I'd tend to agree with rwienert and the The_Yoyo. I'd trade Scola, but it would have to be for a substantially better player. I wouldn't trade him for a Mike Miller. I probably wouldn't trade him for Artest, even though I think Artest would be great for the Rockets. The problem is that the difference between what the Rockets would gain in Artest and lose in Scola isn't great enough. The Rockets need to keep Scola's scoring ability, and add another scorer. I'm a big Battier fan, and I'd be very reluctant to trade him because of his defense. But I'd let him go for Artest, because Artest is a defensive stopper and he brings offense as well. Everyone is tradeable, for the right deal. The painful truth of the matter is that most of the time you have to be willing to give up something significant to get something significant. Unless you're the Lakers.
If it's a Marion or Granger type player then I'd be willing to give up Scola but not for Artest or Mike Miller...Scola is better than his stats show-he knows the game/great team-first attitude/does the little things...
Would rockets do a Scola for Miller + No 5 pick deal? I don't really know how to look at this trade, too hard to decide.
My apologies to all Scola fans - love his hustle. However, I would trade him for Mike Miller. I think Scola is older and Miller brings some athleticism and is one of Tmac's favorite. I don't think Tmac likes Scola that much, he rarely interacted with him on the court and was obviously disguted with his attempts to steal the ball from Darren, leaving broke down Boozer wide open. I would take him and kyle lowry off their hands for BJ, Luther, and Scola. Landry can start and be replaced by Chuck for less 10 minutes of course.
That's no reason to trade Scola for Miller. Scola is younger, by one year I think. You don't trade big for small all things being even. It is much harder to find a competent PF than a SF. If Memphis add the #5 pick, Morey have to think hard about this.
You hit it right there, he is such a great value for what we're paying him, there are very few guys in the NBA who produce at a higher level than their salary. In this trade scenario we'd be taking on a hell of a lot more salary to get a marginally better player at a postition that is not a weakness for us (well defensively anyway).
We're talking about 28 vs 24 or so. In the real world of sprts, u have hit ur peak atheletically. So if that's the case and we know what his skills are, his improvement will be marginal. I think scola is like the eddie murphy joke. If ur in the desert starving and someone gives u a regular cracker, u will make that plain ass cracker into a ritz. Its the best cracker in the world. In reality, its just a plain crackers. Because the rox have been looking at chuck hayes and a then older howard, they look at scola as more than what he is. He's isn't any more productive than kenney thomas was and he has some of the same physical limitations. that's not a knock, that's the truth.
leebigez, you still don't want to acknowledge the simple fact that Scola has only played one season in the NBA, and that ALL international players need more than a year to adjust to the speed and rules here? You are right. Scola's basic basketball skills won't improve much. But HOW TO USE those skills in THIS league will improve for certain. And that makes a world of difference. Besides, you have not accounted for the fact that Adelman's offense needs time to establish. Why do you want to gut the core of the team AGAIN after just one year under the new coach? Like I pointed out, if you get Artest, you are almost certainly getting rid of Battier. To me, trading Battier for Artest makes more sense than trading Scola for Artest. You don't want to get rid of two of you starters just to get someone who may or may not pan out. And we haven't even talked about the more important goal of upgrading our starting PG.
What I can say and have said is scola improvement will be marginal like any other 28 yr old with limited skill, but his jump won't be hage like amare and gay's from yr 1 to 2. The reason is those guys had very high physical talent and in their 2nd season, the basketball started climb. That's why their production basically doubled. I never said he can't get better, I simply said any improvemet is marginal. That's the reason some gm's gt these older international players. They know the older ones don't have a highceiling, but that's ok because u can see the floor. The whole is, to get a player of artest caliber, whichh is far greater an a bigger need to the rox, are u willing to part with scola. Judging from the responses, its kinda funny that many are "scared" of being great, and that's kinda disturbing.
There is an adjustment period for international players and rookies. Oberto isn't nearly as athletic as Amare, but he had an adjustment period as Scola.. Oberto increased his FG% by 13.5% from 47.3% to 60.8%, in 2 seasons. We can't get Amare Stoudemire talent for Scola. Here's the comparision anyway, 47.2%(basically the same as Oberto), and improved to 55.9% after 2 seasons, for an improvement of 8.7%. Scola is already scores has a good FG% at 51.5%, and is 5 years younger than Oberto and a couple of years older than Stoudemire. It would certainly be great if he improved his FG% by 13.5%(Oberto) to 65.0 FG%. I'll settle for the lower improvement of 8.7% (Amare) to 60.2%. Scola has improved his production from early in the season in October at 7.6 pts(47.3%), 4.8 reb to almost double in April at 14.0 pts(52.4%) and 9 reb. I don't see him averaging anything less than a double double next year. I can't understand getting Millsap or Wilcox. If we were worried about the skill improvement of our PF, Wilcox is not the answer. Wilcox has been on the decline in rebounds and scoring(Pts and FG%) for the last 3 years. Wilcox makes Scola's 5 month improvement look like a rookie savant. As for Millsap, I don't want us to repeat the undersized 6'7"-6'8" PF rotations of past years, with Millsap, Chuck Hayes, and Landry as our guys. A rotation with Yao and four 6'8" and under players is going to be beat on the boards. No matter how much hustle, you get out of the ultimate shortie hustle combo(Millsap, Hayes, Landry) at PF/C in the West.
