Now that Scola shaved, maybe he will play better? I wonder what would happen to him if he actually got a haircut?
He's not getting as many opportunities in the post as I expected. He's had to rely on garbage around the basket and the midrange jumper, for the most part.
Scola's teammates have to trust him better, because he can score, we all saw it during the FIBA cup. its just that his teammates are not trusting him with the ball and when he finally gets an open shot, he's too focused in trying to make it, that he misses it. And that affects his psyche for the rest of the game, he is still an NBA rookie
Scola's foul troubles have inhibited him from getting more scoring opportunities. It doesn't help you a bit when you pick up 3 fouls in 10 minutes of playing time. However, in the last two games, I have to say some of the fouls called on him were REALLY mind blowing. The guy barely brushes on his opponent with his jersey and it's a foul. Especially in the Bucks game. I'd be frustrated if I was Scola.
Honestly the Kurt Rambis comparison was a bit flattering to Scola. He's close to Mark Madsen. But that's not a bad thing. It's the kind of PF/C the Rockets have needed for awhile to help Yao. But Scola is what he is, a backup PF/C that brings energy and hustle. He's very very much like Mark Madsen. Rockets fans are completely delusional acting like this guy was some great player.
I for one am NOT worried at all about him. He's doing exactly what he's about able to do. It's the other fans that over-hyped him that are the ones with poor ball IQ's. And seriously, international ball means jack squat. First players who have torn up team USA: Sarunas Jasekivicius - a decent NBA backup point guard on offense with horrible defense Carlos Arroyo- really a 3rd string NBA point guard but at least he's better than Rafer Alston Shane Heal - He was Matt Maloney back in Australia Manu Ginobili - one of the best two guards on earth Vassilis Spanoulis - has all the tools you could want but is a quitter and a whiner if things do not go his way ala Scottie Pippen The point is there are only two players with NBA skills Manu and Spanoulis and only one that isn't a whiner and that's Manu. Oh yeah, wait I forgot Luis Scola too.............. Luis Scola - The Argentine Mark Madsen (not a bad thing I LOVE these types of players a Ryan Bowen that actually HELPS a team rather than hurts it) But that's what he is, he's an energy hustle 4/5 bench player or a 6-9 Chuck Hayes with more attitude and more balls. He's a great pickup and find for the Rockets but that's it. He is not a very skilled player. OK. Rockets fans need to stop smoking the chronic and start getting facts right. 1. He was NEVER a Euroleague MVP NEVER happened that is a LIE that he was. 2. He was NEVER the best player in Europe let alone "best in the world outside the NBA." 3. International ball like FIBA Americas is LOWER than any NBA regular season game. Now the Eurobasket final four or the World Championship final four is a lot more comparable to NBA games, but NOT FIBA Americas and in the Olympic games against the US Manu was the guy, and Scola and them were ROLE PLAYERS. It's like fans don't even watch the damn games. Luis Scola is WAY WAY closer to Fabricio Oberto than people realize. That's what he is. But hey Rockets fans act like he's this huge skilled player. "The best Europe ever saw", etc. Yea right. He was maybe the 5th best player in EUROLEAGUE, the freaking second division of pro ball. But facts are not exactly thought highly of by most Rockets fans. They prefer lies from the Rockets like "3 time Euroleague MVP" even though he NEVER won the award regular or post season. FIBA Americas basically every game other than the US games was against horrible horrible players. Maybe 2 or 3 players could be a ROLE PLAYER in Euroleague. Yeah maybe 2 or 3 players he faced in FIBA Americas other than team USA could be ROLE PLAYERS in Euroleague. Batiste is a SCRUB just about in Euroleague a SCRUB in Euroleague and he is a 20/10 beast in FIBA Americas. PLEASE enough already about who has bball IQ and who does not. The games against the US was like a rec center pickup game against the US. It means NOTHING. Regular season NBA game is 10 times more intense than that was. In fact the only times probably an international player did anything against the US in a game they actually tried to win was Ginobili and Spanoulis. That's it. And that tells you something because the success rate of NBA there is only 50% because one had the skills but not the perseverance for NBA. Luis Scola is also a choke artist. He always always always choked in the Euroleague playoffs and his team never won a title. Last year when his team lost to Panathinaikos the Greens literally dared him to shoot the ball. Wide open shot after wide open shot after wide open shot just brick after brick after brick by Scola and his team lost. Yet he's "the best non-NBA player alive", yeah right. Please give me a break. The Rockets have blown so much BS hype on this guy through the announcers and Chronicle writers it is unreal. Like "3 time Euroleague MVP" when he NEVER EVER was a Euroleague MVP either in regular season, nor in the playoffs. Luis Scola is an upgrade over Juwan Howard and Chuck Hayes and he's a good fit with Yao a Mark Madsen type player just like Madsen fit well with Shaq. But it's the 90 percent of Rockets fans that think he's more than that which possess the low basketball IQs.
