Splitter In, Scola Out?

[AFBlue]

The Spurs drafted Ian Mahinmi two years ago and have now added Tiago Splitter to come in over the next two years and be a part of the Spurs future going forward. I just found myself thinking...what does this mean for Scola?

Is he brought over to the Spurs regardless of the stockpile of international F/Cs currently in the Spurs' system?

Is he traded to a team like the Bulls, who STILL did not address their need for low-post offense?

Does he sign a long-term multi-year contract with a Euro club and effectively never fulfill the hope of some Spurs fans to be a productive NBA player?

What do you think....?

[Beno Udrih]

This is the first thing that came to mind when we drafted Splitter. What happens to Scola's status?

[J.T.]

The Spurs would love to have Scola but his buyout has been a continuing problem. They've probably just opted to go in a different direction rather than let Luis grow older and less useful while they wait for his contract to expire.

[Beno Udrih]

What's interesting to me was during the telecast, ESPN said that he had a ridiculous buyout just like Scola. Hmm...

[Kori Ellis]

What's interesting to me was during the telecast, ESPN said that he had a ridiculous buyout just like Scola. Hmm...

Yeah but I think by next summer his buyout is only $1M.

[TDMVPDPOY]

splitter
scola

bench lineup would be nice :D:D:D

[Fabbs]

The unanswerable question.
Are the Spurs going to get anything out of the Scola pick?

Did he have a good enough season combined with his current lowered buyout (whatever the mystery damn price is): to entice other teams to trade for him?

Or obviously not as the draft just came n went?

I hope someone at Tau gets their asses chewed if the Spurs end up letting the whole buyout outdate itself. :lol

[AFBlue]

Yeah but I think by next summer his buyout is only $1M.

Adding the comment by R.C. in the article from the other thread, in which he basically says that Splitter's contract is much less ambiguous than Scola's.

Maybe that means he's given up on negotiating seriously with Tau to bring Scola over...

[AFBlue]

I still contend that Chicago is an obvious trading partner....

They added toughness and size in Noah, but not low-post scoring. They also are going to most likely lose PJ Brown and Michael Sweetney this summer....meaning they'll need added depth.

S&T Scola for Duhon....

Okay, that's the last thought of the night....after all, I do have a round of golf to play tomorrow.... :p:

[timvp]

I think that the Spurs still plan on trying to bring over Scola one day. Or at the very least trade him. The Spurs were drafting 'n stashing in the first round and Splitter was good depth to add to their foreign contingency.

Scola, Splitter and Mahinmi is a wicked unit of bigmen to have the rights too. You have the rugged pro in Scola, the kid wonder in Splitter and a guy with limitless potential in Mahinmi.

That's a good mix of bigs to have up your sleeve in the coming years.

[koopa]

what's the point of drafting and stashing??? so far it's only worked once and that was with manu, and none of these guys we draft and stash have the potential manu had....... drafting and stashing is fucking pointless

and fuck scola already, he wouldn't fit well here, he probably can't defend for shit, and there needs to be a limit on players with ugly long hair

splitter will be brought over first cause didn't they say his contract ends after next year, and there ain't no negotiation for him to come cause it's a first round contract.

we'll never see scola here and that probably isn't a bad thing

[Mr. Body]

Draft and stash is the balls at this point. We don't really need the players, though youth at the wing was nice, but at this point we have a fine assortment of mediocre players at various positions (discounting Scola). Big whoop.

[Kori Ellis]

what's the point of drafting and stashing??? so far it's only worked once and that was with manu, and none of these guys we draft and stash have the potential manu had....... drafting and stashing is fucking pointless

and fuck scola already, he wouldn't fit well here, he probably can't defend for shit, and there needs to be a limit on players with ugly long hair

splitter will be brought over first cause didn't they say his contract ends after next year, and there ain't no negotiation for him to come cause it's a first round contract.

we'll never see scola here and that probably isn't a bad thing

Well they don't have that many open roster spots, so drafting and stashing or trading picks makes sense.

