Julian Mozo (Ole' Argentine reporter) is on the Ticket right now

[whottt]

Whottie...If u have access to Scola's interviews he is pretty consistent when asked about playing in the NBA. He said several times that "I'm playing with this team now (either Tau or NT) and I'm focused in this tournament/game/series". Normally they interview the guy during some important compe ion and he shows loyalty to his current team. Same goes with Oberto (who BTW is the hotter head) when he couldn't get into the NBA year after year. Sometimes is frustration doing the talk, others is political correctness and others respect for the current team/situation.
If I would 've thought that u defended Manu because of his nationality I wouldn't respect your opinion as I do.

Aww thanks Athenea.

Look I am just saying, he's been so hyped up that everyone thinks he's going to be a PF version of Manu...I just don't see it. You could see Manu was special the first time you saw him play...Charles Barkley saw it even when he was rookie...everyone saw it. I just don't see it with Scola so I am surprised everyone seems to think he is going to be the second coming.

I like Oberto because Oberto has always seemed like the leader of those Argentinian teams that beat team USA..he kinda reminds me of Duncan in his demeanor...maybe not the most talented guy on the team or capable of the biggest game, but also the guy who isn't going to have a bad game..the dependable one who gets his job done when it matters most. And I thought he usually had a tough assignment against team USA.


I don't think the Spurs are playing games with this...

I think if Scola is as great as everyone claims, the Spurs would want him, they said they did, they told him they did. What changed?

I think it's the Spanish team that doesn't want him to go because they lost their other two stars. That makes the most sense right?

They don't want to go from being a Euroleague Finalist to being a team with no stars...Makes sense to me.


I think they want a lot on the buyout and Scola is going to need a lot more money than he's proven he's worth to get out this season...I think the Spurs don't want to pay a guy whose never played a game in the NBA, 4 million a year. I think they are smart to do that.

[danyel]

In 2002 when we drafted him and they talked to him...

Everyone else says, I'm happy to be drafted especially by a great team like the Spurs.

Scola said: I wish I hadn't been drafted.

And you know why he said that, right?

Everyone was expecting Scola to be a lottery/first round pick. A first round rookie contract would have allowed him to pay his buyout and come the NBA right away (something similar as what Gasol did), being drafted in the second round wouldnt have allowed that, because the contract a secound round rookie gets.

Being able to sign with any team as a free agent would have allowed to get the kind of money needed to buy out his contract in Spain.

Its not like he didn't wanted to join the Spurs or anything like that, it was just that he wanted to jump to the NBA right away...

In the Olympics when they talked to him and asked him if he looked forward to playing in the NBA with his national teamate Manu:

Most people would have said: That's great, I look forward to playing in the NBA and getting to play with Manu I am looking forward to the chance.

Scola(scowls) and says: I am not even thinking about being there.

And it was do ented at the time that he was angry at RC for asking him where is the rebounding.

Do you have a link? I don't remember anything like that...

Maybe he said that he wasnt thinking about that because he was in the middle of a tournament and all he was thinking was winning it? would have that been a bad thing?

When did RC said that to him? how do you know how Scola reacted?

Now: This friend of his when asked, says:

I think he'll probably angry and probably wish to be traded.


I think his friend is right based on just about every other interview with him that I have seen.

Friend? what friend? a reporter talking about what his agent said? since when that is a declaration? what were you expecting his agent to be saying? "Luis is thrilled we couldnt get to an agreement..."

This team never has to deal with players saying controversial
things

You first called him a lockeroom cancer, now you say he says controversial things, please show me when! are we even talking about the same guy?

[whottt]

And you know why he said that, right?

Everyone was expecting Scola to be a lottery/first round pick. A first round rookie contract would have allowed him to pay his buyout and come the NBA right away (something similar as what Gasol did), being drafted in the second round wouldnt have allowed that, because the contract a secound round rookie gets.

Being able to sign with any team as a free agent would have allowed to get the kind of money needed to buy out his contract in Spain.

He wasn't going to get offered that much, if teams were willing to pay the buyout they would have drafted him in the first round.

Its not like he didn't wanted to join the Spurs or anything like that, it was just that he wanted to jump to the NBA right away...

I just think saying, " I wish I hadn't been drafted" is a funny way to answer that question...I don't see many guys saying that.

Do you have a link? I don't remember anything like that...

Maybe he said that he wasnt thinking about that because he was in the middle of a tournament and all he was thinking was winning it? would have that been a bad thing?

When did RC said that to him? how do you know how Scola reacted?

Well part of it was a television interview after he won the gold medal...

He was smiling and happy until the reporter mentioned the Spurs and then he scowled at the mention of the Spurs. I can't remember what he said totally. I just know he said he wasn't thinking about the Spurs...a picture said 1000 words though.

The rest of it was an article posted here on the forum, I'll look for it.

Friend? what friend? a reporter talking about what his agent said? since when that is a declaration? what were you expecting his agent to be saying? "Luis is thrilled we couldnt get to an agreement..."

I don't expect him to be thrilled...in fact I expect him to want to be traded.