Scola needs to improve his defense and stay out of foul trouble. I agree that his teammates have not been passing to him when he's had some good looks. This is partly because Scola is new, also because we are not use to having a PF who can help offensively, Hayes is great at what he does but you dont expect him to score points. I think Luis could be a much bigger asset on offense, hopefully he can get more involved in that respect. I like his hustle and the fire he plays with. He has a very positive additude.
I only know that apparently I am the only person on the board that saw him play in Euroleague, rather than read about it being hyped from the Rockets, and like I said he NEVER was a Euroleague MVP and he was maybe a top 5 player in Euroleague. Reading Rockets' fans expectations of him you would expect him to be the greatest player that had ever set for on a court in Europe, which is absolutely laugh fest material. Like I said, he's just the kind of player I love, but he's Mark Madsen/Fabricio Oberto MAYBE just maybe he might be able to be a Kurt Rambis. So he plays basically his game and fans are wondering "what's wrong with him" and fans with "good bball IQ" are saying anyone wondering is stupid he will shine in time. Well yeah whatever. He is not a very skilled player, he's an energy, hustle come at you with attitude and balls backup big. He's nothing but a role player but a very useful type of role player just like an Oberto is and he is what the Rockets needed instead of that joke Juwan Howard to help win a playoff series. But damn, where do fans get this idea he's this great offensive player? Here let me prove this to you. I challenge any fan here to go back and read earlier posts about Scola BEFORE the season. 1. "He's a poor defender" 2. "He can't rebound" 3. "He's an offensive machine" 4. "He's got a great jumper" Etc. Yeah anyone that actually watched him play in Euroleague knows he is very aggressive on D and the boards and would have no problem there. They also knew he would be a very good candidate for a foul machine and that offense was not so good. Like I said basing opinions on Rockets BS hype and FIBA Americas which was so low level is foolish at best. Mike Batiste was 20/10 in that tournament and he's a scrub in Euroleague, he's a garbage player that can barely even keep a roster sport at EUROLEAGUE level. Maybe 2 or 3 players are Euroleague level players other than when he faced Team USA and other NBA players like Nene and Barbosa, etc. and again that was just pick up games for the US not real competition like an NBA regular season game. In fact the best player of this group is BY FAR Pablo Prigioni! Not exactly competition for team Argentina being actually helping Scola on his own team. And the other Tiago Splitter. And guess what? Luis "the best PF in the world not in the NBA" Scola is not as good as Splitter. And guess what else? Splitter was also a pleyr on TAU Vitoria or TAU Ceramica, Scola's old team Spanish league/Euroleague team. And guess what? In reality, Scola was the 2nd best PF on his OWN team in Euroleague. Splitter just did not get the playing time yet because they were saving him for when Scola left. Other than Batiste (Euroleague role player), Prigioni (Euroleague good player - NOT star), Splitter (star Euroleague player NOT superstar like say Spanoulis to throw out a name Rockets fans could comprehend), Nene and Barbosa what competition was Scola seeing so much in FIBA Americas, especially since Prigioni plays on Argentina with Scola? What was the overall talent level there minus say team USA and team Brazil etc. I mean Najera on Mexico.......Batiste, um yeah etc. etc. Come on people GET REAL. Scola is a legit NBA big man but he's a role playing help player and he's doing and playing very similar to what he actually IS. Using FIBA Americas and lies from Euroleague, where "the 3 time MVP" actually NEVER was the MVP to assume he is going to be way better than now is dumb. Will he improve? Of course he will get better. But he IS this kind of player. Oberto/Madsen he IS that type of player. Fans were insulted when he was compared to Rambis and Rambis was better than Scola is now and is the goal for Scola to reach. This should say it all as to how much Rockets fans know. Not much. And again it isn't like the World Championship final four, Olympic final four when Team USA needed to actually