Utah Jazz: Wesley Matthews always confident he'd be NBA player

MILWAUKEE — When he left Milwaukee and Marquette University after four fun-filled years here, Wesley Matthews had no clue as to his next locale.

But he knew where he'd be.

"In the NBA," he said. "I didn't think I was gonna not get drafted."

As it happened, Matthews — inexplicably, or so it seems — wasn't selected in the first round of last June's NBA Draft.

Not in the second round, either.

That's right: not drafted at all.

No worries, though.

Not for one rather mature 22-year-old.

"I didn't think I was gonna have to go this route," said Matthews, now 23. "But I was prepared and readied myself for whatever path I had to take."

Less than nine months after the draft that wasn't, Matthews returns to his second home — a scant 78 miles from his first, Madison, Wis. — not just as an NBA player.

Rather, when the Jazz face Milwaukee at the Bradley Center Friday night, it will be as a starting shooting guard.

If that shocks the son of former University of Wisconsin track standout and basketball player Pam Moore and ex-NBA player Wes Matthews, he isn't letting on.

"I knew I had a slight, slight window (to make the Jazz roster)," Matthews said, "and I was gonna try to force them to keep me, whether they wanted to or not.

"My goal was to make it the toughest decision possible, for whoever was making the decision. I wanted them to lose sleep over it."

But even after veteran swingmen C.J. Miles and Kyle Korver sustained surgery-prompting training camp injuries, neither Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor nor coach Jerry Sloan sacrificed any rest.

It's because they realized a bona fide NBA perimeter player was under their noses.

"Who knows if he would have been on the team," point guard Deron Williams said, "if those guys would have been out there?"

Matthews claims to.

"It was unfortunate C.J. was out and Kyle went down," Matthews said. "That kind of made the window a little bit bigger. But even if those guys stayed I would have had the same mentality, never once had a doubt about making this team."

A member of the Jazz's July summer-league club, Matthews wound up playing extensively in October.

He turned heads in Utah's first exhibition game, scoring 16 points while shooting 3-for-4 from 3-point range against Chicago in London.

When the preseason finished, Matthews had a roster spot — and by mid-November he was a fill-in starter, opening 19 games while Miles and Korver recovered.

"There's always something good," Sloan said, "in all the bad that happens."

Things got even better for Matthews last month, when on Feb. 18 Utah traded starter Ronnie Brewer to Memphis.

The deal upset many with the Jazz, who are 8-3 since.

"It hurt me — and I'm the one who benefits the most from it," Matthews said.