Buck Harvey: Spurs lose Scola; they aren't alone Web Posted: 09/02/2007 10:53 PM CDT San Antonio Express-News Luis Scola held a trophy Sunday night, and the Spurs will hear about that. They will hear more if Scola ever holds one in June. At least the Spurs have an excuse for trading the MVP of the Olympic qualifying tournament. They are the champs, after all, with a set rotation. But what about the rest of the league? Shouldn't another team have out-bid Houston for this super-sized version of Manu Ginobili? Scola wasn't really the best player in Las Vegas these past two weeks. Scouts would rank every player on the U.S. team higher. But he was clearly the best player in the Olympic qualifying tournament not in the NBA. He's a smart, bullish scorer, and even the Spurs admit he's been more effective than Tiago Splitter, their first-round draft pick. Scola was more effective Saturday, too. Then Scola outscored Splitter and Brazil, guaranteeing Argentina an Olympic berth, impressive because both Ginobili and Fabricio Oberto weren't involved. Furthermore, Scola comes with the typical Argentine edge. He's as tough and as fearless as they all seem to be, which is why the Spurs could have won a few games with this roster: Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and the Argentina national team. But a buyout got in the way two summers ago, as did a few other factors. Scola isn't Oberto, a glue guy willing to play a role. Scola is a post scorer, and an undersized one. That played well in Europe where he's been the focus, but the Spurs wondered how Scola would share the same area of the floor with Duncan. Still, even if Scola didn't fit in San Antonio, wouldn't other teams line up for him? If Splitter was worth a first-round pick, wasn't Scola? The Spurs have been openly shopping Scola for over a year, hoping for a prize in return, and nothing developed. The European Final Four the last three years didn't help the Spurs. Then Scola faced bigger and better players, and he struggled against competition that is more like the NBA. The consensus: His game won't translate to America. As a result, Scola became this era's Dennis Rodman. As with Rodman, the Spurs faced a dilemma with a player better than his trade value. Rodman undercut himself. By 1996, he had scared away most general managers, as well as Madonna, despite his rebounding genius. Only one or two teams even talked to the Spurs about him, and those who did wanted him for free. Only the Bulls offered anything of substance, because they rightly figured Michael Jordan could control Rodman's scattered brain cells. In return, Chicago was willing to give up a serviceable big man, Will Perdue. The Spurs could have given Rodman to an awful team, and Rodman would have dissolved into a mess. They instead traded Rodman to the one place where he could succeed, and, as Rodman won championships, the Spurs felt some criticism. The Spurs accepted this fate for one reason. The Bulls made the best offer, and Perdue was an asset. He was part of the Spurs' first title. Scola isn't Rodman, exactly. For one, Scola has yet to wear a wedding dress, at least in public. But this power forward created the same potential backlash as the other. After a three-way deal involving Cleveland fell apart in the summer, the Spurs had a decision to make. They could have done nothing, forcing Scola to return to Europe, but that wouldn't have been fair to Scola. And they could have given Scola away to an Eastern Conference team, but that wouldn't have done much for the Spurs. They instead got the best they could, which was payroll relief. This kind of exchange is not to be diminished in the world of the salary cap, but, in doing so, the Spurs traded Scola as they did Rodman — to the one place that could come back to bite them the hardest. The Rockets aren't just division rivals. They happen to need a power forward. And if Scola fits next to Yao Ming? The Spurs will feel the same kind of sting that came when Rodman won titles, when the sting should be shared. http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA090307BuckHarvey.EN.34b5bdf.html
The Spurs have been openly shopping Scola for over a year, hoping for a prize in return, and nothing developed. The European Final Four the last three years didn't help the Spurs. Then Scola faced bigger and better players, and he struggled against competition that is more like the NBA. The consensus: His game won't translate to America. The quote above is interesting...
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-bko-argentina-us&prov=ap&type=lgns To be fair, so was this, especially since it was against the best of the NBA: Tournament MVP Luis Scola had 23 points for Argentina (8-2), which lost twice to the Americans. He led a team lacking its normal firepower to a spot in the Olympics, and now turns his attention to making his NBA debut next month for the Houston Rockets. Remember, without the normal Argentine crew, the U.S. players could pretty much concentrate on Luis, but he still had standout numbers.
My roommate(Spurs fan) is acting like Scola won't do anything. Just 6 months ago he was talkin bout how they got the best international player outside the NBA coming to them soon and will only make the Spurs better for a repeat. Now he talkin bout how they have no room for him and that he won't improve us at that position. Face it Spurs fans. You blew it. Not that Scola is all-star material, but you filled our only hole for us. Don't deny the fact that we're a better team. We can't be any worse with an addition at a position we didn't have.
My only question is how much do you think they really concentrated on Scola? I mean, you're up 20-30 points throughout the game, do you really concentrate on anybody? lol. I've come to the conclustion that judging anything from international play is a crapshoot at best. Carlos Arroyo went ape on us in international. Carlos Arroyo isn't a great player in the NBA. I say let's wait and see what Scola does in the NBA. He seems like he could be a good player to play off Yao and the attention he gets - especially if Yao can make some good passes inside. He doesn't seem like an NBA-type go-to guy meaning a primary scorer type. If his offense does translate to the NBA, we could potentially field 2 starting teams with minor overlap on the roster. Sit TMac and Yao down to rest and you still potentially have a ton of offense on the team ready to go.
