Why doesn't Von Wafer Start instead of Artest

mrblunt · Post #1 » by **mrblunt** » Mon Apr 6, 2009 9:28 am

I mean he only gets 20 min a game. They have battier and Artest start right? Both SF's. Von is the man he's better shooter than artest can drive and dunk more often. He's willing to pass the ball to the open player. There 3 point percentage is the same and the only negative on him I would say is on defense he looks a little lost, but they have battier and Yao to help him out. I gotta have me some more von than 20min a game come on Adlemen

stockmarketgod · Post #2 » by **stockmarketgod** » Mon Apr 6, 2009 10:28 am

well if RA cant reign in the dude.... id say put him on the bench with the 2nd unit... and let wafer start,...

but then if you think about it Wafer is just as bad a chucker maybe even more so... great when he is hitting his shots... but bad when he is missing..

PocketRockets · Post #3 » by **PocketRockets** » Mon Apr 6, 2009 2:35 pm

wafer sucks. The shot selection he takes, usually kills the momentum if we have have it. At least ron had a chance of making it sometimes when he takes it to the rack in traffic, wafer will take it head first and get blocked. Once in a blue moon, he'll get in a dunk and everyone will forget he was dumb to drive in the first 3-4 times in the first place.

Wafer also can't play defense. He does okay guarding the other team's bench player but if he had to guard starting 2s day-in, day-out he would get smoked. I'm sure some games he could start and we'd be fine, but his hogging of the ball would limit touches to the main advantage we have on the court.....

tisbee · Post #4 » by **tisbee** » Mon Apr 6, 2009 2:43 pm

Ego.
Ron could-barely-accept coming off the bench behind McGrady and Battier. No way he'd accept coming off the bench for Von Wafer.

Stronger bench.
Wafer has shown he can get hot and fill it up,which is a nice game-changing weapon off the bench.
He also complements Lowry very well and w/Wafer the bench has great movement on offense. When Artest was on the second unit the ball stopped w/him and the second unit struggled to be effective.

Money.
Wafer is a FA this summer and the Rockets would probably like him back. But a player who ended the season starting is going to want a bigger contract than a reserve.(This may not be in Adelman's mind,but the Front Office might be thinking it and not pressing for the change.)

Post #5 » by **King Roosk** » Mon Apr 6, 2009 3:36 pm

When did Ron ever say he had a problem coming off the bench behind Mcgrady and Battier?

I think Von should continue to come off the bench for obvious reasons. He's a good spark to have off the bench, and when his 3 ball is falling then he's awesome. You can't yank Artest outta the starting lineup though; he's a big reason that we've continued to be successful despite Mac's injury.

Basically...if it aint broke, don't fix it.

tisbee · Post #6 » by **tisbee** » Mon Apr 6, 2009 4:36 pm

King Roosk,
Earlier in the season Ron said it was hard for him coming off the bench,mentioning he couldn't get warmed up quickly,not enough minutes to be effective. Then when he moved back into starting line-up for good he mentioned he always thought of himself as a starter. I'm not saying he was causing any major problems,but it's one thing to be the 6th Man as the new guy,and another to be the starter and be replaced by a Von Wafer. That happens and there's no way in H*** Ron's coming back.

While I think Wafer brings a bunch of good things to the table,I have no problems w/Ron starting as he can help set the tone early. Bringing Wafer off the bench as a scorer,tempo-changer is fine by me.(Like Adelman cares about my opinion!) I do think Wafer should get a few more minutes,esp these last few games to get Ron and Shane some rest.

Wafer's success so far does bring up an interesting issue.
If the Rockets believe McGrady will be back around Dec/Jan, do they take a chance on Wafer as their starting SG for the first few months of the season?
The only way they could re-sign Artest and stay under the Lux Tax is either Ron takes a very modest salary,the team finds someone who will take Cook for nothing(highly unlikely) or they have to trade away Landry or Scola for a draft pick.

Boredagain · Post #7 » by **Boredagain** » Mon Apr 6, 2009 10:30 pm

Artest agreed to come off the bench behind a healthy t-mac. I doubt he will be happy if he needs to back-up wafer. Personally I think wafer would do very good starting for us

BaYBaller · Post #8 » by **BaYBaller** » Mon Apr 6, 2009 10:36 pm

I guessing it's because Adelman prefers Artest not passing the ball to Yao rather than Wafer not passing the ball to Yao.

