At least, he made all four free thows today. If I'm right, he missed both free throws in the game against Spurs. I mean he is improving, though not much.
FIRE Scola! Actually I think he isn't doing too bad. I still see him starting ahead of Hayes by the All Star break. If not, then definitely by the start of next season (barring any injuries).
Scola's transition to the NBA was much slower than I thought it would be. He's been playing professional basketball for a number of years, yet it really looks like he's got stage fright. It may be a while before he begins playing naturally. He's really been poor on almost every aspect of the game. I assume he'll get better eventually.
All international players need time to adjust. Some of them need a full season to show their true level of play. I'm hoping Scola will do it faster. But either way, he will find ways to help the team, even if he isn't capable of displaying his full potential at first.
Which is why its good to take some time away from the board once in a while and dont buy into the overhype that can easily get generated in here (no, Shane Battier will NOT average 8 boards cuz he's in JVG's system. (no, Shane Battier will NOT average 16 points cuz he has an "expanded role in Adelmen's system now). Or, just take it as amusement. Just looking at the title "Comparing Scola and Yi" I knew not to read it. Yi is a high lottery pick almost in the 5 top. Scola around the same age was a low second round pick, 'nuff said. That doesn't mean there's no reason for optimism, just need to keep it in perspective. Does come off kind of "superior", but good that you could give an educated opinion based on personal observation. Sure there are Scola nut riders in here, and they should rightfully get criticized, but dont think its AS bad as you make it. Not sure how you mean the actual Rockets overhyped Scola. They didnt announce him as the second coming or anything, he simply came out of nowhere. Maybe the local press did, cuz they didnt do their homework enough and got information confused. If the press does that of course the fans are - they probably got the lesser ACB Spanish league MVP awards he got and Spanish cup titles mixed up with the totally different Euroleague. Nor is "best power forward not in the NBA" some total made-up fan created gibberish. Credible sources such as Sports Illustrated can be credited with that kind of statement. Like the Spanoulis thing, what aided it was fans actually saw him play a few games before he joined the team and play well in them, and started salivating at the prospects. How couldnt they though? What was different was it just wasnt 1 big game against the US like Spanoulis, but it was all tournament long. Good or bad depending on someone's view of the hype, he got an MVP award from it. The analysts made a huuuge deal how he carried his team to Olympic qualifications without their best players. They dont tend to do that for Kurt Rambis or Mark Madsen types. Now if thats what he projects to be, Mark freakin Madsen, its just how its gonna go down...I could be wrong but I thought the board's overall general expectation was "just be better than Chuck/just give us size to guard against Boozer"
Defense and rebounding. His jumper will come, but I am not sure he could improve much on the those two areas, given he's 27 and been playing like that for years.
Statistics can be the NBA's Pecos Bill of liars. As a friend emailed -- and I believe he is spot on -- Another reason why I believe the plus minus stuff is a total piece of $h-t. You watched the game…is there any reason on this planet why or how a player can score 2 points and grab 10 rebounds and “affect” the game more than McGrady and Yao COMBINED?!?! .......absolute lunacy. BTW, Scola is a crafty player. He will have the foul-calling figured out by mid-January. From that point he will earn more floor time in critical stretches.
My uneducated guess is that Scola's just not used to the speed of a real NBA game just yet. It must come as quite a shock to foreign players at first. It'll just take some time with him, though I think he should average at least 15 minutes of playing time so that it could happen sooner than later.
he was getting a lot of gruff from the CF board last night. but he and rafer share the spot for most offense last night behind 111. 6 pts in 16 minutes. not great, but better than everyone else on the team last night.
I think he's still adjusting to the game and he'll be fine in the long run. If Scola is still playing this way by the Allstar break with no improvement, then fine, we have a larger sample size. For now, I think he's making small strides and he'll be a solid addition, as expected.
Does everybody agree, Scola would be buried at the end of Van Gundy's bench by now, never to see the light of day again this season? Adelman keeps running him out there and giving him minutes.
I agree with this point. He didn't want to play Juwan last year until Chuck went down and he had no one to replace him. Though Adelman has been running Shane and even at times Tmac at the four position. So its not necessarily that he feels he has to play Scola, but thinks he can eventually contribute.
I agree, i think Scola will be a fine contributor in the long run, some people just expected him to come in and be a world beater right away, no foreign player I can think of has done that, there's always an adjustment period
They need to hire a former NBA ref and 3 of the best former floppers in the game. Then have hime practice with these guys to learn how to not foul. His game is already up to par, just needs to not foul all the time.
Rockets is becoming a perimeter players team. Sometimes, we can see Yao+ 4 perimeter players. That is not the way good teams do. We need play more low post, and we need Scola! Let him to be more involved in offense.
Dont worry. The schedule of Rockets in first month is terrible and he doesnt have much chance to improve himself and adapt to the rule. But after this month,Rockets will face a lot of weaker teams.Then he should get a lot of time to get with it.
