Well-traveled Wafer making himself at home
In fifth NBA stop, sharp-shooting guard forcing his way into lineup
By STEVE CAMPBELL Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Feb. 1, 2009, 10:02AM
Von Wafer was on the phone with a friend, trying not to show too much excitement.
“Did you see the game?” Wafer asked.
No, his friend and old mentor hadn’t seen the game, hadn’t seen Wafer perform his handiwork on behalf of the Rockets that night.
“Coach,” Wafer said, “I was pouring hot grease.”
On the other end of the connection, Jerome Tang smiled knowingly. Wafer’s path to the Rockets includes a stopover at Cleveland’s Heritage Christian Academy, where he spent his senior year of high school under Tang’s care and stern watch.
Player and coach got into some spirited games with each other, often playing games of one-on-one with only one dribble allowed. When Wafer was really feeling it, when he’d singe the nets with jump shot after jump shot, he’d playfully tell his coach, “I’m pouring hot grease.”
“When he really gets going,” Tang said with a laugh, “it can be liquid magma.”
The Rockets are getting a feel for how flammable Wafer can be if given a chance. Playing for his fifth NBA team in four seasons, Wafer entered Saturday night’s game against Golden State averaging 10.3 points in 20.9 minutes.
He has made himself at home with the Rockets taking whatever minutes and shots he can get in between the assorted injuries of established veterans Tracy McGrady, Ron Artest and Shane Battier. Wafer is shooting .472 from the field and .397 from behind the 3-point line.
“He’s definitely a starter in the league,” Artest said. “He’s capable of averaging anywhere from 16 to 20-plus points. He’s that type of player.”
The only player in the Rockets’ rotation averaging more points per minute than Wafer, a 6-5 shooting guard, is All-Star center Yao Ming. During a three-week stretch in January, Wafer had 10 consecutive outings of 20 or more minutes and averaged 16.5 points.
Own cheering section
Along the way, a cheering section of fans bearing signs such as “Vonilla Wafer” has emerged at Toyota Center. Rockets assistant Elston Turner has even noticed some fans wearing red home-team jerseys with Wafer’s No. 13 scrawled in with permanent marker.
“He’s catching on around here,” Turner said. “He brings to mind a guy who has taken advantage of every opportunity and doesn’t want to go back to wherever it is he came from.”
The NBA odyssey began with the Lakers, who took Wafer in the second round of the 2005 draft. Wafer is 23, and his list of former teammates already includes Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, Elton Brand and Brandon Roy. He arrived at the Rockets’ training camp with 46 career games, 228 minutes and 66 points to his name.
“I always believed in myself,” Wafer said. “But that doesn’t count for too much if no one else believes in you.”
Wafer is from Homer, La., the sort of place that Hee Haw used to salute. Among the luminaries to come out of that town of fewer than 4,000 were American Football League star Paul Lowe and rhythm-and-blues artist Bobby Rush. A breakout junior season put Wafer on the national recruiting landscape, leading him to Heritage Christian. With Houston-bound Elijah Miller and St. John’s-bound Tyler Jones in the fold, Tang already had a powerhouse team.
“It was one of those situations where I could tell him, ‘Von, I don’t need you; you’re not going to be a program-changer or savior,”’ said Tang, now a Baylor assistant. “You never had to force Von to go to the gym. He had a lot of work to do academically. It was a small school, so it wasn’t like he could miss class. There wasn’t a lot of cutting up, because if you cut up in class, I knew about it.”
Wafer averaged 26 points at Heritage Christian. At the 2003 McDonald’s All-Star Game, Wafer finished second to LeBron James in the slam-dunk contest. More than the basketball, though, Wafer remembers the lessons dispensed about becoming a man. Tang, who also served as a youth pastor, would talk to Wafer about responsibility and religion.
“I love everything he stands for,” Wafer said. “I wouldn’t be right here right now without him.”
Raising eyebrows
Not that any of that magically transformed Wafer into a diligent student at Florida State. Wafer raised eyebrows when he entered the NBA draft at as a 19-year-old sophomore.
“When I was in college, I didn’t go to class sometimes,” Wafer said. “I wasn’t in my bed laying down. I was somewhere playing basketball. I just love the game.”
The game didn’t love Wafer back much during his first three seasons in the NBA. Wafer turned the Rockets’ heads during the preseason with his scoring ability, especially from the outside, and willingness to work. And listen.
“Every day when we come to practice, I’m the first one here,” Yao said. “He’s always the second or third one to come here. Shoot. Drive. Individual drills. Not everybody can be like LeBron James or Kobe. They don’t have that talent. But a lot of people can be Von.”
Gym rat that Wafer is, he is more mechanical than instinctive. On offense, he struggles at times with the read-and-react nature of the Rick Adelman system. On defense, Wafer isn’t always in tune with the night-to-night tweaks in scheme.
He still has a knack for putting the ball in the basket when all else fails, though.
“We love the way he attacks the basket,” said Turner, an NBA guard from 1981-89. “We love the way he competes. He accepts criticism well — constructive criticism. We’re happy with him. Very, very, very, very, very, happy.”
On the road against the defending champion Celtics, Wafer buried a 3 with 43.8 seconds remaining. That cold-blooded shot from the right corner allowed the Rockets to escape with an 89-85 Jan. 7 victory despite the absence of McGrady and Battier.
“He has the same fearlessness,” Artest said, “as any one of the great players — Kobe, LeBron, guys like that.”Wafer shrugged. After all this time living on the roster’s edge, having the ball in his hands at the end of a game comes as a relief.
“When I’m out there, sometimes I feel unstoppable,” Wafer said. “I’m not going to be scared of anything. I’m going to give it my best shot. If it’s good enough, it’s good enough. If it’s not, it’s not, and you try to get better.”
Just getting started
Maybe Wafer has found a home with the Rockets. Maybe another team will swoop in at the end of the season and commit to seeing just how much of a hot shot Wafer can be. With a playful smile, Wafer insists he has only begun to tap into his supply of hot grease.
“I lost my grease down there at Heritage Christian,” Wafer said. “I’m trying to see if I can make some more. I lost so much on Coach Tang’s face. The factory is down right now. We’re trying to produce more. But the economy is down.”
