Its the main reason why guys like Martin/Bud have struggled this year when the Rockets try and run a more traditional half court offense. Its frustrating because he was so good last year in the post, and the offensive sets absolutely NEED low post scoring to take pressure off of the wings. Its a domino affect when you cant get your one and only low post scoring option the ball in the post. One main reason is teams have now started fronting Scola in the post. Meaning they get in front of him when he is trying to post up because they know he doesnt have the jumping ability or the length to catch a pass in the post thats passed behind him. Thats why you see Dalembert getting so many touches in the post because you can actually get the ball to him in the post. The problem with that is he cant do anything with it. Its just not his game unfortunatly. This scouting report on Scola seems to be spreading like wildfire accross the league, and there is hardly a team not that doesnt front Scola in the paint. It sucks, but you see now why the Rockets are trying so hard to get Gasol. They desperately need a low post scorer they can dump the ball in the post to and free up the perimeter players like Martin.
When he does he continually gets shut down and his post moves are predictable. The Scouting report is out on him and his post moves. Teams don't allow him to post up, they just front him and his lack of size and athleticism hurts him even more then. This is not McHale's doing. He is coming off of surgery and a long summer. He is 31 years old turning 32 in two months.
Bingo. When he does get in position, he's usually had to fight the defender for 10 seconds and has been pushed out too far or he's being fronted by a taller/more athletic player. Either way, he's not getting the deep post position that he's been getting in the past.
He turns the ball over or gets rejected way too much when it comes to pure low post sets. HE can't get by anyone with his pump fakes any more. He's turned into a pure pick and pop/garbage bucket player
People wanted to vote him coach of the year just 4 days ago. Calm down. The Rockets have a very good coaching "staff". McHale is just the figurehead, motivational part of the staff. What they have managed to put in place with no summer training, training camp, and short preseason is pretty good all things considering. They have managed to actually make this roster play some defense, and havent lost much on offense even though they have layed their share of duds this season. Those dud games(like last night in Memphis) usually come when the Rockets are parts of the schedule where they havent been able to practice in close to a week. So no, I disagree with your statement that McHale is not a head coach. He is the figurehead for a pretty decent coaching "staff."
He's actually playing exactly the same as last year. 60% on jumpers and 39% on close shots as opposed to last year's 58/39. He's just making less of the jumpers.
How many close shots is he taking compared to last year, and how often is he turning it over when he posts up? My impression is that he's trying to post up less often and turning it over or passing out much more often when he does rather than getting up a shot attempt. As already mentioned in the thread he's being fronted and a smaller player double teams him to swipe the ball away, frequently resulting in turnovers. Scola's turnover rate is up to 2.9 compared to his career level of 1.8
It does'nt help when all our PG's miss Scola wide open under the basket on a fast break. Scola hasn't slowed down, that's obvious to me. He still runs the court as well as he always has. His post game has been neutralized by the fronting, but I haven't seen him attempt his scoop shot much at all either. That shot almost never gets blocked as shot blockers are trained to block shots up high, not at the hip. His footwork still looks good, but one of the previous posters is definitely right about his turnovers. Overall, the fronting is the problem (funny we had this same issue with a 7'6" Yao).
I dunno bro. Luis has played ALOT of basketball. You only have so many miles in your body and he's been a pro a long time. He's played in a lot of summer competitions as well. The wear & tear may be showing. It may be time to move on.
True. Can't deny that. However, I seem to remember some rather knowledgeable posters on this forum saying that Luis's game wasn't predicated on his athleticism and that he would age gracefully. This season, that doesn't seem to be the case. I'll give him the beneift of the doubt this season, but he if doesn't get traded (man his contract looks really bad right now) I want to see more from him next year. Is he playing in the olympics this year?
I dunno, but if he's on our roster I'd like to see him watching from the stands.:grin: Rest those veteran legs.
