Question on Scola

[picnroll]

As I recall there is a certain date by which foreign players have to excercise a buyout of their contract. What is that date? If so if there is no CBA agreement by that date will Scola have a way to buy out of his contract or will he be unable to buyout and have to spend another year with Tau?

[Cant_Be_Faded]

i still dont see how or why we will get this guy


we want to keep devin brown and grob, we have enough bigs

as for the answer to your question i have no idea

[CosmicCowboy]

i still dont see how or why we will get this guy


we want to keep devin brown and grob, we have enough bigs

as for the answer to your question i have no idea

Scola rocks...he will be groomed as a replacement for Horry...

[SLOVENIAN 8]

Who cares for Scola now!!! It is playoff time we have to win tonight!!!! :smokin :spin

[ducks]

I would rather extend nazr then get scola
I have been high on scola in the past
I thought he would be a cheap rose
however he is taller then rose about 3-4 inches

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Scola rocks...he will be groomed as a replacement for Horry...


how is this possible? robert horry has a skill that cant be groomed or learned, its innate...its intangible..

Im not putting him down ive seen play he's really good, but we're stacked at power forward and center now and need wing men...

[CosmicCowboy]

Scola would be the situational small ball option with Tim moving to the five or pairing with another of the centers...Nazr, Rasho, and Massenburg can't fill that role...

[GrandeDavid]

Slovenian8, that's probably the greatest banner I've ever seen. That is fvcking brilliant, man!

[MaNuMaNiAc]

I think is anything, the reason to get Scola would be long term planning. Scola is young and extremely good. If its still possible to get him, I think we should.

[Solid D]

pic - I do not know anything about a date but maybe there is. Fabricio Oberto reportedly paid off his buyout in the past week or so to attempt to join an NBA team.

An article on fiba.com said earlier this year that Scola is committed to Tau through 2006, so Luis has to buy that down, less $350K contrib. from the Spurs, if he commits.
I would be totally surprised if Scola doesn't sign with the Spurs in the summer, once the CBA is done.

If I find something, I'll post it here.

[picnroll]

I remember last year a couple of players being wooed and then the date for a buyout passing. Oberto was one of them.

I can't see Scola not coming. Right now Tau is in the semis with Unicaja as I'm sure you know Solid. Scola against Vasquez, a projected lottery pick, is like man against boy. Scola's intensity will make him rival Manu as a fan favorite. Spurs will bring him unless CBA screws it up.

[Solid D]

pic, I found an old post that said that Oberto's buy-out option passed in mid July last year on his contract. I'm not sure if there is a Spanish League deadline, but Fabricio's specific contract had that date in there.

http://www.spursreport.com/forums/printthread.php?t=13152

[Manu'sMagicalLeftHand]

Scola is participating in the playoffs with his team, Tau Ceramica. They are in the semifinals 2-1 up, so the buyout limits shouldn't start until mid-July.

[kolko]

Scola is participating in the playoffs with his team, Tau Ceramica. They are in the semifinals 2-1 up, so the buyout limits shouldn't start until mid-July.

They are in the Finals now! :spin

[picnroll]

Scola 23 points on 11/18 with 12 rebounds and 4 assists.

boxscore (http://www.acb.com/fichas/LACB49333.php)

[picnroll]

If this report (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2081405) is accurate and there will be a break in CBA talks until August it may possibly mean no Scola in 2005 - 2006.

[mattyc]

we have enough bigs

Nazr - yes
Timmy - duh
Rob - worth keeping but aging.

And then there is:

Rasho - who knows
Marks - meh
TMass - probably gone.

[timvp]

Scola watch: Manu Ginobili may not be the only Spur from Argentina much longer. The Spurs drafted Luis Scola, a forward who was Ginobili's teammate on the gold medal-winning Argentine Olympic team, in the second round of the 2002 draft. That means they retain his NBA negotiating rights until, and unless, they waive them or trade them.

