Von Wafer

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Vakeaton Wafer
Position Guard
Height 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight 210 lb (95 kg)
League NBA
Team Portland Trail Blazers
Jersey #24
Born July 21, 1985 (1985-07-21) (age 22)
Homer, Louisiana
Nationality American
High school Pineview,
Heritage Christian Academy
College Florida State
Draft 2nd round, 39th overall, 2005
Los Angeles Lakers
Pro career 2005–present
Former teams Los Angeles Lakers (2005–2006)
Colorado 14ers (2007)
Los Angeles Clippers (2007)
Denver Nuggets (2007–2008)
Official profile Info Page

Vakeaton Quamar Wafer, nicknamed Von (born on July 21, 1985 in Homer, Louisiana), is an American professional basketball player in the NBA for the Portland Trail Blazers. He was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers as the 39th overall selection (ninth pick of the second round) in the 2005 NBA Draft.

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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] 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.[1] 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.

Wafer was placed on waivers by the Los Angeles Lakers on October 26, 2006. He played in one pre-season game due a bruised left heel.[4] Wafer then played for the Colorado 14ers of the NBA Development League during 2006-07, and was named Player of the Month in January 2007.[5] He was signed to a ten-day contract by the Los Angeles Clippers on February 21.[6] He played one minute[7] without scoring before being waived a week later.[8] On April 12, 2007, the Denver Nuggets signed Wafer for the remainder of the 2006-07 season.[7]

On February 21, 2008, the Denver Nuggets traded Wafer to the Portland Trail Blazers for Taurean Green. Wafer changed his number from 22 (which he wore with the Nuggets) to 24, as number 22 has been retired by the Trail Blazers to honor Clyde Drexler.[9] On February 27, 2008, Wafer scored a career high 11 points with 5 rebounds in 32 minutes against the Los Angeles Clippers. His minutes played in that game alone constituted more than 26% of the minutes he had played all season as of February 28th, 2008. [10]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/sports/11993658.htm
  2. ^ ESPN.com - NBA - Von Wafer Draft Bio
  3. ^ HoopsHype - Articles - The final recap
  4. ^ LAKERS: 2006-07 Waivers
  5. ^ Colorado Guard Von Wafer D-League Player of Month, February 2, 2007
  6. ^ Clippers sign Von Wafer
  7. ^ a b Nuggets add two guards
  8. ^ Clippers Sign Will Conroy to 10-Day Contract
  9. ^ Trail Blazers acquire Von Wafer from Denver in exchange for Taurean Green. nba.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-21.
  10. ^ Holdahl, Casey. Two interesting stats from last night's game. Retrieved on 2008-02-28.

[edit] External links

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Portland Trail Blazers current roster

1 Jack | 2 Blake | 4 McRoberts | 7 Roy | 8 Webster | 9 LaFrentz | 10 Przybilla | 11 Rodríguez | 12 Aldridge | 24 Wafer | 25 Outlaw | 33 Jones | 44 Frye | 52 Oden | Coach McMillan
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2005 NBA Draft
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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
Languages