[Highlight] Bennedict Mathurin makes a statement with 38 points in his Clippers home debut.
Call me Mathurin cause I’m Bennedict
Who you dicked? Ben who?
He’ll be an interesting contract
No kidding - shooting guards have been devalued in today’s league unless you’re Donovan Mitchell or Ant.
Here’s the Mathurin conundrum - is it worth throwing big money at a 2-guard that puts up sub-All Star numbers and also cannot be expected to run your offense or defend your opponent’s best perimeter player? If you look at the starting 2-guards on champions from the past 3 years, they’re either 3&D guys (KCP, Dort) or legit second point guards (Jrue Holiday).
Shaedon Sharpe got a 4/90M extension that I legitimately think will not age well. He’s a similar type of player and although he’s putting up good scoring numbers, he’s been under league average TS for his entire career.
Need to see him next to Garland first. The 2 of them could have a lot of synergy, and that moves Dunn to the bench which fits him better. But so far Mathurin’s doing fine at running the offense and playing solid defense. He’s already filling the shoes of Norman Powell but as a 23 year old with room to grow. If he earns a fat paycheck the Clippers have room to sign, worst-case they can trade him. I think he’d have a decent market considering he’s young and already has playoff success.
But mathurins been really good defensively so far
I think you’ll end up needing to edit this as he adjust to a new role.
Shaedon sharpe couldn’t tie Ben’s shoes stop this 🤣🤣
Clippers matching whatever he gets regardless
Go be great, Benn! Will always be pulling for you!
38 points off the bench lol insane
Indiana loss is Clippers gain,
Why are Pacers ownership so cheap?
Mathurin didn’t have a good place in Indiana’s roster, it’s not like they wanted to give him up
We were hoping to see a big year from him ourselves given all the players injured, but Benn got injured himself missing I believe 11 straight games two separate times. Been an unfortunate season with injuries for a lot of our depth.
It’s pretty clear that ownership only wanted to pay one of Mathurin / a center. - the second Turner walked it was inevitable that we were going to have to trade for a replacement. My hot take is we made a stupid fucking mistake letting Turner walk because ownership was cheap. Turner has his faults, but his abilities as a stretch 5 were integral to unlocking our offense.
If we just paid Turner, we could’ve kept our future draft picks. If we didn’t want to pay Mathurin, we could’ve flipped him for more draft compensation.
this is what everybody was trying to talk about here in r/NBA when Turner signed with Milwaukee. sure he didn’t perform well in the finals but that doesn’t make him a bum in general & he’s still a 3 point threat.
now Zubac is a great C (fuck you Magic Johnson) but he’s a different type of center than Turner so it’ll be interesting seeing how he fits with your team once Haliburton returns
I feel like Zu is too slow for that type of team
Pacers ownership is cheap yes, but to be honest I don’t want to be the team that pays Mathurin.
The 2022 draft had 3 score-first shooting guards taken consecutively - Ivey, Mathurin and Sharpe. Ivey and Mathurin aren’t on their original teams and Sharpe got an extension that I think will end up being a bad contract.
I’d argue that all 3 of those guys needed to go to a team that would give them a green light to chuck the ball. Mathurin certainly didn’t get that on the Pacers. Ivey had a few things not go his way for his development (the Cole Anthony injury and also Monty loving Killian Hayes).
Either way, I think those types of players have become devalued in today’s league - unless you’re a star, teams basically need their off-guards to be either 3&D guys or a second point guard. Mathurin is great for an explosive game, but he’s also good for having mediocre games like his first two with the Clippers were he shot like complete ass from the field.
I just wish we drafted Keegan Murray honestly. The Kings got clowned for taking him so high, but in hindsight he looks like the right choice.
They’re cheap, yet for 30+ years they’ve been incredibly well run and competitive despite some horrifying injuries to star players and other disastrous occurrences.
Never had an MVP, never had a first overall pick… yet they’ve stacked up more long term success than most other franchises…
While being cheap.
Pacers fumbled. Should’ve just let him be him
You weren’t watching.
When he led the bench unit, the game plan was essentially to give him the ball and let him cook.
The Pacers are clogged up on the wings, and his rookie contract is ending. They just couldn’t afford to keep him long term without massive roster changes.
Clogged on the wings with who?
Nesmith, Nembhard (starters)
Sheppard, Furphy, Walker, Kam Jones, Taelon Peter and they’ve been keeping Quenton Jackson around on 2 ways a lot the past few years.
Lots of cheap youth to develop behind Benn, and a glaring need for a long term solution at center.
Here’s my issue. I’m not certain that Nesmith or Nembhard is better than him. I think if you get the most out of Benn he makes the entire offense more dangerous than either of those guys could.
Ben is good but in our system Nesmith and Nembhard contribute more to winning. Mathurin needs to be more consistent throughout a season, he’ll have games like this but then he’ll have stretches where he isn’t great. I’ll always root for him though because has the mentality I wish most of the league had.
Can’t really nitpick when both teams benefited. Only reason Nesmith is “better” is because of the contract structure. Zubac on the other hand… what an addition. Insane.
Benn is more of a ball-stopper which is an issue in a free flowing offense.
Nesmith and Nembhard each contribute more defensively while also fitting better in the offensive flow.
Love Benn, but it’s just a combination of fit and contract that got him traded.
Let’s check back on this in a few years
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