Head coach and executive vice-president of basketball operations Gregg Popovich said the Spurs intend to talk to Scola, who played this season for Tau Ceramica, in the Spanish League, when his European season ends.

"I'm not sure their seasons are over. I don't want to get in trouble with David (Stern)," Popovich said.

"Scola is somebody we drafted back when. Right now he's probably the best forward in Europe. Definitely we are going to talk to him this summer and see if it fits. It hasn't before, basically because of rules and contract reasons and all that sort of thing. But he's very bright on the radar screen, and there are some other guys out there, Europeans who have popped up, too. So we have middle-class exceptions, stuff like that, that we can try to use."

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA061105.5S.BKNspurs.notebook.300ed5508.html

[Sense]

I say get Scole and get rid of either Rasho, Marks, or Massenberg...

Massenberg has the most chances of changing to another team..

:P

[Mark in Austin]

i still dont see how or why we will get this guy...we want to keep devin brown and grob, we have enough bigs


Enough Bigs?

Duncan, Nazr, and Rasho are the only bigs (PF/C's) that are under contract for next season.

Horry has a player option and has indicated he might retire or play in Houston to be closer to his family. He isn't a lock to return, to say the least.

Marks and Massenberg are free agents.

As Duncan's ankle injuries demonstrated, the Spurs need a true backup 4. Even if he re-signs, Horry isn't that player. He's more of a 3/4, and given his age will most likely be used sparingly in the regular season to keep him ready for the playoffs.

With Scola's passing ability, size, and ability to score, he is a potential starter / or could get starter's minutes for the Spurs, especially if they cannot extend Nazr. Remember, Nazr's contract is up after next season, and it is likely he'll get quite a few offers that exceed the $5.5 million he'll make next season (check out the deals/extensions that Dampier, Foyle, Camby, Magloire, Ratliff, and Okur signed in the past year or two for the going rates for average to good centers).

We won't know how much flexibility the Spurs will have to extend Nazr until the new CBA is agreed to. What we do know is that HoltCAT is on record saying the Spurs will not pay the luxury tax. If the lux. tax threshold stays where it is, the Spurs will most likely have to choose between Rasho and Nazr, which would make an already thin front line even thinner.

Another aspect to signing Scola - costs vs. talent/potential. There will be nobody still available in the draft when the Spurs pick that is anywhere close to Scola's talent/potential. If he was in the draft this year, he'd be a top 10 pick. The Spurs could sign him for about the salary of a player drafted betwen 8 and 15. There isn't a big man free agent out there with Scola's talent that would sign for what is likely to be Scola's asking price. In fact, here's the list of free agent big men of note (restricted players noted):

Antoine Walker
Shareef Abdur-Rahim
Stromile Swift
Tyson Chandler(r)
Kwame Brown(r)
Eddy Curry(r)
Donyell Marshall
Udonis Haslem(r)
Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Samuel Dalembert(r)
Jerome James
Jahidi White
Ervin Johnson
Dale Davis

These guys either (1) cost too much or their current team will match the offer if they're restricted, like Chandler, Haslem, and Dalembert; (2) won't be a good match for the Spurs offensive/defensive philosophies, like Walker; (3) won't compliment Tim's play and/or need the ball in their hands a lot to be effective, like Curry and Rahim; (4) are riskier bets than Scola, either from a talent or injury perspective, like Ilgauskas, Brown; (5) are too old/washed up or just plain suck like Davis, Johnson, and White; or (6) are too stupid/undisciplined for Pop and the rest of the team to tolerate, like Jerome James.

The pickins are pretty slim. Scola's signing is as close to a sure thing as one can get right now given the undertainty of the CBA.

[Brodels]

i still dont see how or why we will get this guy


we want to keep devin brown and grob, we have enough bigs

as for the answer to your question i have no idea

Well, as other have said, 'we' might not have enough bigs next season.

