http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=thorpe_david&page=Sophs-081023 Top 10 sophomores: 3. Luis Scola, Rockets No team showed more heart and grit than Houston did in its six-game series against Utah. And Scola was a big factor in that effort. His numbers never tell the whole story; he truly is one of the game's best "team guys" -- his spirit infects those around him. However, his playing time could be affected if Houston goes small and plays Ron Artest inside. 8. Carl Landry, Rockets Landry likely would be higher on this list were it not for the glut of talent around him in the Rockets' frontcourt. He's a do-it-all type of scorer, and despite being labeled as "undersized" for his position, he attempted to dunk on 26 percent of his field goal attempts. (Dwight Howard was at 30 percent.) Landry also personifies -- alongside fellow soph Scola -- a unique brand of incredible toughness within 6 feet of the rim on both sides of the ball.
yea he didnt prove anything last year. I mean for most of the year luther head played better than him
You know, theoretically, if Scola was never a draftee until '07, it's as if the Rockets had the 3rd and 8th pick of the '07 draft. Except they didn't. They had Vassilis Spanoulis and a couple of future 2nd round picks to trade away. Amazing. ap
Landry is Dwight-lite. Scola is some un-atheletic (NBA standard) white dude who somehow can score. Two great PF for around 6m/year!
I think Everyone in the league knows how great our young guys are. I can't wait for After Burners Aaron Brooks comes out of his shell this season and shows just how well we draft.
I'm happy to go to war with our PF combo (including Hayes and perhaps Dorsey) with any team in the league. Our only position where we are relatively weak compared to the competition is PG.
Hell yeah, Scola is a potential future borderline all-star (I can definitely see him peaking as a 17/8 type of player). Good to see Scola getting some well deserved props here and there.
I would take our PF platoon (scola, landry, hayes, artest, and perhaps dorsey) over pretty much any other in the league. No, we don't have one super-duper star, but we do have 4 players who have shown themselves to be starting-quality PFs in this league. Scola was arguably the best big man at the olympics, Landry has ridiculous numbers and a very high ceiling, Ron is one of the best 2 way players in the game, and chuck is an elite defender, rebounder, and hustle player, and plays very intelligently to boot. Does anyone else in The Association have the luxury of rotating 4 first-line caliber players on the interior (meaning they stay fresher, more focused, and more intense?) i think not. Oh, we also have that big chinese guy too. I hear he's also pretty decent.
I almost feel sorry for the two, to be honest; but, even though they're pretty old, they still should have 6-7 years of strong basketball left as big men tend to play well into their 30's. Keep their performances up, and they'll be sure to get paid BIG; so I hope they just enjoy the ride and focus on a championship, for now.
Even though I am extremely pleased with how Morey was able to get these two players on our team, you can't really say its as if they had the 3rd or 8th picks in the draft. I mean its like saying Dallas drafting Josh Howard at 30 is the same as them having a top 5 pick. Not true. They are still 31st picks etc. Its just our awesome scouting was able to turn those second rounders into legit players.
Nope. Not on an awesome deeply talented team like the Rockets. Scola won't get those stats on this team. But he'll be our "Udonis Haslem" on our championship team...hehe
Hopefully AB will be rocking the sophomore ranks up...he's got every opportunity to do so... maybe drafting AB was a good choice after all...
