Yeah, the Scola love has gone overboard. But with what he showed the last two weeks it isn't surprising. One thing that should be pretty clear is Scola will be the opening day starter.
I was impressed with Scola. He certainly was the leader of the Argentine team. If it wasn't for Scola's play, professionalism, and his competitive spirit, Argentina would have had to wait until next year to qualify for the Olympics. On the flip side, Delfino is one Argentine who thinks he is better than he truly is. He takes a lot of bad shots and doesn't follow Argentina's team passing style of play.
He has never been the "go to guy" in any team in his career... and with all the absenses, he was expected to play that role... sometimes he tried to do too much. Anyway, it was a good tournament for him.
I am glad we closed the Scola trade with Spurs before the Fiba America games.... They could have asked for Battier!
That would be great... but he will need time to adjust to the NBA, and show his true level of play. I hope fans understand this, so that he won't suffer heavy criticism when he struggles a bit in his first months as a rocket.
don't know if this has been posted yet but just read this on espn insider thought you all might want to read this. More From Vegas LAS VEGAS - San Antonio's braintrust of R.C. Buford and Gregg Popovich has produced the NBA's model franchise and four championships in the past eight years, so I don't know if it's right for me to doubt it. The Spurs don't make too many mistakes. The only major blunder I can think of was 2003, when they drafted Leandro Barbosa, the reigning sixth-man of the year, for the Phoenix Suns and passed on Josh Howard, 2007 all-star, in the process (It hasn't hurt too much since they've won two NBA championships since then). However, after watching Luis Scola playing for Argentina the past week and a half, I am completely stunned that the Spurs traded him - for little more than cap room - and to division rival Houston at that. Scola is physical, relentless and he can score in a variety of ways, inside and out. He has led Argentina, the 2004 Olympic gold medalists, to a 7-0 record in the FIBA Americas Championship despite the absence of the Spurs' Manu Ginobil, Fabricio Oberto, Charlotte's Walter Hermann, Chicago's Andres Nocioni and former Temple star Pepe Sanchez. He is averaging a team-high 17.8 points and eight rebounds. He had 23 points and 12 rebounds in comeback, overtime win against Brazil on Wednesday. Too bad the biggest game of this Olympic qualifying tournament between unbeaten Argentina and the United States won't tip off until midnight Eastern time, but it might be worth losing some sleep to check out Scola. "He's a very active player. He does everything and anything," said LeBron James, who has seen Scola up close in the 2004 Olympics in Athens and last summers world championships in Japan. "He continues to get better every summer. He's a very good player and we need to be in tune and keep a bottle on him." Scola, a 6-foot-9 power forward, won Spanish League MVP last season for Tau Ceramica and has been regarded for some time as the best foreign player to never play in the NBA. That will change when he saddles up to next to Yao Ming this fall. The Spurs may regret that it wasn't Tim Duncan. The 27-year-old Scola is better and younger than Fabricio Oberto, his countryman and the Spurs' starting power forward on the NBA championship team last June. But the Spurs reportedly had some concerns over how he would mesh with Duncan. Yao will certaining enjoy having Scola watching his back. San Antonio drafted Scola in the second round in 2002 and they typically draft foreign players and let them play overseas until they need them (i.e. Ginobili and Oberto). They had hoped to sign him two years ago, but he reportedly had a ridiculous $14.5 million buyout, so they chose to sign Oberto instead. Last year, when it became obvious that Scola wouldn't come stateside again, his agent blamed the Spurs and told the San Antonio Express-News that "in the country of liberty, he is being held prisoner." Much like the situation with Juan Carlos Navarro, Scola's team reduced the buyout to a more amenable $3 million, but the Spurs had already decided to go in a different direction. They selected one of his teammates on Tau Ceramica, Brazilian forward Tiago Splitter, in the first round of the NBA draft (Splitter, by the way, has looked pretty good here, too). Believing they had a cheaper and younger version of Scola in Splitter, the Spurs helped Scola pursue his dreams of playing in the NBA this summer. They had hoped to keep him out of the Western Conference and had a deal in place with Cleveland. When it didn't work out with the Cavaliers, San Antonio had to settle for the deal it made with Houston, throwing in Jackie Butler, in exchange for Greece's Vassilis Spanoulis - a guard who has sworn off the NBA - a 2009 second-round pick and cash. Doesn't sound like much - and it isn't. But the move cleared salary cap space to sign 2005 draft pick Ian Mahinmi and a roster spot to sign Ime Udoka. Scola said he has no hard feelings against the Spurs. "They have an unbelievable team. They are a dynasty," Scola said. "I would've loved to play there, but it changed. I'm in Houston and I'm happy to be there." With his mind preoccupied with leading Argentina to an automatic berth in Beijing, Scola added that he hasn't given much thought about playing for the Rockets. "I try not to think too much about it," Scola said. "I like to think that I am [ready for the NBA]. But how would I know if I never play there? When this is over on Sunday I can start thinking about NBA. One thing at a time."