And it looks like Splitter will have a small ($1M) buyout next summer and can be easily had.

For the last few years I've never thought Scola would come to the Spurs. Hopefully they can deal him and get a pick out of it or something.

[Mr. Body]

And it looks like Splitter will have a small ($1M) buyout next summer and can be easily had.


Remember this is Tau we're dealing with. Good luck prising a player out of their grasp. Doesn't Splitter have Spanish citizenship, too?

[T Park]

Hopefully Scola is still thought of well and he can be packaged with beno for something.

Neither one will or should be spurs.

[Kori Ellis]

Remember this is Tau we're dealing with. Good luck prising a player out of their grasp. Doesn't Splitter have Spanish citizenship, too?

Well RC said Splitter's buyout situation is more defined than Scola's and that next summer it shouldn't be a tough situation.

[Money316]

Draft and stash is the balls at this point. We don't really need the players, though youth at the wing was nice, but at this point we have a fine assortment of mediocre players at various positions (discounting Scola). Big whoop.
Don't let t-pendojo hear you say this. It'll start another 10 page name calling thread.

[Money316]

Remember this is Tau we're dealing with. Good luck prising a player out of their grasp. Doesn't Splitter have Spanish citizenship, too?
Yeah but I bet he understands dollars too.

[CosmicCowboy]

Atlanta now has like 6 small forwards and no legit power forwards. There would possibly be a deal there if their management wasn't so screwed up.

[T Park]

Don't let t-pendojo hear you say this. It'll start another 10 page name calling thread.

seems to me, you're the only one calling names.

[Mr. Body]

I guess you can't criticize your team's draft choices?

[ChumpDumper]

The cross is getting crowded.

[T Park]

I guess you can't criticize your team's draft choices?

I expressed frusteration with the stash idea, and was called names up and down.

So don't go there. Just say GO TIAGO!!!

[cecil collins]

what's the point of drafting and stashing??? so far it's only worked once and that was with manu, and none of these guys we draft and stash have the potential manu had....... drafting and stashing is fucking pointless

and fuck scola already, he wouldn't fit well here, he probably can't defend for shit, and there needs to be a limit on players with ugly long hair

splitter will be brought over first cause didn't they say his contract ends after next year, and there ain't no negotiation for him to come cause it's a first round contract.

we'll never see scola here and that probably isn't a bad thing
I like the idea of it. If we don't need the guy right now, and you're not going to get a guy ready to dominate, or be very successful down low at #28. The Spurs have been crazy successful evaluating foreign talent. They did draft Ginobili, Parker, Barbosa, and Giricek to name a few. Time will tell if this strategy will work out.

[koopa]

none of the guys we ever draft will dominate, they are all nothing more then role players, but there will be no use for a role player when tim retires cause if we have nothing but role players will be worse then the hawks are now

[Kori Ellis]

none of the guys we ever draft will dominate, they are all nothing more then role players, but there will be no use for a role player when tim retires cause if we have nothing but role players will be worse then the hawks are now

So you wanted them to draft players who will dominate?

How would they do that unless they were in the top 5?

[koopa]

So you wanted them to draft players who will dominate?

How would they do that unless they were in the top 5?

no, the person above brought up the word dominate so that's why i said dominate, i want us to draft players that could help now, not 20 years from now, our window to win is only open till tim leaves, so we got to get players that can come in now, cause after tim is gone, we are back to just a playoff team that will never win...... this drafting and stashing is pretty pointless, and keeping the team we have now is not gonna get it done, beno and barry are as useless as it gets in the nba, horry is declining more and more ever year, sure he did good on defense this year but that will be gone soon too........ we got lucky we didn't have to face the mavs this year, now next year we won't be as lucky and we'll be older and slower............. there had to be one american that could help now, but rc and pop busted a nut when splitter dropped so they went with another guy that will rot overseas....... they should have went with tucker, except he goes to one of the teams that is a legit threat to our chances of repeating

[BeerIsGood!]

none of the guys we ever draft will dominate, they are all nothing more then role players, but there will be no use for a role player when tim retires cause if we have nothing but role players will be worse then the hawks are now

You don't get guys who will dominate in the late first and 2nd very often, the Spurs were fortunate to get 2 of them.


