John and Lance had Daryl Morey on earlier today morning. I don't know if they'll post the interview online, but here's some bits that I can recall from it:</p> <ul>[*]They joked that Aaron Brooks should be the starting PG. Daryl Morey acknowledged that Rafer is struggling with his shot, but pointed out that the team is 6-1. So the coach isn't looking to shake up the rotation. [*]He said that shooting % is the most variable attribute of a player, likening it to batting average in baseball. He said Rafer should eventually get back to his averages in shooting %, which while not particularly good is adequate for what Adelman needs at the position. [*]Half the league can't get traded until mid-December, so the Rockets aren't looking hard at possible trades yet. [*]The team has struggled more than he expected on the offensive end. Defense is probably a little better than he expected, though. He said Adelman isn't happy with how the rest of the players are standing around while Tracy and Yao have the ball. More hard cuts and general movement is needed. [*]He said that the Rockets have tracked Yao's possessions, and its about 4 to 1 low post to high post. He said that actually the Rockets as a team have been equally effective in his low post possessions and high post possessions, even though individually Yao's efficiency has been better in the low post. [*]He thinks the five best teams early in the season are Boston, New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas. Interestingly enough, that matches exactly with Sagarin's rankings (based on point differential, win-loss record, and strength of schedule). [*]Asked to review the Battier for Gay trade, he says that a proper evaluation can't be done until after Gay's rookie contract is over. But he thinks Shane is the perfect complimentary player, and he helped us more last year ("a couple ball bounces away from the second round") than Gay would have. Thinks he continues to be a perfect compliment for the Rockets this year. [*]Said no one is harder on Scola than Scola himself. While he's struggling right now, he says its just a matter of time until he gets things figured out. [*]He said Steve Francis is having a tough time with not playing, as he should. He thought Steve played really well at the end of last season, so the lack of playing time right now was a surprise. Morey sounded confident that Francis would eventually get back on to the court and contribute, but I'm not sure how genuine that was.[/list] I'm probably missing some stuff, but that's what I remember.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (durvasa)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> John and Lance had Daryl Morey on earlier today morning. I don't know if they'll post the interview online, but here's some bits that I can recall from it:</p> <ul>[*]They joked that Aaron Brooks should be the starting PG. Daryl Morey acknowledged that Rafer is struggling with his shot, but pointed out that the team is 6-1. So the coach isn't looking to shake up the rotation. [*]He said that shooting % is the most variable attribute of a player, likening it to batting average in baseball. He said Rafer should eventually get back to his averages in shooting %, which while not particularly good is adequate for what Adelman needs at the position. [*]Half the league can't get traded until mid-December, so the Rockets aren't looking hard at possible trades yet. [*]The team has struggled more than he expected on the offensive end. Defense is probably a little better than he expected, though. He said Adelman isn't happy with how the rest of the players are standing around while Tracy and Yao have the ball. More hard cuts and general movement is needed. [*]He said that the Rockets have tracked Yao's possessions, and its about 4 to 1 low post to high post. He said that actually the Rockets as a team have been equally effective in his low post possessions and high post possessions, even though individually Yao's efficiency has been better in the low post. [*]He thinks the five best teams early in the season are Boston, New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas. Interestingly enough, that matches exactly with Sagarin's rankings (based on point differential, win-loss record, and strength of schedule). [*]Asked to review the Battier for Gay trade, he says that a proper evaluation can't be done until after Gay's rookie contract is over. But he thinks Shane is the perfect complimentary player, and he helped us more last year ("a couple ball bounces away from the second round") than Gay would have. Thinks he continues to be a perfect compliment for the Rockets this year. [*]Said no one is harder on Scola than Scola himself. While he's struggling right now, he says its just a matter of time until he gets things figured out. [*]He said Steve Francis is having a tough time with not playing, as he should. He thought Steve played really well at the end of last season, so the lack of playing time right now was a surprise. Morey sounded confident that Francis would eventually get back on to the court and contribute, but I'm not sure how genuine that was.[/list] I'm probably missing some stuff, but that's what I remember.</p> </div></p> I caught ALOT of flack for questioning whether Scola would contribute as a starter his first season. Everybody on this board roasted Rock4life for doubting whether Scola would flourish as a starter (I even got banned for it). All I did was point out reasons why I felt he wouldnt effectivley contribute consistently and all people did is throw stones at me. 7 games in the season and he's not contributing, he's not starting, and fans are left wondering "Is this the same Luis Scola from the Olympics?" I wonder if some of still think he's better than Kenyon Martin? LOL</p>
There's no wondering here, Scola is definitely better than Kenyon Martin. A good starting point is looking at the +/- contributions. KMart is a -4.9 for the Nuggets and that's spending a majority of his time with the starting unit. Scola is a -4.4, but most of his minutes are with the 2nd unit.</p> I'll be honest, I'm surprised at the lack of impact Scola has made so far, but his skills haven't dimished. He's probably struggling since he's new to the team and I'm sure there's a language barrier. Once he acclamates to the NBA, you'll see a much more assertive Scola.</p> </p>
