Would Luis Scola be a good fit for the Pistons?

Luis Scola discovered a reliable three-point shot for the Toronto Raptors last season, and with his impending free agency could he be someone the Detroit Pistons are interested in?

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The Pistons are looking to bolster their shooting and defence going into next season, and Scola certainly proved he excelled in one of those areas during the 2015-16 season.

After taking just 60 three-point attempts during the first eight seasons of his career, last season Scola showed he has some serious range when shooting the ball, making 65 of his 161 attempts, good for 40% for the season.

He was particularly impressive as a spot-up shooter in the corner, shooting just under 50% on corner threes.

While he displayed a great shooting stroke last season, there are some concerning signs surrounding Scola going forward.

Most pressing is that his field goal percentage has been steadily dropping since his second year, finally falling to 45% this past season, which isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but is something to be cautious about.

Scola is 36 and as a result is seeing the majority of his stats drop outside of three-point shooting. Most dramatic is his rebound numbers, which fell to a career low 4.7 per game.

These numbers should make the Pistons weary of entertaining the idea of signing Scola, as it seems age might be catching up to him and taking away his physical attributes.

While Scola helps solve the problem of the Pistons’ scoring and shooting problems off the bench, he would be a liability on the defensive end of the court.

Over his career he has given up an average of 105 points per 100 possessions, which is only slightly better than Anthony Tolliver who wasn’t exactly known for his amazing defence during his time with the Pistons.

There are also question marks over whether the Pistons will bring in another power forward after they drafted Henry Ellenson in the first round of the 2016 draft, in addition to current starter Tobias Harris and Marcus Morris who can spend time at power forward too.

However, If Scola was to sign with the Pistons they would be receiving a very flexible player. He spent significant minutes at small forward and centre during his tenure in Toronto, with 29% of his minutes coming at the 3 and 10% of his minutes at centre.

In an age where small ball is all the rage, having a player like Scola who can shoot the ball consistently and play minutes at centre would be incredibly valuable.

Next: 3-on-3: Reaction to the Detroit Pistons drafting Henry Ellenson

The likelihood of Scola and the Pistons joining forces appears quite small for now as there are other power forwards on the market who are younger and could perform the role better, not to mention the Pistons are likely to put a lot of time and effort into making Ellenson a key player in the team.

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