Spurs fan's always push the issue in a different direction when deep down in side, they are suffering from losing scola for so little.
Actually is not... Yes, he had a bad Euroleague Final Four this year... but facing bigger and better players? He faced Unicaja, a team which he played against in the ACB league a thousand times, and that had Garbajosa as the best big man. Scola is better than him. Also faced Panathinaikos, a team that had Batiste, Dikoudis and Tomasevic (former teammate), none of those players is better than him. Also "struggled against competition that is more like the NBA". what? He does very, very well in the Euroleague. He carried his team to the final 4 the last three years, and has been in the ALL Euroleague First Team the last two years...
Yeah, sure. Last I looked, they held a victory parade on the Riverwalk in June to celebrate their 4th NBA Title. They are returning that championship team intact plus they've added more defense yet somehow, none of that matters because they traded away Scola for salary cap relief. Now, if that is what you call "suffering" then by all means, sign me and the rest of the Rockets up for some of this "suffering".
I want to correct myself... Garbajosa had already left Unicaja last years... and they were missing Fran Vazquez too... the best inside presence of that team Marko Tusek. Thats what Harvey sees as bigger and better opposition... please...
I take scola's word anyday over a reporter for a San Antonio newspaper who probably (me being judgmental here) didn't see Scola's games in the last 3 years in the Euroleague, and who could very well be basing his opinion on another person's opinion (with this person similarly not having seen Scola's games too - me being judgmental again). If NEARLY EVERY scout and coach says that Scola is the BEST big man outside the NBA, he is THE BEST BIG MAN! This guy was the freaking MVP, help his Tau team win the Euroleague, have now helped Argentina qualify for the Olympics, had two 20 point games against team USA, and scored the FIRST EIGHT points in the first game against Team USA. What else does he need to do? Be Tim Duncan back in Argentina?
I pretty much agree... but Tau never won the Euroleague, and Scola wasn't MVP of the Euroleague. He got to the Final Four three consecutive years and was chosen the best PF the last two years. He is also the All Time top scorer of the Euroleague. When he left to the NBA, the owner of Tau called Scola, the best player ever of his club. Scola was MVP of the Spanish League (acb League), which is the best National League outside the NBA.
I am not worried about Scola scoring. He may have some adjustments to make to the physicality of the game, but he managed to get his points against the U.S. team and against, as far as we know, NBA-level bigs like Brazil's Nene and Splitter. Three things he does well are (1) the traditional post-ups... he's not the biggest guy our there or most explosive, but he's got a great arsenal of moves that he can make quickly; (2) midrange J... Juwan got those shots and knock them down at a high rate, Scola can do the same; (3) slithering around the basket without ball for easy points. These thing should translate to the NBA level. The question for him is going to be adjusting to the NBA as a defender. Will he foul out in 20 minutes like Chuck Hayes? Will a Yao/Scola frontline be too weak defensively? In any case, I like the guy and think he can play significant minutes right out of the gate. My question is who will fill the extra PF minutes when Hayes or Scola is out for injury or when both are in foul trouble. I don't know if Rookie Landry won't be a big dropoff, or maybe we are talking Butler or Battier or Novak?
The part that *should* be more relevant to us is asking why no other team offered more for him than a greek guy who wanted out of the NBA?
Man thats how all spurs fans act about this trade. Before and when this trade went down, Spurs fans were losing their minds about giving up on one of their big prospects. But now, everyone acts like it was not a big deal and he won't amount to nothing when a month ago, Spurs fans were ready to kill Dennis Lindsey.
Don't know if you watched the game, but they did double him early in the game, plus they usually collapsed on anyone who came down the lane….Scola had more than a few buckets under the basket within a crowd. Also it’s different when a guard goes ape crap on a team like Arroyo, so it’s not fair to compare the two....also Scola has been consistent with his 20+ Pts and 6+rbs…. Can't believe some of you guys still doubt his ability...he's a legit baller....no matter what league. Get excited because we finally have a legit PF who’s as tough as nails…and is probably a perfect fit to the Coach A system… My guess is he will average about 15Pts 7Rbs....
sounds like sour grapes spurs fans didn't do anything. the spurs front office made a decision and spurs fans can choose to either get upset with the f.o. or we can be happy that the front office got players like parker and ginobili with late first and second round picks. because of the spurs success, i'll go with the happy thing.
For years the Spurs were demanding a first round draft pick. This is why Scola's agent lashed out at them last summer. They finally gave up on that this summer. My recollection was a three way deal with the Kings and Cavs was in the works but it collapsed a day or two before Scola had to make a decision on signing a long term deal to continue playing in Spain. Then it came down to the Rockets offering the Spurs exactly what they wanted: Cap relief. I couldn't care less why no NBA team offered the Spurs more to get Scola. The fact is they drafted Splitter, were in danger of getting zero for Scola and the Rockets were in the right place at the right time. The only thing that matters is we have improved our PF position with a guy who's skillset on offense (slashing, posting, passing, running the floor, high post) should fit well with our coach and team. The irrational exuberance of some here about Scola doesn't change the fact he will help our team. The big question I have about him is fouls and defense.
