Wafer's been on a tear these past two games. He's riding another hot streak and his teammates know it. They've been looking for him a lot more. My only concern is when he'll cool off. Hopefully not before June.
Certainly he, like any other player has hot and cold games, but the fact that he is getting a lot more of his scores by attacking the basket instead of settling for jumpers is a great change in his game. To me, it shows him getting more comfortable, I think he has more facets to his game than we realize, and he just competes....HARD.....this team needs that. Remember JVG saying he needed to surround Yao and Tmac with dogs? Von is a DOG baby !! DD
Von would be a perfect fit to start for us with Yao, scola and Ron who can clear up elephant-big space for Von to show his awesome shooting skills by squeezing most of the defensive attention into the paint.
Von is giving us a highlight reel almost every game now. I love how he growled into the camera after he hit the floor on that one play last nite. The man loves the game of basketball.
Arent those numbers better than most of our starters? Is Shanes defense that good or does RA just want Von's "pop" off the bench?
Von Wafer's tomahawk reverse baseline dunk against the Blazers got a 9.5 from Skip, Screamin' A Smith and the ESPN chat poll on First and Ten. Got beat out by that Michigan St. dude dunking through the block. Von is fine as a backup, I don't want him to be given more on the plate then he can handle. As a backup he can concentrate on scoring and being a sparkplug. If he would start and given starter minutes he'll be exposed for his mental defensive lapses, his prone to tunnelvision, his recklessness at times, and generally doing the wrong thing at the wrong time at times. Adelman is doing the right thing keeping him on a short leash.
I think you are on to something as far as a starter goes, but I would like to see an increase in his minutes, particularly against fronting defenses. DD
Von is starting to understand how to play within the team framework (something Artest seems to forget for a good 10-12 mins per game) which is making him a very efficient player off the bench or in the case if he has to start. I thought when he first went to the bench when the team got a bit healthy the games he played he seem to rush and take a lot of unnecessary/bad shots just to get them up, but lately he has stuck to what he does well and take the shots that are there for him and for once is passing the ball around. Hopefully he can continue this trend for the rest of the season off the bench. I mean honestly there are plenty of athletic scorers out there (see: james white) that can do what von can do a lot of times what can get you on a team is being able to play within the team and do what you are supposed to do, if that means for Von to avg 8-10 points on 5-8 shots a game then so be it, but not trying to get 18 per game on 10-16 shots you know? hopefully he can have a strong close to the season in the last 4 games.
. Just like AB had to be given his opportunity to start and make his mistakes, so would Von. He did a pretty good job even with his mental lapses when he was starting as the statistics show. When you can have lots of mental lapses and still average those stats, that shows great promise for growth once he is established as a starter. I remember last year on this board how I keep saying that Luis should be starting and everyone was saying that was crazy or whatever, (of course I had a different nic then), but as soon as he took over that job, he and the team have never gone backwards with him in that position. Adelman is slow to see his best players sometimes, but let's hope that he soon realizes that Von starting at 2 and Ron at 3 with Shane off the bench is better than the current set up....although I seriously doubt he will see that this year since it is so late in the season. If by some miracle he made that change, our production on both ends would jump drastically, IMO.
As a long time Rockets watcher, I haven't seen this type of pure offensive potential off the bench in a long time. The guy has a job: score, and he does it well. He also shows flashes of pure, raw ability, that a lot of players just don't have. Von Wafer's career could potentially go a lot of ways. He's an excellent shooter AND he is athletic and quick enough to attack the basket. This could eventually translate into star like ability. As long as he continues learning and playing within the system, I think the sky is the limit.
I prefer Von coming off the bench IF u replace Battier with him, thats one less scorer on your second team who can create his own shot The second team sometimes struggles, and if Von is there, its a big boost so Adelman is doing good by making Von come off the bench...Von is that booster of offense in the second team that is very much needed
While I understand your logic, the same was said about Scola coming off the bench behind Hayes when Hayes was starting. Yet there is no doubt that the team is better with Scola starting. On the other hand, Battier really only gets to use his three point shot with the first unit sparingly, and rarely his inside game. But coming off the bench and playing against other team's bench players, his experience, defense and ability to post up would be an asset and allow him to be more involved in the offense. I would even predict that he would average 5 to 7 more points a game coming off the bench because he could get more offensive touches against the other team's bench players.
This maybe a reach to say, I don't know call me crazy, but AB and Scola's situations are different then Von's. I don't remember watching Scola and AB when they were bench players and saying to myself at times "Wow, that guy is out of control. Adelman, yank him out!" Not every bench player who are good sparkplugs are cut to be starters. There's more responsibility to starting then just scoring. That's why Battier starts. And I reiterate that Adelman is doing the right thing keeping Von on a short leash. If he gets out of control and makes too many mistakes, yank him.
