Von Wafer
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Vakeaton Quamar Wafer (born on July 21, 1985 in Homer, Louisiana), nicknamed Von, is a professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association. He was chosen as the 39th overall selection (ninth pick of the second round) in the 2005 NBA Draft.
Wafer is the son of Doris Zeigler and Ray P. Johnson and spent much of his time growing up in Newport News, Virginia, with his mother and spent his summers in Homer, Louisiana, with his father.
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[edit] High school
Wafer attended Pineview High School his freshman, sophomore and junior years of high school. He averaged 32 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists during his junior season. Up to this point, Wafer was a virtual unknown on the national recruiting scene. Tim Loring, the coach of the Arkansas Wings AAU team, invited Wafer to play for them the summer before his senior year. This allowed Wafer to display his skills on a wider stage, and by the end of the summer, he was considered to be one of the top 10 seniors on many recruiting lists. He was briefly at RL Paschal High School and Laurinburg Institute his senior year before deciding to attend and play at Heritage Christian Academy in Cleveland, Texas, where he averaged 26 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals, and 4 blocks per game.
Wafer is only the seventh McDonald's High School All-American to play at Florida State University. During the game, he scored 29 points on 13 of 20 shooting from the field and had 8 rebounds. He also finished second to LeBron James in the McDonald's All-American slam-dunk contest.
[edit] College
During his freshman year at Florida State University in the 2003-04 season, Wafer averaged 7.9 points in 17.5 minutes a game. He ranked third among all ACC freshmen with 43 three-point field goals made and scored in double figures 12 times. As a sophomore during the 2004-05 season, he led the team in scoring (12.5 ppg) and three-point field goals made (65). He made more than one three-point field goal in 14 games and surpassed the 20-point mark on six occasions. Despite some success that year, he was suspended for two games early in the season and benched frequently later. The Tallahassee Democrat reported that his family explained the suspensions were because of missed classes and study sessions.[1]
[edit] Professional career
Wafer declared himself as an early entry candidate for the 2005 NBA Draft after his sophomore year at FSU despite many draft experts predicting he would not be drafted. There were several hurdles he had to overcome to become a viable option for an NBA team to select him. Wafer was not invited to the annual Chicago pre-draft camp, which provides players who are not viewed as first round prospects a chance to display their abilities in front of NBA team personnel. During a workout with the Phoenix Suns, Wafer reportedly was frustrated by the physical play from Jan Jagla, and responded by laying an intentional elbow to Jagla's nose, walked off the court, and ended the workout at that point.[2][3] Fortunately, Los Angeles Lakers scout Irving Thomas, who played two seasons at FSU, saw three Seminoles games during the 2004-05 season, helped arrange a workout for Von with the Lakers.[4] Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak saw enough of Wafer's ability that they used the second of their two second round picks to select Wafer in the draft. During a game with Toronto at the early part of the 2005-2006 NBA season, Wafer made a spectacular dunk off a Laron Profit miss. Ironically, On February 4, 2006 he was the victim of one of the most electrifying and vicious dunks in NBA history when New Orleans Guard Kirk Snyder jumped over him, nearly clearing him.
Wafer was placed on waivers by the Los Angeles Lakers on October 26, 2006. He played in one preseason game due a bruised left heel. [5]
[edit] External links
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Wafer, Von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wafer, Vakeaton Quamar (birth name) |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Professional basketball player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 21, [1985] |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Homer, Louisiana |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
