It's obvious that the Rockets have not yet come together as a team this season. This can be attributed to a multitude of factors such as a lack of ball movement, lack of team play and fourth quarter execution, injuries, poor coaching decisions, etc. While the shortcomings of the Rockets should be blamed on the team as a whole, I do believe it's fair to single out one player who has not contributed to this lack of progress...... Louis Scola. He is most under-appreciated and undervalued player on the team. We're so worried every night about how Tmac and Yao are playing (or not playing) that Scola's contributions go relatively unnoticed. The guy averages 12 and 8 in around 30 minutes per game, and recently he's numbers have even been better. But the consistency of his stats isn't even the most important thing that he brings to the Rockets. His experience playing internationally has molded him into a team player with a great basketball IQ. He demonstrates that you don't necessarily have to be the most athletic player on the floor to be successful. In fact, the more athletic players should take note of his game and not always rely on their own physical ability and skill. Another aspect of his skill set as a team player is his constant movement. The only time one really sees Scola not moving his feet is when he is shooting free throws. Adelman's offense is based solely around player movement and ball movement. Things that only Scola seems to understand. If the "team" started playing more like Scola I think the Rocket's would see a dramatic change in their team identity. I'm not saying the entire team needs to mimic Scola's game. I do believe, however, that the team should try to apply some of his game to their own. Scola grew up playing team basketball so he doesn't have to buy into Adelman's system. He's already there. But if some of the other players would watch Scola and run the offense that Adelman has implemented, we would be looking at whole different ball club.
Should they mimic his defense too? I agree though, he's played well offensively, but is still a terrible defender. Scola is a good player.
To be fair his bad defense is more a function of his physical limitations (no hops) than anything else. Its not like he can change those. He does the best he can within his limits.
When I think of athleticism in basketball, I think of guys like Dwight Howard and Josh Smith. Scola is a hard working guy with lots of stamina and relies on flopping to try to stop defenders. He's not going to be able to run guys down and block them or jump out of the building.
Yet he wasn't in the game towards the end of our last game. Adelman is a good coach. That is evident by the 22 game win streak we had but he has made some questionable moves this season. Von wafer deserves more minutes. I put the phili loss on the head coach
I posted this a few days ago in another thread... Scola has five double-doubles in January! Luifa is a beast and there is not denying it. In fact, in January Scola is averaging 13.7 rebounds and 14.6 points per game. However, I have three complaints against Scola: 1. In big games in January against teams such as Boston and LA Lakers he disappeared (averaging 1.5 rebounds per game and 3 points per game). 2. Scola does not like to take the clutch shots at the end of the game. Numerous times he has been open from different ranges 12 to 18 footers and he always pump fakes and passes it to one of the other guys. I wish he was a little more confident to take that shot. He showed a glimpse of that in the Indiana game. Unfortunately, he fouled out of that game. 3. Scola commits to many fouls to be effective in defense sometimes. If Scola improves in those three categories...I would say that the Rockets could become unstoppable.
Scola has being solid all season long and deserves some credit. The dude 15 to 18ft jumper is money!!!!
Scola is always the one grabbing the tough rebounds. He doesn't fumble them like how Yao often does. Yao plays the center position so he's in a better position to grab rebounds. So factor that in and I think Scola is definitely a better rebounder than Yao.
Luis is a great rebounder, of course. But you need to understand that basketball is a teamwork, in that PF and C work together to secure rebounds. If you ever go to a b-ball camp, the coach would probably teach you to block your man so that either you or your teammate gets to grab the rebound. And as you know, Yao is the most doubled player in the league, meaning that the PF on the other team usually gives up his own D to help the center defending Yao, which leaves Luis open for off. rebounds. For def rebs, just go through the daily photos on nba.com and count how many times Luis grads the ball from Yao's hands. You think Yao can't hold it? Not really, he's just satisfied as long as the team gets the ball. In fact, it's common sense that if the team has a great center, the PF is usually the one benefits most out of it.
Agreed very underrated, even i can't tell somtimes when he puts up 18-20 pts, it's like all of a sudden they show his stats and i'm like damn, he's done all that?!
Seriously, they should start making this a real stat in the NBA and give Yao the "Most Doubled Player in the league award year".
I kept saying that Scola needs to more plays and more shots. Its about time Rick started using him more and took advantage of his offensive skills. Honestly, I rather have Scola as the 3rd option, as opposed to Artest.