I am telling this man, give Scola 12 shots a game and he is going to average double digits. And when I say 12 shots, I am not saying run 12 plays for him. I am saying that if he gets his offensive put backs, if our guards find him in the open spot, if the ball is passed to him when Yao, Tracy, etc. are doubled, this guy will get his 12 shots, and, if he brings his shooting efficiency into the NBA, he will get his double point averages. My second thought is that now the WHOLE of America has seen how dangerous this guy is, he is definitely NOT going to be left open at all (yeah I know I contradicted parts of my paragraph above). Yao and Tracy and our 3 point shooters are going to have a field day with one on one or no defensive coverage. Sorry old chaps, but I am on the front seat of the Scola bandwagon As much as I love Hayes and respect Juwan, compared to the both of them, Scola will contribute much more to the Rockets. Heck, I even see him as enforcer potential... ask Robert Horry to pull that stunt of his on any of our key players and Scola will be eyeball to eyeball with him very soon
If they didn't trade him the day we got him, then he would have signed a multi year contract with Tau the following day. San Antonio was forced to trade him or otherwise be a bunch of @$$holes by not letting this man fulfill the dream he has had and worked so hard for since he was a kid.
If Scola got 12 shots a game and somehow didn't score over 10 ppg, that would be REALLY bad. I would expect around 50% shooting from the field, maybe 70% from the line. With 12 shots a game, he should be scoring over 15 ppg. But he isn't going to get that many shots; it's unlikely that he plays more than 30 mpg.
I'm impressed with his scoring ability but I wish he would have rebounded better tonight.He is a hard worker and should get better on the defensive end along with his rebounding with time and experience. Anyway I'm glad the tournament is over,welcome to Houston Luis!
http://www.nba.com/2007fibaamericas/dengate_070902.html Dengate’s All-Tournament Team By Jeff Dengate Posted Sep 2 2007 10:14PM Noah Graham/NBAE/Getty Images Scola was named tournament MVP after leading Argentina to the 2008 Summer Olympics. LAS VEGAS, September 2, 2007 — With a 23-point showing in the gold medal game of the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship, new Houston Rocket Luis Scola put the finishing touches on a spectacular tournament -- even if it ended in silver, as Argentina dropped the final contest to the United States, 118-81. In 10 games here in Las Vegas, the Argentine big man posted averages of 19.5 points and 7.5 rebounds -- both figures placing him in the top seven in each category. While Scola proved to be the most valuable to his team's cause, there were a number of outstanding performers who consistently turned in strong outings over the tournament's 12 days. So, as we close the book on this stage of Olympic qualifying, I present to you my all-tournament team, those five individuals who stood out above the rest of the field: ROMEL BECK, Mexico It looks like there is nothing this kid can't do on the floor. He was the only real threat Mexico had and yet still managed to shoot 58.9 percent from the field and 40 percent from three. He even drew a four-point play on Kobe Bryant after breaking the ankles of the perennial NBA All-Star. It's a bit surprising he hasn't gotten a look by any NBA teams, but his play here may change that very soon. G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT% 7 29.0 20.3 2.4 1.7 1.4 0.0 58.9 40.0 81.5 LEANDRO BARBOSA, Brazil Barbosa had Brazil in position to claim one of the Olympic bids, but the team couldn't hold on to a double-digit second half lead, losing to Argentina in the semifinals. Even so, the Brazilian Blur played admirably given he twisted an ankle during the tournament, that seemed to slow him even if he still appeared the fastest player on the hardwood. He turned in four of the top nine single-game scoring performances (36 vs. Virgin Islands; 34 vs. Puerto Rico; 32 vs. Uruguay; and 30 vs. Canada) and registered the tournament's top scoring average (21.8 ppg). G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT% 