Peace Wafer! Learn to pass, dribble and maybe play a little bit of Defense. The guy can score and will do really well with Nash pasing him the ball...plus the Suns play no defense, so he should fit right in!
My day has officially been ruined. From the game-winning three pointer he nailed to sink the defending champion Boston Celtics in the regular season to his explosive reverse dunk along the baseline against the Blazers at the end of the regular season. Young, extremely athletic, smooth shooting touch, and very animated and confident. The Rockets just made a huge mistake in letting this kid get away. We'll miss you, Von Wafer.
The Rockets would never publicly comment on their draft board. But between positional need and overall team fit, together with pure overall talent, it seems fairly likely that Taylor was ahead of all those guys on the Rockets' draft board. I wouldn't be surprised if he were ahead of some additional guys taken in the 20s as well.
Um...James White has his elite athleticism. Heck, there are probably guys playing in the AND1 league with his elite athleticism. The athleticism has nothing to do with it. They guys I mentioned - who were just off the top of my head, there are tons of other overpaid wings who did nothing but score more efficiently in their contract year because all they did every time they touched the ball was shoot - were all productive players one year, got paid a boatload of money, and then sucked. Now, absolutely, Von was VERY productive for us offensively when he finally got PT for us this year. And if he proves to be that every year of his next contract, then for sure, he probably IS worth $3 million or so a year. We'll see who he signs with and for how much... Yep, you're right...those guys were ridiculously overpaid....whomever signs Von, it doesn't sound like he will be getting such stupid money. I'd agree with giving Von a chunk of the MLE. BUT, Morey, Adelman, Les, or some combination of all three clearly don't. And to not ignore the other Rockets events that have been happening lately, one thing is definitely clear - they are VERY VERY VERY concerned about size in the frontcourt. The Andersen trade. The apparent offer to Wilcox. And they should be. Neither of these guys will be all-stars or anything, but as good as Scola,Landry,Hayes are...as hard as all three play, sometimes it doesn't matter how smart you are or how hard you are trying to box out, when you're 6'9 and their 7'0...well, good luck. So Morey has limited money. I think he's looking at a roster that he knows has a hole at SG. But I also think both he and Adelman think they can roll out their with Brooks, Ariza, Battier - even though it's not conventional, OR Lowry, Brooks, Ariza - even though it's not conventional. And I also think they probably have a little more faith in Taylor/Budinger being able to contribute, at least a bit, at the SG position next year. AND, I also think that if someone like Wilcox signs, there could be further moves with T-Mac or Shane that net us a SG. And I don't fault them for thinking that way.
Perfect description. While I would have loved to have him as a scoring spark off the bench, his only real value as a player, I knew his days were numbered the moment he made a fool of himself in the freakin' playoffs, playing the freakin' Fakers in the freakin' 2nd round. Just incredibly stupid. DD would say "it's his passion!" That's as lame an excuse for acting like a 10 year old at such a crucial time as I've ever heard, with all due respect to DD. Having said that, the Suns are a good spot for him. Nash will get a lot of easy baskets for him. A starter there? Not a chance. He'll have the same role he had for us. Too bad that he got stupid and got greedy in the same summer. We could use him and I enjoyed watching him play, in short spurts, anyway.
Oh ok I understand. But it took more than one year when he was on the Cowboys and 49ers. But I understand where your coming from
Signed Carmelo Anthony, Scottie Pippen, Kobe Bryant, Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, and just about any other uber competitive player when they are young and immature. Von is 23, he made a mistake, any decent manager of people realizes it was due to his competitive nature, and teaches him a lesson by taking him out of the game, then talks it over, and moves on. You don't hold that against a young guy, you use it as a learning tool. Hasn't anyone else had to deal with egos of team members and how to manage them? This is not that big of a deal, yet such overeaction on this board about it is mind boggling. It happens ALL the time in sports....Lou Pinella just dealt with it like 2 weeks ago......I mean honestly......mind boggling. DD
I must admit he did bring scoring off the bench but the offseason is still young. Im sure we can find someone who is better than him. I may be wrong on this but I can only remember Wafer going off on only home games. It seems like on away games the guy was basically a no show. Last you should have known it was over when the Rockets signed James White to a 2 year contract. Even though it wasn't guarantee that right there told you that Wafer was history because if they signed him he would have had a guaranteed contract.
$3 million for a journeyman that has proven to have issues maintaining his composure. And this is why the majority of the Rockets world thanks their lucky stars you are not the Rockets GM. Otherwise we'd be loaded down with Spanoullis' and Wafers. Sure they do and most often they flame out. The one's that stick are the one's that maintain their composure in pressure situations, can play within a team concept and have at least an average basketball IQ. Von possesses none of these qualities which is why he's bounced around the league.
I remember an up-and-coming young player a few years ago that provided an offensive spark off the bench and had several game-clinching shots. Everyone thought he was only going to get better and more consistent. Luther Head. I know Luther and Von are not at all the same type of player, but Luther has been on the downslide ever since, and seemed to have peaked back in 06-07. It just goes to show, one good season does not a solid contributor make. I think it's way too early to call this one.
DD, with all due respect. Anthony, Pippen, Bryant, CB4 and Dream were superstars and except Anthony all hall of famers.
He made the type of mistake that is an unwritten law, even a cardinal sin in sports. You never, EVER... try to embarrass your coach like that by challenging his authority in front of the team, the media, the other team, the fans, and whoever else caught it on TV. Especially in a playoff game where so much as at stake. Thats just common sense. That is not an easily forgivable thing, especially when management admitted it wasn't the first time he'd pulled something similar. I mean you have to be a flat out moron to try and pull something like that. As soon as I found that happened, my opinion of him completely changed sadly. For his sake, I hope he learned something from it, but he's been playing organized ball long enough to know better than that.
That is meaningless, I am pointing out all players that had those type of competitive issues EARLY in their careers.......and all matured. Heck Barkley SPIT on a little girl...SPIT ON HER.....MadMax punched a fan......come on people all Von did was WANT TO STAY IN THE GAME !!!! For people to be mad at Von over a maturity indescretion is silly. The guy made a mistake, it happens in sports ALL THE FRICKEN TIME....but you deal with it, teach them what they did wrong and move forward. Honestly, any good manager of people will tell you the same thing. I think the immaturity is in people holding something like that against him.....4-ev-er ! DD
Sure he made a mistake, tons of highly competitive people make that same mistake, he is a young up and coming player. The team dealt with it, and they moved on, dont' you think lots of other players have made a similar mistake and grown from it? DD
You know it's not meaningless. If you are a superstar player, you can be a baby all you want. If you're Von Wafer...well, you can't. That said, I think people are too stuck on this incident. I'm sure it factored into their decision, but I don't think it was the reason why they haven't made more of an effort to sign Von. It's not hard to read between the lines. They are going after SIZE right now. They think they can fill in Von's spot later.
