Has Miles really locked up a spot? Did he play that much better then the rookie?
If they are close, Miles is gone as they will allow the rookie to develop.
but miles and scal are the same posistion. I'd rather have miles as the 15th man.
in reality, this is mute, since scal's horrid contract will keep him around, but lets not call a turd servacable. he's a fat, slow, terrable player. end of story.
his only marginal use is that of "living mascot"
But if Miles is going to be buried on the bench, Scali is worth more because of his contract next year.
I agree with this. Not to mention the real money part of it (Miles contract is non-guaranteed, Scals they are on the hook for if they cut him).
But the real reason I think Miles is still more likely to be cut than Scal is because of how he looked last night.
Miles looked very slow last night, and had no explosion. He did not show me too much on defense (a part of the game we know Scal excels on), and all he showed on offense is that he knows how to cut.
Based on last nights evidence, I might even argue that Scal is more valuable to this team on the floor. He has always been a better defender than Miles, he brings much more leadership, even if he is a bad shooter, he has historically been significantly better than Miles (other than on dunks of course).
Lets face it, without his Athleticism, Miles is not much better than Scal, if he is better at all. So Miles needs to either somehow get some of that explosion back in the next couple weeks, or he will likely be out of the job.
i have to disagree chris, on multiple points. While he did look like he got winded fairly quickly, the man hasen't played basketball in 2 years. I'd like to see him get more than 3 weeks of conditioning before we declare that injury releated. It's "my knee didnt work for a year and a half, im out of shape" releated.
despite that, he moved well without the ball, was cutting off screens and hustling back. he was often one of the first guys back on D, he may have tired quicker than i like, but he was busting tail while he was on the floor.
to say he does "the same things as scal" minus the athltisim is ridiculous. he played MUCH better defense last night, passed better, moved without the ball, which scal didn't, and got down the floor faster than scal could dream of doing.
as to defense, he made 2 really good steals and forced a jump ball, which i count as a third since he won it, out jumping an athletic gaurd.
on offense, while he wasen't throwing down GG level dunks like he used to, he efficently got to the rim, going 3/3, with a nice cut, a good lay up in transision, and throwing down an alley opp, he also had 2 nice passes in the interior.
overall, i was pretty impressed that a guy out of NBA shape for 2 years and supposedly still at 80% was as effiecnt as he was.
If the cut had to be made today, i think it's gabe pruitt, because we have a log jam at gaurd. where exactly will pruitt ge this playing time, at PG or SG behind rondo, ray, cassell, eddie, and TA?
as to scal's defense, what is this based on at this point? i always here he plays great defense, but he got destroyed last night, three seprate times, on cuts. Mabey he was a good defender 2 years ago, when he got playing time, but now hes slow and out of shape. he played atrocious defense last night, and he looks terrable. he's out of shape (nice beer belly) and slow as molasses.
Sicne scal will continue to be an albatross and filling a seat, pruitt is gone, IMO.
