Luis Scola & Jackie Butler GONE?!

[picnroll]

Scola would want to go to a team where in the years of his contract he could establish value just like Manu and Nocioni did. What were the chances Scola would get significant playing time, particularly in year one? Particualrly that the Spurs' alpha dog is the leagues premier low post player, the place where Scola makes his living. Why is it a surprise Scoal didn't want to come to the Spurs? Houston and their void of PFs is ideal for Scola to cash in on his next contract.

[dbestpro]

The Spurs did this to themselves. The trade value of Scola and Bulter were created by the Spurs. The could have signed Scola and given playing time to Butler to create value in the early season and traded them by the deadline so as to not affect the cap.
Fans are upset because of all the teams to win a championship we know in our hearts that this is the team least likely to succeed. The Spurs basically won last year because they were the last team standing, not because they were dominant. Age is still a factor. We will always compete with the big three but most fans believe we need one more young player who could put up 20 on any given night to put the pressure on the rest of the league. Personnel wise we seem to be playing down to the rest of the league.

[SRJ]

Fans are upset because of all the teams to win a championship we know in our hearts that this is the team least likely to succeed.

How do you arrive at this?

Dallas is very formidable, the biggest obstacle around, I'll give you that.
Chicago will be very tough next year, I'll give you that. But -
Phoenix cannot play with us.
Utah is pretty tough, but they're still at least a year away.
Detroit is fading. So is Miami.
Cleveland lacks firepower.
Portland isn't there yet. The Lakers blow ass.

You think in that bunch the Spurs are the LEAST likely to succeed?? Please.

The Spurs basically won last year because they were the last team standing, not because they were dominant.

16-4 in the playoffs is not dominant now? Boy, standards are really tightening around here.

[Booharv]

Do either of them have injuries or something? I really can't understand a second round pick for both of em otherwise.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Nope. They're as healthy as can be.

[xmas1997]

The problem, apparently and unfortunately for the Spurs, is that as "bad" as this trade was, to do nothing would have been worse!

[Sam]

Were the Spurs offering THAT much less than the Rockets, or did Scola just not want to come?

He did not want to come. Scola wants to be the "big dog" somewhere. He believes that T-Mac is old and injured. Yao is soft so that he can be a star on the Rockets. He could not be "the man" or the "the star" on the Spurs. He was told that the Spurs were a team and he did not want to be a part of that.

[picnroll]

He did not want to come. Scola wants to be the "big dog" somewhere. He believes that T-Mac is old and injured. Yao is soft so that he can be a star on the Rockets. He could not be "the man" or the "the star" on the Spurs. He was told that the Spurs were a team and he did not want to be a part of that.

If all that is true Scola is screwwwed. Enjoy your five touches a game Louis.

[ploto]

He did not want to come. Scola wants to be the "big dog" somewhere. He believes that T-Mac is old and injured. Yao is soft so that he can be a star on the Rockets. He could not be "the man" or the "the star" on the Spurs. He was told that the Spurs were a team and he did not want to be a part of that.

We understand your role on here is to post a bunch of crap to make the Spurs look good and everyone else- like Butler and Scola- look bad. But too much has happened for people to buy it.

Scola has come off the bench for the national team. To paint him as some selfish guy who did not want to play team ball makes you look stupid.

THE SPURS HAVE NEVER EVEN MADE AN OFFER TO SCOLA.

You lost all credibilty the day you claimed that Beno was not intellectually prepared for games because of a language problem.

[picnroll]

We understand your role on here is to post a bunch of crap to make the Spurs look good and everyone else- like Butler and Scola- look bad. But too much has happened for people to buy it.

Scola has come off the bench for the national team. To paint him as some selfish guy who did not want to play team ball makes you look stupid.

THE SPURS HAVE NEVER EVEN MADE AN OFFER TO SCOLA.

What's your role on here? You sure don't know much, get a lot wrong trying to make the Spurs' management look bad. Other than that what? Are you Rasho's period?

[ploto]

What have I gotten wrong about how the Spurs operate?

They screwed Scola over for 2 years- that is why he had no interest in playing for them. They never even made him an offer all those years. They lied to the media about the amount of his buy out and his supposed contract demands when an offer was never even made. Now, supposedly, they care so much about him. Pure BS.

They bad mouthed Butler publicly the day before they traded him. Right on that one too.

[SRJ]

We understand your role on here is to post a bunch of crap to make the Spurs look good and everyone else- like Butler and Scola- look bad. But too much has happened for people to buy it.

Scola has come off the bench for the national team. To paint him as some selfish guy who did not want to play team ball makes you look stupid.

