Tag Archives: luis scola

Under the Radar

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This season, so far, has circled around Miami’s Big Three, whether or not the Lakers will 3-peat, Boston’s Big Three, and Blake Griffin.  I decided to ask the Stacheketball crew who we all felt were the most underrated in the league, and these are the players we feel have been somewhat forgotten about:

5.  Arron Afflalo:  Afflalo is shooting 51.5%, 44% from 3 point range, and 86% in free throws for the slightly distracted Denver Nuggets.  Both @jubanator14 and @charliewiddoes state that he is also a great defender, and one of the best one-on-one defenders in the league.  He averages 3.2 defensive rebounds per game, with a season high of 10 vs. Portland in December.

4. LaMarcus Aldridge:  Greg Oden is out for a season due to injury, as is Brandon Roy, after having arthroscopic surgery on both knees.  Sophomore player Jeff Pendergraph injured his knee during the pre-season, and is also missing the 2010-11 season.  Recently, veteran Marcus Camby fell to injury in a win against Minnesota.  Instead of completely buckling, the Blazers are 8th in the close Western Conference race, winning 6 of their last 10, and leading the way is Forward LaMarcus Aldridge.  Aldridge is averaging  21.1 ppg, including a season high 37 vs. Minnesota, and has only scored in single digits in 4 out of 47 games played.  He’s 5th in the NBA in field goals made, 3rd in offensive rebounds, 5th in offensive rebounds per game, 7th in double doubles, and will probably be an All-Star snub.

3.  Luis Scola:  When the Houston Rockets are mentioned, the first thought is usually Yao Ming, and the second, Kevin Martin.  With Yao out for the season, Martin has picked up the slack, however, Scola averages more points, rebounds, and blocks per game.  He averages 19.0 ppg despite never making a 3 pointer, and only  has one attempt.  He is 9th in field goals made and 12 in defensive rebounds.

2. Dorell Wright: From Suga_Shane, Wright’s stats this season: 16.5 ppg, 5.8 trb, 3.1 assists, 1.5 steals, and 3.5 3s a game (shooting 41.5%).  His points per game have increased 9.5% from last season, rebounds up 2.5%, assists up 1.8%, and his 3 point percentage is up 2.7%.  He is currently #1 in the NBA in 3 pointers made.  (“Some people probably still think he plays for the Heat.”-Rey Moralde.)  Wright signed with the Golden State Warriors as a free agent from the Miami Heat, and should be a strong candidate for Most Improved Player.  Would that do him justice?

1.  Eric Gordon:  Gordon was nearly unanimously selected by all of us as the most underrated player this season.  He averages 24.1 ppg, shooting 48.6%, 81% from free throw range, 3.1 rpg, 4.5 apg, 1.2 spg, and and he’s shooting 35.9% from 3 point land.  His statistics have increased from nearly every aspect this season from last season, except his three-point percentage (down 1.2%).  He’s 8th in the league in pointers per game, 14th in field goals made, and 11th in free throw percentage.  He’s only scored in single digits once this season, in a loss to Dallas on Halloween (9 pts).  He does all of this while living in the shadow of Blake Griffin.

Kateasa is a part-time contributor to Stacheketball, and is ready for All-Star Weekend, even though she’s not going.  Find her on twitter @Simply_Kateasa

All-Star Watch #1

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With Yao Ming out for the season, the Houston Rockets look to Kevin Martin to pick up the slack offensively.  However, Luis Scola should not be forgotten.  Scola is averaging 19.3 ppg, up 3.1 ppg from last season, and shooting 50.4%.  He also has seventeen +20 pt. games, including a season high 36 vs. Golden State.  He also leads the Rockets in defensive rebounds at 6.3 per game.  In Wednesday’s loss to Portland, he had 12 rebounds and 5 assists, however was only 2-8.

In the first half of tonight’s game, Scola is 4-8 in 16 minutes.  He has 12 pts.

Kateasa is a part-time contributor to Stacheketball and also a Power Ranger.  Find her on Twitter: @Simply_Kateasa.

On the Borderline

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It’s a little-discussed fact that if you are drafted outside of the lottery, you’re not likely to have a huge impact in the NBA.  Here is a short list from RealGM of the “Top 10 players” (by production) for the second and third draft year back (2008 and 2007).  Two asterisks** means that the player was drafted outside the lottery; three asterisks*** refers to an international player who stayed at least a year overseas before joining the NBA.   (Only Rodney Stuckey, Roy Hibbert , Aaron Brooks, and Carl Landry made that list, and Brooks/Landry being on a Houston team decimated by injury may have skewed that number).

