Luis Scola Heading to the Indiana Pacers

We now have the official word on how the Pacers have aquired Luis Scola from the Phoenix Suns.  ESPN has reported the Suns trade off Scola for Gerald Green, Miles Plumlee, and a lottery protected first round pick.  I mark this down as a win for the Indiana Pacers in shoring up that power forward position, and does open up some different lineups for the team.  If you look at it, you could end up having C.J. Watson, Lance Stephenson, Chris Copeland, Luis Scola, and Ian Mahinmi all coming off the bench for one complete second unit. I would be very interested to see how that bench would do against the second unit of other teams.  Or you could play Luis Scola a bit in the center position with the David West, and use that “Small Big” lineup.  That’s what a lot of the Eastern Conference teams use, so the Pacers could possibly match up better at times.

But the Pacers end up cutting ties with Gerald Green, who never lived up to expectations.  Then you deal out Miles Plumlee, who was the late first round pick of last season.  He was a guy that I spoke very loudly about not being worth the pick, and I believe trading him away after one season does prove that point. I understand Plumlee was never going to be a huge impact player, but you still want to believe the Pacers are smarter about their draft.  Look at Orlando Johnson, who was the second round guy, and end up playing more so than Plumlee.  It was just a stretch to pick up Plumlee, and now the Pacers have brought in Scola, who’s going to have a good impact with the bench.

I think fans have to be happy with the off season of the team and their moves that they’ve made.  C.J. Watson isn’t a household name, but should be a minor improvement over D.J. Augustin in that back up role.  Augustin wanted to start for a team as was evident with how much better he looked when he was the starter for a few games with the Pacers.  You bring in Chris Copeland, a three point three, but someone who wants to expand his game.  Now you have Luis Scola, who’s a productive power forward, and can hopefully give that extra effort out on the floor.  The draft pick of Solomon Hill could be a guy that played tough in all his years at Arizona, and will do what he can for the Pacers.

This was the off season that the Pacers needed to make those moves to get even closer to the Miami Heat.  One game away from the NBA Finals last year, so just imagine how much closer the Pacers could be if that magic of last season carries over.  If the new faces are able to play like old faces in the lineup.  This is the season that the Pacers could make that leap into some Finals appearance, and what a treat that would be for the fans of Indiana.