@basketballtalk: RT @johnschuhmann: Durant conceded World Championship MVP to Luis Scola. "He's a beast... the MVP by far in this tournament, win or lose."
I still disagree. Team USA doesn't need those superstar divas in international play. Plus, it gives us a chance to groom new players for the future olympics. Who says they aren't valuing the tourney just because they aren't sending Kobe or Lebron? Does ARG not value this tourney as much because Manu and Nocioni aren't playing? So this current Team USA could cruise to a gold medal and you would still say they aren't taking this seriously because they don't send the superstars? That's laughable. Sending the best players doesn't even necessarily mean they value the tournament. Wade, James and Melo were all on the 2006 WC Team that lost to Greece in the semis. What shows Team USA taking international play more seriously is how they hold these mini camps/try outs to determine who should be playing or not. The fact that they have a new system where players have to commit for a certain number of years should tell you how much they value this now. I don't mind having a more complete team like this current over a roster full of Superstars.
I can't pinpoint what other team he plays for that is the exact same way. I'm glad he's on our side. He's going to be a huge part of Clutchcity Part III
Although you where off a bit, there is something to your take. I don't remember if Love played or not but Scola had two MONSTER games against the T-Wolve last season. I want to say he had a 20-20 game and another game really close to that later on in the season.
"how he (Scola) thinks Huertas would fare in the NBA. His response: "For sure there are worse players than him in the NBA." LOL what a compliment! Also.. "Scola then was fouled on the ensuing inbounds play with 1.2 seconds left, made the first free throw and tried to intentionally miss the second in order to let the clock run out. Instead, it banked off the glass and went in to provide the final 4-point margin. " Hmmm.. why would you intentionally try and miss when you're up 3 with under 2 seconds!!? You make it, you're up 4. You get out of the way and let the other team shoot the 4 point shot!! :grin: You miss intentionally, you never know, the other team makes some 3/4 court heave and ties the game up! Sounds like some bad decision making right there!!!
Exactly what I'm thinking. 4 points and you win the game. Why miss it? And seeing scola shooting all those jumpers, just make me wonder will RA start to run some pick and pop for scola this coming season?
Scola should have been #1 Option last year with no Artest, Yao or T-Mac but it ended up being Brooks. With Yao back, it looks like Scola would be the #3 or #4 option at best. I think Scola should be ahead of Brooks but it will probably be: 1. Yao 2. Martin 3. Brooks 4. Scola Not bad scoring options at all. Either one of these guys can "go off" on any given night.
haha thats awesome...is there a place i can watch brazil and usa games for that matter? I missed all of them
Of course, I was thinking of the Nets game, where Luis went head to head with Lopez, but you're right... the last game we had against the Wolves and Love, Love had a pretty good game (20/11/3, on 7-17 shooting), but Luis went into Beast Mode! 44 minutes, 25 on 11-22 shooting, 21 rebounds, with 8 offensive boards, 2 assists and a block, in tandem with AB, who had a great game himself. 42 minutes, 25 points on 10-23 shooting, 3-8 from behind the arc, 4 boards, 9 dimes AND, not to be out done, Kevin Martin, still getting his feet wet as a Rocket, pouring in 30 points on 11-23 shooting, 4-10 from behind the arc, 6 boards, 5 assists and 2 steals, with just 2 turnovers in 41 minutes. All three each played over 40 minutes a piece and combined for 80 freakin' points, 31 rebounds, 16 assists, and 4 steals. Lowry and Ariza were both out! That game was a superb example of Adelman ball. Team play to the max. Heck, Shane had 7 assists! Sure, it was against Minnie, but when we play like that, any team is going to have their hands full taking on the Rocks. I am so looking forward to this season!
If the current team coasts to the championship, it wouldn't change the fact that the top US players didn't care enough to show up. I agree that the people running Team USA are taking this more seriously than in the past. I like that the camps and tryouts are a good antidote to the old practice of throwing a bunch of unmotivated stars together 2 weeks before the tourney and expect to win. But, my argument is not with the administrators. It's the top players who don't care enough to show up. This is not a more complete team. We're fielding Love and not Howard. And your point about having a team that plays well together over extended periods of time is exactly my point. In 2 years, we will be fielding a completely different team than this one when the A teamers show up again. I don't mind bringing in some younger players to give them experience, but this team is almost completely different from the gold medal team in 08. That doesn't build continuity. If the A-teamers valued the WC, they'd be playing in Turkey now, building more continuity. The last point I'll make is that sending our top guys would bring more prestige to the tournament, which raises the overall quality of the tournament. When the original Dream Team showed up, it spurred more international competition. When the US started losing, they realized the international talent level had caught up and that led to the compete revamping of USA basketball. My point is that if we send our top guys, other countries will take note of the fact the the top basketball country is really into the tournament and they'll be more likely to send their top talent.
And saying that you should not put one Rocket player up by putting another Rocket player down makes someone a YOF? You are the only one in this thread who tried to diss a Rocket player in order to make your point, no one else did. You are the pathetic one here. Deal with it.
What is quite obvious from what we´ve seen from Scola is that we either need Martin, Brooks and Lowry to practice the pick and roll. Or we need to find a PG/SG already good at it. Or we can always offer something to Prigioni "come to the NBA and play with Scola the next 3 years". He can also be a mentor for both Brooks and Lowry as he is a pure PG on the best of senses.