You want a pick that matters? Wait until this regime is done and the Spurs win 23 games again and have a top 4 pick. Hopefully they'll get another 1 in a year with another great big man. Right now, they don't need superstars. They need to have the best mix of role players possible because they already have the stars on the team.

[BeerIsGood!]

no, the person above brought up the word dominate so that's why i said dominate, i want us to draft players that could help now, not 20 years from now, our window to win is only open till tim leaves, so we got to get players that can come in now, cause after tim is gone, we are back to just a playoff team that will never win...... this drafting and stashing is pretty pointless, and keeping the team we have now is not gonna get it done, beno and barry are as useless as it gets in the nba, horry is declining more and more ever year, sure he did good on defense this year but that will be gone soon too........ we got lucky we didn't have to face the mavs this year, now next year we won't be as lucky and we'll be older and slower............. there had to be one american that could help now, but rc and pop busted a nut when splitter dropped so they went with another guy that will rot overseas....... they should have went with tucker, except he goes to one of the teams that is a legit threat to our chances of repeating

That's what you don't understand. Players where the Spurs are drafting now won't be good enough to contribute over the players the Spurs already have. That's a very good thing.

The draft and stash allows the Spurs to try to groom players to come in when the ranks are thinner and the team isn't dominate - or when they mature to NBA level and can contribute next to TD, TP, and Manu. If they pick a bunch of domestic players they end up having to cut them ala James White situation with Indy last year.

[spurs4real]

I expressed frusteration with the stash idea, and was called names up and down.

So don't go there. Just say GO TIAGO!!!
or better yet
GO TIA GO

[planaria]

Remember this is Tau we're dealing with. Good luck prising a player out of their grasp. Doesn't Splitter have Spanish citizenship, too?

There is a buyout clausule in his contract.

Pay Tau US$ 1 million dollars and he´s free for 2008/09 season.

Spurs can help with US$ 500k and Splitter should pay the other US$ 500k.

Plus, Splitter really wish to play for you. That is enough...

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I expressed frusteration with the stash idea, and was called names up and down.

So don't go there. Just say GO TIAGO!!!

People called you names because you ducked the very simple question of who the Spurs should have drafted for two hours while you whined like a little girl whose dog just got kicked.

And here we are eight hours later, and you still haven't answered the question.

[ArgSpursFan]

i wonder If Luis already said something to the Spanish/Arg. Press about the spurs drafting Tiago.
He must be pissed.And I wouldnt blame him if He was.

[ducks]

why would be be pissed he could join his fellow player

[ArgSpursFan]

why would be be pissed he could join his fellow player

Honestly,My guess is that the spurs drafted Tiago coze they took a deferent direction with Luis.
I don´t know,We´ll see.

[ducks]

is it spurs fault scola has not negotioned well to get out of buyout?

[smeagol]

is it spurs fault scola has not negotioned well to get out of buyout?
We have gone through this many times. 10 year contract, signed in 1997 by his father. 1997: very few foriegn players in the NBA. Conclusion, it's nobody's fault.

What I'm surprised is that the Spurs did not do their due diligence when drafting Scola in 2002. Didn't they know about the situation with the buyout in Luis' contract?

[ArgSpursFan]

is it spurs fault scola has not negotioned well to get out of buyout?

Nope,Scola´s eather.Tau changed the terms of the buy out,not The player.
But now the spurs are gonna have to deal another buy out with Tau for Tiago.Now will see if it was Luis fault or Tau´s fault.

