| 18 February 2011
Undrafted.
It's the one word usually associated with Wesley Matthews. But the word is now starting to lose it's luster and is officially replaced with a new title and name for the gritty Portland Trail Blazers guard:
All-Star.
For Matthews, it's been a long road from Marquette - with a pit stop in Utah and now living large in Portland - to Los Angeles and the NBA All-Star Game, but the drive has always been there. Reaching the destination is much deserved too.
"At the end of the season last year, I got hungry and I just did everything," Matthews told Stephen Litel of Hoopsworld. "I tasted what the playoffs are like, what a little bit of success is like and I want to be great in this game. That's what my focus has been."
Matthews is Portland's one lone rep at All-Star weekend and he will compete Friday night in the Rookie-Sophomore All-Star game. It's the second honor bestowed on Matthews this month.
On Monday, Sporting Generosity - an organization that identifies the contributions made by professional athletes for the community - named Matthews the February 2011 Player of the Month for his, "true leader off the court for the Trail Blazers by becoming actively involved in several philanthropic missions in the Portland community."
Litel also spoke with Nate McMillan about that part of Matthews life away from the game and how it translates to the court.
"Character was a part of that, but also how competitive of a player we felt he was," said McMillan.
"We also felt that he could get better, he would get better and that he was hungry. He goes undrafted and has to come through the backdoor in this league and work himself onto a roster, onto the floor and we just felt that in that guy, we had nothing but a winner. With him being so young, he was going to get better and this is the type of guy that you want to build a team with."
photo: blazers.com
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