Wafer is a 11th-12th man guy. With Barry, Battier, Brooks and Landry getting most of the backup minutes, there just isn't enough room for Wafer to be in the rotation.
I don't see a lot of natural talent from Wafer that would work against legit NBA teams who are playing legit defense. The loosey goosey matador defense played by the Thunder and Kings is a poor basis to compare against reality. Wafer has played himself on the 15-man roster. Most of us agree on that. It's a start for Wafer. If he's on the 12-man active roster most of the time, that's the 2nd step. We will see. But the notion he belongs as 1st SG off the bench every game is just crazy. Wafer is a one-dimensional chucker. He doesn't have the inhuman speed of Barbosa and has never demonstrated the all-around ability of Turkoglu (who showed his skills early on, he just couldn't put it together). Give him a spot, see what he does in limited minutes at the beginning and go from there.
Guys, its pre-season. Wafer is fighting to get in the roster and to think that he'll jump from the 15th/16th to 7th or 8th man is ridiculous We tend get carried away on things that dont matter (see Kelvin Cato's preseason). I believe that Adelman has a set rotation planned already and if that does not work, unlike Van Gundy, he'll tinker with his lineup until he finds something that does. Thats the good thing about Adelman is that he's not afraid to mix and match, but he also allows his players to fail or succeed. Wafer and even Strawberry (if he gets in), will get an opportunity only if Barry, Brooks or Head gets injured or is ineffective.
The Kelvin Cato Rule - Preseason play doesn't mean jack until you can prove yourself in the regular season. Some youngsters might not be old enough to know why its called the Kelvin Cato Rule.
I wouldn't worry about any of our starter's legs. They're not going to have to play more than three quarters a game this entire year
One of Wafer or Strawberry will be the 3rd string point guard behind alston and brooks. However, in reality Barry is expected to see spot minutes at the point so there will be little playing time for either guy.
I dont have that much problem with having a one dimensional gunner with size. Eddie House and Salim Stoudamire are unathletic short guards who's niche is to come in the game and get hot from 3 once in a while, no assists no nothing. Except the past couple years for House, those guys arent top of the line rotation players though. Wafer can be a Kelenna Azubuike, or he can be an Oscar Torres. Nice. Can be amended to include don't PAY BIG MONEY strictly off preseason performance, until you can prove yourself in the regular season. Even then they may have to exercise the Matt Maloney Clause - just because you started all the games doesn't mean you're a good player
The even simpler answer is that 3 good preseason games shouldn't discount the reputation he has built as a sub 30% shooter for three years. I'm with the guy that says this should be handled like the Carl Landry situation. Give him a spot on the team if you think he played well in the preseason, but you have to continue to perform well to get more playing time in the regular season.
strawberry should be cut... i really want us to keep mike harris though... wafer has suprized me he went from the guy who kirk snyder posterized to the guy that hit 6 threes in the preseason against a team wit piss poor defense against some scrubs... dont get me wrong i want him on the team from what i've seen but with a team as talented as we have i doubt he makes the final cut
Adelman likes him for some reason, he can guard multiple positions and he's athletic. Perhaps Adelman is hoping if he figures out the offense he can be another Chuck Hayes type of player. Remember, Chuck Hayes has virtually no offensive game and is tough on defense, but he's no DPOY candidate.
It'd be a tragedy if vafer joined the rockets rotation. vafer used to be a wanderer who hadn't even get a one-year LLE, and I don't think morey would rather cut head with 7ptg for a guy who doesn't have regularseason stat at all.
No Wafer please. He is so over-hyped on this board. On the other hand, DJ can create his own shot, and is also good at creating fouls. Keep him.
These most improved players only demonstrated flashes early on. They needed the right team, the right coach and the right system, and the right motivation to really showcase their talent and their most improved status. Turkoglu was a bust in San Antonio and Barbosa was an ordinary scrub before D'antoni's small ball came to town. But I agree with the limited minutes enough for us to gauge on a particular night in the course of a very long regular season if his stroke is on, anyway Adelman has never been rigid in his rotations. Especially if we can blow out some teams early and we have bench players who can maintain the lead, we could really rest our starters.
