All signs have pointed to restricted free-agent Wesley Matthews  becoming a member of the Blazers for weeks now, but now it’s official. The Blazers had signed Matthews to  a five-year, $34 million offer sheet, and Monday’s 5 p.m. deadline passed for Utah to match Portland’s contract. This is an impressive payday for an undrafted rookie who has yet to fully solidify himself in this league. That being said, he was reliable enough to earn 48 starts for the Jazz under the old-school tutelage of Jerry Sloan – a coach who traditionally doles out his playing time to veteran players.

While there was some question at first whether the Jazz would match Portland’s offer for Matthews, it became clear they were moving in another direction after committing a hefty sum of money to pay Al Jefferson’s contract, and added Raja Bell to their roster. While the Jazz and their fans all liked Matthews’ game, they didn’t like it that much. The Blazers’ deal for Matthews was another “toxic” front-loaded offer sheet, much like their push last year for Paul Millsap. However this time the Blazers will be writing the checks, including $9.2 million in his first year alone ($4.6 in salary, $1.2 million up front, and a $5.6 million signing bonus). Not too shabby for a guy who barely made his roster and only made the the league minimum of $457,588 last season.

Whether or not Portland actually expected the deal to go through (and whether or not he is truly worth the money), they will be acquiring a versatile and hard-nosed wing in Matthews. He has quickly gained the reputation of being a gritty defender, often drawing the matchup of the opposing teams’ top scorer. Pair this along with his incessant hustle and opportunistic play, and you’ve got a prototypical Nate McMillan player.

Matthews’ defensive effort alone will get him substantial minutes for the Blazers next season, but he’s shown the ability to be an impact player on the offensive end as well. In just under 25 minutes per game last season, Matthews averaged over 9 ppg and shot 38% from downtown. He also got some extended run in the playoffs where he boosted his scoring average to 13 ppg. This was likely a big factor in Portland targeting Matthews, as they have had two consecutive seasons of lackluster postseason play from their wing players.

How Matthews will fit in in Portland remains to be seen. As the roster stands, Matthews would likely serve as a role player off the bench, spending time at both the shooting guard spot behind Brandon Roy and the small forward spot behind Nicolas Batum. I could also see him getting some valuable time in the clutch when defensive stops are needed. However, the Blazers have a clear logjam of players that can play shooting guard, and the addition of Matthews would seem to spell a trade for the Blazers in the not-too-distant future. Rudy Fernandez and Jerryd Bayless are the most likely candidates to be shipped out this Summer, as neither have been able to fully embrace the roles they have been given on a consistent basis.

While I don’t consider Matthews to be worthy of such a massive contract at this stage in his career, this wouldn’t be the first time in his career to prove doubters wrong. As a player who has shown such determination and hunger to defy the odds, I wouldn’t bet against him. Would you?

On the heels of watching their star free-agent Carlos Boozer sign with Chicago, the Utah Jazz countered the loss with a big move of their own. In a cost-cutting effort, the Minnesota Timberwolves traded Al Jefferson to Utah in exchange for Kosta Koufos, the Memphis Grizzlies’ protected 2011 first-round pick (obtained by the Jazz in a previous trade) and an additional future protected first-round pick.

While the Jazz are on the hook to pay Jefferson $42 million over the next three years, it solidifies their relevancy within the Western Conference. While I was looking forward to seeing Paul Millsap finally get his chance to shine as a starter, he has been invaluable to the Jazz by providing them with depth and stability and it looks as though he will continue that role next year. Jefferson will give the Jazz a reliable scorer in the post, a beast on the boards, and a presence at both ends of the floor. Playing with an elite pick-and-roll point guard like Deron Williams should elevate Jefferson’s game to another level, but Big Al will have to refine his mid-range jumper to be a true threat in Utah’s system. What I like about this acquisition for Utah is that it shows a confidence in their current roster, and also a commitment to staying highly competitive within the Northwest Division.

It will be very interesting to see what kind of impact Jefferson has in Utah, as he has not played for a winning team since he was a rookie with a limited role with the Boston Celtics in the 04-05 season. Of course Jefferson can’t shoulder all of the responsibility for that, but Jazz fans can hope that his time amongst the bottom-feeders results in a fiery hunger to win every night he steps on the floor. Over the past three seasons, Jefferson has averaged 20.4 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, so he certainly serves as a suitable replacement for Boozer.

Jefferson was once considered to be the cornerstone of the rebuilding Timberwolves, however his game has been somewhat redundant alongside the double-double machine that is Kevin Love.  With Love still on his (substantially cheaper) rookie contract, and with the Timberwolves still deeply in a re-building phase, Jefferson became expendable. The departure of Jefferson leaves the T’Wolves thin at the center position, but Darko Milicic will finally get the chance he’s always wanted to prove that he deserves to be a regular within NBA rotations. With Jefferson out of the picture, we should see more playing time from Minnesota’s offseason steal, Michael Beasley. While Beasley will get time at both the small and power forward positions, he’ll form a versatile frontcourt tandem with Love when the matchups allow.

