One of the many things the Indiana Pacers need to decide about this offseason will be whether to try and re-sign Luis Scola who might have a bigger role intended for him, pending on changes in style.
The Pacers are planning on moving away from their slow, half court based offense that centers around a lot of isolations and post ups to something a bit more fluid and more importantly, stretches the floor. Scola isn’t exactly a stretch four or exception 3-point shooter, but he obviously has more to offer in the mid range game than Roy Hibbert.
Scola mostly came off the bench during his two-year stay with the Pacers, playing in 163 regular season games. He averaged 9.4 points per game with 6.5 rebounds in just over 20 minutes a night. His per minute numbers stayed basically the same over the two seasons and even though he’s pushing to 35, it does seem he has more to give in the next few years.
It won’t be easy keeping him. A lot of teams are going to be interested in the veteran Argentine who is quite the efficient low post scorer, even if it is more difficult for him to push players around. He’s still very nifty near the basket and hard to stop when given the time to start his set of moves. Overall, he’s quite fit all the time, missing just nine games during his eight-year NBA career.
As for Scola himself? What does he want? Well, he’s keeping it vague. Not burning any bridges, but not seeming too eager to stay on for another season: It was fun. It was fun to be here. It’s a good team, it’s a good organization. It was a great honor to play for Larry Bird and we’ll see. It might be over, it might not. We’ll see in a couple of days. Like I said, I might have a little bit better impression of what their expectations are going into the future and we’ll play out the summer.
With a healthy Paul George there’s no reason the Pacers don’t make the 2016 NBA playoffs, but Scola, who has been to the postseason just three times in his NBA career, might try and look to sign for a team with a better chance of making an impact in the playoffs next year.