Considering that he's asked to step in and start when Yao (a guy who's paid considerably more) on a moments notice yeah I think he's worth that. You are paying Andersen how much exactly to do the same thing this year with no NBA experience. Plus, think about it this way, he is a player and sort of a defensive coach. Was Von Wafer helping anyone else on the team get better offensively? I assure you he was not. Do you think Chuck was helping Landry and anyone else who asked to know what they should do defensively? If you don't you weren't watching the games like I was. I have no idea how many times they would show the bench at a time out and he was talking to Carl and pointing to an area of the court. So not only do you get a backup who doesn't care about minutes, but you also get a guy who's willing to help his replacement get better. One other thing, re-signing Chuck we could have paid him whatever we wanted. At the time, we had just traded for Scola (or were about to - I can't remember which happened first, but I think we had Scola before Chuck's was finalized), taken Landry in the draft and had the upper-hand on negotiations. The only PF we had at the beginning of that summer was Steve Novak, so the possibilities were endless on how we could spend that money. Chuck had a value set on him by the organization the same as anyone else would... they didn't have to pay him an inflated value. He wasn't averaging that much more point wise at that time, yes he had been starting, but they knew that Jeff was gone and likely Chuck wouldn't have the same role. So I don't think his contract had anything to do with "the right timing". As far as if he had to get a deal this off-season then no, he likely wouldn't, but it's not about your value at the end of the contract, it's about your value when you sign it. Ask Steve Francis.
Yes, you are right that the Rockets probably had a "number" for Wafer, which begs the question: Why isn't that number higher if he's as good as you think with all that potential? By all accounts that number is pretty small (i.e. under $2 million). It isn't just "the economy" or the luxury tax, either, since the same Rockets team offered the full MLE to Ariza, and signed Andersen to a 3 year, $7.5 million deal. There are also other guys getting signed despite the economy and tax-- Big Baby just got $3.1 mil a year from the Celts, a tax paying team.
I think it is about need as much as it is about $$$$, with Yao out the Rockets NEEDED a big man more than they needed another wing. I think they know losing Von will hurt some, but not as much as going into the season without ANY centers. So, because they NEEDED a center worse, they had to pay for that first, and Von got caught in a numbers game. They paid 2.5m for a STARTING center, while Yao was out, they would have had to pay under $2m for a backup wing....also, I think they know that TMac is gonna be ready and with Tmac, Ariza and Battier, Von is a lot less significant for the team. I don't mind him going, and think they made the right choice, I will just miss his energy, passion, and enthusiasm, as well as ability to score the ball..... I wish him well n EU, he will be back when the market settles and the cap is not an issue anymore. Heck CH, Iverson, lee, Sessions, none of them have a deal and they are all better than Von.....this market is wacked out. DD
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/What-Von-Wafer-in-Greece-means?urn=nba,181910 Check out the rest with a click EDIT: Darn you J! you were a bit quicker than me... darn client called to interrupt!
Hey good for him. He was a competitor and I definitely would have loved to keep him on the roster. He played his heart out for this team and it didn't sound like he was a bad locker room presence. Good for him in finding a new job. I hope ariza can fill in his shoes.
The telling thing about Von-Von's off-season is that no NBA team offered him a deal at what he apparently feels he's worth. To put it differently: Not a single NBA GM thinks Wafer's as good as Wafer thinks he is. I'm not a huge Wafer fan, but I'll admit to being stoked about Morey finding a diamond in the rough, and the way Von would always enter the game with both guns blazing. So I was wondering why the Rockets didn't seem to be pursuing him after the season was over -- you'd think they'd want to lock him up pretty quickly, right? Well, I got my answer in a different Wafer thread. I forget which poster it was, but someone who's close to the team and knows Bill Worrell said that Bill told him that Wafer was so out-and-out DUMB that his teammates nicknamed him Radio. Adelman was supposedly frustrated at how much talent Von had, but how he either refused to run the plays as designed or simply didn't understand them. With that in mind, it's pretty easy to imagine the conversation between Morey and Adelman, with Adelman saying, "I don't care how talented he is, when he doesn't execute the offense properly, it makes the other 4 guys on the court less effective." And Morey saying, "Yeah, and I've got the stats to back that up." That would certainly explain the Rockets' reticence at keeping him around. It would be really interesting to see what the team did with Wafer in the game -- *if* it could be broken down into how they did when his game was on and how they did when it was off. When he's on, his scoring alone picks up the offense. But I'm willing to bet that when Von is having an off night, the team's production drops off drastically when he's in -- he can't get his shot and he stifles the flow of the offense. Anyway, I wish him luck in Greece. He seems like a decent enough kid, and he'd probably shine in a D'Antoni or Don Nelson system where he'd have a green light to use that playground style.
One more thing... Hayes, on the other hand, is a coach's dream of a one-dimensional player. He's smart and does exactly what's expected of him. If he didn't, he'd hardly get any PT.
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Well if you really think this team is balanced then I'm wondering what team you are looking at. Despite the injuries the team is built with players who are basically offensive minded. Yao- Offense Scola - Offense Battier - Defense McGrady- Offense Brooks - Offense Barry - Offense Landry - Offense Hayes - Defense Lowry - Balanced Andersen - Offense Dorsey - Defense Taylor - Offense Ariza - Defense White - Balance Buldinger - Offense
If the Rockets talent level tilts towards offense rather than defense, why we we perennially rank so highly in defense, and remain hopelessly mediocre on offense?
