Butler and Scola Traded (Finally)

From Johnny Ludden at MYSA.com:

The Spurs have agreed to trade center Jackie Butler and Argentine forward Luis Scola to the Houston Rockets for guard Vassilis Spanoulis, a future second-round pick and cash considerations, an NBA source said Thursday evening.

Spanoulis, who played sparingly for the Rockets last season, is expected to remain in Europe.

So after all the hype about trading the rights to Luis Scola, this is what it comes down to? Saving a few bucks with the hope that it can be spent elsewhere?

I suppose it's smart from an economic standpoint, but not sexy at all. At the very least, the Spurs pried away a draft pick from someone. My guess is Houston wanted either Butler or Scola, and the Spurs would only agree to a deal if the other was included, thereby getting rid of Butler's $2.4 million dollar contract. (If I had to guess, I would imagine Houston would be coveting Scola, a guy that can help at Yao). Rest assured the Spurs have little interest in Spanoulis. He may never play in the NBA again after a sour experience with the Rockets (he was guaranteed playing time by the management, but Van Gundy had other plans...this after Spanoulis took less money to come to Houston).

However, the Spurs usually save cash with the intention of spending it on other players (Holt isn't afraid to go a little into the luxury tax), so here's to hoping they have their sights set on a free agent. This could very well mean that Ian Mahinmi, the young French center, finds his way onto the Spurs' roster this upcoming year. He wouldn't play at all, but I doubt it would do him any harm to start getting acclomated to the NBA and San Antonio, so it's probably a good decision.

Still, it's bittersweet. Bringing Scola over held so much promise, and yet Spurs fans will get so little in his place. The Spurs front office must have known he would never be a contributor in San Antonio (I'm sure the drafting of Tiago Splitter made him expendable as well). On the surface, a pretty lousy trade, but I would be amiss to neglect the fact that R.C. Buford and company know what they're doing 99% of the time and probably have plans for spending that moolah.