Scola would have helped he Spurs last night

[Ice009]

S-Jaxs agent said he was a starter and he wanted a salary in line with that. At the time I expected the Spurs to offer more than $3M a year, as they said they wanted S-Jax to stay.

On the other side, S-Jax over reacted. Soon after the Spurs got Hedo and Mercer in a trade. Mercer was cut after short time. The combined salary of the two was almost what the Spurs offered S-Jax for 3 years.

I don't think it would have taken much more to get him to sign. The Spurs didn't want to pay anymore because of Jaren Jackson IMO. I think they were thinking that Sjax might turn out like Jaren did after the '99 Championship, so they were probably reluctant to pay him anymore money until he proved himself more. They made a big mistake IMO as you don't let players walk for nothing that can take and make big shots in the playoffs.

[Ocotillo]

Since you obviously think the Rockets are trying to get rid of Scola what is you trade proposal?

Not saying they are wanting to get rid of Scola, just that they are willing to.

I'm too lazy to look up salaries and the Rockets needs et al but even not doing that I think it is safe to say they don't want RJ. We would have to give up some value to get him and I don't know they would want anyone beyond prospect like Leonard or Anderson who neither make enough to match Scola's salary. Probably can't get done as our best assets are past their prime other than Tony and Houston is likely happy with their point guards.

[Mr. Body]

So we agree, being cheap-ass cheap-skates lost the team Stephen Jackson (maybe impossible to keep anyway) and Luis Scola (braindead, hope-killing brain-fart trade).

[lcroock]

The worst part about Scola never putting on a Spurs uni is that Pop and co. never gave a reason for trading him. Whether Tim did not want to play with him or Pop didn't think Duncan and Scola could co-exist or Pop thought he couldn't play D, the Spurs screwed up big time by not keeping him. We would have had at least 1 or 2 more rings with this guy on our squad. The guy was a proven winner and compe or at the time and there was NO excuse for dumping him for peanuts. That was the lowest moment for me as a fan in the last 4 years hands down.

[Juggity]

You like that Raekwon, bro?

Phuq yeah

[Mr Bones]

So we agree, being cheap-ass cheap-skates lost the team Stephen Jackson (maybe impossible to keep anyway) and Luis Scola (braindead, hope-killing brain-fart trade).

It's always a good thing when Mr Body and Mr Bones agree.

[dunkman]

They were not cheap in the case of S-Jax. Hedo and Mercer salaries were $9m for the 03-04 season. Keeping S-Jax at let's say $5m / year and letting Ferry's contract expire would have been much cheaper.

At the time there were concerns about resigning Manu in 04, because the Spurs only had his early Bird rights, but then it wasn't a problem to sign Barry for full MLE.

Scola trade didn't make much sense either. Since Duncan didn't play more then 35 mpg, it would have left 13 mpg for Scola as reserve at pf plus more when Duncan played center. When Manu was out or played injured in the playoffs, the Spurs bench wouldn't be left anemic in production.

The Spurs unloaded Butler and got a second round pick (DeColo) for Scola.

In the end, the Spurs didn't repeated as champions and I think they could. In 03 they should have re-signed S-Jax and picked an impact bigman like Miller or Odom instead of Rasho.

Finally they missed the boat with Scola, but for 08 both the C's and the Lakers had superior talent, perhaps Scola wouldn't be enough without Manu at 100%.

[Mr Bones]

S-Jax in his prime proved he could guard Dirk in the the first round Golden State upset. If he's on the team in '06, I think they beat Dallas and three-peat '05-'06'-'07, regardless of what 7' guy is playing center alongside Duncan in his prime. I see analogies to the mistake of going with an offensive minded player with defensive shortcomings like Turkoglu over S-Jax to what is happening now with Bonner & Blair.