"Over achievers?" Seriously? So the team playing now, the Rockets team I've had the most fun watching in ages, is "over achieving?" That's a deliberate slam and I don't agree. They are playing to the level of their talent and still improving, because so much of that talent is young, they are still getting into a groove with Adelman's system, and the "older" players (Scola and Andersen are 29) from Europe are still learning the ropes, although Scola pretty much has it in his back pocket. "Getting" Adelman's system is something he's been working on and if you've watched him play this season, and I have no doubt you have, he's "getting it" more game by game. His passing has inproved tremendously. Just watch the last few games again and tell me it hasn't with a straight face. Look, you usually have to trade talent to get talent (not always... there's always teams like Memphis or teams desperate to lower payroll), and it's not far-fetched to imagine Scola or Landry being moved to get someone like Bosh, but don't call them "over achieving." This team has talent. No one expects the current team, with tens of millions of dollars of our payroll sitting on the sidelines in suits, to win a championship, but most didn't expect them to do jack squat. The "over achieving" is in the minds of those who expected them to roll over and play dead this year. Not everyone bought into that. They can make the playoffs and I, for one, would find that thrilling, no matter how far they went.
Luis is an awsome power foward, that will play for decent price for morey. Plays hard always, and can hit the 18-foot jumper with yao in the lineup. Great attitude, and proven winner. NO WAY! this tread is STUPID!
To be fair, crash went to some pains to say it was a theory and not an advocation of trading Scola. Some of the other members have left the reservation!
I wouldn't actively trade scola, but he ouldn't be a deal breaker either. Deckard, i like scola more than you think and i know he can be a starter on a chamionship caliber team. I guess my deal is and i've stated this before is if i had to choose one to lose, i'd chose the older player. Thats not a knock on him, nor is that something bad, but the rockets are going to have to make that decision this summer. If the decision was between scola and hayes or dorsey, its not even close, but its going to be between he and landry. Its a close call and if its close, you go with the younger guy.
This is his prime, but landry is producing big time and hasn't hit his prime yet. So you would take luis for 4more yrs at this level or landry 4 yrs from now on his upward tick? Thats the 6m question.
I understand. I've said before that I'd be for moving him if it meant a big upgrade in talent. I wouldn't be for it to get "young players to develop" when we have some on the team already (and they are being developed). I'm having a groovy time watching the guys play the way Adelman wants them to. It doesn't have to be "either/or" Leeb. And you are making an assumption about Carl, one I certainly hope plays out (and it just might), versus what we know that we have in a 29 year Luis Scola, who's still improving.
No, because if he would Rox will find very hard to sign any coveted foreign FA for years. The guy was a all-star in europe, comes here, signs for a small contract, works harder and better than half a team payed more than him, and you trade him. Say goodbye to your reputation in europe, as Scola is as well respected there as he is in argentina or here. Think of it this way, if we were going to sig a player that was Scola's teammate, and Scola said, "he wasn't a nice teammate, he ultimately let me down" would you sign him? Well, other players will hear this from Scola about the Rox.
Deckard, i think thats what its going to come down to. Someone will offer scola haslem type of money and he deserves it. 6m per over the next 4 for a guy like scola is good value, but in the same token, landry is coming up the following yr. Looking at his age and improvement, someone will offer maybe 7m per for the next 5 yrs. Now i know it sounds good to have 13m tied up in pf's that can basically equal that of 1 pf, but we know thats not how it works. Utah matched the offer for milsap because boozer is a free agent after the season and has had injury issues. Milsap is getting 10m this year with a descending contract over the next 4 or 5 yrs. The rockets are going to be in the same position and i think people are fooling themselves if they think a decision will not be made. Especailly when a guy like anderson probably can play there some also.
You can always give Scola a frontloaded Contract, starting at say, 7 millions, and next year you give Landry a standar contract starting at 7 million. that way they both balance up on a 14 million contract what is right for a PF with their production.
But the problem remains that Scola's contract is small, so what are you hoping to get of value in return for him? He is only going to get you a big piece if you package him up with Tmac or some other players, and teams that are willing to take on Tmac's contract are unlikely to be contenders who are that interested in a half year rental of Scola. So the potential contenders who would be most interested in Scola probably won't give us much, if anything of value, and the teams who have players the Rockets would be most interested in building around would likely rather take a younger player like Landry. By all means if another team came with a good offer and wanted Scola, I wouldn't consider that a deal breaker. But until we start talking specific players it is hard to imagine that situation being very likely or evaluate what a "good deal" might be. I wouldn't look to dump Scola just to get minimal value just because he might leave next year though.
Why would u pay landry 7m when he can really only play 28 mins a night and scola 7m when he plays 30 mins a night?
Bosh is a great player, and he's got that superstar buzz, but I think if you trade away some of the Rockets' "older role players with less potential" such as Scola and Battier to get him, you might find you haven't really made the team better. This is because you're overvaluing Bosh a little, and vastly undervaluing the players we already have.
It is totally different situation. Utah signed Milsap because Boozer is too expensive and injury prone. Scola does not has that kind of problems.
Who is the allstar on the current team? Who is the goto guy in critical situations? This is a team of ROLE PLAYERS right now. Talented ones, but still ROLE PLAYERS. No every expert or fan here thought this team was capable of winning at the current pace. They are the very definition of over acheiving. Its not a slam to say that either. I love the hustle and heart of this team as much as anyone. But seriously, seriously how can you not say that we are not a team of over acheivers. There are no superstars or goto players on this team just really good role players and we are 11 and 8 and second place in our division. Please explain to me how we arent over acheiving.
Boozer is a better player and it is the same situation. They kept both for this year. They could get alot for boozer right now because he makes enough money, but not too much that you don't have to gut or package him with someone.
We have a player most rightly consider one of the best defenders in the league and one of the few to give Kobe Bryant fits. We have another very good and younger more athletic defender with decent offensive edge. Who helped the Lakers win their last championship. One of the fastest players in the NBA and solid scorer. One international superstar who has won MVP awards multiple international competitions including the Olympics Finals. One of the NBA's most underrated defenders of big men that has given the likes of Kevin Garnett trouble. And I haven't even gotten to talk about what Landry, Lowry, Andersen and Budinger bring to the table. Just because a player isn't being gushed upon by ESPN, because of their lack of media exposure, doesn't mean they can't do anything for the team. The Rockets are under the guidance of a Hall of Fame coach and all the players are young and/or unselfish enough that they gel well with one another. The key reason we didn't get that far with McGrady and Yao, was because it was just the two of them for the most part. This team has been built so that there isn't a significant weak link on the starting line up or the normal bench rotation. That is the reason why we are as good as we are, look at most of the teams below us and you notice they have guys that are crap on their roster and get minutes. We aren't the Lakers or Cavaliers where Kobe or Lebron have to do all the scoring or the team can't win, it is a balanced attack. The opposing teams more nights then most must take into account.
We've searched since Otis Thorpe for a legit pf and now we have one in Luis. Getting rid of him at this point is just stupid.
