It seems that the chance of that happening is becoming slimmer. Nothing is final but unless a trade comes along or Wafer accepts a lower salary then what he is asking, Wafer would be wearing another teams uniform next season.
i read someplace that houston was interested in marques daniels..and i cant really see why when we can resign von wafer...vw has elite quickness and can run the floor,,,resign the kid....
I hear your argument and I get where your coming from - but no way do I see Wafer in the same light! I agree on his offensive capabilities - he's like a poor man's JR Smith - and there's certainly potential for him to improve and become a 15-20ppg scorer in the league. However his defense and general court awareness I'm going to disagree with you big time. I think Scola and Landry are far superior defenders - yes, that speaks volumes for Wafers shortcomings. And Shane and Chuck are in comletely different categories offensively. Shane is a decent offensive player who makes the right cuts and can hit the open shot. Can't create his own shot at all. Chuck can't create or finish or shoot. Wafer is better offensively than Battier in that he can create - but I doubt he cuts better. I'm not disagreeing that we definitely NEED a wing who can create his own shot - but looking long term at a project, I don't see enough in Wafer to lock down on him. The best reason I can think of for signing him would be to have him shoot like crazy to build his value, and then trade him pronto for something of value.
Marq D and C's long ago agreed to a $1.9mm deal; it hasn't been finalized as the teams are trying to find a 3rd team to effect a workable SnT. MD is bigger, more versatile and fits C's needs OK. Different cat than Wafe.
I keep wondering what the Rox hoops staff believes re: VW's 'potential'. Many of us look at him as an IO guy off the bench; 20 mpg injecting instant offense, and energy. And he became an NBAer here, on 'our watch'. There's @$1.75mm left to pay him (after Andersen, Taylor, and Bud). Take it (if offered VW) and get some time in with just one team, build your Birds. Buy-out Cook and Barry or combine them in a salary deal.
Step away from the crack pipe.... There's more to defense than just being a lockdown one on one defender. Ever notice that most defensive players of the year are among the tops in rebounding, especially defensive rebounding. Scola is a superb rebounder with Landry just a slight bit behind. Landry needs to work on his rotations and man defense as well, but he's no where near the Streetball level. Other than Von Wafer can anyone name a player who has let a 8th to 10th man type of guy get 3 offensive boards on 3 consecutive offensive possessions? We're talking Udoka here, not Moses Malone! And one more thing: Streetball should have been kissing Rick Adelman's feet each and every game. Why? Because most coaches would have benched Streetball for months for his lapses in fundamental basketball. Instead he bit the hand that feeds him. Too bad Isiah Thomas and Elgin Baylor aren't GM's anymore. Then I could say the people here that are overvaluing Wafer are ever dumber than those two. You like his game because you want style over substance. If it's style you're looking for how about watching the Power Dancers? I want wins when it comes to the players on the court!
Oh really? Style over substance? Ok. How about production. How about real life off the bench production? How about production as a starter when given the chance? Yeah, 16 ppg and a very good fg% in 30mins as a starter. How is that style over substance. There are people on thiss board that can't wrap their mind over the fact that some guys mature faster than others. There are also guys that seem to think its a curse to be athletic in a world full of athletic guys. Wafer is a work in progress,but he has a lot of tools that you seem to just ignore and act like everyone on this team has them. If the playoff incident never happened, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Look, Morey has set a value and he's sticking to it and that's fine. Maybe its the 1.7m they have left after signing chase. Maybe they will lowball him and he will just to another team, but don't act like he's easily replaced. If he was easily replaced, how come he cam in and took barry's spot and took luther heads spot? All year we kept hearing how barry was being saved for the playoffs and it never happened. I'm not saying beating old ass barry out is like beating out jordan, but wafer brought exactly what this team has missed in the last few years. A swing that could matchup with size and score. Remember those utah series when the only guys that could score were basically tracy and Yao? Now you're going to tell me that the team is going to be minus yao,tracy,artest, and wafer going into the season and they will be ok? Yeah right! I like ariza and think he will put up 13ppg next yr. Shane will have a career worse in every offensive stat next year. Scola will put up 15ppg but his fg% will drop big time. Brooks will be huge next year in the 17ppg range. After that, where are the rockets going to get points from? I guess we will see.
Wafer is far from a finished product but the guy averaged nearly 10ppg in under 20mpg in the NBA. Not conference USA, not the PAC 10, but in the NBA, how can we ignore production like that? The Rockets need his scoring, his energy, and his passion, and to let him walk at this point would be a very bad move. Personally, I think Morey knows the market is depressed and is letting Von figure that out, and will swoop in and sign him late. Then we can all go back to cheering for him as he slams home another one. VON WAFER FOR 3 !!! DD
Didn't we just re-sign Von Wafer? Except he changed his name to Jermaine Taylor? Except he'll cost less than one third of what Wafer deserves to make? JT's presence might not mean Wafer is gone. I know JT is a rookie. But he fits the same bill, scorer whose defense will be suspect (as a rookie, JT's "D" can only be shaky anyway). Sorry if this was posted, but do we have Wafer's Bird Rights? Seems like we couldn't, since other teams released him and we picked him up off the scrap heap. It would make for many more possibilities if we did.
