Von Wafer Appreciation Thread - Playoffs Edition

lmao.

For the record I voted 5 stars. Epic thread presentation.

 

Just because Von isn't the starter, doesn't mean he won't stay. I don't think many (if any) teams will offer him a starting job, and he's getting very consistent minutes here.

In fact, I could see Von carving out a nice 6th man role here a la Ginobili and Terry.

 

Ok, then say when you'd like to see Battier or Artest on the bench to get Wafer in the game.

I'll state my opinion. Morey strongly hinted today on 610 that getting Wafer on the floor late in the game could be a good scenario - if the coaches can trust him.

Right now, I still want Artest on the court late (and he's been driving me nuts for weeks) but I'm not ready to give up Battier on the floor in crunchtime when whistles are sparse, and I'm not convinced Wafer can drive then.

So the bottom line is, yeah Battier can sit and we'll see if Wafer's shot is going down. I just don't see any coach going for that - especially in the playoffs.

And I will say that my greatest disappointment about Artest was that he stated he's lousey off the bench. Because there really was a time this season when Wafer experimentaion was warranted (he earned it) but that time is not now.

 

You're crazy. Another point guard? Should we just throw away Aaron or Kyle? Should Aaron be moved to shooting guard? Nah, he's too small. I think the Rockets are happy with their two PG's and if they fall completely on their face this post-season and early next season (which I doubt they will considering their collective body of work thus far), we can deal for another. In the off-season (the time we'd be signing Von), I cannot see the Rockets making a move for a PG unless it's a veteran (Nash) for very cheap, and then he'd only be in the role of tutor for Lowry and Brooks.

I would hardly call Battier a wing. He doesn't do anything like Joe Johnson, Tracy McGrady, or LeBron James do -- he isn't a wing scorer whatsoever. And Ron? Do you really want Ron to be the wing man that the offense tends to run through? I certainly don't.

That leaves just Von. If we re-sign him, it will be just Von. When McGrady comes back, we'll have the two that is necessary (one plus a backup). If we shed McGrady's contract, we should get another player similar to him (*cough*Joe Johnson*cough*)

I still see Von resigning for a couple million a year (similar to Landry), but not quite the MLE. He'll get 25+ minutes and be a candidate for 6th man of the year alongside Ginobili, Terry, etc.

 

Awesome thread, tcab.

I sometimes still have nightmares of Jerry Stackhouse hitting a turnaround jumper over a helpless David Wesley on the block.

 

dont sully bostjan nachbar's name like that. dude most definitely stepped it up in the playoffs by (1) dunking on malone, (2) getting undercut on said dunk, (3) pissing malone off by tearing his jersey after falling from said undercut, and (4) getting back at malone on the other end by sending his junk into the 5th row. and he was 6'9; hardly undersized at either sg or sf.

 

Some of you guys heard the song They Know by Shawty Lo...when he says "big ups...to all my haters"...well i got a lil something i thought of....

 

Don't jinx him. He hasn't played a single playoff minute yet. You know who else I loved till I saw him in the playoffs. Luther Head.

Let's hope and pray that all our players not only can endure the pressure, but thrive in it. So far Morey has picked gems, so I'll stick by him and give Von the benefit of the doubt. Brooks is clutch as nails, Landry got the game winning block and is probably Utah's most-hated Rocket besides Artest; I believe in Von!

 

Good point.

 

With his performances, he's no secret anymore.

 

As soon as they took Wafer out, Portland went on a run....Ron and Battier are just not a good offensive pairing...

DD

 

Adelman = Wafer Stopper

 

Let Ron walk this offseason, Von will continue to get better...Ron will continue to get worse.

Save money....sign Von.

DD

 

Agreed.

I still don't understand why Wafer wasn't out there in the final minutes of the 4th. He gave the energy, scoring, and intensity the team was lacking. After I saw him hustle around to catch Fernandez and then the steal was a beautiful thing. Even before he stole the ball I was like damn he is hustling out there. Between his jump shot and taking it to the basket, I would have rather had him out there in the closing minutes.

I truly hope we hold on to him, he is more than deserving of a respectable NBA contract after this year.

 

Wanna know what I think?

I think the Rockets better find some more minutes for Wafer if they got plans on winning this series.

The Rockets have been building to this for most of the season. Winning games through Yao Ming's presence.

I had a bad feeling that, once Von Wafer was taken out of the game tonight, that the Rockets wouldn't be able to finish. Portland was wholly committed to making the Rockets beat them by keeping the ball out of Yao's hands.

Big surprise. But here's the thing everybody coaching on the bench seems to have missed: Yao's PRESENCE forced the Trailblazers to ignore the other Rockets on the floor with tha fronting defense. There were more than a few sequences in that third quarter where Von Wafer took advantage of a defense that was out of position trying to stop Yao and made good offensive plays for the Rockets as a slasher and driver.

Nobody else on the roster could do that at Wafer's size. That's the ONE COUNTER MOVE that you have to have in a half court offense anchored by Yao. GUYS who can SCORE.

I think Adelman is going to have to make up his mind about which way he wants to finish games from here on out. Any defense that dictates to your offense what shots you're going to get is going to be a step ahead of you. Relying on a "defensive stopper" to handle a great scorer one on one in the closing minutes of a game doesn't work.

It didn't stop Michael Jordan. It didn't stop Hakeem. It doesn't work against Kobe Bryant. It doesn't work against Lebron James. You're not going to stop great offensive players in one-on-one matchups.

You've got to counter. You KNOW Portland is going to deny Yao the ball as often as they can. Everybody else has to be a threat. Battier and Artest, in my opinion, are the same type of player in that set-up. While Artest is more likely to score than Battier is, he's a lot more reliable as a catch-and-shoot player than he is as somebody who's going to make shots off the dribble or as a slasher. And since Battier's going to be a spot-up shooter also, and a hesitant one most times, that's not enough versatile offense for me to think they'll beat the Blazers.

You saw what Brandon Roy did to both of them tonight. You got to decide which one of the two is most valuable to your cause. And that cause is countering the defense played against Yao.

I believe that Wafer can do that. And he's going to have to get a chance.

Nate McMillan's too good a coach to let the Rockets do whatever they feel like doing again. He's already cost his team one game this series.

Won't happen again.

 

Last night, Wafer put on a hell of a performance.

Buying his jersey!

 

i too didn't like Von coming out when he did in the fourth. he was attacking the hoop and is just a straight up tough cover. My buddy was complaining to me during the game how he had 0 rebounds and 0 assists, even though he played 25minutes last night. I didn't really care because he was doing what we needed him to do most, score.

 

Von will no doubt get better in the future. I see him as a scoring 6th man for this team if we can keep him.


Landry needs to get his explosiveness back. I like to see both these guys on the floor.



Do they even sale his jersey?!?

 

I wanna make babies with you, Von!!