Wesley Matthew, One Year Later (Quoteboard)

Link to full story on Mavs Moneyball: http://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2016/3/7/11171560/wesley-matthews-injury-dallas-mavericks-recovery-trail-blazers-ironman

Wesley Matthews 1-on-1:

One year later, are you where you expected?

“I didn’t really know what to expect. I’m just focused on getting better every single day. Get stronger. I know it’s gonna be an ongoing process. Every study, every doctor has said you’re not fully back and fully ready till the second year. But at this point, I feel good.”

What do you remember from that day, ie how you felt mentally?

“I felt every emotion. Every emotion that’s not positive. I was in shock, I was in awe. I couldn’t believe it. I was upset, I was sad, I was mad, I was frustrated. Just couldn’t figure out why it was happening now. I was having the best year of my career. I was on the best team I’ve ever been on. I was defying every single odd. Every knock on me. Becoming an NBA player. I couldn’t be a starting two guard for a contending team. We were breaking all that stuff down. I was in the midst of free agency. Just couldn’t believe it was happening at that time."

Was there every a doubt in confidence?

"No, not in myself. I didn’t have any doubt in myself. I knew I was gonna come back, I knew I was gonna be able to play. I knew I was gonna do everything I needed to do to be ready by opening night. It was just about what I couldn’t control and it was how these other teams viewed me.”

Why choose the Mavs?

"They showed the most trust in me. Showed the most faith in me. Financially it was all roughly the same. They believed in me. They didn’t question me. And they had confidence in themselves. It went hand in hand. They had confidence in their training staff and their medical staff and they had confidence in me."

How much did being undrafted help recover from the injury?

"It played a big role. That’s the kind of demeanor that I have. That overlooked, the undrafted, the under-appreciated mentality, the underdog. So it kind of took me back into a familiar role but not one you necessarily want to have to find against all the time. Especially after an injury where people say that, people don’t come back from."

Rick Carlisle on media day said Christmas was target date.

"(Snickering) He didn’t know. I think it was a joke and it just blown up more so than what it was. In my head, I already knew what it was gonna be. I knew I wasn’t gonna do anything crazy. I knew I didn’t have to do anything crazy or risky to get their. I just knew my body and the work I was putting in."

The reason behind shooting around before every game?

"You just wanna get the feel of the arena. Get the feel of the vibes, the lighting, the court. It’s still new to me. I still gotta get used to these rims and this arena. It’s all about getting comfortable."

What is the chip on the shoulder now?

"I had the money after my first contract and I’m not done with my money by any means. I want to be the best I can possibly be. I love this game entirely too much to give it anything other than my 100 percent and this game has opened so many doors for me. Best way to pay respect is to leave it all out there."

How did rehabbing with Chandler Parsons help?

"You just have someone with the same, similar situation as you. We were both going with the same goal as far as trying to get back from a major injury but still maintain a level of play you’re accustomed to playing at."

How much did teammates help during hard times?

"It was a continuous thing. Having faith in what I can do. Mainly just helping me understand that I missed a lot of basketball. I’m still not playing my best basketball but again, I missed a lot of basketball. I’m getting better and stronger, feeling better every single day."

What did rehab consist of?

"Right when it happened I couldn’t do anything, it was in a cast, just elevated 18 hours a day so that was my rehab. As I started to be able to do stuff, a lot of balance, gradual calf strengthening stuff. As far as now, just continue to do strength stuff and calf raises, isometricals, strengthening the tendon and everything around it."

How much did Kobe help?

"It was more of a support, not necessarily trying to do everything he did and all that kind of stuff. We’re different people, different bodies adjust in different ways. So it was just a matter of reaching out when milestones happen like get the crutches off, start walking and just little tidbits of advice here and there."

How much pride do you take on defensive play?

"I take a lot of pride in that. That’s what got me in this league. Once I was able and healthy and able to move, I knew the defensive thing was gonna come. Offense is always the last thing to come because of rhythm, timing and add to that I’m on a completely different team, new setting and everything else. It wasn’t comfortable offensively because everything was brand new. I didn’t get the same reps I would have got in the summer time so it’s still a work in progress."

Dirk Nowitzki 1-on-1

What did you expect when he was signed?

“We didn’t know how long he was gonna be out but from what I’d heard he was a gym rat and a work horse so we were hoping he’s attacking the rehab and be out there for when the regular season starts. He’s been great; he’s our best perimeter defender. He’s a tough guy; he wants to be out there. We didn’t quite know when we were going to see him healthy. He’s a warrior, which is why he was there when the season started.”

What did you tell him during tough times?

“Just keep playing hard. He’s a competitor, he’s our best defender he’s gotta guard every night. He’s gotta guard the best perimeter player and sometimes that takes away your legs a little bit. But when his shot is there we want him to step into like he has his entire career and we’ll live with the result.”