How do you think the Jefferson will fit in with Utah?

The second round of the NBA Playoffs weren’t as thrilling as I hoped they would be (the first round either outside of the Los Angeles and OKC series), and there is good reason for that. There were only a couple of games that were truly close and needed crunch time heroics from their stars, while the majority of games were convincing victories. Also, only one of the four series wasn’t a sweep (Cleveland vs. Boston) and even that series included a few blowouts that nobody would have been interested seeing through to the finish. Graphic designer Dan Sweet helped put the second round into perspective with this great chart of game-by-game scoring outputs for each team in each series. He also compiled the data from round one if you are interested.

Since most of the series haven’t been all that suspenseful, what storylines are keeping you glued to the playoffs?

Amar’e Stoudemire is one of the names most frequently thrown around in trade rumors and speculation these days, and it might be getting under his skin a bit. Here’s what Stoudemire had to say about how the recent trade chatter has affected him (Arizona Republic):

“I feel like the confidence in me is not quite there with them, for them to want to shop me around so much…It’s the nature of the beast. It’s the way the business has always been played. I really try not to be too involved in it. I let the front office handle it with my agent, and the decision is made from there.”

Back when Memphis traded Pau Gasol to the Lakers for a box of Red Vines and a car wash certificate, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich deemed the trade to be “beyond comprehension.” Given the Grizzlies recent success and obvious ascent to relevance, Popovich has changed his tune (The Commercial Appeal):

“They gave up a great player but it helped them extend the franchise’s success into the future. It’s shown that they’ve done a good job. Whatever they were thinking a couple of iterations ahead at the time has paid off for them.”

With Carlos Boozer out of last night’s game against the Kings with a strained calf muscle, the Jazz turned to their trusty backup Paul Millsap. Last year he was a solid 20-10 guy as a starter, but he went OFF last night against the kings – dropping a 32 point, 14 rebound and 7 assist effort. Needless to say, Sacramento’s Tyreke Evans was impressed (Salt Lake Tribune)

“He can be a starter anywhere on anybody’s team…He pretty much looked like Boozer . . . probably a little better. He was playing together, passing, getting and-1s and he did it all game. He was there to win tonight. He did a good job.”

This year’s All-Star game will likely be a bit more dull without Shaquille O’Neal in the game. O’Neal, a 15-time All-Star, was less dissappointed for himself than he was for others who missed the cut (Newsday):

“I’m more disappointed in a guy like David Lee. I was on the great end of the bureaucracy. Now I’m on the other end of the bureaucracy.”

It looks like rookie guard Eric Maynor won’t be the back-up point guard of Deron Williams’ dreams after all. The Utah Jazz traded Maynor to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for the rights to 2002 second-rounder Peter Fehse, who is currently playing in the German League and never played a minute in an NBA game.

The piece that makes this trade work is that the Thunder agreed to take on the $6.5 million contract of injured veteran Matt Harpring (who won’t actually join the Thunder). For Utah, they are able to significantly reduce their luxury tax for this season. Breaking down the numbers, this trade reduced Utah’s luxury tax to $4.8 million – down from $12.6 million. The Jazz’s luxury tax been inflated after the they had to match Portland’s “toxic” $32 million off-season offer sheet for then-restricted-free agent Paul Millsap. From the business end of things, this trade “makes sense” for the Jazz, but it sure as hell isn’t sexy.

Oklahoma City, however, should be ecstatic about landing a player of Maynor’s caliber. He is a heady, quick player that adds another dynamic piece to the burgeoning Thunder. Maynor will immediately be slated into their back-up point guard slot behind Russell Westbrook. Maynor is a much more pure point guard than that of Westbrook, and I could even see Maynor cutting into Westbrook’s time on the floor in certain situations. Regardless of their rotation, Maynor provides the Thunder with another exciting young talent that should make Oklahoma City that much scarier in the years to come.

On his Twitter page, Maynor said:

just got traded to Oklahoma city………………..i wus always told everything happens for a reason………

Sounds like he isn’t as sure this is going to be a great thing for him as I am. That being said, he’s already updated his Twitter background to the Thunder’s logo, so there must be some excitement there. How couldn’t he be excited about playing alongside Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, James Harden and Westbrook and having the opportunity to build a bottom feeder up to relevancy? Once the Thunder add a serious low-post threat, they will be making some serious noise in the West.

Do you think Maynor will be a better fit in Oklahoma City than he was in Utah?