[ducks]

it is only suppose to be one million
it is not that bad
spurs can write him a check for half it for buyout
then splitter agent can work the rest out
not hard

[ducks]

if it is no ones fault maybe spurs were hoping scola coudl work something out
or maybe long term they thought they would bring him over
they still may when his buyout is reasonable

[wildbill2u]

I think I read somewhere that the guarantee at 28 is $720,000. If we paid $500,000 of Splitter's buy out, that means he'd have to pay the other $500,000 and would be coming here to play for only $200,000.

No one considers the possibility of Tau making a much better offer to extend his contract. We shouldn't underestimate the Euro teams financial resources in a bidding war. Splitter, a potential superstar in Europe, may be worth a lot more money to their team than he would to the Spurs as a role player.

[Mr. Body]

I think I read somewhere that the guarantee at 28 is $720,000. If we paid $500,000 of Splitter's buy out, that means he'd have to pay the other $500,000 and would be coming here to play for only $200,000.

No one considers the possibility of Tau making a much better offer to extend his contract. We shouldn't underestimate the Euro teams financial resources in a bidding war. Splitter, a potential superstar in Europe, may be worth a lot more money to their team than he would to the Spurs as a role player.

Especially if he has a Spanish passport, as I believe he does. Spanish League teams have strict rules regarding the number of nationals they must have on their rosters and having a productive player (like Scola or Splitter) with one is invaluable.

[ploto]

I said this 2 years ago and it bears repeating- the Spurs have gone with the new strategy of drafting the Euros they want to stash in the first round where there are no future salary negotiations. When the CBA changed the nature of guranteed rookie contracts to only 2 years it makes sense. For this guy you are only looking at about $1.7M over 2 years if he comes next summer. If he does not work out it is not that big of an investment. Ian will come in for low financial risk, as well. The tough part IS the buy out issue. The Spurs could pay half but he would still be left paying $500,000 when he would only make about $800,000 before taxes, agent,... compared to his possible salary in Europe. So he would actually lose money that year.

[Mr. Body]

I said this 2 years ago and it bears repeating- the Spurs have gone with the new strategy of drafting the Euros they want to stash in the first round where there are no future salary negotiations.

I've said this as well and got in a huge fight over it with some of the greybeards of the board.

[ploto]

I've said this as well and got in a huge fight over it with some of the greybeards of the board.
Why-- it is apparent and understandable because of the whole Scola and Javtokas issues- who both will never be Spurs. The Spurs replaced them with Ian and Splitter for much less.

[Mr. Body]

I was saying the Spurs would have wanted Mahinmi in the late first round over the second round (if he had been available for both). They thought this was crazy, but clearly the guaranteed, very small salary appealed to the team.

[Bruno]

If Splitter buyout is $1M next summer it won't be a problem at all.
Splitter will have a $2M/2years guaranteed contract. Paying $500K for the buyout will leve him enoguh money, even after taxes.

[Rogbok]

With Scola, would it not be he should be able to sign with whoever next offseason due to his contract being up?

I also do not think that getting Splitter over next season will be very difficult.

So next offseason, if the Spurs do indeed stay intact, could end up with the bigs being Tim, Scola, Splitter, Ian, and Butler/Elson.

*shrugs* Should be interesting in how it all pans out.

[FromWayDowntown]

Two things:

1. It makes perfect sense to use late 1's on draft-and-stash candidates. Much more sense than using 2nd rounders for the same purpose. I think Mr. Body and ploto have made that abundantly clear; but I also think it's readily apparent to anyone who stops to think about the issue for even one moment.

2. I don't get the idea that the Spurs were going to draft a difference-making player at 28 or 33. You get lucky every so often and land a Parker, a Barbosa, a Howard, an Arenas, or a Boozer or something like that. But more frequently, at those spots you end up with an Udrih, a Dickau, a Kleiza; players like Wayne Simien, David Harrison, Ndudi Ebi, Frank Williams, Chris Jeffries, Brandon Armstrong, or Erick Barkley.

If the Spurs are truly going to get better in a meaningful way for 2007-08, their best bet to do so is through free agency. Given their cap commitments for next season, their best chance to improve through free agency is with a sign-and-trade. And now the Spurs have some pieces that they can include in such a deal without gutting their existing roster to get it done.