Mark Cuban 1-on-1

What gave you the confidence to sign Wes to that deal?

“Casey Smith. What everybody said about Wes and his work ethic and his toughness. All of those things together.”

On tough stretches.

“He knows we got his back. I told him I don’t care how many points he scores, he brings so much more to this team.”

On the longterm future with Wes:

“He’s gonna get his legs back and he’s going to be part of the core.”

What has Wes brought to this team?

“Toughness.”

Were you surprised he got back in 7 months?

“No, he’s just such a hard worker. But it’s all uncertainties when it comes to those injuries so it’ll take some time to get back where he was.

It’s one thing to be cleared to play; it’s a whole different thing to be a hundred percent.”

Casey Smith (Head athletic trainer) 1-on-1

What did you tell Cuban to sign Wes?

“Talking with his surgeon obviously, knowing a lot about Wes and how he approaches things, just believing in our philosophy of rehab. Knowing the expectation of work we want a player to do but knowing he’s the type of player that will do that work. The expectation of work in this rehab is very high and to be honest not everybody is willing to do that level of work. We didn’t have any doubts that Wesley is willing to do that level of work so we felt that combination of expectations and his willingness was a good fit for us.”

What stage was he at when he signed?

“He was at a time where he was getting ready to do some light jumping, some like core work and things like that. He was at a stage where he was ready to start advancing. The thing with him was we had to keep the reigns on him. He wanted to go 0 to 60 when with a rehab like that you need to go incrementally and progressively and pace it.”

Media Day statement:

“I told Wes that we have certain goals. If you reach these goals, you can play. If you don’t meet these goals, it’s not an option. It was more progressing to where we felt comfortable and he felt comfortable.”

Is it hard work or wait?

“A little bit of both. There is a time factor but there is also a strength and rehab factor. So you can’t just wait for 7 months to hit the clock and you’re going to be fine. During that time you have to be putting in a very high level of work.”

What do you tell him in slumps?

“We keep telling him look, you’re not a hundred percent. You’re good enough to play but you’re still gonna make strides. You’re still gonna be better. I keep telling him, I want him to see what he feels like on March 1^st. For me, I feel like when he gets a year away from the injury, he’s gonna feel better and then he has a steady rehab of summer ahead of him. He has a lot of things to accomplish this summer that are so taxing, he’s not able to do them during the season so his work is not done.”

A day in the rehab

“Before the season, his day is planned out from his mobility work, his strength work, his balance work, to his ability to accelerate and decelerate. Those aren’t even things on the court. Then you mix in his shooting, mixing in his court movements, and then we usually address his cardio at the end of the day. That’s a 3 and a half to 5 hour segment.

In season, he does rehab almost everyday. We try to give him one full day a week off when the schedule allows. But any other day he’s doing something rehab based whether it’s strength, whether it’s balance, whether it’s his ability to change direction. He has to go and perform at a level higher than the game, so if the game is a certain way, we have to train him higher than that.”

T.O Souryal 1-on-1 (ex-team physician)

Did it surprise you he came back in 7 months?

“No it didn’t, those guys make us look good. The athletes, who train every day, are in good physical condition, they make the sports surgeon look good because they’re accustomed to what it takes to recover. He had an excellent repair.

The mental component is huge because when a guy ruptures his Achilles, it’s on a move that he’s made a thousand times.

Wesley showed tremendous mental toughness to come back the way he did when he did. That was as much mental toughness as physical toughness. “

“The question that was posed to me was if he’s worth taking a medical risk on and I my answer yes.”

Chandler Parsons 1-on-1

“He was always one of my favorite players. Just watching him and playing against him, he always was a problem for us. He can defend really well and he can shoot threes. With my type of game, I feel like we play very good together. My strengths and his strengths combined are pretty deadly when we’re both 100 percent and playing the way we know how to play. It was just something I saw and felt like we could be great together and he’s obviously a good dude. Knowing him off the court, I knew he would come back from this injury quicker and better than anybody has before.

“It was cool for both of us to have to go through it together in the summer because neither of us had been through something like that before. It was nice to have somebody there through the rehab process every single day. He was hot early and I was struggling a bit. Now I’m hot. We’ve gone through similar paths and believe in each other and we’re going to be playing together for a very long time. It’s just keeping each other confident and holding each other accountable, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Rick Carlisle on Afternoon Show 103.3 FM ESPN February 12

“He’s stated that his goal is to be back and better. I think if you look at his statistical trends during the year, there were rises, there were plateaus, and there were drop-offs.