Third-Year NBA players

1 Kevin Durant OKC 88 39.4 .470 .900 .360 29.8 7.6 2.8 1.05 1.31 3.3 1536 17.7 +380
2 Al Horford ATL 91 35.1 .550 .790 1.000 14.2 9.8 2.3 1.21 0.74 1.5 1318 16.5 +434
*** 3 Luis Scola HOU 82 32.6 .510 .780 .200 16.2 8.6 2.1 0.32 0.76 2.0 955 14.3 +584
4 Joakim Noah CHI 69 30.6 .510 .760 .000 11.0 11.2 2.1 1.55 0.58 1.9 931 17.6 +803
** 5 Aaron Brooks HOU 82 35.6 .430 .820 .400 19.6 2.6 5.3 0.17 0.83 2.8 853 11.7 +1777
6 Jeff Green OKC 88 37.1 .450 .750 .330 14.9 5.9 1.6 0.84 1.19 1.6 845 10.3 +463
** 7 Carl Landry SAC 80 30.9 .540 .810 .330 16.8 5.8 0.8 0.79 0.68 1.7 813 13.2 +560
8 Mike Conley MEM 80 32.1 .440 .740 .390 12.0 2.4 5.3 0.15 1.36 2.1 704 11.0 +383
***9 Ersan Ilyasova MIL 88 23.3 .450 .730 .340 10.3 6.5 1.0 0.26 0.65 0.9 684 13.3 +758
**10 Rodney Stuckey DET 74 33.8 .400 .830 .230 16.4 3.8 4.7 0.16 1.35 2.2 670 10.7 +844

Second-year NBA players

1 Brook Lopez NJN 82 36.9 .500 .820 .000 18.8 8.7 2.3 1.70 0.67 2.5 1155 15.3 +921
2 Russell Westbrook OKC 88 34.4 .420 .780 .240 16.4 5.0 7.8 0.40 1.30 3.2 1147 15.2 +513
3 Derrick Rose CHI 83 37.1 .490 .770 .270 21.1 3.7 6.1 0.33 0.73 2.8 1055 13.7 +334
4 Marc Gasol MEM 69 35.8 .580 .670 .000 14.6 9.3 2.4 1.59 1.00 2.0 994 16.1 +565
5 Kevin Love MIN 60 28.6 .450 .820 .330 14.0 11.0 2.3 0.38 0.73 2.0 822 19.2 +517
6 O.J. Mayo MEM 82 38.0 .460 .810 .380 17.5 3.8 3.0 0.21 1.20 2.1 790 10.1 +375
7 Danilo Gallinari NYK 81 33.9 .420 .820 .380 15.1 4.9 1.7 0.72 0.91 1.4 788 11.5 +541
8 Jason Thompson SAC 75 31.4 .470 .710 .100 12.5 8.5 1.6 0.99 0.55 1.9 741 12.6 +822
9 Michael Beasley MIA 83 29.7 .450 .800 .280 14.6 6.3 1.2 0.59 1.00 1.7 702 11.4 +288
**10 Roy Hibbert IND 81 25.1 .490 .750 .500 11.7 5.7 2.0 1.62 0.37 1.8 699 13.7 +982

Therefore, the early entrants NEED TO make the lottery for a team to invest heavily in their development.

Here is my top 10 list of the guys who might wish they had decided differently…

1. Eric Bledsoe, KY – 12 pts. With John Wall gone, he could pair with “Knight” to be the best backcourt in the country.

2. Stanley Crawford, Xavier — 20 pts, 4 rebs.  They return a good team, and he may not be a lottery selection.

3. Manny Harris, MI – 18 ppg.  Seriously, has anyone outside of the Big 10 heard of him? I’ve seen the highlights, but since Michigan should be better next year,another year could only help his draft position.

4. Daniel Orton, KY – 3 pts, 3 reb.  Has his year stagnating behind DeMarcus Cousins helped him? Next year he could get some playing time on another top-five team; who knows if teams will take seriously a guy who was a backup on his college team (OK, it was the Kentucky Wildcats, but the pros have some good players too I’ve heard).

5. Elliot Williams, Memphis –17 ppg. I’ve heard so much talk about his “strong hand”, but he did get shut down late against the good teams. Another year in college wouldn’t hurt him.

6. Terrico White, Ole Miss — 15 pts, 4 rebounds.   Who knows where he’ll land? He’s a good player, if he slides past 20-25 he might end up in the second round.

7. Willie Warren, OK — 14 pts, 3 assists. A guy from the heartland with lots of heart. But I’m not seeing him in first-round territory in many of the mock drafts. Couldn’t he wait and maybe increase his stock?

8. Avery Bradley, TX — 11 ppg, 2 APG.  A point guard from a major conference, not yet a proven scorer or distributor.

NOT IN DRAFT

9. Jimmer Ferdette, BYU – 22 ppg (49 against ‘Zona in NCAAs).  Love the “returning to school”; however he got a ton of pub following the NCAAs, he might need to go now.

10. Kyle Singler, Duke – 17 ppg, 7 rpg (Final 4 MVP). When is this guy going to have a higher profile? Take the money.