ARG - A fresh start for Scola

INDIANAPOLIS (NBA/FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Luis Scola endured "the worst year" of his career in 2012-13 as a member of the Phoenix Suns.

The team finished dead last in the Western Conference with 25 wins and 57 defeats - a full 20 games out of the playoffs.

Now, the Argentina great finds himself in a completely different situation after being traded by the Suns to one of the best teams in the league, the Indiana Pacers.

Moving to Indianapolis should bring back more good memories than bad for Scola, who has not only had previous visits to the city with the Houston Rockets and Phoenix but also with Argentina.

At the 2002 FIBA World Championship in Indianapolis, the 2.04m power forward helped the South Americans not only become the first team to beat a USA squad of NBA players, but also reach the Final.

Yugoslavia won that title game in overtime, but Argentina showed themselves to be a new power in international basketball and Scola was one of their rising stars.

Eleven years later, Scola is being trumpeted in Indianapolis as a player with a high basketball I.Q.

The 33-year-old forward says he is just one of many foreign players to have success in the NBA because of experience gained overseas.

"The majority of those guys have a lot of experience, playing in different leagues and for a lot of years," Scola said.

"Experience is one of the things that builds basketball I.Q."

When most youngsters enter the league, there is a steep learning curve.

Becoming an accomplished NBA player isn't usually something that happens immediately.

"You see a lot of young players here in the NBA and they've got a lot of talent, but they're very young," Scola said.

"If you see those guys 10 years from now, you probably will see a (higher) basketball I.Q. that you're not going to see now.

"You build your basketball I.Q. with the game. Every game that you play, every year that you play, you are adding more and that's how you control the game better, with your head."

Scola is glad to have a fresh start after last season.

The losses piled up and so did the frustration.

"It was very rough, not only because we lost a lot, because it was very dysfunctional," Scola said.

"When I went to Phoenix, I had hope hopes, thought it was going to be a good place.

"It really killed me that we weren't able to play well. I thought we were going to have a good team."

He started to smile again when he linked up with Argentina's national team this summer.

As he had done on so many occasions before, Scola put the squad on his back and carried it to one big victory after another.

Argentina reached the Semi-Finals of the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship and thus qualified for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Now back in the NBA, Scola isn't going to hold anything back as he tries to help Indiana build on last season, when the team made a strong run to the Eastern Conference Finals before falling to eventual league champions Miami Heat.

"I think this team has all the pieces it needs to compete at the highest level," Scola said.

"Now, we have to put it all together, build a good team and start building a championship from day one.

"Hopefully we can build something wonderful here. I'm really committed."

FIBA