We are very lucky to have him on the team Scola knows he has work ahead of him By STEVE CAMPBELL Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Luis Scola wants everybody to understand: He and Manu Ginobili are just friends. Scola and Ginobili have Argentine passports. They collaborated in 2004 to bring Argentina its first Olympic gold medal in basketball. They came to the NBA to see how good they can be. They touch base, they socialize, they wish each other well. And are not joined at the hip. They're countrymen, not clones. The fate of one is not tied to the other. Ginobili has a five-year NBA head start on Scola, who has been throwing himself into his work since he arrived at the Rockets' training camp. Ginobili has leaped and lunged and lurched and, on occasion, flopped his way to three NBA championship rings with the San Antonio Spurs. He's presuming nothing Despite the path Ginobili blazed to establish himself as a premium player on a defending championship team, Scola doesn't presume similar success for himself. Unencumbered by an American sense of entitlement, the only assumption Scola makes is that he has work to do and dues to pay. He'll have to make his own way as a Southwest Division rival of Ginobili, no less. "Manu's my friend, but it's on me," Scola said. "He's just my friend. We may talk, we may get dinner sometimes, we may go to his house, he may come to my house like a friend. But he's not going to work for me. I have to do the work." Scola, 27, hasn't played a single NBA game that counts. Just where Scola fits into the playing rotation of Rockets coach Rick Adelman isn't exactly clear. What the Rockets have seen, though, is enough to make them trust that Scola will find his niche sooner than later. "I understand how he has been as successful as he has been," said Rockets assistant coach Jack Sikma, a former All-Star. "He's always thinking ahead, always looking to the next play. When he makes a mistake, there's always some analysis. He's ready to find solutions." Role really doesn't matter On one hand, the 6-9, 245-pound Scola has a more rounded game than Chuck Hayes, the incumbent starter at power forward. On the other hand, the Rockets' starting five had the highest plus-minus ranking in the NBA last season. Really, though, whether Scola fits in best as a starter or coming off the bench is immaterial. Ginobili, after all, has served the Spurs well coming off the bench. The Rockets didn't acquire Scola with stars in their eyes. They were looking for somebody to lighten the load of the resident stars, Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. "We thought he was a very good player, but offensively he's better than I thought," Adelman said. "He can do more things. He makes the open jumper. He's very active. He runs the floor. He's very opportunistic. He's one guy who's gotten better since we started camp." NBA teams that have championship aspirations usually are loath to have rookies around for anything but decorative purposes. Scola, though, is a rookie only by technicality. He made the Argentine national team at age 17 and was a three-time European League Most Valuable Player. Forget international ways The flip side to all that experience is Scola has a lot to unlearn about the international game. Scola must adjust to a wider 3-point line, a different key, a more physical style of play. The NBA game lasts longer and moves quicker. While Scola is on the move, he has to remember different rules about illegal defenses and moving picks. "It's just different," Scola said. "Everything is different." One thing Scola knows is he won't get the benefit of many doubts from NBA referees. During a recent exhibition game against the Dallas Mavericks, Scola picked up four fouls in his first 4:32 on the court. Ask Scola about all the adjustments he has to make, on the court and off, and he'll shrug dismissively. What difference does it make? He has to deal with it all, period. "There's a real strong positive self-image he must have of himself," Sikma said. "Because when you correct something, his reaction is, 'Great, I want to be a better player. I understand you're helping me.' He's got the ego in the right place. He really wants to excel." Rambis? Iavaroni? Maybe Sikma predicts Scola can do for the Rockets what Kurt Rambis once did for the Lakers and Marc Iavaroni did for the 76ers. And then some. With Scola's blue-collar ethic comes a European All-Star's skills. Yao, for one, would like to personally invite opponents to leave Scola wide-open. "He's not very athletic, but he's a very, very smart player," Yao said. "He knows when he has to sacrifice his body to make a charge, box out. He doesn't fear contact." And if Ginobili happens to be heading to the basket with the ball, well, he and Scola are just friends. They're not joined at the hip, though Scola isn't above delivering a subtle hip check. Scola might be a stranger in these parts, but he's not inclined to offer much by way of an introduction. "It's very hard to talk about yourself," Scola said. "Everybody will have a chance to see me play all season. They'll find out."
