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San Antonio Spurs bigman Tiago Splitter enters his third season and looks to make positive contributions to the San Antonio Spurs’ front-court rotation.
2011-2012 Season: Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich finally gave Splitter minutes And while his low-post moves were quite ugly to say the least, Splitter thrived in pick-and-rolls. In fact, that was here was most effective and his ability to find an open man on the move made him that much more dangerous.
Tim Duncan isn’t as mobile as he once was and both DeJuan Blair and Matt Bonner are too small to protect the rim—which magnifies Duncan’s lack of mobility.
This leaves Splitter as the most mobile big man on the Spurs’ roster and he’s quick enough to guard the game’s better power forwards. His quick feet also give him the ability to pick up perimeter players on switches and rival their speed. And his rebounding steadily improved as the season went on.
Free Agent: The Spurs will face a big decision regarding the status of Splitter. The Brazilian big man will be a free-agent this season. But it is likely that the money he will command in the free agent market will exceed what the Spurs are willing to pay. If Omer Asik can command a three year 25.1 million deal with the Houston Rockets, I can only imagine what Splitter can command in the open market.
What to expect: Splitter will enter this season as the back-up center. When he was on the court he was pretty good. Now if he can just avoid the nagging injuries he can be one the premier back-up big-men in the league.
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