Adelman impressed with potential of newest Rocket

[picnroll]

Yeah, while you hope your team can repeat

Maybe Scola can get you out of the first round. That would be exciting wouldn't it?

[Roxsfan]

I'll take 4 over 2 anytime. I'd also take 3 in the last 5 over none in the last 12....

still, no repeat and that imo is bad.

[Marcus Bryant]

First Van Gundy, now Adelman. Who will be the next retread to coach the Rockets?

[Marcus Bryant]

still, no repeat and that imo is bad.

IMO 4 > 2.

Man, the last decade has been cruel to Rockets fans. Small wonder picking up some of the Spurs' table scraps is cause for celebration.

[Roxsfan]

IMO 4 > 2.

Man, the last decade has been cruel to Rockets fans. Small wonder picking up some of the Spurs' table scraps is cause for celebration.

4 is greater than 2. Don't get me wrong, I like TD, manu,TP, and liked D.rob.....kind of weird to you perhaps. But if there is talent, I like it. I'm not like one of those extra-fanatical fans that think everyone suxs except their own team.

TD, must repeat at least once imo, b/c he has done EVERYTHING else.

and yes, I am excited to have Scola, I will admit that and yes our FO has been suspect over and over on 80% of the deals. But I will take my chances on Tmac and Yao + Battier and everyone else incl. bonzi and scola over Francis, Mobley, and Cato + everyone else

Adelman may be a retread, but if history serves, a coach who himself is a former Rocket wins championships in Houston......Rudy T and now Rick Adelman

u never know

[cherylsteele]

Remember when the greatest player in Australian basketball history won a le with the Spurs?

You mean Andrew Gaze?

[cherylsteele]

Yeah, while you hope your team can repeat

Yet since the Rockets' repeat they have struggled to make the playoffs. Since the 1999-2000 season the Rockets have missed the playoffs 5 out of 8 seasons, when they did make the playoffs they got bounced in the 1st round each time.
Yes when you bring up those years 1995-1999. I know the Rockets did alright but they did lose in the 1st round twice.

Compare that to the Spurs who have made the finals 3 times (winning each time), losing once in the 1st round, advancing to the WCF 1 more time and the semis 3 times.

Yes when you bring up those years 1995-1999. I know the Rockets did alright but they did lose in the 1st round twice. I was comparing the 2 runs the teams to date. Longevity means alot, the Spurs have been le contenders for about a decade compared to 2 maybe 3 years for the Rockets.

[objective]

9.3?

lol, I guess all the board experts who swore up and down that Scola either

A. Demanded the full MLE because he's greedy!
B. Still had a buyout of 9-14 million
C. Maybe didn't have a buyout at all!

were geniuses.

Sure, Scola's salary demands have been known now for over a year, and Tau's buyout demands had been made public through articles for just as long . . . but some people couldn't see past their hate to simply use available credible information.

[Dennis Lindsey]

Yeah, keep on bad mouthing the Houston Rockets. See who I end up trading next! Manu? TD? TP? They're all fair game now.

[Roxsfan]

^^

[objective]

You mean Andrew Gaze?

Was Gaze that much better than Heal in the lexicon of Australian basketball?

[sammy]

Bad trade! He was worth more than what we got! $500,000 was the buyout! We should've kept him at least for trade value instead we give him and Butler away for nothing! Mark my works, Scola will play well and it will come back to haunt us! This time the front office are a bunch of jackasses!

[Oh, Gee!!]

I don't know, do we want a 29 y.o. rookie?

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

1st year salary of $2.8 mil.



Other than the Spurs being willing to hand over a quality talent willing to sign a relatively cheap NBA contract in exchange for a combined $6.8 mil in payroll savings and cash to a divisional rival, perhaps their view of Scola has been the correct one all along. It's rather obvious that if the Spurs thought he would blow up in the NBA they would have found a way to bring him in earlier. As much as the forum doesn't believe so, the Spurs knew on the basis of prospective talent that this deal is one-sided. The Spurs have been willing to make mistakes before (Josh Howard) when other considerations were at hand. If Scola struggles to transfer his game to the NBA and Butler's bad habits and speech impediment cap his growth then the wisdom of the trade will look a little different in hindsight. We'll find out soon enough if their assessment was correct.

I'm with MB. I can't imagine the Spurs making this move unless they do not think Scola is going to make much NBA noise. You don't trade in your division if you think the move is going to help your rivals. Scola has always been a question mark it's seemed to me.

[Mr. Body]

I'm with MB. I can't imagine the Spurs making this move unless they do not think Scola is going to make much NBA noise. You don't trade in your division if you think the move is going to help your rivals. Scola has always been a question mark it's seemed to me.

At worst (for SAS), Scola is another Nocioni. At best, he's Walter Hermann. There's no way around it: the Spurs significantly upgraded a rival.

I figure the Spurs don't see Houston as a le threat - yet - and calculate that they can take the Rockets for the next couple years. They see a combustible mix of talent, no matter how good the coach is with diverse scoring options, and saw the trade-off between significantly advancing that in-state rival as no match to saving some money.

