2021-22 Rockets roster review, offseason outlook: Garrison Mathews

(Editor’s note: We are starting our individual reviews of all players from the Houston Rockets who finished the 2021-22 season with the team. To access other reviews as part of this ongoing series, click here.)

Rockets Player: Garrison Mathews, 6-foot-5 wing, 25 years old

2021-22 statistics in Houston: 10.0 points (39.9% FG, 36.0% on 3-pointers), 2.9 rebounds, 0.9 steals in 26.3 minutes

Professional Experience: 3 NBA seasons

Contract Status: Under contract through 2024-25 season at approximately $2 million annually, but each year is non-guaranteed

Based on having the NBA’s worst record in 2020-21, the Rockets used their position at the front of the league’s waiver wire to pick up Mathews when he was released by a deep Boston team following training camp.

The move quickly paid dividends, with Mathews playing a key role in Houston’s historic seven-game winning streak in December and ultimately averaging more than 26 minutes per game on the season.

Highlights

Analysis

Mathews isn’t particularly impactful as a defender or as a playmaker, so his value depends on his ability to make 3-pointers at high volume and space the floor for teammates like Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green.

The volume part of that equation was certainly there, with Mathews averaging over eight 3-point attempts per 36 minutes. But the accuracy was often hit or miss. While his season-long clip (36.0%) was respectable, particularly for high volume, it was propped up by a hot start.

From the start of the season until the end of January (33 games), Mathews shot 38.2% from 3-point range. However, from February until the season’s end (32 games), his 3-point number dipped to 33.1%.

Outlook

Will the real “Garry Bird” please stand up? If it’s the version from the first half of the 2021-22 season — when he shot above 38% on 3-pointers, and at lofty volume — that’s a valuable rotation player for Houston.

On the other hand, if the second half of the year (33.1%) is more representative, that’s probably not enough for him to be a rotation fixture, since he doesn’t provide substantial value in most other areas. (That said, he is excellent at taking charges on defense!)

The good news for the Rockets is that with a contract near the league’s minimum salary, there’s not much harm in bringing Mathews back for the 2022-23 season and seeing which version is more legitimate. If the first-half version happens to be the one, Mathews’ deal is a bargain!

If you want to be optimistic on Mathews, one thing worth remembering is that he played by far the most NBA minutes (1,712) of his career — and more than Mathews’ first two seasons in Washington, combined. That may have led to some tired legs, as the season progressed.

Should that be the case, perhaps offseason workouts to further build stamina could be a solution. Or, if Josh Christopher is ready for more minutes in his second NBA season, that might allow Silas to play Mathews closer to 18-20 minutes per game, as opposed to 26+ like last season. When Mathews was with the Wizards, he averaged 15.4 minutes per game and shot 38.9% on 3-pointers over those two seasons. It’s possible that there’s a correlation between his accuracy and minutes.

Whatever the case, based on his low salary, it’s a low-risk gamble for the Rockets and general manager Rafael Stone. Unless Mathews is used as part of a trade, expect him back with the Rockets in 2022-23.