Rockets trade : How will Scola play in the NBA

by **1CenT** on Sat Jul 14, 2007 2:02 pm

If you haven't heard already,

"Rockets have traded for Luis Scola, one of the stars of Argentina's 2004 gold-medal-winning Olympic team and twice the MVP of the Spanish league. They will send guard Vassilis Spanoulis, a 2009 second-round pick and cash to San Antonio for Scola and reserve center Jackie Butler."

I believe this was an awsome trade, they get a pure PF and a backup C/PF that can possibility give you a 10-15 productive minutes and 6 fouls a game.

Luis Scola, who they said, the best european player not in the NBA, 6'9, banger, 27 years old... Played professionally for a lot of years...

How good is he?
Can he be a starting PF in this league?

I watched him a bit, he seems like he can score down low, but a little bit undersized..

I am concern about his rebounding, they said his "stationary" rebounding isn't too good, but a very good rebounder when he has a running start..

He isn't cheap, but i think he is definately worth it..

I am starting to really like the team now.

C - Yao Ming, Mutombo, Jackie Butler
PF - Scola, Hayes, Novak
SF - Battier, Wells, Snyder
SG - Mcgrady, Head
PG - Alston, James, Brooks

Their roster looks alright, but consider that they were a 50 win team with yao/mcgrady lost for 1/3 of the season..

Add Scola, Wells, James, Brooks
(rebounding, shooting and scoring)

Rockets will be a better team come playoff time...

Question is.. how is mcgrady......If he can play 70 games and be healthy in the playoffs, i don't doubt they will make it to 2nd round....

They are a potential 60 win team as well...
Which means nth ( look at mavs )

by **Jing** on Sat Jul 14, 2007 2:10 pm

You should have said "Rockets have traded for..." cause when I first read it, it appeared that they traded away Scola.... I'll take this trade though, he would seem to be a decent fit in the Rockets' game.. but truthfully I don't know much about him, but his Euroleague experience hopefully can come in handy.

by **1CenT** on Sat Jul 14, 2007 2:16 pm

Jing wrote:You should have said "Rockets have traded for..." cause when I first read it, it appeared that they traded away Scola.... I'll take this trade though, he would seem to be a decent fit in the Rockets' game.. but truthfully I don't know much about him, but his Euroleague experience hopefully can come in handy.

thanks for pointing it out, i was actually typing the news then i decided to copy and paste it from nba.com so it was a mix and match and didn't really reread it...

by **[Q]** on Sat Jul 14, 2007 3:27 pm

he'll be like another Jorge Garbajosa. a good, solid Euro veteran (yes, i know he's ARgentinian, but he's played in Europe)

by **_marsal** on Sat Jul 14, 2007 6:29 pm

He might become as efficient as Garbo, but their playing style is totally different. Garbo can shoot it from 3 point line, while Scola is a midrange game player. Plus Scola has developed better back to the basket game. He is a bit undersized for the NBA, but i believe he could average around 13+8 per game.

by **NovU** on Sat Jul 14, 2007 6:44 pm

wow
wid addition of this Cola dude, houton's roster looks stacked at every position
i really look forward 2 see how well cola & mike james will mesh wid ming & mac (Y)

by **JT_55** on Sun Jul 15, 2007 2:01 am

Great trade by the Rockets. Now they might finally get to the second round next year. But they still need a better PG if they want to win it all. I mean, come on, RAfer Alston?

by BZ on Sun Jul 15, 2007 4:32 am

JT_55 wrote:Great trade by the Rockets. Now they might finally get to the second round next year. But they still need a better PG if they want to win it all. I mean, come on, RAfer Alston?

I don't think Alston is going to be a big part of the Rockets next year. The Rockets showed some hints of dedication by deciding to draft Aaron Brooks, so I'm guessing it'll be Mike James/Brooks/Alston/Lucas as the rotation. But chances are, they'll probably get rid of Alston packaged with Head or Snyder maybe.

As for the Spanoulis trade, good riddance! Good move by the Rockets to get rid of a whiney crybaby who can't even play a decent game. The Rockets can't possibly lose on this trade... only a potential win. That's if they get Scola into the NBA in the first place.

by **BigKaboom2** on Sun Jul 15, 2007 6:42 am

zanshadow wrote:wow
wid addition of this Cola dude, houton's roster looks stacked at every position
i really look forward 2 see how well cola & mike james will mesh wid ming & mac

Post of the year.

The real question is - when is Scola actually going to play in the NBA? Same with Tiago Splitter - TAU Ceramica is an evil evil club.

by **kevC** on Sun Jul 15, 2007 2:55 pm

The Rockets and Scola already agreed on a "basic contract" and he is definitely coming over this year.

by **paparulo** on Mon Jul 16, 2007 4:56 am

I think he is not going to play more than 8 minutes per game in the frist year... but in the second he will do it great..

by **benji** on Mon Jul 16, 2007 5:57 pm

He'll play at least twice those many minutes...Chuck Hayes and Bonzi Wells are his only competition for the spot. (Butler should be...but he should also be starting for the Knicks right now.)

