I know it’s the minority that aren’t happy with what they’ve seen from Bennedict Mathurin so far, but I think he is right on track. I look at other wings like Zach Lavine who didn’t pop until his 5th year, Jaylen Brown wasn’t until his 4th year, and feel like the approach we are taking is a smart/calculated one. I’m good with flashes of development this season and a bit of the old Mathurin this season I’ll be very happy.
Ignoring the headline stats, he has clearly worked incredibly hard on the weaker parts of his game. There’s still plenty of growth to be had before he graduates into a legit top ten player for his position, but that is entirely expected. Also interesting in that regard - I’m not sure of his best position and I don’t think he or the coaches are either.
It is probably as SF considering his offensive strengths, but I’m not sure he can defend the top SFs in the league well at all. And that is his biggest required area of growth.
But I have faith in him and will enjoy seeing him grow over the next few seasons. At this point he projects to be a 20/5/5 starter who isn’t a liability on defense, but he certainly has the tools and mindset to become a 25/5/5 starter who can hold his own on the defensive end.
If he can shoot the trey more consistently, I see Mathurin’s natural position as the 2. He’d form a big backcourt with Haliburton and they’d ideally have a Paul George/Kawhi sized wing at the 3.
He doesn’t necassarily have the handles of a two
But I’m hoping his talent becomes so great the position doesn’t matter
He looks like he might be on his way
Levine and Brown feel like good comparisons of best case scenario development. Both were inconsistent their first few seasons