Portland Trail Blazers Future at Point: Wesley Matthews or Jerryd Bayless?

If I had asked you this question before the offseason, most people would probably say Jerryd Bayless.

But things have changed pretty quickly in Blazer land. Besides yet another freak injury, this time to Jeff Pendergraph, Wesley Matthews has emerged as a great pickup for the Trail Blazers.

In just under 24 minutes per game, Matthews is averaging 15 points a game on 48 percent from the field, 40 percent from downtown and 81 percent from the line. Besides that, he's also averaging three rebounds and just a shade under three assists.

And just to add a little icing onto the cake, he's a stellar perimeter defender.

He probably can't match most starting point guards offensively, but he'll contribute at a decent pace and really make the opposing team's perimeter players work for their points.

Since Brandon Roy has the ball in his hands most of the time, he doesn't need to have the pressure of running the offense either.

The fact that he's gotten used to playing off the ball in Jerry Sloan's offensive system makes his off ball movement pretty good too.

I don't see Andre Miller playing in Portland past this season, so after this season, the Blazers can either sign a point guard or start Bayless. His perimeter shot isn't as good as Matthews and Matthews is better defensively, so that's two things Matthews has over Bayless.

Starting Matthews alongside Roy and Nicolas Batum would give them a really big starting lineup. Besides being big, they will also have two defensive stalwarts in Batum and Matthews. That would make opposing teams really work for their points.

Bayless might benefit from this as well. He will not have the pressure of being the starting point guard and he can come off the bench every game in a Jamal Crawford type role. This would really help the bench's offensive production because Bayless is really capable of putting points on the board when given a chance.

Bayless would get around 28-30 minutes a game playing as a combo guard backing up both Roy and Matthews.

The Blazers don't really need a traditional point guard starting for them anyways. Brandon Roy can really help his teammates get good shots with his passing and him having the ball in his hands most of the time means that the point guard just has to be able to knock down open shots.

So who do you guys think should start once Andre Miller leaves town?

Jerryd Bayless or Wesley Matthews?