After reading all the passionate replies from in the thread started by the top dog, I want to know. If Artest is on the table, if scola is the 1st player they ask for, is the deal dead? If giving up Scola equates to getting a signed Artest, would u morey imitators pull the trigger?
I'd say yes. I would not want to give up Scola (unless we get Chris Paul, Kobe, Deron Williams, etc...).
I won't give up Scola for Artest. Scola is a starting PF now. He's not great but he's probably better than average. I don't want to go back to the days of Juwan Howard-type players starting for us at PF.
I wouldn't give up any starters or Carl Landry for Artest considering he is a criminal and a chemistry killer. Now would I give up Scola for a very good player who isn't a career malcontent? Yes.
It an interesting question, obviously Luis Scola is not untouchable. There's a lot of players out there that I would take for him, but those players aren't likely to be offered up. All things considered, I think he is more valuable to us than he is to most of the teams in the league, given all the power forward problems we've had for about the past 10 years. If you do let Scola go, say for someone like Ron Artest (personally wouldn't give him up for a mike miller level player), then what do you do with the PF spot? Count on Landry's to progress and stay healthy? OR see what kind of PF Shane Battier can get you on the trade market? I'm not sure if this has been discussed, but it would be interesting to see. Dealing both Scola and Battier is the kind of massive change that this team does not really need, but if the right players come along, it might be hard to say no.
Artest is a big 3 and a better player than Luis,no one is disputing that. Artest has behaved better this year and I honestly believe he wants to win as well. I still wouldn't trade Luis for Ron because the latter is unreliable at times even at his best behavior.Landry does play better than Luis at times, he has athletic ability and is explosive at times but he is not as refined as him. He is also coming off an injury. If Landry were at the level of David West I would take the risk of trading Scola for Artest.Ron also is looking for a big contract despite his desire to return to the Kings this season and Scola's 3M contract isn't going to be enough anyway.
scola is a deal breaker for most reasonable trades on the table....now if we get a deal like getting a player that is an all-star or a producing rookie that has much more upside (see al horford) then you have to trade scola. but making a move that is at best lateral just makes no sense at all. for example the scola for miller trade would be a deal break of course. now if it was scola for like brand than you have to make that deal
Yes I would pull the trigger no doubt about it. You know its funny how people on this board acts as if Scola its our best player. They over rate our role players and under rate our best players.
Maybe but it's going to be very hard if not impossible to get a PF of Scola's caliber in a trade involving Battier.
Landry hasn't proven himself as a starter. I wouldn't be banking on him to step into that position straight away especially with the danger of a sophomore slump. Unless the Rockets are able to attain a vet starter. They'll be starting Chuck Hayes again.
Scola HAS to develop his outside shot! He gives us 20/12 one day, and 4/5 the next, all because his 12-15 ft jumper is unreliable/inconsistent. If the Kings offer us Artest in a S&T deal for Scola straight up, I would do it immediately. Artest can play the PF position too! He is basically an offensively weaker LeBron James. Artest can muscle up against Duncan, or guard the swift-footed Richard Hamilton. Imagine this: Alston Mac Bats Artest Yao VS the Celtics. Yao vs Garnett -- Yao would win 70% of the time Artest vs Pierce -- Artest could lock him down! Bats vs Allen -- Bats could lock him down! We need another good all-around player that can play both ends of the floor EFFECTIVELY. Scola gives us only decent offense and defense. Artest gives us immovable defense and decent offense.
Scola is a very valuable player on this team. He brings hustle to a team that needs as much hustle plays as they can get. The Rockets didn't win 22 games because of talent and athleticism, they won because of hustle plays caused by their hustle players like scola and battier and landry...their good shooting and defense also helped but hustle plays are wat makes champions
I'm not trying to compare the 2, but for as many people banging on howard, the rox won 50 and 52 games with him playing the same minutes as scola without a 22 game win streak. While a lot of posters are of the opinion he's so valuable to the team, where would u rank scola and artest respective to their positions in the west?