I don't want anyone misunderstand what I'm saying about scola who is a good player. What I'm initiating in conversation is, scola one of the rox few commodities. He's a good player and he's cheap, but I'm talking about the chance to get a really good to great player on both ends. Artest will change the way teams defend the rox. That's something scola can't ever do. Back to the "replacement" of Scola. If the rox had to give him up I mentioned a couple young 4's that could replace his production. I mentioned milsap as one. The only reason milsap isn't a starter is becuz he has boozer in front of him. The guy is the same size as luis,longer arms,more explosive and he's 22. Another guy is Turiaf. He too is 6'10 250, a good athelete and he plays hard also. When he's started, he's been 10-7-2.2 as well as a 77 ft shooter. The last guy is wilcox. You mentioned the decline in his production, but in same minutes as a starter as scola, he was 14-8. Playing on that team, how many easy hoops u think he got? If he could do that on seattle, u don't think he could do it playing with tracy,yao and artest? Top it off, all 3 are younger than scola by 5 yrs or so with wilcox being 2 yrs younger and all three can get better. Turiaf and Milsap can be had cheap, while wilcox has 1 yr at 6m. All I'm trying to do is show alternatives that will work to scolandry. Not to long ago, this franchise made a big risk when they traded the solid,sturdy thorpe for the dynamic game changing, difference making drexler in the middle of defending their title. They did it to maximize the chances of winning a title during the dream era. I think its going to take the same kind of move to get the rox a title. We have 2 high milage, injury prone stars that are in dire need for a impactful player. The has a lot of young talented teams that will get better. Now is the time for the rox to move into elite company instead of staring into another early exit and wasting another yr off tracy and yao. In chess,pawns are used to get the queen. If the rox want the queen, they have to use the knight(scola) to get her.
The only untouchable player on our roster is Yao. Outside of him I think you have to at least listen to offers for anyone.
If Scola's 08-09 progress matches his 7-pt improvement of the last 6 months, he'll be in the 20pt. No, I don't think Wilcox is going to change much on the Rockets, after 6 years in the league and a steady decline. After 3 years, the gains are not as significant as the change for year 1-2 and year 2-3, regardless of age. I would want Turiaf over Wilcox or Millsap, However, I am sure the Lakers aren't targeting Luther Head and Novak in the offseason. Paul Millsap is about the same size as Chuck Hayes. official nba pre-draft measurments. ...................w/o shoes....w/shoes. Luis Scola.......6' 8.25"......6' 9.50" Carl Landry.....6' 7.75".......6' 8.50" Paul Millsap.....6' 6.25''......6' 7.25'' Chuck Hayes...6' 5.50".......6' 6.75" Mike Harris 6'6"(as listed on NBA profile) The 6'6-6'8" nba all-hustle team will be fun to watch, but they will struggle with rebounding against taller lineups like they have this season. They'll win in the regular season, when playoff teams don't hustle. Then, they'll suffer when all the big guys hustle for rebounds, because it's the playoffs.
Ginobili was a 25 YO rookie averaging 7.6 pts/game. Now he's 30 averaging 20 pts a game. Is that marginal? He added 5 ppg from year 1 to year 2. US players start their careers earlier, but that doesn't mean they last longer. They play the same amount of time because the body can only take so much. Starting late doesn't mean you won't improve just like a 20 year-old rookie would.
I'd certainly see what teams were offering if they mentioned wanting Scola. But dont see his salary matching any other 3 million a year player that'd help that much more. If anyone proved they deserved another look for next year its Scola. They wont do i again but this team won 22 straight games last year before injuries did them in. I have no problem bringing Scola back. *edit* Artest misses as many games each year as Tracy McGrady even taking out suspensions. If he's guaranteed to miss the first 20 games and play in the playoffs then cool. But otherwise for THIS team, no thanks
Again Scola's skills are not "limited" as you say. He is not athletic. But he is certainly not unskilled. You seem to believe that only athletic players have the potential of big improvement. That is not true at all. Intelligence is as important, if not more, as physical talent. And emotional stability is also significant for a player's success. We are not scared of being great. We are scared of crazy dudes like Artest. If Scola can land us a great player, I have no objection to it. Artest is not a great player. He is a talented player with serious mental problem. Drexler was a proven superstar, MVP caliber kind of player. And he never had any emotional or mental issues. Getting him was not as risky as getting Artest. Artest is less talented and has a lot more baggage. Let me add this: Both Battier and Scola are the proverbial "glue guys." I just don't think it is wise to throw away two of your strongest "glue" and get an "anti-glue" guy like Artest. The whole team is in danger of being un-glued.
