With the year that Von is having, and his stats getting better and better, and his game growing as his confidence grows, do you guys think the Rockets will be able to keep him? And, if so, how much are they going to have to pay? Teams like New Orleans are going to be looking for a SG, and will probably have at least the MLE available...... How much would be enough? The Rockets have no rights to matching anything for Von....would he be worth the full MLE? I really think this kid is going to continue to get better and better, he is already the most efficient G/SF on offense we have on the entire roster, and he is only 23..... He has grown from primarily a jump shooter to a guy who attacks the basket and is dishing off to teamates as opponents close the lane. So again, do you guys think the Rocket will be able to keep him, or will he be too expensive because he gets big offers elsewhere. DD
I hope so, Von is pretty much the only guard we have now that can create for himself and actually hit his shots, especially the big ones
I just think he has proven himself and teams will be after him pretty hard....a SG/SF that has athleticism and is an efficient scorer? He is like a high first round pick right now....but with NBA experience. I think it is going to take the full MLE or around that to get him...especially since we have NO ability to match any offer for him.... He has to be happy here..... If I were Von I would hold out and see what happens with Ron, Battier and Tmac....because he probably wants playing time....and honestly, he has more upside than any of those players...who are all on the decline.... Gonna be interesting. DD
I see no reason why Morey wouldn't take the same approach as he did with Landry last season. I think the Rockets are more likely to hold out than Von is.
He can't though..... We had the right to match Landry up to the MLE......and very few teams could pay more than that. We have no rights to Von whatsoever..... He can sign for the league minimum or a max contract anywhere he wants to......and the Rockets can do nothing about it. It is a quandry.....if I am the Rockets GM, I offer him the full MLE the first day I can.... DD
No way a team gives up crazy money for him, and if they do, no way the Rockets match.... If Tracy is around(which I doubt)along with Ron and Shane, we do not need to give another wing 5 million per...
yeah i dont know about offering him the full mle. Seems a bit much. I also dont see any other team offering the full mle.
Really, you don't think a team would offer him a good contract? Say full MLE? Maybe you are right, but if you need a SG, say New Orleans...and you can get Wafer for the full MLE....and put him with CP3....ugh...that is a nightmare. Man that would be a mistake, he is going to be really good. DD
Von will get at least the MLE for a shortish contract with a team that will allow him to play and showcase his ability. There may be a team out there willing to pay over the MLE for him, though not by much. We might be able to keep him if... ...we make a deep playoff run ...he is an integral part of that run ...the coaches let him know that he will be a big part of the team next year ...there is movement to trade one or more of Artest, TMac, and Battier I think he will say "show me the money" to the league and go someplace where he can start.
Yep, that is what I am afraid of, and I could not blame him........hopefully the Rockets can work it out, because this kid is going to get better and better....and plays VERY well with Yao. DD
Wafer is a little bit like my namesake. Plays with a chip on his shoulder, particularly against the team who released him. Undervalued. I love that guy!
It's all going to boil down to the T-Mac situation. Von wants to play. With Tracy back in the starting line up next season, Von's minutes will be limited once again (since he will become the 1st or 2nd option off the bench). I'd love for him to stay here, but I guess we'll have to wait and see how this plays out.
Von is good... But I don't think his body of work is big enough to warrant a MLE type contract. He probably won't sign a long term deal either in hopes of his stock continuing to rise. I think that it will be fairly easy to resign him. And with the state of the economy, I can't see any teams offering big money to a promising yet well traveled and not quite proven player... IE Matt Barnes the offseason after the Warriors upset the Mavs
Interesting, you think the Rocket's signed him as Wafer insurance? Perhaps..... Good post, but I think the Barnes comparison is a little off, Von is producing in a SYSTEM that is hard to score in....ie Yao oriented, whereas Barnes was just running and gunning, so it was hard for GMs to translate how he would do in their system. I think Von is playing in a very difficult system and is thriving, so it seems that he would do fine elsewhere too... DD
Just like that, huh? James White is going to be Von Wafer v2.0?? Question: What has he shown (other than dunks) to make you think that?
I love him too, and agree with the comparison, his emotion is needed on this team. I do think he is a bit more efficient than MadMax though. DD
Is Von Wafer the new V-Span?! But seriously, I think some of you are overrating Wafer's value. Sure he's a good scoring threat off the bench and a passionate competitor, but he has many downsides to be considered a MLE player and a potential starter. Wafer is still a below-average defender (though Houston's solid team defense helps to cover that), a below-average passer, and has only had half a good season under his belt. I don't see other teams dishing out multi-year, full-MLE offers to him, especially considering the LBJ sweepstake (and Wade, Bosh, Yao, Amare, Nowitzki, Joe Johnson, etc.) in the following year as well as the economic woes. I expect to see Wafer signed to a multi-year deal with the Rockets in the offseason, say max 3 million starting for 3 years, with third year team option, but Morey may give us a pleasant surprise in lowering the dollar figure.
Thanks... I agree to an extent about the difficulty in scoring in the Rox offense. But, I think Von has done a great job in showing that it doesn't HAVE to be difficult. In the past we have had marginally athletic players at our wing positions, (Battier, Head, the shell of T-Mac), who aren't athletic and/or skilled enough to get the looks that Von does... Can you imagine the MVP type player T-Mac could have been if he played with the aggressiveness and moved off the ball the way Von does... It's a shame...
i posted this is another thread: comparison - i'd like to amend that just a bit. wafer does something that chuck doesn't do which might drive up his price. score the ball. his most similar player in the league would have to be kelenna azubuike. both players went undrafted and are of similar age, size, and experience in the league. per 36 minute stats: Wafer - 18ppg, 3.4rpg, 2.1apg, 1.1spg Azubuike - 16.1ppg, 5.8, 1.8apg, 0.9spg, 0.7bpg very similar at scoring assisting and stealing. kelenna rebounds quite a bit more and also gets a nice amount of blocks for a guard. salaries: Azubuike last season = $687k Wafer this season = $797k Azubuike this season = $2.9M i don't expect wafer to draw the same amount of money, but i bet this is where his agent will start negotiations. there are a few factors that will make a difference. Azubuike is a more complete player and the warriors are known to hand out bad contracts (murphy, dunleavy, m.jackson, etc). market value - one thing in the rockets favor is the bad market. teams are looking to dump salary, not spend on a guy who's had one good year while trying to stick in the nba. von is a risk for anyone (even the rockets) to resign because one season doesn't prove anything. the market should be willing to give him rookie scale which is where i expect the rockets to start their negotiations. similar to what they gave chuck hayes. about $1.7M per. somewhere in between there and what his agent might start with (azubuike's $2.9M) is about $2.3M. so a contract that starts at about $2M per with the max 10% raises for about 3 years would reach close to that average per year.
