Since I have no inside knowledge, this is all speculation, but my guess is we'll see Scola traded next year. First, as others have mentioned, he's a below-the-rim player and he's never been athletic, so his production shouldn't drop off tremendously in a year's time. Second, his contract should still be a fair value. His contract next season doesn't scare me, it's the two years after that. Finally, I think Patterson will continue to progress and will eventually take the starting job. In fact, if Scola hadn't been a base-year-compensation player, we probably would have traded him already, but the BYC rules are very restrictive. We'll probably have a lot more suitors next year.
Finally, a reasonable post! Rocketsmetalspd has identified the problem for us: HUMANS. Fortunately, I think Morey is one step ahead of us on this front. I suspect he'll be trading our future picks for future future picks. By this time, approximately 2054, biocybernetics will have advanced to the point that we will have fully functioning cyborgs to replace all our injury-prone athletes. Furthermore, this will play right into our moneyball destiny. Coach Watson will have preloaded our players with gameplay statistics so as to best determine each play's execution. It'll be like a team full of Shane Battiers!
Great. Let's be like cleveland so DH and other FAs won't want to come here even more! Yippee Scola is great value at 9M, since he plays below the rim it means he'll be productive till he's 35 at the very least. PP is turning into a star forward in this league, so you make him the starter and turn Scola into the backup later on. You don't trade him for the sake of trading him, Minny did that with Al Jefferson and its not like the pick they got out of it helped them out more than a 20-8 player like Jefferson did.
Why does Scola's name get thrown in every trade scenario, but not Martin's? To me, Scola's contract is the much better value, he gets injured way less, and he's just more of a winner. He's having his best season yet, and I really doubt his production is going to drop off significantly with the way he plays...Scola is going to age like a fine wine. I also don't think P-Pat is ready to start yet, but Courtney Lee is already starter quality. This makes Martin a lot more expendable in my eyes.
Scola in some sort of 3 way deal for deandre jordan and a buy out dude? Scola in some sort of Sign-and-Trade deal for CJ Miles + draft picks? Scola is pretty talented. I would hope that the Rockets would get a sweet return if they traded him.
Trading Scola IMO would be a smart move with his age vs his LONG contract & PatPat's play... Trading Martin IMO would be even smarter with CLee's play at about 1/8th of the cost... ( lets get something back for them... neither are damged goods ) Just tought... Give time, time...
following the Battier trade surely a precendent has been established, the re-tool vs re-load argument has been well established and Scola has been the consumate pro for this team. He deserves to play on a team ready to compete as opposed to the current roster which is clearly in a development phase. Lowry, Budinger, Lee and Patterson appear to be the focus while I suspect Martin and Hayes will be retained for both their veteran pressence and ongoing delivery on the floor. If the price is right I would begrudgingly accept a Scola trade
Someone younger whose body is not breaking down due to age and excessive international play someone whose value is on the rise remember buy low sell high.
That injury was a freak accident to Scola. If any other player that was standing at the same spot Scola was standing, they will be hurt too. If a player fell right onto the side of your knee, of course it will tweak and you would need a week or two to recover. Its not like he's old and he's injury prone because someone fell onto his knee and sprained it. Old or young, everyone can get hurt from that. Luckily its not serious and its just a sprain. When I was playing basketball in high school, I had a player running full speed towards me and fell right onto my knees and it hyperextended backwards and I couldn't walk for weeks. Scola's injury is no where near as serious as mine was. But after a month, the sprain went away and I never had a problem with it again. Its just a freak accident. Nothing serious. So lets not start FREAKING OUT saying we should trade Scola just because he sprain his knee and sat out a few games for precautionary. I mean I know he's able to play through it but why risk re-injuring it instead he can just rest and let it fully heal. The difference between SCola and Yao is that Scola had a freak accident and sprain his knee. Its not serious. Yao on the other hand, breaks his foot just by walking on it. This is two different things. Scola- Sprained Knee and sat out a couple of games. Yao- broken foot, broken ankle, etc year after year. Its different with Yao. Yao's body cannot hold his size so all of the pressure of his body is weighing down on his small fragile foot and constantly fractures. So you comparing a guy that constantly breaks his foot because his body weight is too much for his feet to handle to a player that happens to tweak his knee because someone fell onto it.
