Will the Rockets be able to keep Von?

A deal similar to Landry's 3-yr/$3M only with a player option sounds like a fair offer to me. You could make the argument that Landry was underpaid due to the issue with his knee but I still think that was a fair offer after only one season. Same thing in Wafer's case.

 

Ariza doesn't bring what we need. Von is a better scorer and most importantly creates his own shots. Ariza is like a less experienced but more athletic Battier. We don't need him because he becomes redundant.

 

On top of that hes still a bench player...and not like Manu or anything so don't try to make that comparison

Having said that he is getting better and better very quickly which is why we need to lock him up with a cheap long term deal quickly this summer.

 

Artest and Battier are not redundant. We have goo records with those two starting. Battier is better at guarding quicker ones, Artest is better at guarding stronger ones, and he gets away with a lot due to his reputation on defense.

Artest can create more than Wafer since he draws double teams many times.

Wafer is a guy who does nothing else but score. Once teams started to take him seriously and makes adjustment, Wafer can be shut down. It was not a coincidence that when Wafer started for Rox, he'd have a great 1st half, then totally disappeared in 2nd half.

 

Ron creates quite well if you ask me. Teams collapse on him when he drives to the hoop. The problem is he doesn't always make the wise decision to pass when that happens.

Wafer does no better than Artest in that department.

Both Artest and Battier are very good 3 point shooter too, and opponent obviously pay more attention on Artest than on Wafer. That should open up the floor more for Yao.

Right now sometiems it's not Yao isn't opened up, it's when Yao is open under the basket, he doesn't get the ball. Artest, Brook, Wafer all do a very poor job at that.

On defnese, despite Artest might struggle against certain type players, Wafer can only struggle more against most types.

At this moment, I can't see advantage Wafer over Artest except he jumps higher and goes to the hoop quicker, so he gets blocked less.

BTW, Wafer still takes the most shots on Rox per minute wise by a large margin. On days he's not hitting from outside, it will hurt Rox big time if he's starting.

 

I like Von and has played well when given the chance. Everyone has a value in the league. I would like to keep von, but at what price? I would thinl he's kinda like Azuibuike whom the rockets let go prematurely. I think, right or wrong that a guy like Green would be the same if he was here in training camp and allowed to make some of the same errors as wafer. I would try to upgrade the wing spot if we keep Artest. Shane ,scola, and hayes for deng then resign von for 2.5m Shane,scola,hayes,barry, and dorsey for Jefferson and Elson and resign von. I would offer that 2.5m in any scenerio and if he balks, I take that and sign petro,anderson or someone like that then go get barnes. Also maybe a trade of shane for azuibuikke and turiaf kinda eliminates the need for wafer, but you can still resign him and have him or kellenna as the starter.

 

DD, Ariza is better than von. Ariza is better than shane too. It doesn't matter what you want to do on this team, ariza will do it better than both von and shane. He can slash, he has become a pretty good shooter, he's always been a good defender and he's long and young. If my choice was between von a nd trevor, I'm taking trevor all day. The guy can defend pg,sg,sf, and some pf.

 

I was wrong about Von. He's playing fantastic of late. I'm still concerned about his mindset, or decision making, in the playoffs though.

 

You might want to add an "In my opinion" to a statement like that. You speak as if it's common knowledge when in reality I doubt there are many sane basketball fans that would agree with that statement. Especially from a Rockets standpoint. Ariza is Lowry-esque from 3-pt range. Do you really want possibly two players out there at the same time camped out at the 3-pt line that teams dare to shoot as they double Yao?

Ariza vs. Von is a different story. I can agree Ariza is probably a better overall player but certainly not offensively. Comparing them athletically is difficult too. Ariza is long, athletic and moves well laterally thus making him a proficient defender and the ONLY reason you can justify starting him over Odom. That having been said, despite how athletic Ariza is Von's first step and PG-like speed blows even Ariza away. I guess it comes down to style and what you're looking for since Wafer can score in a variety of ways and play little defense, whereas Ariza gets lot of "garbage points", fast break points (something he wouldn't get much of here) and plays better defense. What sounds more appealing to you? Sounds like nearly a toss-up to me.

 

LOL....Thanks for the "green"

I hope he continues to improve too. He definitely seem to have the tools necessary. I just hope he doesn't force us to decide between overpaying him or letting him walk. I think a Landry-like deal with a player option (in case he continues to "wow" and proves to be starter caliber) is a fair offer given that he appears to best suited as a 6th-man type. I know there are plenty that want him to start -- i'm not necessarily against it I just don't think he's 30+ MPG ready just yet. He's too one-dimensional right now for my taste. I could be wrong, though.

 

I think it was last month when Morey mentioned how underrated Ariza is and how important he is to the Lakers run this season. He also spoke about how Ariza's speed & length which allowed him to shut down Brooks in an earlier game.

It would be great to have a backcourt of Nash & Ariza

 

In my world, the rockets would have both. The rockets for too long have been stuck on either or guys. Either their good on offense, but can defend or they're good on defense and can't do anything on offense. Ariza is a guy with gfreat versitility and von is a offensive guy and I do like him. Ariza offers more in terms of defense 1st and offensive production. Is he the scorer von is? Probably not, but he's good enough offensively and his defense makes him really good. He's young just like von also. People say garbage, but he plays well in the triangle. The triangle is similar to what adelman is trying to do. Like I said, I wish I could have both and get Battier off the roster, but if I had to choose one, I would take ariza because he can shut the faucet off.

 

Thank you for the correction. It's not so long ago, isn't it? My bad.

Agree with you that any contract that Von gets is not going to have a "devestating" effect, but imagine what other players' contracts will be when it's time to re-sign, with the 8th man making MLE.

 

Another difference between them is their history in NBA. JR was the 18th overall pick and has been improving over the last few years.

You mentioned earlier that Von is playing just like a hot rookie, considering his performance, playing time and age, but Von is not a rookie. I would agree that many teams would offer MLE or better if Von was drafted first round, and has been solid and is stepping up to a new level this season. The fact is, Von's short NBA history had nothing to write home about, and is not going to help him in a contract talk. Compared to JR, Von has nothing to backup his sudden rise which will lead to wonders if he can sustain it.

 

IF we can keep Von around next year that would be great..if not and he decides to leave..how about bringing in somebody like Matt Barnes? or just let James White jump around the court..

 

James White should have earned a steady role on the spurs team instead of being waived if he really is good enough to jump out. At most James White is just an insurance for some accident injuries happened to our players in rotation, except that I don't see any chance White gets minutes. I think Les also knows how much we need Von and will give Morey the full control of his purse, as yao has already earned him a fortune.

 

Wasn't the same thing said about Von Wafer before the season started?