Von or Ron?

If Morey makes a play or two to keep us serious then we'll miss Artest. If we enter the unofficial rebuilding phase then Artest does us little good. Either way, it depends on which direction Morey wants this team to move in.

It's easy for some of us to say "good riddance" to Ron until we're looking at our team next year thinking "Damn, this team needs a little nastiness on it!". In either case, you would think a young player like Von would be useful. I guess him staying on this team is not meant to be, though.

 

i cant believe ppl actually want Von Wafer around...Jermaine Taylor can replace him once he gets the NBA game. i never liked Von Wafer that much, hes a good scorer but is a little too shot happy and needs to learn to pass to the open man. and one of wafer's biggest problem/concern is his attitude.

my guess is rockets will let wafer walk out, jermaine taylor is his replacement. especially with the yao situation now. if yaos out why would rockets wanna sign wafer?

 

Really? Just for the MLE? You're right that the NBA game has moved to the perimeter, but you still need some type of inside presence. Plus, the Rockets would never have a problem trading him.

 

Gortat is a center, the league is moving to the perimeter....Gortat signed for multiple years will will be a bad move IMO.

DD[/QUOTE]

i agree that the league is moving to the perimeter...so easy for guys with quickness and speed without the hand checking rule on the perimeter....but remember its A LOT easy to find a good guard than a good center. great/good guards come every year...great big men come every 5-10 years

jermaine taylor can be just as good as Wafer

 

Foolish Azn indeed. Reminds me of people saying that Dorsey could easily replace Landry and play his role last off season. That sure worked out well thus far huh?

I like Wafer but I wouldn't sign him to anything over 2.5 mill per year. With that said I don't know if Taylor can step in and produce immediately. He sure does look promising though. However between White/Taylor/Budinger I'm certain at least one of them pans out and can fill Wafer's void.

With that said this off-season has been and will continue to be a major headache since we don't know for sure what the status of Yao and Mcgrady are. Von and Ron will both be dealt with when the time comes. The time comes when we know the clear status of Yao. You start from the top of the echelon and work your way down not from the bottom (Wafer) or middle (Artest) up. Until then it's a moot discussion.

 

i didnt say to sign Ron artest...all i said was let Wafer walk he is not worth it, there are many guards better than him.

 

i agree to an extent. while i think the rockets need to keep von for all the same reasons you do, i think gortat would be a great signing.

sure the league scoring is moving to the perimeter, but you still have to rebound and protect the basket. this guy excels at just that. if given starters minutes, i think his numbers will show that the MLE was a bargain on him, especially when compared to what other bigs will sign for this summer.

if only there was a way to sign them both, with a side order of ariza.

 

This is defiinitely an interesting topic, but you can't necessarily go with your gut instinct. There are a lot of factors in this one. I voted for Ron, because this team went from being soft overnight, to one of the toughest teams in the league. And while you already had guys like Scola and Landry on the team last year, Ron seems to have single-handedly brought out a side of them that didn't exist before. And it's not just public perception, but because his teammates love him. This may actually be a by-product of some of the (in my opinion) unnecessarily negative criticism of his charater in the press. But make no mistake, as a locker room guy, he is there for his teammates, so they are there for him and it builds a cohesive unit. I don't think Wafer is anywhere near him in that department.

However, from a strictly raw skill perspective, Von is exactly what this team is looking for. And with the disparity in price, it is tempting to take Von and say goodbye to Ron. Big mistake in my opinion.

Ron is our own free agent who we can re-sign at a large price without going over the luxury tax. If that costs us re-signing Von, then one of our draft picks can likely fill in the gap to a reasonable degree. But if you sign Von and save that, say $8M, you are still going to be over the cap and unable to fill the veteran void provided by Ron with one of the younger guys.

I say re-sign Ron and use the MLE to go after Gortat. If a deal emerges later that allows you to trade Tmac's contract to fill out the rest of the roster, go for it. But for now, Ron is the best choice.

 

If the team is being blown up and rebuilt then I would say go with Von.

If the Rockets are still looking to somehow contend (not this year, but next maybe), then I would choose Ron if I had to make a choice between the two.

It doesn't look like Ron is staying so, if that's the case, I would definitely resign Wafer.

 

I think they need to go with von. They also need to try very,very hard to move shane. I wish we had that lotto pick from a few yrs back.

 

That brings up a topic I posted at the end of a dying thread a few days ago (and it went unanswered), so I will ask it again.

I keep seeing posters saying if Von Walks we can get either Taylor or White to fill his role. If I remember correctly, White was the top scorer in the D-League when we signed him. Taylor was the third highest scorer in the NCAA this year. I think they were both around 26-27 ppg. So which would be the preferred option? How would a college schedule compare to that of a D-League team? I am asking because I really don't know, but I would be inclined to give the edge to White because he has played in a professional system and I would think the level of play from game to game is more consistent. Just curious.

 

Ron is a better player. That being said, might as well be neither. Ron wants too much, and Wafer is expendable. Jermaine Taylor is basically the same player.

 

Like I said I think everything is much too early to tell/debate. We haven't even seen them perform in summer leagues. Last year it was between Mike Harris, Darryl Strawberry and Von Wafer. I bet very few would've guessed that Wafer was the one to make the cut. I personally thought it was going to be Strawberry, Harris and lastly Wafer in that order....in terms of making the team. Needless to say I was even more surprised about the season Wafer had and I'm sure just about everyone else did as well. Maybe with the exception of Morey and RA for providing the opportunity.

Bottom line: you can speculate and give yourself all the heartburn and migraines you want but I'd rather sit back, chill, enjoy the summer and trust in Morey's decisions.

 

When you said we need more "althleticism" rather toughness really reminds me of Stromile Swift.....
I think the answer is obvious.
Whenever a tean like Cavs or Magic have Artest this kind of player, they will become contender team. But if replaced by Von, they are more like rebuilding team. Ron is far more seasoned than Von. Cost too much money? Come on, he deserve it!!! If you said we only have 3 million dollars, then I have to choose Von.

 

Now that we are in a rebuilding mode. There's no reason to sign Ron unless he is cheap.

 

Agreed. Von was good because he was cheap, but there's no point if you have to overpay for him. If he was playing against starters instead of second units his offensive efficiency would go down, and defensively he's terrible. Getting shut down by Vujacic was a very bad sign. Maybe he gets better, but it's not worth sacrificing $3mil in cap space for 2010/11 to find out.