2020 NBA Preseason: 3 Wing Shooters That Have Caught My Attention
Garrison Mathews — Washington Wizards: The 2019 Atlantic Sun Player of the Year really caught my eye once he received his call up midway through last year’s season. He is a tough, grind it out type of guy who has been really consistent when provided the minutes. Last year alone he shot 41% from three in the first 18 games of his career. With some NBA experience now under his belt and a little downtime to improve his craft I feel there’s certainly a way Mathews will carve out some time with the Wizards once again this season.
Matt Thomas — Toronto Raptors: Who? Upon first few minutes of watching him play, I literally thought he might be former Marquette shooting guard Jake Thomas’s younger brother. As someone who admittedly does not watch a lot of college basketball, I had no idea who he was nor did I realize he appeared in 41 games for the Raptors last season. After watching him light up the Hornets for 16 points on Sunday, I did some more homework on him and he’s certainly an off the bench shooter to keep an eye on. Last year he shot 47.5% (47–99) from 3 in his 41 games with the Raptors. Garbage time or not, that is outstanding especially considering the fact he would sit through the majority of the game and came in cold late in the game with such consistency. The athletic Terence Davis will get most of the time and preseason attention as the Raptors backup shooting guard, but Nick Nurse isn’t afraid to switch things up and adjust to different styles of play providing Thomas some time to shine.
Jahmi’us Ramsey — Sacramento Kings: Ramsey is a 19 year-old rookie that went 43rd overall to Sacramento in this year’s draft. It will surely take his raw talents some time to develop and evolve within the NBA game, but right away he does bring outside shooting to the table. Last year he shot 42% from three as a Freshman at Texas Tech and in his preseason debut he wasn’t shy letting it fly 3 times in his 5 minutes of garbage time late in the 4th quarter. Sure Ramsey likely won’t see many opportunities this year, but in the times you do see him get a chance, don’t be surprised if he heats up like a microwave.
