One of his strongest points is his back to the basket game, but I don't think I've ever seen one post up play ran for him all [regular] season. Last night against the clippers, scola had tim thomas guarding him. He put his hand up for the ball in the post, but mike james (or bonzi i forget) who had the ball on that same side, just swung the ball around without even looking to him. Him being just a spectator leaves his defender to rest on defense. Against the mavs, he could go at dirk in the post and tire him out some. Right now, he's being used like chuck hayes is with a jumpshot. Him being relegated to jumpshots and putbacks is a waste, considering that bonzi hasn't been able to capitalize at all on his post ups these past few games. In fact the last time he did was probably against the spurs. He's been pretty horrible. We saw scola in preseason, we saw him in the fiba tournament (where he went against tyson chandler and abused him; did the same thing to him in preseason). Throw him a bone once in a while, the dude rebounds and hustles all game. Anyone else feel the same?
They should design plays for him. The dude can score. His defense is a work in progress, but does anyone doubt any longer that Scola can rebound? He has really impressed on the offensive glass. Hell yes, let him post up.
I agree! I know exactly what you are talking about and I also thought of the exact same thing last night. It was James.
And he can flop, If any defender defend him just like what Okur did to Yao last play off, Scola will let him be easily fouled out. Now Scola's role is basically a rebounder and mid-range jump shooter with Yao in the low post, but I think for sure sometimes we can post up Scola and let Yao do what Scola uses to do.
By posting up Scola, Yao can also get better position brcause in this case, nobody can front Yao anymore or give Scola an easy assitance to Yao. And since Scola is a better ball handler and more althelitic, we will see fewer turnovers.
Can't agree more with this post, especially the poster who called Rick Adelman an idiot! Hope Rick wakes up and proves me wrong. Scola given 32 plus minutes a game, will give us three 20 pt scorers a game in due time. Mark my words!
Yes, I think anyone who knows anything about the game feels the same. At the same time, I'm confident that by the All-Star Break you'll see him utilized much better as our team will only begin to gel in January.
Worth to try when Scola facing a less strong, or shorter defender. But overall, the setup of Scola for post-up and Yao for off-board will be worse than Yao for post-up and Scola for off-board. In face I'd like to see more Scola-PG Pn'R play. Scola is a very good passer and has quick move. He can penetrate after PnR and deliver the ball to open shooters to a backdoor layup, he can also get a deeper position to postup, given his strengh and size won't allow him get deep positions very offen.
Here is why.... 1) There are no post-up plays for Scola, because Rockets can barely grasp the offense as it currently stands, let alone new plays for a rookie. 2) Rockets don't look to get the ball to a rookie, they barely get the ball to Yao in the post 3) Scola is not assertive in posting up and calling for the ball
Scola is playing really well, and I think he'll be able to consistently contribute solid performance. He isn't a typical rookie. I can see him averaging over 15 ppg, which would really help the Rockets.
He needs to stand at the elbow and throw lazy bounce passes to our guards who are not cutting or finishing.
Scola posting up calling for the ball? let's complete the picture, we also have tmac, yao, mike james and rafer on the floor. What do you think these guys would say to the rookie? "buy your own ball at wallmart dude!".
actually scola did post up against the mavs.... he tried more than once. and every time bass just completely shut him down. even stuffed him. and the first one was definitely called cause it was right after bass scored on scola. so it was one of those call-and-response sort of offensive plays. i still agree with you though. he's got so many great low post moves. and he handles well in the post. he should shoot from the baseline, the key, get putbacks, cuts, and then work that low post. i dont like his shot from the key though, its often short.
I think Scola is better playing off the ball than dumping the ball down into him. I forget which game but the Rockets made a big effort to get him the ball in the lowblock and he ended up getting called for consecutive traveling violations since he changed his pivot foot so much. He's and Yao are similar in that they're both fundamentally sound, but are athletically limited in what they can do on the court. When they get predictable, they can be stopped. And not only get stopped, but look downright atrocious out there.
Scola is a rookie, and rookies do not get those opportunities unless they are big name players. In addition, the Rockets already has Yao, T-mac, Bonzi and even Battier posting up. If we were in their practices and he showed that he had a post-up game, then he would get opportunities to do that. As of now, he should focus on getting offensive rebounds, hitting open jumpers, and setting screens.