Amazing thing is coming off that injury, the guy is leading our team in minutes played. Who would have bet on that happening? Maybe it’s my fault, maybe I’ve been playing him too many minutes but he’s playing around 32 a game. I think all things considered the guy has had a remarkable season. We put him on the best player on the other team and his 3-point shooting has been streakier than usual but I write that off to him being in a new system and he’s not fully recovered and then a combination of those two things.

Our training staff is in my opinion the best in the league. They’ve done a great job since I’ve been here at least, of not only getting guys healthy but keeping them on the floor. It’s one of the reason Dirk has had amazing durability throughout his entire career.

Wes’s game is different than a lot of the huge scoring guys that had this injury. He’s a different kind of player; his game is not a highflying game. He’s a great movement maker with passing and moving, great driving, then re-spacing, spotting up for shots, and his post game is good but he’s never been a player that’s relied on high flying ability to make his game a very desirable player on your team. Everything bodes well for the remainder of the season and next year.”

Mark Cuban Ben & Skin Show after Clipper game

“Wesley is a beast in the locker room. A lot of things we saw from Tyson Chandler, we're seeing from Wes Matthews in terms of just being demanding, and being forceful in the locker room, being vocal. Wesley's been all over Justin Anderson to really move forward, and you've seen a lot of really good things from Justin the last couple games. So, his impact isn't just what he's doing on the court, but off the court, as well. That's what we knew to expect, and he is who we thought he is.”

Mark Cuban Pre-Thunder game in February

"How many people work that hard and care about their job? He's that guy that just says I'm going to outwork you. Nobody has higher expectation of Wes than Wes."

In-Season Quotes

October 12, 2015:

Wesley Matthews- “The thing I was most concerned about was defense. What makes me good on both ends of the court, I know the offense is gonna come. The shot is gonna come, the timing, the rhythm, all of that. I’m not worried about that. It’s easy. It’s the instincts I have on the defensive end.

Obviously I’m not me yet but that’ll come. That’ll come quickly.”

November 11, 2015:

Wesley Matthews- “As much as I’m wanting to hate this phrase- It’s a process but we gotta speed it up.”

November 16, 2015:
Wesley Matthews- “I don’t wanna sit games. I don’t sit games out. That’s not me. I’ve missed so much basketball that I need as much basketball as possible to get my second nature just everything just back. I understand trying to rest me and stuff and I gotta find a way through it and I will.

It’s tough. I’m frustrated right now. Not playing the way I envisioned myself playing. It’s hard right now trying to get a rhythm. I’m back but I’m not back. It’s not like we go that much live in practice. The rhythm isn’t all the way there.”

November 18, 2015:

Wesley Matthews- “It’s my team. Knowing that I’m better than what I was showing earlier in the game and the team sticking with me. The guys telling me come on come on come on and just taking a step back realize and how much of a blessing it is that I’m even playing right now.”

November 20, 2015:
Rick Carlisle- “I don’t look at the stats as far as what guys are doing shooting the ball. I’m looking at how hard they’re going, where their concentration is, if they’re sticking to the process. Wes is very consistent, he does not hesitate. We needed an experienced defender with size in there down the stretch and he was due to hit a shot.”

November 28, 2015:

Wesley Matthews- “Every game is a learning experience, every game is different. Finding you’re niche and groove and when you can be aggressive, getting comfortable with the rotation. Now I just gotta start making shots.”

December 4, 2015:

Dirk Nowitzki- “I like him stepping into those shots all day. Some of them look good; some of them are in and out. The team wants him to shoot. But he doesn’t hurt us. He’s our fighter; he’s a hard-nosed kid, tough guy. He’ll be okay.”

Chandler Parsons- “He just needs to stay confident. He’s not letting us down. He’s given us everything he has every single night. Guards the best player every single night. It’s a long season. Everybody goes through slumps. You’re gonna miss shots. But you can control the game in so many other areas; dominate the game in so many other areas. You can’t get down off his jumper. He helps us in so many other areas, especially defensively.”

Deron Williams- “It’s just him, he’s a great player who is just struggling with his shot a little bit right now. He’s doing a lot of other things well for us. Just gotta keep talking to him, keep him positive. His shots will fall; he’s coming off a tough injury so it’s hard for him to be patient. He’s one of those players that expect results. He’s putting in the work day in and day out. He’s not hurting this team. He’s far from that.”

Wesley Matthews- “They all feel good, I’m stepping into them. I gotta be better and I’m gonna attack this the only way I know how and that’s putting everything I have into it.

I suck right now. Point, blank, period. I suck right now on the offensive end as far as shooting the ball and what I can do and what everybody knows I can do so I gotta find it on this road trip.

I’m just tired of hurting the team. I’m tired of missing shots. I put everything I have into this game and I have since I started playing. I’ve put everything I have in getting back and getting ready. I’m just trying to keep doubt out.