Good read. My main concern now about Scola is him playing too many minutes this season. Even though he's 27 years old and been a pro for a long time, the 82 game grind and the (hopefully) long postseason will be a shock to his system. Then the Olympics are next summer and Scola is Argentina's top player.
I'm a little concerned about this as well. The guy had a pretty busy summer and the way he plays, I'm worried of a burnout in the second half.
I love Luis Scola. He plays basketball the right way. I'm so excited about this season. As for the 82 game grind burning him out - that may be the one legitimate reason to have him coming off the bench for the first half the season. It may really help us come playoff time if he doesn't play 35-40 minutes a game for the first half of the season.
The Scola trade was a fantastic move. At the end of the year he'll mean as much if not more to us than the Battier deal. If he averages 8pts, 7reb's, 3 asists, and 1+ stl a game. It would be fantastic!!! I don't think he'll win ROY, but he is going to be as big of a part of our play-off run as anyone of the curent Rockets. I am very excited about the Rockets this year.
If his fouling woes continue into the season, fatigue shouldn't be too much of a problem. Seriously, though... if the Rockets have a spectacular regular season with Scola as a major contributor, I don't see how he's not in the ROY mix.
He has the yao attitude. the work hard and never stop working. shane battier has that same attitude too only that he is limited in his growth. i like it. for every five stromile swifts of the nba, i would take one not very athletic hard worker any day.
If Scola gets to start for us he'll be in the ROY mix. Not many rookies have the luxury of starting on an offensively focused team with willing playmakers. Still, I think at least three other rookies will have that luxury and will outproduce Scola. His production won't be high enough as a 3rd/4th option.
Scola looks great in the preseason games. I hope he'll adapt to NBA style of playing quickly and give the Rox a little more boost to win the title. I think most probably he's going to be our future starter, but i still hope to see hayes starting, so we can still get some scoring in side the post when Yao's resting on the bench.
I don't want this turn into a Francis thread but in the game highlights I noticed Stevie passing up Scola when he had a chance to pass to him for wide open jumpers or layups, no chemistry there (yet but hopefully will be). I think I saw Mike James pass him up on a fastbreak to pass to another teammate also. Hopefully everybody can develop chemistry with the guy as he can be a great finisher around the basket for a team that has alot of penetrators and ballhandlers.
He needs some time do adapt but surely he will be a great contributor to this team. Very versatile,all round player and might be the best added aquisition this season.
from the preseason games he played, he does look like the best acquisition to me. I still can't believe we got scola by trading the greek tracy mcgrady to the spurs, so v mac wasn't that useless afterall Bless him
Scola has looked great so far that bounce pass between the defenders legs to Yao had Spurs fans kicking themselves in the a$$. That could have been Duncan catching and dunking! I don't see him as any less than the starting PF the thing is when you sub in Chuck he can slide over to the 5 and we don't lose to much scoring punch with Yao on the bench. I want to see the rockets use him like Yao in the post and elbow because he's got a nice post game and he can pass the ball. I don't want him to lose his post game because the team uses him the wrong way.
I can't say enough positive things about him. when I saw we made the trade for him, my hopes were that he would simply give us at the PF spot what nocioni gives chicago. so far, he's all of that and more -- and he clearly has some upside there. I'm absolutely thrilled we have him, and I still can't believe morey was able to put one over on the spurs to get him. as for the rookie of the year talk, he would definitely be capable on a different team. as it stands, he won't win it for us, simply because he is not the focus of the offense like most ROTY's are (see: durant). he's going to be a big time player for us this year and I can fully see him being capable of taking over some games when we need him to. we have more weapons than I've seen in about a decade now. this is going to be one hell of a year.
At the very least, we now have a solid contributor at the PF spot. Scola's a fun guy to watch play. He's Hayes with offense. I think Scola is better than Oberto. The Spurs have to be kicking their own asses.
