Scola will finish the season as a 20/8 player. Once we start crashing the boards more as the season goes on Scola won't nab as many rebounds, but his scoring should stay on Par. He is very durable, and is a man down in the post... he can keep this up for 4 more seasons.
Scola is looking like a much better rebounder than anyone thought possible. He has VERY quick feet, and that allows him to get in great position for rebounds even though he's not a great leaper. He just has great instincts and takes good angles. I think offensively, he's NOT going to be a stud. He's not a guy who will command double teams and or who can destroy guys one-on-one. He's better taking mid range jumpers, using pick-and-rolls, finishing around the rim, etc. But he's not a one man offensive machine.
I think people need to give credit where it has long been over due and stop doubting the guy. SCOLA is a f'ing star. He is amazing. He is passionate. He is a fighter. He is talented. He is the heart of the team right now.
Well from the way Bosh and Scola are playing this season I think the Rockets managed to get the better player at half the price. Can you imagine what this board would be like if we got Bosh at the expense of Hill, PP and the Knicks picks and he started putting up 14 and 5? Scola right now is averaging 22 and 12 in only 34 minutes of play. Damn! Now if only he could work on his D....
I liked your description of his rebounding. There's no question that Scola is a better rebounder than any of us thought possible, regardless of how much we liked him when he came over. It's a great argument for the idea that Euro rebounding numbers don't translate well to the NBA. Where I disagree a bit is with the double teams comment. Luis was being doubled frequently by the T-Puppies last game. Heck, back when we played that series against LA, they started throwing doubles at him. To me, the big question is can he handle it? I lean towards yes he can. He's used to being doubled in international play. Hopefully, that experience and what he's learned here, combined with his smarts, will still make him an effective scorer. A lot depends on the offense running smoothly, of course.
Viva Scola!! I think he has plenty of gas in his tank, heck, I think he goes to every game with a full tank and gallons more in reserve. I hope he gets voted into the ASG this year.
Dude... 22.5 pts 12.3 rebs 2.5 assists Exactly what is a stud to you? He's also converting at a career high 0.52% from the field. Scola is undoubtedly our best player right now. If we're just talking about offense, I think he's the 2nd/3rd best big man out there after Gasol and maybe Bosh. The notion that Scola can't even score on his guy one-on-one is just plain ridiculous IMO. He's scoring 22 pts a game, some of those must be with his man guarding him, right?
I hope you're right. Honestly, I've been a little bit puzzled as to why we don't go to Scola into the post MORE often, and so I assumed it's because Adelman doesn't see him as a "go-to guy." And I trust Adelman's judgment. But maybe with the offense running smoothly, Scola will get more opportunities. Maybe it's a matter of switching from a guard-focused offense to a more balanced offense.
Small sample size. And I'm talking about ISO plays. I'd like to see stats on how many shots Scola actually created himself.
I think Adelman has seen the light re Scola. This season, in my opinion, there has been far more focus on Scola on the offensive end. Like what we saw after the Landry trade, but a lot more. If the offense is running right, Scola should still get plenty of open looks and he'll make those shots more often than not. And you're right. They should go to him more in the post. I think that reflects the point guard play more than Adelman's preference. The biggest valid complaint about the guy is his defense, and I don't think it's as bad as some people say it is. So he's average. Someone has to be. In my opinion, his scoring, rebounding, passing, taking care of the ball, making his rotations all offset the deficiencies he has in that area. And he's making $7.8 million this season. Remarkable.
1 on 1 Scola is very good. Very very good. He can put up the offensive numbers and rebounds, it's the defense I worry about.
All year. In case all of you missed the memo, Luis is an elite big man. He's the franchise player on his international team. The problem has been that this team doesn't treat him with the respect he deserves. Hopefully, this year that changes. It has to start with AB and KL, they need to be feeding him WAAAAY more than they have in the past. Regarding burning out, he's only averaging 30-some minutes per game. He can easily handle that at full speed the whole time. The bigger problem to worry about is keeping him in rhythm and not allowing other guys to pass him up on the court just because he's not overtly demanding of the ball. As far as dealing with double teams goes.... Do you guys realize what you're saying? When Yao is on the floor, teams are going to try to bring help double teams on both Yao and Scola-- That opens huge holes for AB, KM, Battier, Chase- all serviceable to excellent 3 pt shooters. We should all be praying for double teams. RA's offense is also at its very best if anyone is getting extra defensive attention. This year we really test the coaching staff's mettle. The team is loaded with an amazing combination of talent, that, if it is clicking together, has the potential to show literal brilliance. If they don't click together, then we have a lot of NBA starters playing to the limits of their individual talent and nothing more.
Scola has been great one on one on the low block, did you see him at the world games? What are you watching out there? He has been great one on one...... DD
I think what we're seeing is that despite his age, Scola is STILL getting better because it's only his 4th year in the NBA. There's always a learning curve in this league, and it's been amazing watching Scola's progression.
Teams have been exploiting his defensive weakness already this season. There's no question about it. But again, this is a rotation issue. Like you said, someone has to be average/slightly-below-average of a defender. The problem is when multiple of them are on the floor at the same time, like in our uninjured starting lineup. A change def. needs to be made there, so Brooks/Scola/Martin (in that order of defensive effectiveness) are not on the court at the same time. One very optimistic factor related to this is the fact that we have an available backup who is maybe easily the best defender at that position in the league. We all saw what he did against a much taller Tim Duncan two nights ago. So if the coaching staff can figure out how, we have the pieces on our team to cover up Luis's weaknesses and exploit his strengths perfectly.
It really has been amazing. His first season here, he missed a lot of free throws. I looked up his Euro numbers and saw they were decent (think I said so at the time), and sure enough, he started coming up to his average in international play. I think many of us tend to discount, at least to a degree, just how hard the adjustment to the NBA can be. It's been a trial for Luis and he's obviously a very smart guy. And part of it is earning the trust of the coaching staff. I'm a big Adelman supporter, but I think he was a bit slow taking advantage of what Scola brought to the team. Morey had to trade Landry to get Scola his minutes. I keep wondering how much input Adelman had in that deal. We may never know, unless Morey writes a "tell all" at the end of his GM career.
He is my favorite player on the team. I wish everybody in the NBA played like him, all out, all the time. Blue collar guys like Scola make sports more fun to watch. What a nice guy too. Can he keep it up? All day, every day; he is just getting adjusted to the NBA game.
