This is the correct response. One of the greatest myths on this board over the course of this year was the one that developed somehow that Von can create his own shot. He can't - his handles are extremely poor. His drives to the basket come off pump fakes after the ball is swung when he can use his athleticism quickness to blow by his man. He is essentially using the momentum of the ball/play and attacking in one motion. This was somehow interpreted by this board as an ability to create off the dribble. You'll notice that in one on one situations he essentially only has one move - a dribble right and then hard cross to the left. If you give it to him in a standstill position, you are seeing the predictable outcome in this series. Von is what he is. He had huge moments for us against Portland and I still maintain that we would have beaten either Dallas or Utah had we had him over Luther Head/Jon Barry. He is like any other role player. He will help you tremendously when he is allowed to play to his strengths (beating the defense when it rotates off a superstar (yao/hypothetically t-mac), but if you put him in a position where he is expected to do more than this, the result is predictable.
He can't handle the ball like Brooks and Lowry so unless the path to the basket is a straight one he can't get to the rim. Both of those guys can chance speed, direction in order to find seams and get to the rim. Von has to put his head down and go right at the rim. The Lakers size makes his mid-range shots more difficult and there is of course the Sasha factor. For whatever reason Vujacic gets away with fouling him on every possession. Check the block Sasha had on Von's jumper last night. It was all hand and no ball.
in my opinion the issue is he was just really overrated by houston fans , i mean hes a good role player(with good potential) but i just dont see him being super as many here believe.
Yes, lethal when he's open. But everyone knows he's going to be roaming around the perimeter and the defense isn't going to worry about him driving in. Easy defense. If it's so lethal, how come he doesn't get more minutes w/ the Clips? Von, in the spare minutes he received, was productive off the bench. He can do both if he's on.....penetrate to the basket to get some points, hit the jumper or 3. Von > Novak
Again, you try to spin it since you were so high on Von. The only inonsistent part of Wafer's game is shooting. He would have good shooting nights and bad shooting nights. But the rest of Wafer's game is quite consisitent: Doesn't rebound, doesn't pass, doesn't go for loose ball, doesn't go back to stop fastbreak, doesn't take charge, doesn't fight through screen, doesn't block out. On top of that, b****es about playing time. As Morey said, defensive guys always get underrated, like Battier and Chuck Hayes. Wafer is the opposite, he's overerated because he can shoot the ball. That fact he's so one dimensional makes him extremely overrated. I laugh at those "MLE for Wafer","Von is the future" posts.
You are right on the above statement. But is there other than Wafer, Scola, and Landry that is going to penetrate on the basket or create something to get points? Battier, no. Hayes, no. Artest, ummm....anyone can jack 30 footers. Brooks, he's confused on either being a PG/SG or just a PG. The guy is still young. I love his passion. I personally think he b****es about playing time because he wants to ignite fire on this team. Defense is his weakness....I'm definitely with you on that. He really needs to go to the school of Battier and Artest and work on that in the offseason.
Brooks, Lowry, Artest can do that,and they actually pass a little. That's why we see more and more Brooks + Lowry on the court. Actually Lowry not only plays better defense, he hustles, gets loose balls, gets rebounds at both ends, takes charge, gets back on fastbreaks. Lowry misses defensive roatation quite often, but compare to Wafer, he's a big upgrade all around except shooting from outside.
I agree: Defense - Lowry > Wafer Offense - Wafer > Lowry. Passing - Lowry > Wafer. Penetration - Even ------------ Defense - Brooks > Wafer (barely) Offense - Even. If Wafer was given more minutes and smarter on offense, he would easily pass Brooks. Passing - Brooks > Wafer. Penetration - Even ----------- Defense - Artest > Wafer Offense - Artest > Wafer (if Artest goes crazy, they are even). Passing - Artest > Wafer. Penetration - Wafer > Artest (Artest is horrible in dribbling around the paint and going to the basket).
Sorry, I updated my post. Didn't do it quick enough, I see.... Offense, I meant scoring wise and shooting wise, it's Wafer > Lowry. Passing, you're right, I would put Lowry over Wafer any day. Wafer has a lot to work on in the offseason if he is sitll with the team.
