The San Antonio Spurs are very excited that they’re best foreign prospect Tiago Splitter decided to come to the United States to put on the silver and black. Splitter was drafted with the 28th overall pick in 2007 but he has matured into a much better big man than projected during his past two seasons playing overseas in the Euroleauge.
Splitter is not a young prospect with a lot of international experience like Ricky Rubio, rather he is rather old, at least for an NBA rookie, at age 25. But he does has played a lot of big games at a high level both in the Euroleague and with Brazil’s National Team.
Splitter has one last international assignment before he suits up with the Spurs as he is again apart of the Brazilian National Team during the FIBA World Championships this summer and he is actually starting at center with Nene skipping this summer’s games.
In three games so far, Tiago is averaging 14 points, six rebounds and an assist per game while converting 56% of his looks from the field. Those numbers aren’t bad but his rebounding hasn’t been all that great and his stats in the Euroleague were also a little below average. He had just four rebounds against Iran and Tunisia before grabbing 10 against the United States. I guess you could say that getting 10 against the US, even though they aren’t a big team, is something to go on but I’m still not too sure he’s a top level rebounder.
Once you get passed that, though, Splitter has looked very good. Offensively, you can tell he has a lot of that European big man skill that guys like Pau Gasol and Dirk Nowitizki have, at least when it comes to his touch around the basket. Tiago has not shown much range, but again, he does resemble Pau and Dirk with his ability to finish at the rim with either hand and over defenders.
Splitter has shown a very quick turnaround flip shot that he has mastered on the block. He’s got more than a few post moves, some of which are deliberate, and this little beauty of a shot is a perfect way to keep the defender off balance. While being defended by Lamar Odom against Team USA, Tiago made this move look oh so perfect. He backed Odom down on the block and in the blink of an eye his hands were up from his hip and his body was turning towards the basket as he flipped it in perfectly. Odom had his arms straight, extended all the way, which is hard for anyone to finish over, but Splitter made easy work of him.
Like I said, Tiago has a lot of moves and I haven’t seen them all in use during this tournament. That being said, I’ve seen enough of his work to say that he has a very nice skillset offensively. He’s long, quick, smart and really that’s all you need to be to be considered the best center the Spurs have seen since David Robinson. Splitter isn’t the #1 option for Brazil, though they ran a ton of pick and rolls featuring him as he cuts to the basket, which is a good thing. He’s not going to be the goto post player for the Spurs. Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and maybe even Richard Jefferson will likely be featured before Splitter and that’s OK. Tiago isn’t an out of this world talent that will eventually be the leader of this team but he is a very capable offensive player that will complement the rest of the team well.
Defensively, Splitter did a good job of protecting the rim against Team USA. He played the angles well, stopped Lamar Odom from getting good looks at the rim (aside from one in the final two minutes that he had to concede due to his four fouls but Lamar missed anyways), and even cut him off baseline on a senseless drive by Odom. He has shown good instincts and has the desire to get stops that his team needs. I’m not sure how much of that could by pride or that he was playing against Team USA. It may not be any different than how he plays in the NBA but there is a chance that a jersey with Brazil on the front and an opposition with USA on the front would get his juices flowing more than someone in a Mavericks jersey will.
Nonetheless, from everything I have seen, Splitter has the tools to become an effective option for the Spurs on both ends of the floor. Tim Duncan is aging and is in dire need of a center that can protect the lane with him and take some pressure off of him on offense as well. Tiago can do that, at least more than Antonio McDyess could. And if rebounding actually is an issue (or at the very least, not a strength), Splitter will have the pleasure of playing alongside Duncan, who still averaged 10 rebounds in 31 minutes last season, and DeJuan Blair, who averaged 6.4 rebounds in 18 minutes a game in his rookie year, with the second unit.