And don't be so sure that 'we' will work very hard to keep Devin Brown. It's not a given that he'll return. If someone offers his a little bit more money and some solid playing time, he might take it. Yet with his back injury, even the Spurs might sour on him in the offseason.

And GRob isn't a lock to come back, either. He came to the Spurs so he could showcare his wares and demonstrate that he can still play. He was fairly successful in doing that. In my opinion, it's highly likely that he'll be working elsewhere next year. If he can still play, he's not going to be happy with twelve minutes a game off the bench.

[Brodels]

Plus, if Scola has the ability to make the kind of impact that some claim he can make, the Spurs need to bring him over if for no other reason so that they have another piece to work with.

If the Spurs really do have too many bigs and they're all tearing it up on the court, one of them could be packaged with some picks or another player to address other needs, like Bowen's future replacement.

[RobinsontoDuncan]

The guy is 25 right now, you can't let a guy that talented who wants to come play for you now wait until he is 26/27 to begin his rookie year.

[ALVAREZ6]

The Spurs better be smart about it and just sign Scola, he would probably improve a whole lot from playing in the NBA.

[ducks]

his rebounding has not improved that much over there

[UnknownPlayer]

He just sucks, lets sign Bigdog :drunk
Spurs need to limit manu's minutes, or start barry, because he can't play 25 minutes*. :lol

(*) Timvp facts :smokin

[emveepee]

TMass will be replaced by Scola. Retain the rest.

[Mr. Body]

They do everything they can to get Scola over here. It'll add a lottery-pick level talent to the team, but one with much more seasoning.

Scola is Duncan's back-up. Period. In a year or two he'll be killing people. He's hugely gifted on the offensive end.

[picnroll]

To give some perspective on Scola his team just finished off Unicaja in the Spanish league semifinals. One of Unicaja's primary players is 22 y.o. Fran Vazquez a PF projected to go in the top ten, in the six to ten range in the upcoming draft. Vazquez is about an inch taller at 6"10", same weight, three years youger, more athletic but not as wily, intelligent or energetic.

In the four game series won 3 - 1 by Scola's team Tau Scola averaged 20 points on .600 FG% and averaged 10.8 rebounds. Vazquez averaged 11.3 poins on a healthy .629 FG% and 7 rebounds per. The ULEB efficiency rating had Scola at an average 23 and Vazquez at 13.5.

Vazquez is younger and likely has more upside, Scola will never be a rebounding or defensive stalwart but nevertheless Spurs have got another steal to leave othr teams scratching their collective heads, "How do the Spurs do it? Why can't we?"

[Solid D]

Scola also had 5 steals in the last game.

[spurschick]

We should also keep in mind that he will be another player with national team committments. He's playing this summer for WC prequalifying and you know that he will more than likely be playing every summer.

[Manu'sMagicalLeftHand]

We should also keep in mind that he will be another player with national team committments. He's playing this summer for WC prequalifying and you know that he will more than likely be playing every summer.

He won't play this summer. Argentina will rest all their stars, since the gold medal in Athens automatically qualified us for the 2006 World Championships to be played in Japan. The rest of the teams (including the U.S.) will play for the remainning four spots.

Manu, Scola, Oberto, Sanchez, Nocioni, Wolkowisky, most of them will get some rest, most likely until July 2006, when the World Championships will take place. Argentina will use the tournament to try new players, and it will be the first National Team experience for the new coach, Sergio Hernandez.

For more info on the Tournament of the Americas and the World Championships:

http://www.fibaamericas.com/torneos1_us.asp?t=XGLQKBLQOI

http://www.fiba2006.com/index_e.html

[spurschick]

Manu, Scola, Oberto, Sanchez, Nocioni, Wolkowisky, most of them will get some rest, most likely until July 2006, when the World Championships will take place.

I knew that Manu wan't playing, but it's good to hear that Scola will get the rest too. It will be tough enough to make the transition to the NBA without wrestling with fatigue as well.