December 6, 2015:

Dirk Nowitzki- “We were all excited for him. He’s a guy that relentlessly works. He always has to guard the best offensive player on the other team. You’re just happy for a guy like that who puts the team first and works so hard.”

Raymond Felton- That’s a guy who’s a warrior, he’s a dog. He’s a guy that’s gonna go at it every night. He’s hard on himself. He’s been beating himself up since the beginning of the season. “I’m like Wes, it’s gonna come it’s gonna come. You’re coming off an injury. Just take your time. And tonight it clicked. I’m happy for him. He works hard.

Chandler Parsons- “That was huge. Told you guys the other night when he said all those things. We believe in him and what he can do. He affects the game in so many other ways but he has the potential to explode and have games like any given night. Knowing him, he not gonna get happy or complacent, he’s gonna wanna do it again.”

Wesley Matthews- “Still am, I gotta do it again. One of those nights the same shots I was shooting and missing were falling tonight.

Means a lot. I was pissed. I was disappointed with the way I was playing. That’s how I felt at the time. I’m never one to shy away from the truth and tonight felt great. We got a win and now we got to do it tomorrow.

It’s just me finding my rhythm, finding comfort, finding my game again after 7 plus months of not being able to put my foot down. I’ve been working to try and get better than what I was before the injury.”

December 22, 2015:

Wesley Matthews- “I don’t wanna make anymore excuses. We gotta start being who the hell we are and who we can be.”

December 28, 2015:

Rick Carlisle- “When you go through injuries like those two guys did, it’s an ongoing challenge to continue to build it up. Both of these guys stated very clearly when their injuries happened, their goal was not only to be back but to be back better than they were before. To do that, it’s gonna be a long term proposition. Both of these guys understand it.”

Wesley Matthews- “I think it’s more exciting. We’re not anywhere close to what we can be as a tandem, as a duo. I think we’ve had flashes of it. We’re nowhere near but we’re on that path. It’s gonna be scary when it happens.

Chandler Parsons- “It’s a great combination with what he does and what I do. We really play off each other. He’s an unbelievable defender. He’s an extremely hard worker. He’s going through the rehab and the surgeries over the summer. It’s cool to have somebody to go through that with.”

January 2, 2016:

Wesley Matthews- I’m trying to do whatever it is I can do to help this team win. That’s how I prepare, that’s how I attack every game so when an opportunity presents itself, I’m gonna leave everything I have out there.

January 10, 2016:

Rick Carlisle- On Matthews guarding Wiggins- “Yeah it’s a hard matchup chasing around a guy that’s 10 years younger than you with that kind of athleticism and ability. I thought Wes did a really solid job, I thought he made it hard on him.”

Wesley Matthews- “I’m not worried about my offense. I missed some shots, same shots that I’m gonna take on Tuesday and they’ll probably fall.”

January 15, 2016:

Wesley Matthews- “That’s gotta be the identity of our team. We gotta be a defensive first team. If we’re not scoring the ball well, we gotta make sure the other team isn’t.”

January 20, 2016:

Rick Carlisle- “He [Parsons] and Wesley Matthews are some percentage of the way they’re going to be eventually. But those guys aren’t there yet.”

Wesley Matthews- On guarding Wiggins- “We saw what happened when I didn’t want him to score much.”

January 31, 2016:

Rick Carlisle- “He leads our team in minutes played, he’s that important to our team. "He's one of our leaders, he's our best individual defender on the perimeter and he sets a culture tone for us that has really lifted our defense this year. Look, he’s fine. And I’m not gonna fist fight him tomorrow to try to get him to sit out. Forget it."

Wesley Matthews- “I’m gonna keep shooting it, keep attacking it the same way I have been, I’ve always done. It’s only a matter of time before that glass breaks. I might have to change a little bit whereas I’m not necessarily hunting the 3. My mentality and personality is you fall off the horse and you get back on that same horse. It’s a stubborn mentality.

I’m not worried about it. My head coach ain’t worried about it so I’m damn sure not worried about it.

I feel good. I feel like some of it was pressing. Wanting it so bad, not in a bad way but because I know what I can do. It’s combination of everything but I’m gonna shoot the hell out of the ball.

I feel good. I might be [heavy legged] but I don’t feel it and I’m not gonna tell myself I am. Tomorrow is a whole new day.”

February 3, 2016:
Wesley Matthews- “I’m not worried about my shot. I know when to shoot the ball, I’m gonna make plenty of shots. I’m gonna make big shots, I’m gonna make shots I’m supposed to make. I’m not worried about my shot.”

Rick Carlisle- “There’s things that I gotta do to help him get better shots.”