try to win. And in the Olympics anyway again Scola like Oberto is a role player. Scola NEVER won a Euroleague championship and he NEVER won a Euroleague MVP and he was NEVER the best player in Euroleague, which is the 2nd best pro league. So naturally he is not going to be much more than what he is in NBA. Fans should get some grounding in reality. Spanoulis FLOPPED in NBA, he BUSTED and you know what? Scola will NOT bust. But fans are over hyping him and think he already is "busting" because of it. Spanoulis is a much more dominant player in Euroleague than Luis Scola has ever been and Spanoulis is in his 2nd year only at that level. Scola is not nearly the player Spanoulis is there and Spanoulis bombed in the NBA. Now Scola will not because Spanoulis bombed because of his very poor attitude and approach and Scola is not like that, BUT this should give fans some at least realistic understanding of kind of talent Scola has because they obviously do not have it now. Just like the Yi vs. Scola thread where most fans bragged up how Scola was so much more talented than Yi based on international play or Rockers beat writers lies about "3 time Euroleague MVP", best player "in world not in NBA" best PF in world "not in NBA" when of course any scout on earth could have told you he was not even close to Yi's talent. In fact there's two PF's in Euroleague. Vujicic (BETTER than Scola) and Smodis comparable to Scola. Vujicic played C because Smodis was on his same team but he really is a PF and is coming to the NBA as a PF. Guess what? He's damn better than Scola. Peckovic.........another Euroleague big much BETTER BETTER BETTER than Luis Scola, and so forth. Rockets fans just do NOT know anything at all about Euroleague players.
My point was in the games where he only played 8-10 minutes he was shooting about the right amount of shots. But when he is able to stay in the game longer he is putting up more shots. His average doesn't really say as much as when you look at the first six games on a game to game basis.
The Rockets are good enough at PF now to win it all. Hayes and Scola are just the perfect types of role players. Just like Battier. Just like the Spurs have guys like Bowen, Oberto, Horry. All Hayes and Scola have to do is what they are capable of doing, energy, hustle, crash the boards, cut to the basket, and so forth. Hayes is great with D, etc. The problem is no longer PF, the problem is overwhelmingly Rafer Alston still starting and playing big minutes at point guard.
They have to at least pass to Scola more. I feel for him when he fights his ass out there playing D and rebounding and not being fed on the offensive end. Seems like they are giving him the "Dikembe Rule" do not pass to DIkembe ever!
Thank you for your clarification. Scola is very likely a player just like the one he is now, far from a superstar, or even a star. It is a steal to get Scola, just like the steal to get Francis back. Not a big deal.
BTW when I typed in Mike Batiste I was thinking of another player at PF and plays in Euroleague. I meant to type Esteban Batista for the FIBA Americas. Just had a brain freeze.
I agree with you. However I think he meant that Scola should play easier to not get in foul trouble. I disagree, I believe that Scola will take the same route as Chuck last year - struggle for the first half of the season with fouls but the situation will improve as he figures everything out. And he will be able to still play as aggressive defensively as he does now. I also agree with apollo on that the overhyping of players you haven't seen is not a sign of intelligence. Spanoulis was the best example - one game and he's the next Steve Nash. Unfortunately, the majority didn't learn and Scola got the same hype. Luckily, it seems that he atleast will be a player in this league.
I just realized that there are some 'prophets' in this board! However, I think it is too early to claim it!
Scola was one of the leading scorers for Tau Ceramica. He has a good mid range shot and he can play in the paint. Luis would make a very good offensive weapon for the Rockets, especially when Yao gets double teamed. It may take a couple months for Scola to fit into the system, but he has the potential to be very helpful offensively as well as defensively. He needs to get his fouls under control though, and his teammates need to get him the ball when he is open.
