Rockets Daily: Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

  • In Istanbul, there is a man playing the best basketball in the world. Well, he’s scoring a lot of points anyway. Primarily against one of the NBA’s best post defenders in Anderson Varejao, Luis Scola channeled the divine and poured 37 points upon the heads of the weary Brazilians, who watched the lumbering power forward hit every shot he took in the fourth quarter. The Scolaratti certainly have had their arguments in favor of the Divine Argentine’s contract validated by his ridiculously impressive showing in the World Championship, but a few have noted that the incredibly high usage rate of Scola by his national team may leave his energy depleted going into the season (although Daryl Morey seems to think he’s doing just fine). Regardless of contract talk, Scola’s brilliance in this tournament cannot be denied, and as he flourishes in his prime, ESPN’s Chris Sheridan notes that almost nothing can go wrong for Scola right now: “Scola then was fouled on the ensuing inbounds play with 1.2 seconds left (in the game), made the first free throw and tried to intentionally miss the second in order to let the clock run out. Instead, it banked off the glass and went in to provide the final 4-point margin.”

  • While Scola had the Internet going nuts yesterday, he was being clearly juxtaposed with new San Antonio addition Tiago Splitter, who threw in 10 points and 5 rebounds of his own. While Splitter seems like a lovely addition to a splendid team, he’s not Luis Scola, the last major San Antonio foreign prospect to excite the Riverwalkers. Scola was, of course, dealt to Houston in a deal for cash, a second round pick and the Disgruntled One, Vassilis Spanoulis; while another obvious notch in Morey’s belt, it has left some who hadn’t examined the trade at the time to wonder whether it is one of the most lopsided ever. HoopsWorld‘s Yannis Koutroupis ponders the deal’s thievery in comparison to the Lakers’ acquisition of gangling superstar Pau Gasol: “Coach Popovich suggested forming a trade committee that could veto lopsided deals when the Memphis Grizzlies traded All-Star power forward Pau Gasol to the Los Angeles Lakers. But in that deal Memphis landed Marc Gasol who has developed into a very solid starting center and the cap space to trade for Zach Randolph, who had an All-Star year for them in 09-10. All the Spurs got for Scola, an ideal player to put alongside Tim Duncan inside, was some cash and two players who will never see the court with Duncan. Looking back there’s no question which deal was more uneven and today just helped further illustrate that.”
  • In one of the stranger developments in the spend-happy free agency of 2010, replete with contracts awarding playoff success that will certainly make the spending parties look inane in months, Louis Amundson still does not have a job. Finally, the New Orleans Hornets seem poised to sign the hustle machine whom no one can seem to believe is American-born. Considering the fact that C.J. Watson, Jamaal Magloire and Earl Boykins have all had their contract situations straightened out for a month or so, I have to wonder how such a “character” guy has been off the radars of contenders looking for men of glue that can hold their disparate strands of talent in place. It all leads me to wonder, is Louis Amundson a locker room problem? Almost certainly not, but this summer has revealed much stranger things.
  • Adrian Griffin was always one of Scott Skiles’ favorites, a player who became one of his “guys” in Chicago as most do: with tenacity and gobs of defense. So, when Griffin retired, Skiles offered him a behind-the-bench coaching gig in his new digs, Milwaukee. The Bucks signed him, and the crowd went wild, as if Holyfield had just won the fight. Well, Griffin apparently interviews well, as he already has received a new job as the newest bench coach of the Bulls, under incoming defensive guru Tom Thibodeau. While I still have Shane Battier penciled in as the head coach in 15-16, we can only hope he’ll be half as gracious if he decides to leave like Griffin: “Now, two years later, Griffin has beaten the odds again. Monday, he was on the verge of being hired as a bench coach for new Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. At 36, Griffin will become one of the youngest bench coaches in the NBA. ‘I am very fortunate,’ Griffin said. ‘I was just a player two years ago and now I’m a coach. It’s very competitive to make an NBA team as a player, but it’s even more competitive to become an NBA coach. There are only a few of them (usually five) on each team. ”God has been good to me.”’
  • If Argentina and our hirsute hero continue on their war path toward a World Championship, they will likely meet Team USA, setting up a fantastic matchup of two of the best scorers in this tournament, Scola and out-of-position Kevin Durant. NBA Fanhouse‘s Tom Ziller thinks it will define what superiority means in international ball: “In that prospective matchup, Scola would line up across from Kevin Durant, his chief tournament MVP rival. Durant isn’t a power forward anywhere but here (or the Goodman League, I suppose). By the same token, the odds of Scola being able to check KD without several layers of help are minimal. It sets up as a terrific scoring battle, maybe a close game and a rousing back-and-forth and hopefully, should it actually happen, an event even those bored with FIBA ball can enjoy. Maybe if Scola outguns Durant we can come to consensus about what individual FIBA success means in the grand scheme.”
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