I have this feeling that Scola will break out this upcoming season. You can just tell with the glimpses of Hakeem mixed in with his own moves during the playoffs. With Yao out, Scola will get more shots and I am sure he will dominate as the #1 or #2 scorer. Also you have to take into consideration all the bricks Alston dropped in the early half of the season. Brooks/Lowry will take the teams by surprise. We can still hold the fort.
I think this discussion will have to wait until we find a serviceable big man playing alongside him. if we get a player that can defend and play a little bit of offense, i expect scola not to miss Yao a single bit.
I'm worried about Scola because he's played more basketball than Yao recently. He's been in every game last year and the playoffs, he was in the Olympics in 2008, he's playing again this summer. We know how hard he plays every second. He's going to shoulder the major scoring load in the post next year. I hope he holds up.
Yes, this makes perfect sense. Because other teams are kept in the dark as to whether Yao Ming will or will not play, and they only find out at the date of the game RA: So they thought we're gonna play Yao today, huh? Well guess what? Scola, you're playing today! Scola: Oh boy! Other team: Oh noes! We got punked! Yao: Ha-ha! Suckers! When did that happen? Most the time whenever Yao Ming was out last season it was leaked out a few days before the game, surely the other teams already had a chance to change their game plan. Besides, how could guarding Yao Ming be all that different from guarding Scola? Both are good post players with a bit of range, its not exactly going from Tim Duncan to Dirk Nowitzki here. You did know that Scola was named MVP of the Olympic qualifiers, right? After he took a bunch of nobodies to the finals, right? That he held his own against the freakin' USA team with said nobodies as his team, right?
There is some merit to his statement. Because NBA teams preparation relies heavily on scouting report. And last few seasons the scouting reports state Scola's strength and weaknesses as a role player. Not as a go-to guy. But this season it will be different. As the featured player, teams are bound to be better at knowing how best to stop Scola. And once one team figures him out, the rest of the league can watch tapes and follow suit. I'm not saying Scola will suck, but indeed last season's stats by Scola without Yao can be misleading. On one hand he might become worse because opponents will concentrate more on him, but on the other hand, he'll have more practice as the go-to guy and be more comfortable in the role. Either way, we can't be certain until a couple of months into the season.
Scola will be ok, problem is, he struggles when yao is out. He shot 42% against La. He does, to his credit always play hard and rebound the ball. He's still piss poor on defense though. Really, the olympics doesn't mean much. If that was the case, shane heal would be a star or oscar schimdt.
You forgot the part where the other team said: "Oh no! We planned to front Ming all night - I guess there's no option now but to front Scola. That was what we planned on the team flight here so now it's impossible to change that! We didn't do ANY scouting on Scola whatsoever - I guess he'll just burn us then" Adelman: haha! Let's draft that Budinger kid and start him at C next season - that'll work a charm too... Let's not forget Scola managed to get 14.5ppg and 11.5rpg against the best team in the world when Ming went down. We were 2-2 with the Lakers in those 4 games. Oh that's right - I forgot the Lakers "weren't trying" in the 2 games we won
That's a pretty selective sample size - what, Scola only shot 44% against the Lakers in 4 playoff games? How dare he! That's the world champion Lakers you're talking about with a bunch of 7' defenders? For the record he shot 44% against them - not great, but those aren't the only 4 games of his career he's played without Yao Ming. Go do the math on the other games he's featured in and you'd see his FG% without the big fella there is still over 50%. I'm not saying Scola is going to play in the all-star game. But he'll score - he bumped his average from 10.3 to 12.7 from his first season to his second. That was alongside increasing his FG% from 51 to 53. He'll score over 15ppg easily this season - mark it down.
Well said - he's a complementary player who is going to be forced into being a main man over 82 games - it's going to take a toll.... ...time to sell high.
Luis Scola is going to be a very productive player and a vital piece of a contending team. For those who are thinking ahead, I think we should rejoice at the amount and quality of free agents next summer. I think Luis could be had for cheap, maybe even at the mid-level exceptions. Top free agents: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki and Amare Stoudemire. Top Restricted: Rajon Rondo, Luis Scola, Rudy Gay, LaMarcus Aldridge, Andrea Bargnani, Ronnie Brewer Looking at the history of Restricted free agents signing, there are few trends we should look at: 1) The majority of them won't even get an offer sheet. 2) In the past, only young studs on teams with a 'cheap' reputation would get offer sheet. 3) No Old age players would get big deals. If we offer luis a fix contract at 6 MIL per we could have him i think
i think with the lack of Yao he will be in foul trouble alot more. If we get a servicable big man, then it might now be so bad. But i still think around 18/8 average for next year for him.
Scola will be fine. He is a smart, tough player. He can score in the post or from midrange. The major difference will be us having a different style of play next year. We will probably have to play a faster pace. Something more similar to the old kings days. A lot more player and ball movement. We will not come down and wait on Yao to get position then dump it in to him and watch to see if he scores. There will be early offense and a lot of cutting into the lane. The guy im worried about is battier. He will HAVE to look to score a lot more for us to have any chance of being competitive. He cannot be passive as usual with no Yao or T-mac.
One question : how are the Lakers world champions if they haven't played against any international teams? Arrogance is not a virtue you know?