He's still not used to the kinks of the NBA game (how to use your hands on defense, how to set a proper pick, etc) yet. I thought he'd have a greater impact but it's only 7 games into the season.</p> But as always, Rock4life is right...</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Rock4life)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> I caught ALOT of flack for questioning whether Scola would contribute as a starter his first season. Everybody on this board roasted Rock4life for doubting whether Scola would flourish as a starter (I even got banned for it). All I did was point out reasons why I felt he wouldnt effectivley contribute consistently and all people did is throw stones at me. 7 games in the season and he's not contributing, he's not starting, and fans are left wondering "Is this the same Luis Scola from the Olympics?" I wonder if some of still think he's better than Kenyon Martin? LOL</p> </div></p> You weren't roasted for doubting whether he'd "flourish as a starter". You weren't even roasted for thinking he wouldn't "effectively contribute consistently". Those would have been legitimate opinions or concerns. You went much, much further than that.</p> Luis obviously hasn't played well thus far, save for a couple games, but it's a little early for your third-person, "i told ya so!" posts, isn't it?</p> </p> </p>
Durvasa's predictions about Scola have completley wrong thus far. It's still early, but I'm thinking Scola might not be NEARLY as good as he was hyped up to be in this Rockets forum...........</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Rock4life)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (shapecity)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> There's no wondering here, Scola is definitely better than Kenyon Martin. A good starting point is looking at the +/- contributions. KMart is a -4.9 for the Nuggets and that's spending a majority of his time with the starting unit. Scola is a -4.4, but most of his minutes are with the 2nd unit.</p> I'll be honest, I'm surprised at the lack of impact Scola has made so far, but his skills haven't dimished. He's probably struggling since he's new to the team and I'm sure there's a language barrier. Once he acclamates to the NBA, you'll see a much more assertive Scola.</p> </p> </div></p> Well I definatley take you up on that offer at the end of the season....At this point ur saying Scola is BETTER than Kenyon Martin? I'll challenge you on that any day.</p> </div></p> </p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Locke)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> He's still not used to the kinks of the NBA game (how to use your hands on defense, how to set a proper pick, etc) yet. I thought he'd have a greater impact but it's only 7 games into the season.</p> But as always, Rock4life is right...</p> </div></p> Well it's turning out the early doubts I had about Scola happen to be "right" thus far....My argument was that he's NOT gonna be effective as a starter in this league his first year. You still disagree with me? I'm wondering how you'll wiggle ur way outta this one at the end of the season lol.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Rock4life)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Durvasa's predictions about Scola have completley wrong thus far. It's still early, but I'm thinking Scola might not be NEARLY as good as he was hyped up to be in this Rockets forum...........</p> </div></p> What "predictions" are you talking about? I don't make offseason predictions about players I haven't seen play in the NBA. All I said about Scola was I expected him to be a good player for us this season, and capable of taking over the starting position if needed. I also said he'd likely struggle with foul trouble early on. Those expectations haven't changed at all.</p> If you want my actual season predictions, read them here:</p> http://sportstwo.com/Thread/View/NBA/HOUSTON/1837774</p> http://sportstwo.com/Thread/View/NBA/HOUSTON/1840096</p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Rock4life)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> My argument was that he's NOT gonna be effective as a starter in this league his first year. You still disagree with me? I'm wondering how you'll wiggle ur way outta this one at the end of the season lol.</div></p> That's pretty slick. So, regardless of how well Scola plays, if he's not actually starting for us, then you were right all along.</p> What you still fail to understand is that in the NBA you don't have to always start your best players. How many times did we have to explain to you that it's all about how players play as a unit. This is something Adelman has been stressing continually this season, but you haven't yet grasped the concept.</p>
Funny you bring this up. 8 games in, Juwan Howard was playing like shit last season. The only difference was that you were "absent" the entire first month where he sucked.</p> I thought you would have at least learned.</p> 8 games is not an indication as to how he will perform. He's shown flashes of being good. He just needs time to get acclamated to the NBA system.</p>
Rock4Life have your doubts about Scola changed at all with his production the last two games?</p> 20 points on 10/11 shooting, 4 rebounds in 30 Mins</p> 20 points on 10/19 shooting, 11 rebounds, 4 assists in 37 Mins</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (shapecity)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Rock4Life have your doubts about Scola changed at all with his production the last two games?</p> 20 points on 10/11 shooting, 4 rebounds in 30 Mins</p> 20 points on 10/19 shooting, 11 rebounds, 4 assists in 37 Mins</p> </div></p> Shape, don't count on Rock4life making any comments about Scola unless he has a bad game. Or it will be something to the effect of, "He's playing alright now, but just wait till the playoffs." And, since even by the most optimisitc projections we're unlikely to win the whole thing, our elimination will inevitably be blamed on Scola. It's all very predictable.</p> </p>