It's playing with fire. Houston was desperate for some good PF and interior strength and were looking to need to trade assets and spend some money to get probably inferior help, like Joe Smith or Melvin Ely, just about the only ones left at this point. Instead, like guardian angels, the Spurs swooped down and gave them the best PF in Europe and a decent, young, inexpensive big man, for some cash and a future second.

The Spurs just made the Houston offseason and gave them a very nice player for years to come. This trade is indefensible on pretty much every level. It was foolhardy, cheap, and may bite the Spurs in the ass. Even if it doesn't, it was selling for pennies on the dollar. Remember when the old owner of the Celtics made some trades explicitly to lower the operational costs of his franchise right before he sold it? This is exactly that kind of trade... It is damaging in basketball terms.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

This trade is indefensible on pretty much every level. It was foolhardy, cheap, and may bite the Spurs in the ass. Even if it doesn't, it was selling for pennies on the dollar. Remember when the old owner of the Celtics made some trades explicitly to lower the operational costs of his franchise right before he sold it? This is exactly that kind of trade... It is damaging in basketball terms.

My instinct totally agrees with you. I guess I'm trying to find some defendable reason why the NBA Champions, especially a team like the Spurs that seems to almost over-calculate, and over-analyze personnel decisions, would have made what appears to be a hasty, poorly thought out, "damaging" decision.

It's really bizarre to me. That's why I haven't commented on it much. Friends of mine who follow the NBA all think the Spurs dropped their shorts on this move. History has proven the Spurs front office knows what they're doing, but if this was done just to save a few bucks, then folks are right in saying this move will likely cost the Spurs down the road.

[smrattler]

I already have my "Scola Sucks" t-shirt ready for the Rockets games.

In Houston, Scola starts at PF. In SA, he's coming off the bench with no promises of playing time. No way he wanted to risk that coming here. Not only does he want to start, Scola wants to be a big star. Not happening in SA while in the shadow of TD, TP (and being the second or 3rd best Argentine on the team).

I doubt he'll be this big time star player in Houston either, but at least he gets the starting spot he wants and should be considered the best Argentine player on the team.

[Oh, Gee!!]

I already have my "Scola Sucks" t-shirt ready for the Rockets games.

attaboy, way to misplace your anger and frustration.

[Mitch Cumsteen]

The only way any of this ever made sense was if Scola demanded something close to the full MLE and he was never going to sign with the Spurs. We come to find out that he could be had for the same money that they gave to Bonner? The same money they gave to Elson and Butler last year? $3M is piss in the bucket for an NBA salary.

What the is going on? There must be something wrong with Scola in the Spurs eyes. At ude, game not meshing with the system, bad breath, etc. It's the only explanation. Otherwise, even as a pure salary dump, this makes absolutely no ing sense.

[Mr. Body]

What the is going on? There must be something wrong with Scola in the Spurs eyes. At ude, game not meshing with the system, bad breath, etc. It's the only explanation. Otherwise, even as a pure salary dump, this makes absolutely no ing sense.

Turns out Scola is signed for the same figure he's been saying for two years now, and the Spurs were publicly lying about his buyout. The reports bandied about by the anti-Scola crowds that he didn't want to play for the Spurs are false - he wanted in the NBA, anywhere.

A highly questionable trade, as you point out. The only way it makes sense is as pure profit.

[urunobili]

WTF???? Is your opinion that if a player doesn't blow up and become an allstar they ain't worth a ?

If you read the article, you will hear comments from top professionals in the basketball industry. Why the ing hate? Is Scola going to be a 3/9.3 mill hall of famer???

I don't ing get you all's knut sack riding of the Spurs organization.

This is a total up. This was an easy ing decision. You call Bonner in the office and say here is a minimum deal, take it or move the on.

Call up Scola, offer him the 3 for 9 and everyone is ing happy and you have a better lineup.

Scola is a ing winner. If he has half of the mental toughness as Oberto and Manu then you go with him instead of Bonner.

This is a total up of all proportions.

i agree... worst case scenario.. Scola ROY and first round loss to the Rockets with Scola averaging career highs outshining both T-Mac and Yao. T-Mac gives the kid a Rolls Royce after finishing his first round losing streak

[temujin]

Turns out Scola is signed for the same figure he's been saying for two years now, and the Spurs were publicly lying about his buyout. The reports bandied about by the anti-Scola crowds that he didn't want to play for the Spurs are false - he wanted in the NBA, anywhere.

A highly questionable trade, as you point out. The only way it makes sense is as pure profit.

Very, very, very bad move.
I would have bet double digits in points and 20 mpg by All Star break for Scola as a Spur.
And lots of rest for TD.

I distinctly remember the G7 Pistons 05 le press conference.
Q. "You are not the Spurs GM, but if you...."
A. "I guess not. Not officially, at least..."

Maybe this was the problem.