ruca
Well-Known Member
Yeah, really.
Please explain how these guys aren't up there with the best 10 to 20 guys in the NBA?
because there are 10 to 20 guys better than them in the nba
Yeah, really.
Please explain how these guys aren't up there with the best 10 to 20 guys in the NBA?
because there are 10 to 20 guys better than them in the nba
hell ill give you twenty guys better than granger, thirty guys better than lopez, and forty guys better than noah and scola if you want
Archie got RUCA'd.
Scola: 22.2 ppg 13.2 rpg 2.6 apg .528 fg%
Noah: 16.2 ppg 14.2 rpg 2.4 apg 1.8 bpg .545%
All those dudes you listed are good. I'm not saying they're not. When I look at top ten or so on, I think about position as well. I wouldn't say that Scola and Noah are top ten with the guys I have listed, but they have to be up there. Especially because they dominate at their position. Scola is very underrated and Noah is a beast. Now, their numbers will come down for sure this year, but those two guys are putting up amazing numbers. And if you've watched their teams play, they're not the reasoning their losing imo.
in no particular order
rose
amare
joe johnson
boozer
westbrook
granger
billups
jsmoove
iguadola
tonyparker
ginobili
gerald wallace
steph curry
lee
yao
jennings
bogut
aldridge
horford
tell me scola or noah are better than any of those guys,
take out this season, which is like 5 games and scola's career ppg+rpg is like 11-7 and noah's is like 9-8... (and thats rounding up)
hardly what i call domination. who on my list does not dominate their positions better than these two? and yes, i know you cant measure defense. i still stand by my claim
Scola and Noah are better than these guys.
Noah and Scola's ability to guard big men and guard well are the main reasons of why they are so valuable. (Yes, I do realize Scola is a stretch, and I hate guy. But I got to give him props. He's very underrated. I would much rather have him over Yao.)
...and THAT ladies and gentlemen, is why Archie Moses is not an NBA GM. i know the "whos better than who" arguments are always objective, but at some point you just end up being ridiculous. just because you like player x more than player y doesnt make him a better player.
ill admit though, scola and noah arent the two players i pay the MOST attention to (although i have watched them plenty) so ill give you the benefit of the doubt (with a LOT of benefit) when you say theyre better than horford, lee, jsmith and jennings. but point is, neither are anywhere close to being a top 10 player in the nba.
they can guard that opposing elite big man to shreds, he'll still score 10 more pts than scola or noah AND his team will leave the arena with the double-U. healthy yao is the best big in the game, scola is a great fourth option
You would really rather have Horford or Lee over Noah? Jennings? bwhahaha I'm assuming you probably just know he scored 50 once. Dude is a terrible shooter and even worse defender. Lee is good, if you like undersized PF's. Smith is great, I do like him. I just don't think he's a go to guy/leader.
The beginning of the season has not been kind to the Houston Rockets. Not only have the first three games brought just as many losses, but along with those losses come painful reminders of the limitations of both Yao Ming and the team as a whole. Houston has been the worst defensive outfit in the league, allowing a miserable 116.2 points per 100 possessions. The cap on Yao’s minutes has made the center’s return bittersweet, and the Rockets’ efforts, commendable but futile, equally so.
Houston’s 0-3 record casts a dark shadow over each and every Rocket, but it’s best that we don’t neglect the early-season effulgence of Luis Scola. He has been performing at an all-world level to start the year, and his high-level production has much more staying power than one might think.
For the young 2010-11 season, Scola is averaging 27.3 points a game (good for third in the N.B.A.) and 14.0 rebounds a game (which also puts him at third in the league). He is completing 56.9 percent of his field goal attempts and turning the ball over just 1.7 times a night. Those are fantastic numbers that, based on Scola’s past per game production, would seem unsustainable. But by taking into account Scola’s full statistical profile, it seems possible that the Rockets forward may be able to produce consistently at an elite level for the entire season.
Scola shared minutes with Carl Landry at power forward last season, but once Houston traded Landry to the Sacramento Kings and allowed Scola to assume full-time duties, his production spiked. If we view Scola’s current production as a natural evolution of his role from that point, his statistical improvements seem neither random nor unexplainable. There are some inconsistencies – a startlingly high true shooting percentage and effective field goal percentage, both of which should regress toward the mean – but otherwise, Scola is doing the same things he has always done, only with more opportunities than ever.
He is using those opportunities wisely. Not only is Scola taking and making more shots, but he’s also getting to the free throw line with greater regularity. His free throw attempts per game have jumped from 3.3 to 7.0, largely because of finally having a central role in the Rockets’ offense. Aaron Brooks and Kevin Martin are skilled scorers, but Scola is Houston’s most proficient, and he’s finally being used accordingly. We’ve seen him function as an offensive centerpiece for the Argentine national team before (with impressive results), but Scola has finally gotten the chance to be as effective in the N.B.A. as he long has been in international play.
The Rockets’ style certainly helps. Houston has been the second fastest team in the league this season, and with those extra possessions come more opportunities for Scola and the rest of the Rockets. Scola’s scoring efficiency may dip as the season progresses, but as long as Houston continues to push the pace, his overall numbers should be sound. This level of production, or at least something in the same ballpark, is within Scola’s grasp. It’s not because he has suddenly turned some corner at 30 years old. Scola has not evolved, or drastically changed his game in any sense. For the last few years, he has been this strong of an offensive pillar, and only now is he being asked to carry the appropriate load.
Scola’s 27 and 14, the marks of his early season dominance, are significant but arbitrary. They’re quantitatively impressive, but more important is the garnered understanding that Luis Scola, somewhat of an afterthought on the national basketball scene, is capable of championing an elite offense. The precise measurements of his offensive brilliance are simply a means to that end. Scola’s season averages will undoubtedly begin to edge downward, but we should not overvalue the import of such a drop-off. He’ll still be this good. He’ll still be this valuable. He’ll still be this Luis Scola.
All statistics used in this post are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com.
Rob Mahoney is an obsessive student of professional basketball, dedicated to the minutiae, the overarching themes and everything in between. You can read more of his work at TheTwoManGame.com, HardwoodParoxy