair assumption that anyone who tests the waters in one year is likely to at least do the same again the next year and there’s probably a better chance of leaving.

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When I look at his high school film (from three years ago) I have a hard time not having high expectations of Charles Matthews. I don’t think he will be our high scorer and I don’t think he will get many assists. I do think he will be our best all around defender and best rebounder. I also think he is going to be working hard off the ball and will be on the receiving end of a lot of easy buckets. My guess is that he will need to be very disciplined about the shots he takes–hopefully realizing he will often be the worst shooter on the floor for Michigan.

If CM (and I don’t really anticipate this) has somehow vastly improved his outside shooting, then he will be in the NBA sooner rather than later.

Beilein has mentioned multiple times that Mathews can run the ball screen offense. The addition of Simmons might change that some but if Mathews can function in the pick n roll, and he did work on that skill throughout last season, I would expect his assist numbers to be fairly decent. We know that ideally Beilein wants an least one guy who can see over the defense to initiate the ball screen. He has to prove it but he did come to UM specifically to work in the skills so he can follow Stauskas and Caris to the NBA.

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Interesting.

I was not picturing him being a lead guard at all.

Relative to our team I would expect him to be pretty far down the list of guys we would want to initiate ball screen offense.

Simmons
x
Brooks
Poole
MAAR

Matthews

I have been surprised before, however…

I don’t expect him to play 2G, but I could see him working more in the mold of Irvin as a 3. Irvin turned the ball over too much but he also had the ability to get assists throwing over the top.
We’ll see in a few months.

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I’d see him as more a lower usage Manny Harris than Zak Irvin. The rap on Matthews is that he is not a good shooter; well, Manny was not a good shooter either (just under 32% from 3, about 46% from 2). Because of the teams he played on, Manny was more ball dominant and had the green light far more than Matthews will have it, but as far as speed, quickness and athleticism are concerned, they’re similar. Manny was a much better passer (at least based on rep and what I saw of Matthews in high school) and had a better handle than I expect Matthews to show; on the other hand, even based on what I saw of Matthews in high school, he will be a much better defender than Manny ever was. Matthews’ scoring numbers will be lower than Manny’s because of usage, but I expect his efficiency numbers to be at the same level or better. If Beilein can do for Matthews’ passing what he did for Irvin’s, I think Matthews could be really good.

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Would he be a top 25 player in the conference if he had those statistics and was our best defender?

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I agree that he doesn’t compare well to Irvin, so only comparing there ability to pass out of some ball screen action. I wouldn’t even mention that had Beilein not himself said it. The Manny comparison is interesting. It will be interesting to see where he’s at in November and again at the end of the season.

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