THE SPURS HAVE NEVER EVEN MADE AN OFFER TO SCOLA.

Any kind of proof? Links? Inside information? Because it's hard to believe that they didn't make one single offer during this whole time.

[ploto]

Any kind of proof? Links? Inside information? Because it's hard to believe that they didn't make one single offer during this whole time.

Ask anyone who knows. They never even made him an offer.

Kori has confirmed that she has heard the same thing.

[drmvp]

I'd be willing to say that a 27yr old Luis Scola is more valuable than an over-the-hill Juwan Howard. Even if he's just as good, they pull even with their team from last year. Keep in mind, they also added Mike James, who adds some toughness, defense, and another scoring punch outside of Yao/McGrady. And of course there's Butler, who gives them additional depth at the 4 and 5 in case Yao gets hurt and/or Dikembe lives up to the expectation that his age brings...

Bottom Line: Spurs took the Rockets from a decent playoff-bound team in their division and made them a borderline Championship contender. People forget about the myriad of injuries and the lack of depth they had last year....Chuck Hayes is a good D-League player and 8th guy in the rotation, but he's not a starting PF.

Also:

Bonzi Wells is back with daddy Adelman, happy, and motivated in a contract year;
Aaron Brooks (#26 pick) has been tremendous in the summer league; Adelman loves this kid.
Carl Landry (#31 pick) has shown flashes in the summer league.

Furthermore, Yao will be better when occasionally positioned in the mid-to-high post in Adelman's scheme. That will better utilize his mid-range shot and excellent passing skills to cutters, and it will allow Scola room to roam along the low post.

[picnroll]

Ask anyone who knows. They never even made him an offer.

Kori has confirmed that she has heard the same thing.

ploto since you seem to know so much about Scola's situation exactly what was the dollar amount of Scola's buy out in the summer of '05? And while you're at it what was the Spurs greatest position of need to fill with their MLE in the summer of '06 after dumping Rasho the Timid and Nazr the Dense? What offers did they get for Scola if/when they tried to trade him and should they have traded him regardless of the offer? Should the Lakers FO show good faith and trade Kobe regardoless of the offer since that's what he wants? Are they as bad as the Spurs since they don't seem to be willing to oblige Kobe?

[SRJ]

So Kori, or "anyone who knows" (how they would know this would be helpful), if this is true, why? What kind of a Bizarro, tortured strategy is that?

We love this Scola guy, and we're gonna invest a draft pick on him. In fact, we like him so much, we're not going to make even a half-assed attempt to sign him to a contract, and furthermore, we'll give him away for basically nothing.

This just doesn't add up. Why even draft guys at all if this is the plan of attack? Something just doesn't add up.

[xmas1997]

So Kori, or "anyone who knows" (how they would know this would be helpful), if this is true, why? What kind of a Bizarro, tortured strategy is that?



This just doesn't add up. Why even draft guys at all if this is the plan of attack? Something just doesn't add up.

IMHO the hope was that Scola would develop his defense to go along with his really good offense.
Apparently he never did judging by the Spurs FO reactions each year.
Thus he apparently became trade bait, but nothing materialized that was condusive to the Spurs enough to warrant being brought over or traded as evidenced by Pop stating that all that was offered was "stupid".
In an ideal world, we should have gotten a high 1st round draft choice for his rights.
But this is not an ideal world, and no one wants to help the NBA champs be better.
Damn!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AFBlue]

So Kori, or "anyone who knows" (how they would know this would be helpful), if this is true, why? What kind of a Bizarro, tortured strategy is that?



This just doesn't add up. Why even draft guys at all if this is the plan of attack? Something just doesn't add up.

They were reportedly hopeful about bringing him over in summer of 2005, but the buyout with Tau prevented that from occuring, so they went with Oberto. That pretty much sealed his fate as a future member of this Spurs team.

But whether or not he was ever going to play for the Spurs is not the issue. The issue is what they got in return for him. If Scola turns out to be an unmitigated disaster for the Rockets, then perhaps the late-second round pick in 2009 will be justified.....BUT if he has even a halfway decent few years with the Rockets, it will have been a bad move by the Spurs FO.

If they couldn't sign him, they should've just let him sign a mega-deal overseas....

For the record, I think Scola will do fine in this league. I don't think he'll be a superstar, but if you give him 25-30MPG, he'll score in the double digits and get you 4-5 RPG....and that's not "bust" material.

