and i'm half Argentine, i was just in Beunos Aires last month. i can be like the V-span guy with the flag at every game.
If you mean Charlie Ward, that was all JVG. Even Les didn't want him on the team initially. JVG kept pressuring for Ward as his starting PG. He even arranged for Ward to write a letter in Les's presence explaining why he wasn't an anti-semite.
I haven't seen this much excitement around here since we signed that Greek guy. Finals, here we come!
Yes.. Van Gundier is Carl Herrera, and Van Gundier still has his questions about Scola's rebounding rate (kinda similar to Juwan's, I think). However Chad Ford noted that rebounding rate in Europe is often lower due to the lower number of missed shots. So, Van Gundier is hoping Scola would turn out to be a better rebounder than we thought. I'm obsessing over rebounds because it seems you need a good rebounder next to Yao, given his quickness limitations. I hope Scola is that guy... we'll see. I also don't have the same concern about Chuck losing out on minutes (I thought he would be important to the Rockets winning... and I turned out to be right) because, well, Juwan is no longer around and we needed somebody to fill his minutes. It seems now a re-signed Chuck will get his 20 mpg, and Scola will get the other 30 at PF. There's also the matter of price... reports were Spurs wanted a 1st round pick last off-season... the price, it seems, has decreased since then.
I was also a little shocked that SA would take this deal, but it does make some sense. They have Duncan as the PF with Horry backing him up. Although Horry is getting a little old, they did draft a PF in the first round, so they've got PF covered. Scola just isn't good enough to make their roster, so the Scola and VSpan part basically cancels out (both had no chance at cracking the roster). So from their view, they were trading Butler, their 3rd string center, for a 2nd round pick and money. Not too bad, IMO. From the Rockets point of view, we got two big bodies and got rid some of the dead weight.
Here's the likely reason why the Spurs sold him cheaply: 1. Scola has a July 15th deadline coming up for accepting Tau Cermica's 5 year $13.7 million offer. 2. The only way Spurs get value for him is via a trade, given that (1) the Spurs have their frontcourt set and have no intention of signing him to a contract that beats that figure-- and pay essentially at least double that, given the luxury tax, and (2) Scola may not even want to join that team, given the problems last summer and the likely lack of minutes. 3. The Spurs has to do a trade BEFORE July 15th. After that date, when Scola likely inks his 5 year-deal (probably with high buy-out figures, given how Spanish teams tend to operate), his right would be nearly worthless. So, I think it's a matter of the Spurs' other trade possiblities falling through and were left with a few days to scrounge what they could for Scola.
carl - i meant to ask you if you were van gundier, your posts were too similar. good to see you're still around. should have kept the old name in honor of a great coach.
The beauty here is that, compared to last year, we now have a choice of who we should insert in the PF position based on the flow of the game. If we need defense and rebounds, we have Chuck; if we need to keep scoring after Scola sits, we have Landry.
Barring any further big man acquisitions, I'd expect Chuck Hayes to remain the starter through next season. And that's not a bad thing -- Chuck Hayes has consistently complemented Yao extremely well and is always a positive for the team when he's on the court. Having a player of Scola's caliber on the bench gives you excellent depth, and who knows, he might turn out to be starter quality material. This is so much better than overpaying for a softie like Darko or a weaker Chuck Hayes clone like Varejao. Kudos to Darryl Morey for an outstanding move.
I don't think Scola would ink a new contract if he wants to come to NBA. But is his old contract expiring?
http://www.courant.com/sports/basketball/hc-nbaup0713.artjul13,0,5570826.story http://chicagosports.chicagotribune...bulls,1,3229956.story?coll=cs-bulls-headlines
JVG was never good at evaluating talent. He was perhaps one of the worst NBA coach in this department. Yes he knew a lot about basketball. But all he could do was to devise a good system and force his players to fit into the system.