10 32.0 21.8 1.5 2.8 1.0 0.10 44.7 37.7 79.7 ESTEBAN BATISTA, Uruguay Batista was a beast to reckon with for any team's big man -- and his replacements. He's big, strong, relentlessly crashes the glass and was, seemingly, on the court the entire tournament. A restricted free agent of the Atlanta Hawks, Batista logged the highest workload of any player on the eight teams still fighting beyond the first weekend, averaging 35.5 a night for Uruguay. And he was effective in that time, averaging a tournament-best 12.4 boards per game and scoring more than 20 points in five of his team's eight games. G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT% 8 35.5 20.8 12.4 1.0 1.5 0.38 50.0 20.0 65.5 CARMELO ANTHONY, United States Anthony said this weekend, "It sounds funny, but it's almost like it comes naturally to me. The game is fun." Most of the tournament it seemed that way, as Anthony is the only player -- who averaged more than eight points per contest -- to avergage better than a point per minute he played. Anthony led the US with 21.2 points in only 19.4 minutes per night. Compare that with Phoenix's Leandro Barbosa, who averaged a tournament high 21.8 for Brazil but required 32.0 minutes a night to do so. G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT% 9 19.4 21.2 5.2 1.4 0.67 0.33 61.3 57.8 71.4 HECTOR ROMERO, Venezuela Venezuela didn't really give too many teams trouble, as it went 1-6 in the tournament, but the team's leading scorer (19.9 ppg) Romero was the focal point of every opponent's defense. He has one of the ugliest, albeit effective, jumpers this tournament has seen, but he looked just as comfortable stroking the ball as he did pump faking and driving to the rim. G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT% 8 34.3 19.9 7.5 2.4 1.13 0.88 43.0 45.5 74.0 SIXTH MAN: FEDERIC KAMMERICHS, Argentina My tourney fave. Kammerichs will first grab your attention with his sweet 'stache, while his heart and drive will win you over. Not the most athletic player in this tournament, Kammerichs never took a second off when he was on the floor. He proved a pest on the offensive glass, but could still step out and hit a three on you. What won me over? On Wednesday night, he went up to block a shot in the low post by Nene only to be undercut by the Brazilian. Kammerichs had to be helped off the floor and didn't return, but the next night was there at midcourt, crouched down trying to stay in front of LeBron James. Nevermind the foolishness in such thinking, you have to love the effort. G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT% 10 12.8 4.4 3.0 0.50 0.40 0.70 50.0 42.9 66.7
I've always had questions about Scola's signing with Tau. If he planed to play in NBA, why did he sign a long contract with high buy-outs with Tau? And if SA is losing the right to sign with Scola after the deadline, why can't Scola sign with another NBA team as a free agent if he wants to play in NBA so badly? I don't see why he would want to sign another multi-year contract with Tau.
I love Kammerichs. He plays like a combination of Ryan Bowen and Shane Battier and looks like an emaciated 1970s p*rn star.
Scola was 17 years old when he sugned that contract. In those days, no Argentine players had ever played in the NBA or had the kind of success he had in Europe. Plus, that kind of contracts are common. San Antonio wasn't losing his rights... the only way the Spurs would have lost his rights is if Scola was a whole year without a contract with any team. And that would have never happened. He was going to sign another multi-year contract because he is 27, and (like in the NBA), he would sign the "big contract" of his career. The Spurs had the chance to bring him the last two off seasons... they choose not to.
Thanks scola. I just thought he had big dreams, he and his agent should've planed ahead and the contract doesn't hinder his NBA career. Anyways, no complaints from me.I'm glad that he ended up in Houston.
He actually signed for less money with Houston than he would have made by resigning with Tau. His dream is the nba and I still can't believe the rockets got him for so little. They paid him as much as the spurs are paying matt bonner.