by **NovU** on Tue Jul 17, 2007 1:31 am

i think houston's in pretty good shape
bench alone makes an ok nba team

c - mutombo (former allstar & all defensive team)
pf - cola/hayes (i dunno who'll start, but hayes a developin young talent & cola a proven rookie from euro)
sf - wells (was awesome b4 injury)
sg - head (solid shooter, imo he could well be a starter on half of nba teams)
pg - james/alston (i'd prefer james to start. i miss james's days wid toronto when he averaged 20ppg)

:chug:

cheers! houston's gonna have a great season...
if they dont make it to second round of playoffs, it'll be T-mac's fault... :evil:

by BZ on Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:04 am

zanshadow wrote:i think houston's in pretty good shape
bench alone makes an ok nba team

c - mutombo (former allstar & all defensive team)
pf - cola/hayes (i dunno who'll start, but hayes a developin young talent & cola a proven rookie from euro)
sf - wells (was awesome b4 injury)
sg - head (solid shooter, imo he could well be a starter on half of nba teams)
pg - james/alston (i'd prefer james to start. i miss james's days wid toronto when he averaged 20ppg)

cheers! houston's gonna have a great season...
if they dont make it to second round of playoffs, it'll be T-mac's fault...

As a Rockets fan, I still wouldn't believe that a lineup like that would be considered an "okay" team. At best, they're bound for the lottery. Period. But on the bright side, hopefully the Rockets will pass the 2nd round next year, but I'm pretty sure their offseason moves have just begun. There's still alot to do, such as trading Alston, Snyder, and Reed.

by **yosifun** on Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:14 am

With no injuries, and a good mesh-up of James, Scola and Wells to the team, the Rockets will be one of the top 4 teams in the west.

If they could bring Francis somehow, it would be awesome.

by **Sauru** on Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:33 am

clearly with scola the rockets are favorites to win the nba title.

by BZ on Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:17 pm

yosifun wrote:With no injuries, and a good mesh-up of James, Scola and Wells to the team, the Rockets will be one of the top 4 teams in the west.

If they could bring Francis somehow, it would be awesome.

Francis is without a doubt better than the PG's Houston has right now, but he's definitely a player Houston should shy away from. Houston needs a PG that can make plays with a pass-first mentality. Stevie Franchise is not about that. He'd probably clash with James and McGrady.

clearly with scola the rockets are favorites to win the nba title.

I hope you're joking man. That's coming from a Rockets fan too. Houston will go to the Western Conference Finals at best. They need a good PG to take them there. James and Alston are not the right PG's to do that. Aaron Brooks needs to develop fast...

by **NovU** on Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:53 pm

BZ wrote:At best, they're bound for the lottery

duh... obviously i meant ok as in good bench team individually at every position
it's not like this bench team alone can win 30+ games or something

I hope you're joking man. That's coming from a Rockets fan too. Houston will go to the Western Conference Finals at best. They need a good PG to take them there. James and Alston are not the right PG's to do that. Aaron Brooks needs to develop fast...

wut u say is true
but most also acknowledge that rockets' chance at title is at best since olajuwon's era
besides if they could reach western conference finale at best, that makes em one of favorites to ppl already...
and as a rocket fan, i also consider them one of favorites to win title this year too... :lol:

by BZ on Tue Jul 17, 2007 3:16 pm

duh... obviously i meant ok as in good bench team individually at every position
it's not like this bench team alone can win 30+ games or something

You're specific about it now, but not before.

i think houston's in pretty good shape
bench alone makes an ok nba team

Read it yourself, it just came across as if you implied that as an NBA team, which I assume would be the starting lineup.

by **Sauru** on Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:12 pm

yes i was joking. it seems to me that everyone is hypeing another foreign player thinking he is already set for nba life.

by **1CenT** on Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:03 am

New offence, new players gonna be a crazy season for the rockets..

My prediction, there are going to be injuries, team will have chemistry problems..

and team gels together in the last 30 games... And gets healthy, makes the 2nd round, faces 1 of Spurs, Suns, Dallas(yes they r actually quite good) and well... prob get beat by them in a 6 game series.. unless 1 of those 3 teams don't make it to the 2nd round..

and that will be all..

Unless the Rockets gel very well.. i don't see them better than Spurs/Suns.. hence making da final impossible.. but u never know

Spurs beat the Suns.. and the Suns were a better team this year.. i don't think luck will play a role every big series tho.

by **Sauru** on Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:13 am

how come people have so much stock in this scola guy? why he is expected to excel right away in the nba where every other import needs a few years?

by **_marsal** on Wed Jul 18, 2007 4:46 am

Well, it's easier for big guys. Oberto needed 1 year, Nocioni too. There are also Radmanovic, Ginobili, Calderon...All of those players were once stars in Euroleauge (except Radmanovic :wink:

). Besides, his only competition will be C. Hayes. He's bound to do well. (Y)

by **Sauru** on Wed Jul 18, 2007 4:57 am

lots of big guys have also flopped in the nba, lets start with ohhh i dont know, darko? however they got this guy for free really so its a good thing for houston

by **_marsal** on Wed Jul 18, 2007 6:31 am

Yeah, but Darko played (prior to the NBA) in a team, which wasn't even in the Euroleauge. He was drafted because of his potential, not because he was a proven player. That Scola is. He is/was arguably the best PF playing in the Euroleauge. Of course, it could happen his game doesn't translate well in the NBA. It's just not very likely.

Rockets trade : How will Scola play in the NBA

Rockets trade : How will Scola play in the NBA

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