Argentina - Puerto Rico (Scola playing) Live! Final Quarter

I wish every player in the NBA played as hard as he did, the games would be so much better.

DD

 

Have to agree, Scola is the man.

 

Yes I have heard of a 3 team trade, please do tell me how much of a difference it makes.

Have you heard of "if it was as easy as you think it is it would have already been done?"

You don't think if a package involving Scola for a highly regarded draft pick or young prospect was available we would have done so already?

The ideal three team trade means we get a very good young prospect, the contender gets Scola, and the third team (which is most likely a rebuilding team since they have the talented young prospects/high pick) get mediocre talent/veteran from both teams (even if they acquired a useful veteran it wouldn't help much, since they too are rebuilding).

Yes, Morey is capable of pulling off scams like these, but don't act like these things are as easy as you say it is. Its not. Get real.

 

Scola gets his third straight Americas Championship MVP
The knee look ok no? :grin:

 

That is what I was looking for, to see how his knee is holding up.

He looked as great as ever, hustling all over the court, twisting, spinning, making the midrange shot.

Just a great player to watch and cheer for....

DD

 

Mark stein was tweeting the other day how much scola and Manu wanted to play together in the NBA.

I proposed this before but how about: Scola and Bud for McDyess (or his contract rather), Splitter, and an unprotected first pick in the future (2015) for example.

My reasoning is that we become one of the biggest players in free agency by offloading scola's contract, get a serviceable / defensive minded big with decent size in Splitter and that pick would be a huge asset as the Duncan, scola, Parker, ginobili, popovic group retire / decline. That group would be contenders for the next 2 years (guessing) and on the decline as the pick becomes available.

Also, given the mandate to not suck but still build a contender, that pick would be a good asset in a sign in trade for a star.

The trade would also create minutes for Patterson, Williams, Morris.

Note: I like scola as a player, competitor, and person a lot nor do I think his contract is unreasonable or that he will not age well.

 

You don't give up on a guy like Scola, just look what the Spurs do you need to keep your veterans that produce and build around them. You don't blow up the team, you retool

 

What is your reasoning behind Scola not aging well?

And that would be a steal for the spurs, a huge steal.

First of all, your proposition is what exactly the Rockets don't want to do. Going in TWO directions. Free agency and developing young talent. There aren't a lot of eye popping talent in the upcoming free agency that we have a chance of acquiring, not to mention most of them do not fill our positions of need. Guys like Chris Paul and Deron Williams would only make our strong positions (Lowry, Dragic) redundant.

The Spur's unprotected future first rounder is also not worth Bud and Scola. We are gambling on the fact that the Spurs will suck enough to be in the lottery, and even then if it was a late lottery player, is he worth both Bud and Scola? Spurs will drop, sure, but drop enough to net us a high lottery pick? I doubt so, especially since they know they won't get to keep that pick anyways.

The idea just does not work in our favor. Scola and Bud for two huge gambles that we have little chance of actually getting a profitable return.

 

If Scola was Tim Duncan I'd agree. If you can keep him and still bring in a Superstar I'm all for it. I love Scola but the fact that he's 30 years old, is not a plus defender and has had knee surgery is not something that makes me hopeful of keeping him.

The writing is on the wall. Fire Adelman/Hire McHale. Trade Battier/Bring in project players (T-Will/Thabeet). We'll see what happens with Hayes but they are blowing up the team, not re-tooling. You don't re-tool a team that hasn't made the playoffs in two consecutive seasons.

 

I'm sorry if it was not conveyed clearly. I do think Scola will age well.

One problem I perceive we have is that we have a guy like twill who went spent a pick on buried on the bench. At the very least, we should try to boost his value by giving him some minutes. And most of us feel Morris would be better than bud right away so trading bud helps that way.

If you look at the latest trades for superstars, it involves young talent and picks. Some of our young talent don't get enough playing time to show the league how much they are truly worth - like Patterson. And an unprotected pick from Spurs in 2015 would likely be more valuable than our pick if our players are younger and trending upwards and that Les does not want us to tank.

So one way we can get a star is to have our young talent play (well) and thus increase trade value and acquire picks since ours may just be average (14th to 18th range).

Losing scola's contract would allow us to sign a star outright also.

And if the spurs stayed decent and so did we, we could couple that pick with ours and move up the draft. For example, the 14th and 18th pick could net us the 10th pick -

 

you also ignored splitter so I'm guessing you don't think he's decent or u just forgot. By the completion of the 2013-2014 season, Parker would be 32? Manu 37? Scola 34? Duncan 38? I think that's about right. I may be wrong but the Spurs will ride these guys til the end. Pop and Duncan may be retired by then. Possibly even Manu. It's a risk to do that trade, but I think the reward is worth it too.

Also, it's what you make of the cap space from the trade that determines if it's a good trade. Some questioned the dump of Beasley but it was a huge win for miami since they got the trio.

But the trade has immediate payoffs (unprotected pick and Splitter) and more potential (cap space).

We've got Hayes and Patterson at the 4 spot too. I would do the trade.

 

this historian in me still says the Spurs will find ways to be competing for playoff spots. maybe 8 seeds instead of 1 seeds, but I think if you do go down that path, you need to get more in return (2 picks, some of their stashed international prospects, I don't know).

Moreover, I don't recall Scola having a no trade clause. It'd be nice for him to play with Manu, but if you are open to trading him, could you get more elsewhere?

Splitter is a nice role player, but nothing more than a 12-18 mpg guy off the bench.

