I agree with anyone securing their future and that's exactly what Von has done. 1/2 the games with 1/2 the headaches and if you play it right. You can come back to the US with $2 mln in your pocket if you blow $1mln (pay cash for your house and cars plus mom's house and car)... Take the other $2 mln and invest in Dog of the Dow (small dogs). Market coming back and will generate at least another 20% return on the $2mln. Yes, I'm a CPA and CFP.... for those wondering
Agee, if I had that kind of cash offered to me at his age I would play anywhere including the North Pole with a huge smile on my face. Good for him and good luck.
$5.5M tax free dollars or half of the vet min which is what he gets after tax, agent's cut, etc... Pretty easy decision.
You know you're a true force to be reckoned with when you have Von Wafer and Linas Kleiza headlining your league.
In case you are cynical I have to say there has been times when EuroTeams only signed old American players whose best days are behind them. As of late they are starting to sign budding young NBA players - Josh Childress, Boki, Kleiza, and more
exactly while I probably came off as one of the bigger Von 'haters' on the board I had always said that if he came back for the min then it would be fine. he played well last year but i just didnt think investing a lot of money into him given his weakeness and the direction of the team was a good idea. He is making a good deal of money overseas I hope he does well over there and enjoys his time. Hopefully he spends the money wisely
lol this board is funny at times. Now that Von is not going to be a Rocket you have people saying he didn't fit in Adelman's system. During the season when T-mac and Artest both sat out and Wafer got more playing time everyone was praising how good Adelman's system was because people were finally running the plays which did feature Von Wafer. If you don't want Wafer back because of his attitude and how much money he is asking for then that is fine, but don't say he didn't fit in Adelman's style of play because he just did this season in his 1st year with Adelman.
But he didnt fit in with adelman's style which is based on ball movement and spacing Von did none of that Von finished plays but he never was able to be a person who started them or be a middle piece to them. That made him predictable for the defenses. Why do you think the Coaches gave up on trying to teach him the plays because he never ran them and didnt listen. That doesnt sound like someone who fits the system to me.
YY, Where did the coaches say they gave up on teaching him? I see a lot of BS rumors about him being called "Radio" but nothing other than speculation. I an not trying to be obtuse, but why do people latch onto stuff they read and then present it as fact, when the reality is "we don't know". DD
I believe it was written in an article that the players were joking around calling him that... I'll look it around for it later tonight and post it in here if I have time also Stevierebel who is part of the Rockets org mentioned the same thing too.
Good for Von. Would have liked to have him back but glad he's going to take his game over seas and hopefully make his money and provide for his family long term. I'm just glad he didn't go some place like Dallas or Utah then become the next Rocket killer. Don't think that would have happened anyway but you know how it sucks when someone leaves then haunts you every time you play them for the next few years.
If basketball was all about statistics, you could have a Baseball GM come in and take over. Basketball isn't. Team offense and team defense are key as well - and wafer performed really poorly in those area. As much as you knock t-mac on that, he never made those kinds of mistakes.
He scored the ball efficiently. Why the hell do you want him to do anything else when he has the ball in his hands? He wasn't predictable for defenses. If he was why did he shoot 44% from the field and commit less than one turnover a game? You guys keep harping on his weaknesses but the numbers don't back you up. You keep wanting him to be a different player when he is exactly what the team needed. You need guys on the roster who do different things and Von brought a talent that none of the other players possessed. He lived to score the ball and he did that very well.
This is the First bad move by Morey so far. Von won more games for us then he lost last season, and made T Mac look expendable when he went down. I don't understand the argument people are making "he has been with a lot of different NBA teams." So What? Rick Alderman is suppose to be skillful and smart enough to mesh different types personalities..isn't that the job of a coach? maybe that's why he has never got over the hump in all his years as a head coach. We had a guy shoot 45% from the field, 40%, from the three point line,who attacked the basket with no regards for human life, and we let he walk because we couldn't get over one incident that happened in the play offs.The guy lit a fire under the Rockets when people thought we were going to fall by the way side and this is the thanks he got? Where are we going to get points from now Shane Battier? We won't score enough points to win 35 games next year.
Von Wafer had the 2nd best +/- total off all the regular Rockets, just behind Yao Ming, the team performed great with him on the court and outscored the opponents. What more can we expect? The guy produced, at a very high level, and has a decent chance at improving even more.... Look, at the end of the day, even Morey said their hands were tied by the Lux tax and other contracts. I wish him well and if he develops and gets better, hopefully he considers the Rockets when he comes back either next year or the year after. DD
If this is fact then my opinion of our GM will change from wizard to one who is good with stats but not all that good at evaluating good role players! Von Wafer has a special talent and the Rockets had waited a long time to find this very special player. This was a big mistake on our GM!!!