Iggyemu · Post #9 » by **Iggyemu** » Mon Apr 6, 2009 11:31 pm

Wow this question was actually asked and some of you actually entertained it. I wonder about some you on this board. Really now....Von Wafer starting over Artest...seriously?

stockmarketgod · Post #10 » by **stockmarketgod** » Tue Apr 7, 2009 4:54 am

Iggyemu wrote:Wow this question was actually asked and some of you actually entertained it. I wonder about some you on this board. Really now....Von Wafer starting over Artest...seriously?

thats because both are talented... but high volume chuckers with no BBall IQ...

sure...there are times you go 1 on 5... then there are most times you dont...

YoungMoney23 · Post #11 » by **YoungMoney23** » Tue Apr 7, 2009 5:47 am

King Roosk wrote:Basically...if it aint broke, don't fix it.

Agreed, It's too late in the season to start tinkering with the roster especially with the team we have right now

Iggyemu · Post #12 » by **Iggyemu** » Tue Apr 7, 2009 7:05 am

stockmarketgod wrote:
Iggyemu wrote:Wow this question was actually asked and some of you actually entertained it. I wonder about some you on this board. Really now....Von Wafer starting over Artest...seriously?

thats because both are talented... but high volume chuckers with no BBall IQ...

sure...there are times you go 1 on 5... then there are most times you dont...

Both are talented but come on dude...one is significantly more talented than the other. You really think Wafer is a starter on a good team? He is a great bench player and it suits him b/c he is inconsistent....

Artest is a starter on a good team...not a second option on a good team (which is the problem we have with him right now)....but he would start for the Lakers or Cavs or the Magic....you can't say that about Von Wafer. I think a lot of you have taken this Wafer thing quite far. Again he is a solid contributor off the bench and I know that a lot of you just don't understand the concept of a good bench player b/c this team hasn't had one in forever. But he is the type of player that good teams have on their bench not in their starting line ups.

texasholdem · Post #13 » by **texasholdem** » Tue Apr 7, 2009 10:10 am

Von should start instead of Battier.

RazorJordan32 · Post #14 » by **RazorJordan32** » Tue Apr 7, 2009 1:49 pm

texasholdem wrote:Von should start instead of Battier.

yeah, that should do wonders.

PocketRockets · Post #15 » by **PocketRockets** » Tue Apr 7, 2009 4:05 pm

Iggyemu wrote:Both are talented but come on dude...one is significantly more talented than the other. You really think Wafer is a starter on a good team? He is a great bench player and it suits him b/c he is inconsistent....

Artest is a starter on a good team...not a second option on a good team (which is the problem we have with him right now)....but he would start for the Lakers or Cavs or the Magic....you can't say that about Von Wafer. I think a lot of you have taken this Wafer thing quite far. Again he is a solid contributor off the bench and I know that a lot of you just don't understand the concept of a good bench player b/c this team hasn't had one in forever. But he is the type of player that good teams have on their bench not in their starting line ups.

Wafer is way over-rated on these boards. Are you guys the same peeps that loved mike james when he was here? You don't win games with players with low bball IQ (ron, wafer, T-mac at times), in fact, it's quite the opposite. I can only imagine our record if battier was never traded here and everyone hated that? There's no doubt we'd be a continuing 8th seed/lottery team without battier here. You can't teach bball IQ.....with experience though, you can mask a low bball IQ. Ron is fine when he's not mad, when he gets too heated, his "experience" is thrown out the window and he plays like the low IQ player he is.

Wafer is the same way! Sure he gets away with it once or twice a game against crappy teams, but in the playoffs (like against the jazz), he won't get those bailout calls and will end up killing our chances to win. If wafer was on the spurs, he wouldn't get any PT and would ride the pine (like dorsey) or be cut from the team. I don't like low IQ players and if they hog the ball in the playoffs and don't run the gameplan, we'll get swept out in the 1st round again.

GOBlazers · Post #16 » by **GOBlazers** » Tue Apr 7, 2009 9:52 pm

Von Wafer is a third string guy playing as a backup. He is already over-achieving just by being in the rotation. Starting is out of the question, especially if it means benching Artest,

sook · Post #17 » by **sook** » Wed Apr 8, 2009 12:23 am

GOBlazers wrote:Von Wafer is a third string guy playing as a backup. He is already over-achieving just by being in the rotation. Starting is out of the question, especially if it means benching Artest,

Von Wafer already started for 10 games this season, he was avging 18 ppg on close to 60% from the field and 50% from 3...

The thing is that he compliments Yao realyl well