 

A nice role player, a 16th pick, and cap savings is not bad for a worst case scenario. The historian in you would also see how bad they were when Robinson missed a whole season - a similar effect to a retirement of Duncan, although a prime David Robinson is also huge upgrade to an old Duncan. I agree the Spurs are very crafty and very resourceful in deals.

I'm sure there would be other teams interested in scola. But I KNOW the spurs would want him given that they drafted him and value him more then what I expect the rest of the league would and also the Manu connection.

I'm always for the best deal. This just strikes me as a likely scenario.

 

I didn't mention splitter because he is a 26 year old player who only knows how to play defence with absolutely horrific offense and free throw shooting that makes Chuck Hayes look like Rick Barry. Splitter is at best a little more than a filler for the trade. I can guarantee you that acquiring Splitter will not be an eye popping move and the Spurs will surely not miss him one bit if they get Scola and Bud in return.

And using the Miami example is just not right at all. Although the story is ambiguous, it is very possible that Miami has already anticipated that Lebron and Bosh would be joining the team. Many speculate that the trio was a done deal even before free agency began.

The immediate payoff is not exactly an immediate payoff. Acquiring the Spur's future first round pick is a gamble, not a payoff. Acquiring Splitter is compensation, not a payoff. Not to mention Splitter is not even comparable as compensation to the loss of both Scola and Bud.

The potential payoff of free agency is also too low to call it a good gamble. We don't have a Wade, we don't have an all-star starter. We don't have any eye popping things that would encourage guys like Dwight Howard to come over.

And speaking of free agency, who do you propose that we go after that would actually make our team significantly better? I could only think of around 3, two of those play our strongest position.

 

Clutchfans response to a player dominating the world of basketball, single-handed dominating the tournament year after year with pure heart, and hussle.....

Awesome, LETS TRADE HIM!!...

Great Logic.

I dont buy the whole, "we are a rebuilding team philosophy."

Look, I like Patterson alot as well, but he's not better or deserving of playing time anymore than Scola. Scola is the better player right now. Until Patterson/Hill/D-Mo/ Morris can beat him out for the starting job, the Rockets shouldn't trade one of your best players unless you are upgrading your team.

Trades I would consider - top 5 draft pick, All star caliber player/players that upgrade a position in need, potential future superstar(and I would be picky about this one).

Anything other trade shouldn't be discussed.

 

Exactly, same for everyone else, not sure why you seem to think everyone else would give him away for a bag of peanuts.

DD

 

Haha. Your description of splitter is like thabeet's but with use of potential to play defense than shown ability to do so.

Im guessing you are referring to Deron, PAul, and DwiGht. And for the record, I love Lowry but you acquire those two PGs for the simple fact that others would want to come here and play with them. Lowry is too too far off for them but he's not a star.

Looking at: http://basketball.realgm.com/src_freeagents/2012/
Guys to consider as well would be McGee, Hibbert, Brook Lopez, Kevin Love, Jason Thompson, danilo gallinari, Asik, Westbrook, eric gordon etc.

Many of these guys will resign or be extended before next year but guys like Asik, JT, Gallo should be available. My number one target has always been Dwight though. And I know if we added Asik and Gallo for example, that would not be a smashing success but that closes a lot of holes and could do some damage.
Note: Duncan would be an FA also.

 

That's what SHE () said.

 

See this is the problem, you're not looking at the whole picture. Giving up guys like Lowry for Paul would still leave our team starved. What you described is a sign and trade, which obviously means we have to give up much more than just Lowry, leaving us thinned out even more.

And of course Houston's number 1 target is Dwight, but we are also one of the least likely places he will go to. Giving up Scola for a horrible gamble on Dwight? Not worth it.

And the other free agents you mentioned are all restricted. In fact I don't even know why you would bring up those names when they are all young talents that the team will NOT give up. Do you think the Wolves will trade Love or let him walk? Same for Eric Gordon etc.

And Splitter may be better than Thabeet, but that doesn't say much. He is a good defender, but that's all you can say about him.

Bottomline is, Scola and Bud for Splitter, Spur's future unprotected first round pick and freeing up cap is not a good deal. Splitter is a no for young prospect, Spurs most likely won't drop enough to give us a good pick, and they certainly won't tank if the pick is going to us. Free agency? Not only are we not likely to get the top free agents, but even if we do we won't have the supporting cast for it.

 

I am looking at whole picture. We currently have too many decent players. We have Lowry and Dragic (rights to Llull, flynn also) at the point guard spot. Williams, bud, Morris, parsons at sf. Hayes, thabeet, hill, Patterson and scola at the 4/5. We aren't lacking quality players. We are lacking elite players. So I'm not following your Lowry / Paul comment.

I'm mentioning the Spurs in particular because that's an easy call to make for someone willing to trade for Scola. If Morey did ever decide to trade Scola, I'm sure he'd do his due diligence to get the best return. But back to my spurs example, I think that pick would be in the 12 to 18 range + our own pick would get us into around the 10th pick. Our best position since Rudy gay I think. I believe in Moreys ability to get an All-star level talent either by making that pick or trading it.

And for FA, Paul, deron, and Dwight may all be on the market. As for other bigs, Jason thompson and Asik would likely be available. JT looks like odd man out with Cousins and Hickson there. Bulls might pull a Gortat with Asik but something has to give between the quartet of Noah, Boozer, Asik, and Gibson.

So I feel next FA we will acquire a decent big even if we whiff on Dwight.

Morey being morey will get a better deal than this but to me the trading partner and the general offer make sense.