You first called him a lockeroom cancer, now you say he says controversial things, please show me when! are we even talking about the same guy?

I said he's shows signs of it and IMO, he does...I like the fact that he is firey but guys that have a temper can be divisive presences and lockerroom distractions...

I give you Delfino(and I know you will probably defend his comments but that will prove why he is a divisive presence).

I'll look for the article about the rebounding thing...

It'd be best if you could see the interview after the Olympics though. His face told the story.

[Russ]

I've always liked Oberto better than Scola, but assumed that the option in the NBA was Scola over Oberto (age, movements, abilities).
Nevertheless, Oberto is a monster defender, a decent scorer and... experience.

"Oberto is a monster defender. . ."

You just said a mouthful. Remember this is the Spurs -- and Scola is not known for his defense.

[Mavs<Spurs]

As I read everyone’s comments on this thread here are the things that cross my mind. See if you can tell which ones have just a pinch of sarcasm.

1) Is Johnny Ludden the voice of the Spurs? Nowhere in the article does it say that the SPURS told him the buyout was 14.5 million. All it says is that was the original agreement. It does not say what his source was. Once a source is sighted that is a Spur or a Spurs official comes out and says it will I believe that came from a Spurs official.

2) Poor Luis Scola for agreeing to sign a 10 year contract with TAU with either a 14.5 million or 3.2 buyout clause. I cannot believe a team would force him at gunpoint to do something like that... just horrible.

3) Poor Spurs for wasting such a valuable pick as the 3rd to the LAST pick in the draft. I feel that any pick at that level should be an All Star or they might as well have used it on a box of Tic Tacs.

4) Oberto is better than Scola because he either cost 3.2 or 14.5 million less than Scola with the odds of their contribution to the team being quite similar.

Finally, someone making some sense!

[BigDiggyD]

Finally, someone making some sense!

Thanks... the voice of reason is just one of the many voices in my head. The problem is I am never sure which one is actually talking.

[Mavs<Spurs]

themanurules --

Ludden's article is saying that the original contract (signed in 1997) had a $14.5M buyout. The contract was revised to include lower buyouts over time (but everything that was specified was stated for him being a first round pick). According to Ludden, Tau is saying that since no reductions were specified if he was a second round pick, then the original buyout applies.

Thank you Kori. Much clearer unfortunately.

[danyel]

I give you Delfino(and I know you will probably defend his comments but that will prove why he is a divisive presence).

Delfino is a whole different thing than Scola, I havent defend him, actually Im kinda dissapointed with his at ude. Stop assuming the way I'm going to react please, I don't like that and you don't know me that well.

[wildbill2u]

In re the DA removal...

The Spurs were offering something like $42 million over 6 years, but only $28 mil or so was guaranteed. I believe the 6th year was non-guaranteed and the 5th year was partially guaranteed. It was pretty ridiculous, considering that most deals in the NBA are usually fully guaranteed over the life of the contract. But, the Spurs were able to go to the public and claim that they were offering him $42 million and that wasn't enough for that greedy little bas .

San Antonio bought that story, hook, line and sinker.

Derek Andersen was here for one year. Had a decent season, shooting about 41% Fg and 39% 3Pt with a 15.5 average and 3.7 APG with 2.3 TO. He has NEVER approached those figures in the next four seasons with Portland. I wouldn't say he's burned up the league as one of the premier guards.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but did we OWE this guy a big contract after one year--and would we have been happy with his play since? I mean it's not as though he personally won a Championship for us like Jax.

[wildbill2u]

Scola would have had no problem paying off his buyout with the contract Oberto got.

Assume that the figure that everyone throws around for both Oberto's salary and Scola' s buyout (who knows for sure) is around $3,000,000. Since the Spurs can only pick up $350,000, that means Scola would pick up nearly the entire amount out of his savings account or salary.

Do you think Scola would expect to pay it out of his money--or figure he coud lay it off on the Spurs contract?

How much more than $3,000,000 do you think Scola would want for his Spur contract to pay for his own buyout and for his playing wages next year--after taxes? Would he want $5,000,000? $6,000,000? More?

Do you think the Spurs would or should pay out that kind of money for an untested backup PF, looking at the wage scale of the other players?

Or is Oberto a better deal for the money?

[ChumpDumper]

As I remember, DA's last year or so was guaranteed provided he played a certain number of games each year.

Given his injury history and games played after the trade, the clause seems to be pretty justified.

[Marcus Bryant]

Derek Andersen was here for one year. Had a decent season, shooting about 41% Fg and 39% 3Pt with a 15.5 average and 3.7 APG with 2.3 TO. He has NEVER approached those figures in the next four seasons with Portland. I wouldn't say he's burned up the league as one of the premier guards.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but did we OWE this guy a big contract after one year--and would we have been happy with his play since? I mean it's not as though he personally won a Championship for us like Jax.

That's not the point. DA's market value at that point was closer to what Portland gave him than what the Spurs were offering.

The Spurs did not want him back. But they made it seem as they did. They were able to claim that they made a $42 mil offer to him even though over a quarter of it was non-guaranteed.

