I think Von needs more space in the paint, ie. not having Yao in there. Although I'd really need to start looking at his performance with and without Yao. So if my theory holds any weight, you'd have to not start Yao in order to start Von and take better advantage of his play. So...yeah, don't think that will happen. Von is great in moderation. I think if you give him too many minutes, you start to get diminishing returns. Then again, I could be way off. Hope he hoops his ass off in the playoffs.
This is ridiculous. Watch the games. Von comes in and the Rocket leads tend to increase. His defense is not good but not horrible and his offense more than makes up for it. The guy shoots 44% from the field and 40% for 3 points land so all the "bad shot selection" talk is greatly exaggerated. He also only turns the ball over once per game (per 20 minutes). He is obviously an important piece or he wouldn't get the minutes he does. Bandwagon mentality running amuck again.
I can't believe I'm saying this but I actually agree with you DD. Im glad one person so far understands what I'm trying to get at. Having Von Starting and having Artest come off the bench and give him absolute freedom because we know he is a proven scorer would be better. We would have a veteran and experience in the starting line-up with Yao and Artest coming off the bench.
Fact: Saying Von Wafer should be a starter is idiotic when you have a winning team, going into the playoffs, with a ton of confidence... Von Wafer is NOT a starter in this league.
Von's numbers as a starter this season: Games: 11 Minutes: 33.4 PPG: 16.4 RBG: 2.4 APG: 1.7 FG %: 49.7 3 point % 38.5 FT %: 63.4 TO: 1.0 So much for "diminishing returns"
I'm addressing the comments regarding his performance in his current role. I guess I should have specified that in the last post.
Ok since your saying all of this can you tell me what is the difference between the Scola and Chuck Hayes situation compared to what I'm trying to say with Ron and Von. Yao Yao Hayes Scola Battier Battier McGrady Wafer Rafer Brooks Aldeman decided to switch Hayes for Scola and look what happened. That switch actually did wonders for them. Yao is all offense and some defense but not great. Hayes is all defense and no offense Battier is all defense and some offense McGrady is all offense with playmaking ability and some defense. Rafer was some offense but very inconsistent with good defense. Rick Aldeman balanced his starting line up and put Scola in to help.
Walter Hermann averaged 25 for a couple months a few years ago, Not impressed. Adelman and Morey see Wafer's talent, but he simply has a huge learning curve to go through if he ever wants to be a consistent starter...
No, he is a terrible defender. He never rotates correctly and he has trouble moving around screens. He is a DECENT one on one defender but he always bits on fakes. Always. I love Von and the Offense he brings, but he shouldn't start on this team
I like Von in his current role and maybe he does deserve a few more minutes, but, well I think you know what I mean...
I don't understand what your saying? You say he is a terrible defender but then you say he is a decent one on one defender? Even if he always bites on pump fakes or not its something called help defense. I would assume guys are going to slide their feet and help out. Chuck Hayes does that. Scola and so does Battier.
So what? The talk here has been that his efficiency will decrease if he gets more minutes. The only data we have shows that is not the case. I'm not going to judge the guy's ability based on what you think he might do with more minutes. I never said the guy doesn't have a learning curve. I did say a lot of the talk in this thread is idiotic when the numbers don't match what people are saying.
If one guy does not do it, the ship sinks. I have never seen a player get so lost in help defense.... One of the main reasons the coaches can't even consider playing him more minutes...
Like I said, "I could be way off." " " Then again, I say keep giving the guy 33 mins a night, and I strongly feel his numbers you list as a starter will start to drop down to numbers more true to what Wafer can give you on a nightly basis. Just my thoughts. Oh forgot this:
Von gets a shot in practice every single day. That is where playing time is won, and if the coaches do not think he deserves more time, than he does not deserve more time. Also, Battiers stats do not match up with his great value as a starter, same thing with Artest. Statistics are not the determining factor here...
Just because I'm suggesting him to start over Artest doesn't mean I want him to play starters mins. When he was playing since he is out for the season Ginobli came off the bench for the Spurs and basically played starters mins coming off the bench. Michael Finley started and played a role's players mins. I'm sure if Von started Battier would be a great teacher and floor general and tell Wafer where he should be.
Fortuantely, these days we can test assertions like this to see if there's any truth to them, thanks to 82games.com 1. how that player fits in with the team overall. Well, the Rockets overall performance with Ron on the Court is better - in fact they are +6.2 on their opponents, compared to when he is off and the Rockets are at +.4 (5.8 net). Wafer, meanwhile, also makes the Rockets prosper (+4.0) but when he's off, the Rockets don't lose much, +3.9, for a 0.1 net....the reason being is what others said - while the Rockets offense improves slightly with Wafer on the court, their defense goes downhill even more so. 2. While he is not as good as Artest, he is a better fit for a Yaocentric team. That's not what the stats tell us - one of the most effective player pair combinations for the Rockets this year has been Artest and Yao - by far, which outscores their opponents by 11.2 per 48 minutes for a huge (40-13) win/loss ratio (technically Deke-Shane and Head-Tmac are better, but their sample sizes are tiny). Not coming close to that is the margin of Wafer and Yao, which only does it by 6.1 per 48 minutes for a mediocre (20-21) win/loss ratio. As before, while Wafer slightly improves the Rockets offensive efficiency, he acts like an anchor on defense. Artest-Yao outscores their opposition 100-89 per 48 minutes. Wafer-Yao is better on offense, but markedly worse on defense 101-95 per 48 minutes. So - your conclusions look dubious from here.
Great breakdown Fish. I thought we had figured out that Artest is more under control when playing with Yao. Wafer can play with Yao too, but Artest is less restricted when Yao isnt on the floor. I mean, the big thunder dunk Wafer did against Portland was when Yao was being fronted. Front Yao = easy barrier against help defense for someone driving behind Yao.
Did you say that? I was just talking about what I'm reading in general. I don't think I even read your specific post. You could be right about the numbers but I want to see it instead of all of us speculating.
