Scola is a role player? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Thank you Spurs for your "Role" player. This guy averages 20-10 after we trade Landry and gets more than 31.2 min per game. Scola averaging 37 min per game is a beast.
Increased playing time suiting Scola just fine
http://www.nba.com/2010/news/feature...k20/index.html
By Jeff Case, NBA.com
Posted Mar 18 2010 12:15PM
Up to the trade deadline, the differences between Carl Landry and Luis Scola in Houston were hard to distinguish. Both played roughly the same amount (Landry averaged 27.2 mpg to Scola's 31.2 mpg), scored about the same (Landry at 16.1 ppg, Scola at 15.6) while Landry was the better shotblocker and Scola was the better rebounder.
Amid all of those statistical similarites was the Rockets' quandry of who to play down the stretch. Do they go with the banging, hustling Landry? Or do they play the jump-shooting, fleet-footed Scola instead? Tired of the guessing game (and more importantly, in need of more scoring), the Rockets dealt Landry to the Kings basically for Kevin Martin. As much as Martin has benefitted from the trade, Scola is doing more now than he ever did with Landry.
Since Landry's trade, Scola has seen his scoring average jump to 20.1 ppg and has played 37 or more minutes seven times in the last 12 games. (By comparison, he played in 37 or more minutes seven times in the Rockets' first 53 games.) His play in the last five games (in which Houston is 4-1) has given the team renewed hope in a late-season surge for the playoffs.
Coach Rick Adelman has praised Scola for his energy and rebounding prowess, something that was on full display last week in a big win over the Nuggets. It was Scola who had two quick baskets as Houston cut into the Nuggets' 11-point fourth-quarter lead, Scola who got an easy fast-break bucket to give Houston a 122-121 lead and Scola who came down with a late defensive rebound that gave Aaron Brooks a free-throw attempt that helped set up the game's final thrilling sequence.
While the Rockets have a steep climb to make it back to the playoffs, the post-trade deadline time has been a vital one for Scola and the Rockets' future.
What Scola is doing has been done while the Rockets' frontline has been banged up (David Andersen), is young (Jordan Hill, Hilton Armstrong) and is missing its franchise player (Yao Ming). If Scola's last two weeks of play are any prediction of the future, it looks like the Rockets won't have to worry about their quandry at the power forward spot anymore.
If Scola performs at this level up to the All Star game, he's a lock to be an All-Star. Book it!
Thank you Spurs! Again!