No. If VW has the chance, and is prudent, getting back with the Rox on some kind of two year deal (option on 2nd, at least) to get full Bird would likely set him up for (at least) one major pay day in his prime.
No, Taylor is even further behind than Wafer, and is not as good of an athlete, nor basketball player, if signing Taylor means Wafer is gone the Rockets will have gotten weaker because of it. No, we do not. DD
I agree DD. When lee and sessions can't get good deals, it really speaks volumes about the economic climate. I think a 3 yr deal starting at 1.7m might be what von is looking at. Von gets a little security and the rox get a easy contract.
The difference is Lee and Sessions are both restricted. Restricted FAs like these guys, and Big Baby, and Carl Landry last year generally have a hard time getting bidders because (1) their own team often take the "wait and see" approach, and (2) other teams have to come up with a number that would not be excessive but sufficient to discourage the original team from matching. It's a difficult situation and often take until later in the offseason to resolve. I will bet, by the way that Sessions and Lee and Big Baby end up getting significantly more $ than Wafer. Von Wafer is not and still isn't getting any significant offers. By the way, there is no doubt Wafer was a productive player for the Rockets. Scored well and efficiently both inside and out. The question is why nobody among ANY of the 30 teams has decided to throw a significant contract at him yet (as far as we know).
CH, that's true, but knowing the knicks want to get into 2010, someone or the few teams that had space could load a contract up for lee or nate and te knicks would let lee walk. A team like okc could turn a contract upside down and have lee. OKC has to overpay guys to come play for them. The fact that hedo,gordon,charlie v, and milsap signed the biggest deals does say something. Just like landry last, morey is waiting it out.
' Again, the difference between Landry and Wafer is that Landry was restricted. Morey was able to let Landry "play the market" as much as he wants, and simply match once Landry signs a offer sheet. The problem with saying Morey is simply "waiting Wafer" out is that Wafer isn't restricted. So, if he decides to sign a $1 million offer with, say, the Clippers next year, the Rockets would have ABSOLUTELY NO ability to prevent him from leaving even if the team think retaining Wafer for $1 million is a great deal. This leads me to think that the Rockets simply isn't all that interested in retaining Wafer. By the way, a similar thing happned with Ariza, who was an unrestricted FA, got an MLE offer from the Lakers and signed an pretty much identical offer with Houston. Lakers had no right to match him, and had to watch him leave at a price they no doubt were willing to pay.
Maybe they're not interested. I don't see why even with tracy being capable of playing at the beginning. Who knows, I just hope he lands on his feet. I like to see guys get better thru hard work. I know he can play in this league despite people thinking he's just a bounce around guy.
It's because those in the business don't turn-off the film/video on the defensive side of the ball. You saw earlier in the thread a point was made that his defense was as good as Scola and Landry. After that was quickly debunked, his fans turn to "But, But, he's good on offense." It doesn't take a big contract to sign Wafer, so it means teams are choosing not to sign him. I believe it's for the following reasons: 1. He's completely one-dimensional. He's a decent scorer but does nothing else - no significant impact anywhere else in the box score or out (except for the other teams offense) 2. Rick Adelman is so well respected in the league that other coaches and GMs assess that if Rick had to throw him out, then it was a huge problem and not a one-time incident. 3. How many GMs want to throw money at someone nicknamed "Radio" by teammates and coaches?
He sure can play however He is caught up in the numbers game. Money numbers game. If He just remained patient enough, He can/will have his day. ( pay day ) He just thinks that He could earn more now because of a year's work.
I don't see the connection. Wafer just averaged almost 10 points in 20 minutes per game this past season. Taylor's never set foot on an NBA court. That's a big big difference, whether people want to acknowledge it or not. If anything, we just signed pre-Rocket Von Wafer, but I think it goes without saying that Rocket Wafer >>>>>>>> pre-Rocket Wafer. Wafer minus what he did in Houston is like Rick Fox minus the rings. What the hell is left?
Because the economic climate and uncertainty of the salary cap combined with teams trying to get down to next to nothing for next year's salary cap have made it tough on the smaller free agents, specifically. It is the ebb and flow, bad timing, whatever you want to call it. Von will get a deal, but it will not be what he or his agent are hoping for, it will probably be for slightly more than the minimum......which I think the Rockets would be happy with...... This is just good old fashioned horse trading, there is nothing more to it......Von wants to stay in Houston, Morey would like him here as well at the right price....if the market for Von is not that high, he probably comes back at Morey's price, or a little more just to make Morey seem like he is being a good guy. Typical negotiations and all this talk we have going on is irrelevent, it is just a typical negotiation in a downward climate. DD
