Mavs' Matthews doesn't care about doubters: 'We're coming at you'

The Dallas Mavericks have gotten plenty of flak for their offseason moves.

Following fruitless attempts at landing free agents Hassan Whiteside and Mike Conley, Dallas picked up (and perhaps overpaid for) Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut, Seth Curry, Dwight Powell, and Quincy Acy, among others.

While there's been no shortage of detractors of those transactions, at least one player is optimistic.

"I'm excited, and I'm excited for all the moves that we made," Wesley Matthews told Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com. "It didn't look too good to start, but I think there's a lot of promise and there's a lot of buzz amongst the team and a lot of edge. There's a lot of edge coming back, and maybe that's mostly me, but that's OK."

The Mavs have earned postseason berths in all but one season over the past 16 years, most recently claiming the sixth seed in 2015-16. However, based on its updated roster, as well as all the miles on 38-year-old Dirk Nowitzki's odometer, several outlets have projected Dallas will finish outside of the West playoff picture.

Those low expectations serve as motivation for the 29-year-old Matthews, who plans to take on a more prominent role on the squad so he can help give it that edge.

"I'm going to try and inflict my personality on this team as much as possible," he said. "I don't care who we're playing against, who it is, what number back-to-back it is, if it's on the road, what the record was, or the team we're playing. We don't care, and we're coming at you."

Matthews was the Mavericks' big free-agent acquisition last offseason. In his first campaign in Dallas, the 6-foot-5 shooting guard averaged 12.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and a steal while shooting a career-low 38.8 percent from the field and 36 percent from long range.