I think you're waaaay oversimplifying. Sure, Scola's made a big diference. That doesn't mean he's the only one who's done so. As has been pointed out, other guys are clearly more important to the team's success.
To each their own, its a matter of opinion. I hear you, and I see your point, and I'm definitely not gonna sit here and try to type out reasons that Scola isn't, because I'm a huge fan of his game - but I still see McGrady as the one player who can single-handedly impact the team's success. So that's why I still think he is the most important player. IMO, one of the main reasons I think that is because if McGrady doesn't show up in the playoffs, we lose 1st round, period, regardless of how hard Scola plays or how many charges he takes, extra possessions we have, etc.
Maxwell, but because of the addition of Scola if a team blitzes Tmac he has someone to pass to now that the other team has to honor.... Take Luis out of the lineup and the Rockets are easy to guard and to gameplan for even with Yao and Tmac...but add Luis in..... And the way he moves to open areas, gets rebounds, makes himself an available finisher, it makes the entire team better. I agree that Tmac and Yao are the best, and there are certainly other factors to the team's success, but to me, the biggest impact.....maybe that is what I am trying to say... Most Impactual player (as compared to last year) is Luis. DD
and tmac is this year's tmac. you can say scola has been the most important addition to this team in the offseason, and i wouldn't disagree with you one bit. but tmac has been the most important player on this team since the day we got him. our record without tmac is worse than our record without yao, scola, or any other name you want to toss into the ring. of course, calling any one player the most important to a team is a flawed endeavor to begin with, because players play different roles and we often find ourselves comparing players at different positions. lets just settle for saying that without scola, this team wouldn't be as good as it is, and the same applies to tmac, yao, rafer, shane....etc.
Don't ignore me, DD! Explain to me why you think Scola was the biggest factor in our run. He was getting minutes before he began starting. Again, healthy McGrady + team growing comfortable with each other > Scola getting 5-10 more minutes.
Sorry Mario, Scola starting has been the biggest factor because it allowed the team to have 5 capable offensive players on the floor at the same time from the opening tip. This made the Rockets a lot tougher to guard, and you could not trap Yao or Tmac without another capable player scoring as a result. Sure Scola was playing as a backup, but generally speaking backups have a far greater impact on winning and losing than backups. Scola and his motion and energy gets the team going, and in particular low energy players like Tmac feed off of Scola.... So to me, he is the biggest reason the team is better this year than last, and thus the most important player in this year's team success. DD
Agreed...... Some people are confusing the topic and maybe my wording of the topic is causing that confusion. There are the best players, and then there are the role players who make the difference. Scola to me is the guy that has made the most impact on this year's team...and a primary reason for winning versus losing. DD
So, if for whatever reason McGrady didn't play last season but he played this season, and consequentially our win total increased dramatically (as would be expected) ... does he become our most important player?
Interesting, a different way of looking at it........I see your point, and Tmac is clearly the best player..... DD
I'll go with the perennial MVP candidate. But I do agree Scola's impact has probably given us an extra 4-5 wins this season and can give us an extra win in every playoff series.
I really like Scola, but I wouldn't call him our most important because that implies we don't have viable alternatives at that position. I think Landry and Hayes bring their own particular strengths/weaknesses to the table, and we'd make due with them. PF is arguably our deepest position right now. There's a much, much wider disparity between McGrady and his backups compared to Scola and his backups.
But see this is where Luis is the most important, because Landry and Hayes do not do what Luis does, and if you have to put either one of them into the game instead of Luis, I believe the team declines significantly. Hayes is a great defender but not someone you have to guard on offense....and Landry does not move as well into open spaces nor pass as well as Luis at this point in his career...and Luis is a far better defender. DD
I have to say that player is Battier with Scola being right behind him. He is the reflection of what that 22 game winning streak team was all about. Defense and all-out hustle.
Both Battier and Scola are on the same plane, they are very important to this team. Tmac coasts a lot, and whenever you can get him energized with a player like Battier or Scola who is also skilled the team is much better off. DD
I think there are things that Hayes and Landry do well that Luis does not. You could say, overall, that Luis is the best of the three (I'd argue, when fully healthy, that player might actually be Landry). But it's not a clear cut difference, in my opinion. All three still fall into the category of "solid role players".
This position has taken a large part of the salary space, there is really not much you could do about it.
I wouldn't make that conclusion. Luis is much better offensively than Chuck. Defensively, I would choose Chuck.
