Delonte in fist fight with Von Wafer

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Beware December 15th...beware December 15th...

Ye of non-guaranteed contract, beware!

December 15 is when you can trade players you signed in the off-season.  January 10 is the deadline for cutting people before contracts become guaranteed.

Bingo.  The trade season officially begins Dec. 15, so that's when Wafer's value comes into being.  Delonte's too, if the team wants to let him go.  Package with a 1st rounder in this upcoming draft (not expected to be deep) as instant salary relief, and...presto...let the other team cut him/them while we take an asset in return.

Danny's no fool, after all.

[LooseCannon]

Wafer doesn't make enough to be salary relief.  It's more likely that he would be flipped to a team hit hard by injuries and desperate for shooting guard depth for a (probably heavily protected) second-round pick.

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Wafer doesn't make enough to be salary relief.  It's more likely that he would be flipped to a team hit hard by injuries and desperate for shooting guard depth for a (probably heavily protected) second-round pick.

While that's relatively true, his non-guaranteed deal provides some flexibility for other things, i.e. bundling him to make the numbers work if we want to trade "up"...for example...to get another big who is less of a health liability.  A team over the cap not only saves the salary, but the tax as well...so...saving, say, $750K, which is pennies in NBA money, is $1.5 million to some teams.  That's right in owner's pockets.

It may be possible to work into someone else's deal this way, too.  The point is, why just dump him for nothing, when that's the worst that could happen 6 weeks from now?

[Andy Jick]

6 more weeks might be fine for a groundhog, but not for an idiot teammate.

[mmbaby]

Did Delonte really sucker-punch Von Wafer? Or is it just another rumor? If it's true, that's really bad news to me. Sucker puncher = bad, bad chemistry problems.

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6 more weeks might be fine for a groundhog, but not for an idiot teammate.

Send him home to sit by the phone; no need to keep him around, but no need to cut him today, either.

[LooseCannon]

It may be possible to work into someone else's deal this way, too.  The point is, why just dump him for nothing, when that's the worst that could happen 6 weeks from now?

To free up a roster spot if you have a use for it.  Perkins is out for a while.  Shaq and Jermaine are old and injury prone.  Avery Bradley is recovering from ankle surgery.  Marquis Daniels is brittle and Delonte West is only slightly less of a health risk.

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It may be possible to work into someone else's deal this way, too.  The point is, why just dump him for nothing, when that's the worst that could happen 6 weeks from now?

To free up a roster spot if you have a use for it.  Perkins is out for a while.  Shaq and Jermaine are old and injury prone.  Avery Bradley is recovering from ankle surgery.  Marquis Daniels is brittle and Delonte West is only slightly less of a health risk.

Good points, yet we don't have a use for a spot.  Nobody's out there just waiting for Danny's call that would be rotation-worthy, especially not knowing the system.  The starters are good, and Nate, Smokey Q, and BBD have been pretty solid.  We have Semih available, and Delonte waiting out a couple more weeks.  No need to open a spot now...

[thirstyboots18]

Wafer is not my favorite player.  I like Delonte.

However,

in my opinion, the over reaction on this board to a relatively minor event has been astonishing.  No one wants to find out what really happened and work the problem out.  Everyone wants someone fired.  Will that solve any of the problem?  I don't believe so, and I do believe that once Delonte starts playing at a "higher level than Wafer", Delonte will get playing time, and Wafer will be out...at least unless Wafer starts showing something very soon in the effort category. 

[BballTim]

Wafer is not my favorite player.  I like Delonte.

However,

in my opinion, the over reaction on this board to a relatively minor event has been astonishing.  No one wants to find out what really happened and work the problem out.  Everyone wants someone fired.  Will that solve any of the problem?  I don't believe so, and I do believe that once Delonte starts playing at a "higher level than Wafer", Delonte will get playing time, and Wafer will be out...at least unless Wafer starts showing something very soon in the effort category. 

  I didn't see much of the preseason, but I wouldn't minnd seeing Wafer waived based on the few minutes I saw him playing vs Cleveland. I think Gerald Green looked almost as comfortable playing defense for us as Wafer did.

[misha]

I agree TB that we might be over reacting but the bottom line, at least for me, is whether they both can start over and leave it behind for the sake of the team. Given their track record, I'm not sure that they can and we might be forced to cut one of them (Wafer hopefully).

[thirstyboots18]

Misha, if you are right and they can not coexist, I hope the final decision is based on basketball worth, unless it is proved one or the other was a fault, and then I think it should be a basketball decision,  . 

Considering Delonte's bipolar problem, do you think it would be a good idea to give him the idea that if he doesn't get along with someone that person will be removed?  I think he needs therapy to learn to cope with his emotions.  (My daughter has DBT therapy and it has helped enormously!)  His meds may need to be adjusted.  We do NOT know the story behind these incidents, but they will recur unless someone helps Delonte through them.  If it is proven Wafer instigated things, he should be reprimanded in some way and made to understand that this is not high school and those actions will not be tolerated against a team mate. 

It is my personal feeling that Delonte is a far superior player and can help the Celts much more than Wafer can, but that is the decision Doc and Danny will make. 

I take as much offense at mmbaby calling for Delonte to be fired, based on nothing more than her uninformed opinion of him as a "crazy"  as she does at people not thinking Glen Davis is potential starting power forward. 

[dark_lord]

im not going to lie, i havent read any of the 13 pages in this thread.  it might not be a popular stance (or maybe it is, bc like i said, i havent read the thread).....but i want delonte, even if this fight was his fault.  the guy brings so much to the table on the court, especially in a back up role.

and for the record, i love that he is "crazy" 

[nba is the worst]

Back punchers are cowards, and your supposed to have guys you'd go to war with on your team.  That leaves Delonte out as far as I am concerned.  I liked him and think he is a better player than Von Wafer but sucker punching someone like that is an action more worthy of a mangy cur than a man.  If that is all you can bring to a fight then one best not fight.  Its unmanly.   Fighting is stupid most of the time but fighting like a coward is worse than not fighting at all to me.

Lasme is looking better and better.  Someone will get cut to save cap space and they both should be expendable.

LOL at the Celtics organization and players sticking up for West and trying to cover up this foolish mess he created just because they know they need him (as a player). Desperate indeed. Of course the reports today say none of the players had conflicts with West aside from Wafer, well it's because Delonte has been a punk to Wafer because he has to sit on the bench can't even be in the arena, jealousy probably whatever. Sucker punching someone is straight up coward. Wait till one of the vets trys to scold him and catches him on a bad day. It'll get ugly and the whole staff will be the ones to blame.

Yet we don't know that Delonte "sucker punched" Von.

So everyone drawing conclusions based on that as a "fact" are overreaching - unless they have actual insider information.

[JBone4eva]

Exactly. the whole "sucker punch" thing is obviously fabricated, one can tell that when the "report" was initially leaked. no unbiased reputable sporting news story would be that biased toward one player. the whole thing sounded like Von telling the story himself.

"I was just sitting right, and this clown hits me from the BACK ! But I didn't go out, I got up and hit him with a two piece before we got broken up, he must have skipped a dose again"

I bet thats exactly how Von told the Kennedy guy. I think I saw on a thread here a while back that Alex Kennedy looks to be Vons personal reporter, I've never even heard of the guys name before Von came to the team.  In the future I wouldn't take anything the man "reports" with a grain of salt.

I was with giving Von a second chance, but I already want him gone. just seems like he's starting trouble, and trying to sabotage D Wests reputation to the team.