Von Wafer's Return to Rockets Doubtful

Free agent guard Von Wafer went from longshot to making the Houston Rockets roster last season to becoming what head coach Rick Adelman called, at one point, one of his most important offensive weapons coming off the bench.

However, with other needs to address the Rockets have yet to make an offer of any kind to Wafer and his agent said it's time for his client to look to those teams expressing interest and offering a new opportunity.

And Wafer's agent, Mitchell Butler, in an interview with FOX 26 Sports Friday, said his client would not accept a minimum contract from the Rockets.

"There's no way," Butler said. "A minimum contract, even though he knows the system and everything else, I think it would be really a slap in the kid's face that they didn't even make an offer to begin with, and there are several teams (who) would lay and wait to get him on a minimum contract that I think would appreciate what he has brought to the table a little more than what the Rockets demonstrated through the beginning of free agency."

With his fifth team in four years, Wafer saw the most extensive playing time of his career in his only season with Houston.

Wafer played in 63 games for the Rockets, starting 11. He was sixth on the team in scoring with 9.7 points per game.

" We believe, based on his performance last year, he's deserving of a multi-year contract in excess of the minimum," said Butler.

"We had some dialogue prior to free agency and they had expressed an interest in Von, but also said that they need to address the center position.

"What we didn't expect was there would be very little dialogue about the players they had on their roster who helped them get out of the first round. It was a little bit weird to us. We saw the Ron Artest situation unfold and then turn their attention to a wing player and forget about the center position and not even address Von Wafer. It was quite disappointing."

Artest eventually agreed to terms with the Lakers, while the Rockets reached a contract agreement with free agent forward Trevor Ariza.

"I thought that Von had laid his heart and soul out for the Rockets," Butler said. "He played with a lot of passion and a lot of energy. I thought it became contagious with the team through his play in January, and the team fed off of that and got on the right track and put together a great winning streak. I almost feel like he was some kind of adhesive for their group."

The Rockets and Adelman did have an issue with Wafer during the Western Conference Semifinals with the Lakers. During game two of the series Adelman was upset with the way Wafer responded to being pulled from the game and sent him to the locker room. Wafer called it a misunderstanding and apologized to the team and the fans.

Butler is hopeful that misstep didn't lead to the situation Wafer is in now.

"I would hope not," Butler said. "If it did play a role I would be sadly disappointed in the Rockets for not recognizing Von's passion to play."

Butler said the only way Wafer could possibly return to the Rockets is if the team receives some relief under the salary cap from the NBA if center Yao Ming is unable to play this year.

"We've had several teams expressing interest in Von and Von will be meeting with some of them over the next couple of days," Butler said.

Butler did not identify which teams are involved with his client.

"Von is a young player who has a tremendous upside," Butler said. "He's barely scratched the surface on who he is going to become as a basketball player."

Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey has not been available for comment for this story.