[venitian navigator]

Well, I really think that this, talent wise, has been an awful trade...first 'cause we just had in return a roster spot and the chance not to pay luxury tax, second 'cause we enforced a team in the west we'll play against a lot of times.
I seriously doubt that Scola will not be a good player...and Butler, after all, could be not that bad.
The Rock's front line will be now : Battier - Hayes - Ming
Scola - Mutombo (Butler)
After all, not a bad one...

The point is that, obviously, NOBODY WANTS TO GIVE SOMETHING OF VALUE TO A LE CONTENDER and, consequently, we didn't receive better offers...so is a trade we have to say about : better than nothing

But I'm sure a lot of teams are gonna regret they didn't offer more for us for Scola (and, perhaps, for Butler too).
Expecially the ones (like Chicago) were Scola could have been an exceptional fit (and they had a lot of options for trading...)!

[Mr. Body]

The point is that, obviously, NOBODY WANTS TO GIVE SOMETHING OF VALUE TO A LE CONTENDER and, consequently, we didn't receive better offers...so is a trade we have to say about : better than nothing

We practically just made a championship contender. They have some work to do, but we gave Houston EXACTLY what they needed. For nothing.

[xmas1997]

Well, I really think that this, talent wise, has been an awful trade...first 'cause we just had in return a roster spot and the chance not to pay luxury tax, second 'cause we enforced a team in the west we'll play against a lot of times.
I seriously doubt that Scola will not be a good player...and Butler, after all, could be not that bad.
The Rock's front line will be now : Battier - Hayes - Ming
Scola - Mutombo (Butler)
After all, not a bad one...

The point is that, obviously, NOBODY WANTS TO GIVE SOMETHING OF VALUE TO A LE CONTENDER and, consequently, we didn't receive better offers...so is a trade we have to say about : better than nothing

But I'm sure a lot of teams are gonna regret they didn't offer more for us for Scola (and, perhaps, for Butler too).
Expecially the ones (like Chicago) were Scola could have been an exceptional fit (and they had a lot of options for trading...)!

I agree 100%.

[drmvp]

... But I'm sure a lot of teams are gonna regret they didn't offer more for us for Scola (and, perhaps, for Butler too).
Expecially the ones (like Chicago) were Scola could have been an exceptional fit (and they had a lot of options for trading...)!

That does puzzle me. However, most GM's aren't generally that bright.
...

Frankly, I don't understand why the Spurs felt compelled to make any trade.

So what if Scola's deadline was near.

So what if he'd sign a contract in Europe and never play in the NBA.

So what if the Spurs would get nothing in return as the trade-Scola proponents feared.

Nothing? Haha.

They should have just let him rot in Europe. Better that than having him potentially come back to haunt the Spurs as an adversary!

It seems the Spurs feared that Scola would sneak into their practice facilities with an AK-47 and go postal if they didn't trade him. Was the Argentinean mafia making implicit threats? Was Pop worried about being kidnapped on his next trip down there? Something is bizarre about all this.



























Anyway...as a Rockets fan, I'm thrilled to have Scola!

[Russ]

It seems clear that Jackie Butler was viewed around the league as a liability that you would have to pair with an asset in order to move. Scola was the asset.

Scola may be a first-rate player or a bust -- it's hard to predict because there is no NBA player that he can be compared to. Maybe Sharif Abdur Raheem? I saw some publshed report calling Scola "athletic." If so, he'll be an all star with his size and shooting touch.

I very seriously doubt it. I think Scola is slow and lumbering. A smaller, slower, thicker Rasho. But others disagree so we'll see.

[td4mvp3]

That does puzzle me. However, most GM's aren't generally that bright.
...

Frankly, I don't understand why the Spurs felt compelled to make any trade.

So what if Scola's deadline was near.

So what if he'd sign a contract in Europe and never play in the NBA.

So what if the Spurs would get nothing in return as the trade-Scola proponents feared.

Nothing? Haha.

They should have just let him rot in Europe. Better that than having him potentially come back to haunt the Spurs as an adversary!

It seems the Spurs feared that Scola would sneak into their practice facilities with an AK-47 and go postal if they didn't trade him. Was the Argentinean mafia making implicit threats? Was Pop worried about being kidnapped on his next trip down there? Something is bizarre about all this.



























Anyway...as a Rockets fan, I'm thrilled to have Scola!

maybe they really did care about this guy and his dream to play in the states but knew they couldn't open up a spot for him here that he would enjoy and flourish in? i'm as cynical as anybody, but if all that is being said is true about the idiocy of this trade, maybe that has merit. but then again, maybe butler was so bad they had to sweeten the deal of someone taking him.

[Booharv]

Nope. They're as healthy as can be.

I must be re ed then, because I can't understand this at all.