Smooth, Wafer shot what 7 for 18? Which is not a great night, but it isn't that bad, and the Heat had to game plan for his quickness. They even talk about it as part of their halftime adjustments.....on the League pass broadcast. No one is debating whether Wafer is better than Tmac as a basketball player, that would be silly. But an argument can be made that Von's style of game, 3balls, and attacking the basket on a close out, fit in better with an inside out game. Also, when you factor in TMac's lack of conditioning, and him being scared to jump and test his knee, then the Rockets are much better with Wafer than Tmac. Now, if Tmac comes back in shape, focused, and aggressive.....of course he is better. Do you see the difference here between the two arguments. One is "Who is the better player" the other is "Who fits in better with Yao at the SG spot" One is clearly Tmac, the other probably is too, when he is right, but he ain't..... DD
yao makes everyone better. tracy makes everyone better. Thats why theyre the superstars. Let me ask you this. Replace Wafer with Tracy last year after Yao goes down...How many games do you think we win after that point. Not very many. Tracy is a guy that can carry a team. Von Wafer is a role player. A very good role player, but nothing more. He doesn't make Yao better. Yao makes him better.
I seem to remember we sucked pretty hard with SF3 and Mobley in the pre-Tmac era. What was an SF3 in his prime if not a better slasher/finisher? Wafer is the latest flavor of the month. I'm pleasantly surprised that he's playing well for the first time in his career. I hope that he continues it. I'm just saddened that people forget that T-mac took the franchise upon his back and led us to a history-making streak. Then, by taking cortisone shots in how many joints? He almost single-handedly beat a good Jazz team. It's shameful how people throw him under the bus after such a short time of playing so-so. Where does T-mac rank on the list of all-time greatest Rockets? Second? Third? He's ahead of Yao for sure, though I hope that changes. He's about 100 notches ahead of Von Wafer. Let's be realistic please.
I thought of the Van Gundy Francis/Mobley/Yao club too when they talked about inside-out game. Mobley wasnt great on the catch-and-shoot but he was a good 3pt shooter (39% that year) and good at getting to the rim, plus he could create his own shot when called upon to do it. The turnover machine- dribble off his foot -Super Bowl over team-he was what we thought he was whatever version Steve Francis with Van Gundy was still 3 times the player Rafer Alston is. So with Von Wafer doing his best Mobley imitation and Francis the better point guard, maybe Francis and Mobley instead of McGrady would have ended up "better fits" after all. Maybe not true, but something to think about.
Of course Wafer is better because you don't have Tmac jacking up shots and clanking them. And when he's jacking shots...Yao is never in a position to rebound the ball. It is the stupidest most inefficient play call ever whenever they have Yao doing pick n roll with Tmac.
agree with you on wafer. it's all about expectations. when one exceeds what is expected of him, people will wow. same with landry in last year. it's just how human psychology works. but the parts on mcgrady i've hilited in your post are simply not true.
don't be radical guys,just be cool! yes,wafer is performing so well now ,but i think he is not better than T-MAC expect the "play with hart",and T-MAC is the guy who can make Yao better if you mean he can pass the ball to Yao and draw more enemy's attention
Wafer only took about 4 shots the during the whole second half. We never lost control of the game and Wafers hot shooting is one of only two reasons (the other being Yao) that we were leading the game at half time. If you remember it was a very close game at through out the 1st half but we actually enjoyed leads of more than 10pts through out much of the second half. Wafer shot about 50% for the 1st half but only shot about 38% for the entire game. Granted thats not a good percentage but it IS almost exactly what TMac averages for the year. Last, I have mentioned this multiple times now but it is very important. If you were cursed with having to watch Miami's broadcast then you may have heard the halftime interview with one of the Miami coaches. He said that they knew Von Wafer could score and game planed against him comig into the game. He also said that Wafer killed them in the first half and that they were going to have to change their game plan for Von Wafer in the second half. Don't undervalue the positive effect game planning against Wafer in the second half had on players like Rafer Alston and Carl Landry who were both non factors in the first half. When Yao Ming plays the way he did against the Heat it helps the entire team. The same can be said for any player and right now Wafer has been playing so good that it has had a very good effect on the entire team. Even when he goes 0 -4 in the second half it helps the rest of the team when the defense has to game plan around him.
One of the problems with that argument is that you are talking about the TMac of last year. We are talking about the TMac of this year.
Until he wins a play off game he is a lot further down than second or third on the all time great Rockets. Every heard of Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwan, Calvin Murphy, Ralph Sampson, Clyde Drexler...and the list does not stop their. People are not throwing TMac under the bus but TMac has delivered nothing to Houston in the form of post season success and yet we are suppose to act like he has delivered championships? How many game 7's has TMac lost? How many series has TMac lost after being up 2-0? While I appreciate the things TMac has given the Rockets you can not deny that for what ever reason he has completely mailed in his effort this year so far. Will that change? I sure hope so but until it does Wafer is ten times a better fit for the team and is playing at a much higher level than TMac at this point. Rockets 1st not TMac.
Obviously were talking about what is best for the team this year and who is better for Yao this year and this years version of Wafer has been many times better than this years version of TMac.
