Scola

Another thing is when he and Hayes play together, with Battier last night, the defense was pretty tough. Those three shut down the lane with the ability to take charges anytime a player drove.

 

you don't make much sense, how many airballs were there in the laker game and who shot the airballs?

what is prinston offense?

 

dragonz...we beat a bad Lakers team while playing horrible and beat a pretty good Jazz team. I don't see how anything so far isn't making sense. It's a new system so we all need to wait and see how it develops before we decide who should be starting and who should be in there together.

 

i'd like to add, chuck is an "overachiever" is a myth.

 

we have 80 more games to play, no need to rush.

 

I'm sure Scola will pass up Hayes eventually, but I still like to keep Hayes starting and bring Scola's offense off the bench. Same thing for MJ, when it looks like he's already playing better than Rafer.

Yao and TMac are going to be the focus of the offense at the start of every game, and I think it's much more effective to hit opponents with a second punch of offense after the superstars need a little rest or get into foul trouble.

People shouldn't focus too much on who's starting. It's how many minutes players are getting and how they're being utilized when they're on the floor.

 

true that

 

The charge Chuck took from Boozer late in the game was a crucial play. With Chuck, Scola and Shane, hopefully we develop a reputation when it comes to defending the lane. Teams should know someone will always be standing there and you will not be able to finish at the rim.

 

It was a thing of beauty. When James, Scola and Bonzi came in, the game changed. Battier was out for a very short stretch, and came in. The Jazz didn't know what hit them.

 

You need to learn to stop worrying and start loving the Chuck.

 

I think Scola will work his way into the starting rotation eventually. But like someone already said, there are many many games ahead and there is no need to rush. Scola played about half the game, so he is certainly getting minutes.

 

Don't forget Battier.

 

Although we're still in the nascency of the season, for long term success, we need to find some way to better utilize Scola other than just setting picks up top and scrapping for rebounds. The guy was MVP in Euro-League for a reason. He's got offensive skills and is constantly on the move. He can easily average 10 ppg within this offense. The key is for his teammates to find him and seek him out on the court.

I noticed a few things during last night's game against the Jazz. Scola clearly made his defensive presence felt on the court. But on offense, more than anything, his teammates largely ignored him. There was one telling sequence in the 3rd quarter where James was leading a 3 on 2 fast break with T-MAC on the left and Scola on his right. James was covered and so was TMAC. Scola was running towards the basket without a single guy within 20 feet of him. James, ever the team player, passed the ball to TMAC for an incredible but contested 3pt shot. Granted, TMAC was feeling it last night and was hitting from everywhere. But what if TMAC had missed that shot? You couldn't possibly justify passing up a wide-open layup/dunk with Scola for a contested three by TMAC.

I think Scola also began to notice that nobody likes to pass the ball to him. During one time out, a footage was shown where Scola was having a brief conversation with TMAC. From his body language, it looked like Scola was telling TMAC to keep an eye out for him coz he's always so freaking open. TMAC responded by giving him a big, goofy smile and walked away.

Something like this would never happen on a championship caliber team like the Spurs. When the Spurs play, everyone touches the ball and the open man ends up taking the best possible shot. It doesn't matter if you're a rookie or the 8th man.

When Scola's on the court, the offense shouldn't go around him but rather through him. And I think after some time to prove himself, it's gonna happen. Otherwise, I think we're wasting a very talented player.

 

Great post watashi315.
I'm 100% agree whit you.
I hope that the rockets players read your post.

 

Great Post ideed watashi315 but you fail to mention that the Spurs have some Guys named Duncan and Ginobili wich are clearly THE team first players of the league and a coach like Popovich while we have Adelman.

I don´t think either Yao or T-Mac would share the offense with the others as the 3 Spurs stars does every night, that type of mentality takes a lot of time to develop, we may discover in a while if we are in that way or not.

 

Thanks for the acknowledge guys But I honestly think a lot of the NBA teams in the league works like that. There's the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd options and then there's everyone else on the team. To keep their jobs and rotation spots, the "everyman" make sure he does just enough so the the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd options can get their shots off.

After two games, I've seen enough to know that James is TMAC's boy. And he's gonna be TMAC's boy for the rest of the season. Rafer gets his assists by feeding Yao in the low post. You got your top dogs on the team (Tmac and Yao) and everyone else is their groupy.

Honestly, I don't like how this system works. In today's league, as difficult as it may be, we gotta be more selfless and get attuned to the "team" concept. No one is above the other and we all contribute in every aspect in order to achieve success.

If we can somehow harness all our talents (yes, even Francis) and someone put this philosophy to work. We can go deep. VERY deep.

 

I agree. The 2nd unit with James, Scola and Bonzi is good enough to start on most other teams but the current set up makes them an ace up the sleeves because when they come on, there are not scoring liabilities. Question is, are we good enough to hang with the Spurs, Dallas and Suns when it matters.

 

Slowly but surely Scola will be very good NBA player.