Look, again, for the 100th time because some of you can't seem to ing comprehend it, I'm not saying the Spurs should've re-signed him at all. I am merely pointing out that instead of the Spurs being up front about not wanting him back, they ed around with him and made him out to be a greedy little bas . Sure, he helped them out big time with his ing, but its not like the Spurs were being on the up and up.

And that's the ing point. The Spurs have an effective front office, but some of you need to stop thinking that they are some by golly honest and pure organization.

, they were ready to run DRob out of town and make him out to be the bad guy.

[Mr Dio]

The Spurs did not want him back. But they made it seem as they did

Oh brother, we have a self-proclaimed insider here.
Or is it ESP?

[Marcus Bryant]

Better that than, um, you.

Of course you really believe the Spurs wanted him back. That's not surprising given your inability to think for yourself.

So do you have something to add to this forum or are you just going to waste space?

[Mr Dio]

Just noting your 'tude..Guess I was right.

Get back on track son.
Didn't mean to razz your mind so easily.

[Marcus Bryant]

Whatever's happened to your mind, I hope it never happens to mine.

[Mr Dio]

Get back on track/topic son..Try would you son? Try?

[Mr. Body]

M.Bryant just goes on his crusades every now and then. Let him go.

[Mr Dio]

I hear ya.

[Marcus Bryant]

Mr. Dio's infatuation with me continues. Sorry man, I won't let you smoke my pole.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Marcus, get used to it. He followed me a while back when I insulted him for being a wannabe t-sip.

You want to see an inferiority complex personified, crack on Dio about being a bandwagon sip.

[BigDiggyD]

That's not the point. DA's market value at that point was closer to what Portland gave him than what the Spurs were offering.

The Spurs did not want him back. But they made it seem as they did. They were able to claim that they made a $42 mil offer to him even though over a quarter of it was non-guaranteed.

Look, again, for the 100th time because some of you can't seem to ing comprehend it, I'm not saying the Spurs should've re-signed him at all. I am merely pointing out that instead of the Spurs being up front about not wanting him back, they ed around with him and made him out to be a greedy little bas . Sure, he helped them out big time with his ing, but its not like the Spurs were being on the up and up.

And that's the ing point. The Spurs have an effective front office, but some of you need to stop thinking that they are some by golly honest and pure organization.

, they were ready to run DRob out of town and make him out to be the bad guy.

OK so since you said that over 25% of the deal SA offered DA was not guaranteed and I don’t remember it that way I decided to do some searching.

So what I find is DA saying the Spurs verbally promised him a deal starting at 8 mill if he would sign the one year deal at 2.5.

We have the Spurs with a 6 year 42 million dollar offer on the table that they claim DA verbally agreed to.

We have DA upset because the last year of the deal isn’t fully guaranteed and that they were not offering maximum raises every year.

Pop says "All I know is we had an agreement on Thursday, and on Friday I was told Derek was going to Portland,"

RC Buford says "Contract negotiations in team sports happen all the time, and I'm not sure that anything here happened differently than they would most places."

So what was the deal? Some sites day the initial offer was 4/36 others say 5/36 and that Derek wanted guaranteed 6 years with the last year being a player option year. Spurs countered with 6/42 with no player option and 1.2 million in additional player incentives. Derek claims the last year wasn’t fully guaranteed. I cannot find anywhere what the specifics of FULLY guaranteed means. Maybe team option? I don’t know.

Marcus you also mentioned that the Spurs weren’t paying him what he was worth. That depends on what you mean by what he was worth. If you mean that the Spurs wouldn't pay him what Portland paid him then that is true. But if you mean that a 15-5-5 SG should have been making 8 million a year in 2001 especially when he showed signs of wearing down in March, April, and May then I say no.

So basically we have a he said - he said between the Spurs and DA - you have chosen to believe what DA and his agent Tutt say over what the Spurs say and that is fine, there isn't any real way to know which is the truth, and I happen to believe that often times the truth is somewhere in the middle.

I will say this though, DA had agreed to take WAAAY less money from Portland to leave so he no doubt legitimately felt he was wronged in some manner.

[wildbill2u]

"The Spurs did not want him back. But they made it seem as they did...I am merely pointing out that instead of the Spurs being up front about not wanting him back, they ed around with him and made him out to be a greedy little bas . Sure, he helped them out big time with his ing, but its not like the Spurs were being on the up and up."

So your opinion is that the Spurs didn't want him at all, so their offer was a sham and the FO simply decided to with his mind for no reason--other than they are nasty and evil management negotiators.

That's ludicrous, given the good reputation of the FO around the league amongst players and managers. You can name the players who bad mouth the Spurs on one hand. Even Malik didn't have a bad word to say about Pop or the team when he was traded.

IMHO the Spurs management works hard to have a happy team with no maligerers or carpers. If your scenario was their normal course of business, then you wouldn't have players with the loyalty that is shown to the team and the town. For a small town, we have more retired players who choose to live here rather than their hometowns than any place I know.