Rockets Get Luis Scola From Spurs

And we have our first blockbuster trade of the offseason: the Houston Chronicle reports the Rockets have acquired Argentine power forward Luis Scola and fellow big dude Jackie Butler from San Antonio in exchange for Vassilis Spanoulis, a future second round pick, and cash.

Scola is the best big outside of the NBA by a fair margin. He was the ~~Euroleague~~ Spanish League MVP this year (and a former Euroleague MVP, thanks etru1927) and he was a huge part of Argentina's 2004 gold in Athens. He's an absolute stud by all accounts, he's 27, and he's going to be cheap for a few seasons.

We should never doubt R.C. Buford and Gregg Popovich... but I'm stunned they made this deal. Scola wasn't in their plans, given the melding of Fabricio Oberto in the rotation and the continued brilliance of Tim Duncan. But you'd think they could pull more in return than a guard who has sworn off the NBA and next year's #50something pick. As I said, Scola is a beast. His rights had to have been valuable.

Even more, dealing with Houston is dangerous. Does Rick Adelman really need one more weapon at his disposal? San Antonio's getting cocky... and it could haunt them in times to come.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-13-2007 @ 3:17AM

aksen said...

they trade the rights to scola...trade butler...get a player who doesn't want to be in the nba...and re-sign jacque vaughn.

as a spurs fan i say bravo...no, wait, i say wtf???

7-13-2007 @ 2:12AM

B said...

My thoughts exactly. I would have thought they'd trade Scola's rights to a lottery or Eastern Conference team. I'd heard Chicago for Chris Duhon, which sounded much smarter, but what do I know? I bet the Spurs viewed ditching Butler's contract as the best part of the deal

7-13-2007 @ 3:10AM

cubbiessosa said...

Scola has talent and I'm disappointed the Bulls didn't make a stronger push for him. Once again, John Paxton is being way too hesitant. BTW, while the Butler contract was terrible and they needed to get rid of him. Why would R.C sign him in the first place? He sucked on the Knicks...

7-15-2007 @ 12:22AM

John said...

Being an Argentine basketball fan, I'm sad of seeing the prospect of SCOLA, joining MANU & FAB at SPURS turned to dust.

Lets hope SCOLA could do for the ROCKETS, what MANU has done for the SPURS

7-13-2007 @ 4:00AM

Joe Roberts said...

It should be painfully obvious why the Spurs made this trade. Next season is an even numbered year. They don't want to eff up the current odd year dynasty plan. Might have had something to do with our new ASSistant GM coming from the Rockets also...

7-13-2007 @ 5:13AM

etru1927 said...

"He was the Euroleague MVP this year"

no, papaloukas was. spanish league's mvp, yeah. try wikipedia or something.

7-13-2007 @ 9:05AM

spursgirl said...

This news makes me very unhappy....I wanted him as a Spur.

7-13-2007 @ 7:14PM

sd said...

He is a perfect fit for the Rockets, who won't need him to spend any time playing center or small forward, and who were woeful at the 4. The Rockets just got a lot better. Spurs are going to continue to be great in any case.

7-14-2007 @ 2:18AM

Lets hope SCOLA moves to the ROCKETS materialized. Then all of you ROCKETS fans can come and visit my blog at :-

mundoalbiceleste.blogspot.com

Give us your comments and opiniosns

7-16-2007 @ 6:03PM

snake said...

I think Scola had a very large transfer fee that the spurs weren't ready to pay. He needs a great point guard to be good so in a couple years the spurs can get him back as a free agent.