Houston Rockets: 5 Reasons Luis Scola Is One of NBA's Most Underrated Players
The crafty Argentinian was traded to Houston when the San Antonio Spurs realized they had no room left for him on their roster. He has made them pay ever since.
Signing a five-year deal with Houston last offseason, Scola has averaged 19 points and nine rebounds per game. Definitely borderline All-Star numbers.
Scola utilizes a bevy of different post moves to score and also happens to be a great rebounder despite not having a big vertical.
Post Moves
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It's time to go deeper inside those bevy of post moves I told you about on the first slide.
"Would you like one scoop, or two?" That's something Houston's play by play guy Bill Worrell says a lot when Luis Scola does his famous (at least famous to Houston) scoop move. Scola squirms and turns around and when you think you have a block he scoops it right under your arm. Genius.
Scola is also a pretty good faceup player, surprisingly good at getting to the basket despite being fairly slow and has a really smooth mid range jumper that if you don't respect, he will knock it down on you all day.
But I don't think very many people appreciate how skilled he is; he has to be, considering he is so nonathletic.
National Exposure
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The Rockets aren't exactly the NBA's dream team to show on TV. So with only about three or four nationally televised games, nobody really gets to see Luis Scola play.
If Luis were on, say, the Heat or Lakers, he'd be recognized all over the nation for what he does. Unfortunately for Luis...this isn't the case.
Hustle
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Every single possession, play and loose ball you will see Luis Scola bustin his ass to get that ball and do whatever he can to help win the game.
This does not show up in the stat sheet, but it shows up in the final score and Luis Scola is a major reason for each of Houston's 28 wins.
When you think of 19 points and nine boards per game you think, ok solid player. But if I tell you this guy does not stop playing whenever he is on the court you think, very good player. That effort he puts in the game goes unnoticed to the nation but not to Rockets fans.
Other Great Power Forwards in the West
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Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, Pau Gasol.
Those are just a few names of some of the power forwards Scola is overshadowed by. I didn't even mention Zach Randolph and Lamarcus Aldridge.
But with so many other great power forwards in the Western Conference and around the league, it's no wonder Scola is so unheard of and underrated.
Experience
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Luis Scola is an older player—in his 30's, in fact, and he has played on the big stage a few times. But not nearly enough for people to know him. He helped Houston almost knock off L.A. in 2008 and in 2009 he was really overshadowed most of the year because of Carl Landry's stellar play of the bench.
Conclusion
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As you can see Luis is one of the most underrated players in the NBA today and proves it night in and night out on the basketball court.
You can shoot me an email at jameschmidt1@gmail.com or follow me on twitter @James_Schmidt1.