[SenorSpur]

Two things:

1. It makes perfect sense to use late 1's on draft-and-stash candidates. Much more sense than using 2nd rounders for the same purpose. I think Mr. Body and ploto have made that abundantly clear; but I also think it's readily apparent to anyone who stops to think about the issue for even one moment.

2. I don't get the idea that the Spurs were going to draft a difference-making player at 28 or 33. You get lucky every so often and land a Parker, a Barbosa, a Howard, an Arenas, or a Boozer or something like that. But more frequently, at those spots you end up with an Udrih, a Dickau, a Kleiza; players like Wayne Simien, David Harrison, Ndudi Ebi, Frank Williams, Chris Jeffries, Brandon Armstrong, or Erick Barkley.

If the Spurs are truly going to get better in a meaningful way for 2007-08, their best bet to do so is through free agency. Given their cap commitments for next season, their best chance to improve through free agency is with a sign-and-trade. And now the Spurs have some pieces that they can include in such a deal without gutting their existing roster to get it done.

Besides Barry, Udrih and Butler what other pieces were you referencing? IMO the Spurs do not have a lot of assets (outside of the big three) that teams would find attractive.

[O-Factor]

What's interesting to me was during the telecast, ESPN said that he had a ridiculous buyout just like Scola. Hmm...


Yeah, but Splitter can opt out of his contract or his contract ends next summer, something like that. Thus making him avaliable to joing the club next off season

[ArgSpursFan]

Yeah, but Splitter can opt out of his contract or his contract ends next summer, something like that. Thus making him avaliable to joing the club next off season

The Scola saga continues ....... :lol

[O-Factor]

So you wanted them to draft players who will dominate?

How would they do that unless they were in the top 5?

I'd rather be dominating the NBA, winning rings, and hope to get lucky with some of these foreign players who might become stars(like Parker and Gino), than have a team that is picking at the top of the draft year in and year out.

[FromWayDowntown]

Besides Barry, Udrih and Butler what other pieces were you referencing? IMO the Spurs do not have a lot of assets (outside of the big three) that teams would find attractive.

Scola and Splitter, to name two. Barry's contract is much more likely to be enticing now than it was last year or two years ago. Beno certainly is viewed in some quarters as having upside. Add in the rights to someone like Scola (who is now more readily-movable for the Spurs because of the plethora of foreign big men whose rights they possess), and you have the makings of a fairly realistic deal.

My point is that the Spurs weren't very likely to get a player who would make an immediate impact on this roster at 28. They acquired another asset and now can proceed into free agency looking for some more immediate fixes to the few minor problems they must correct. It doesn't even have to be a big score in free agency to offer some incremental improvement. In any event, it seems to me that they're far more likely to get immediate help that way than they were in the draft.

[SenorSpur]

Scola and Splitter, to name two. Barry's contract is much more likely to be enticing now than it was last year or two years ago. Beno certainly is viewed in some quarters as having upside. Add in the rights to someone like Scola (who is now more readily-movable for the Spurs because of the plethora of foreign big men whose rights they possess), and you have the makings of a fairly realistic deal.

My point is that the Spurs weren't very likely to get a player who would make an immediate impact on this roster at 28. They acquired another asset and now can proceed into free agency looking for some more immediate fixes to the few minor problems they must correct. It doesn't even have to be a big score in free agency to offer some incremental improvement. In any event, it seems to me that they're far more likely to get immediate help that way than they were in the draft.

Understand and agree. It will be interesting to see what "small-to-medium" sized fish the Spurs can land in free agency. Problem with most of the mid-career FAs (Wallace, Pietrus) is they are seeking the highest dollar - and I certainly don't blame them for that.

The point is they'll surely be out of our price range. I still hold out hope that perhaps James Posey can be had at a reasonable price.

[Extra Stout]

no, the person above brought up the word dominate so that's why i said dominate, i want us to draft players that could help now, not 20 years from now, our window to win is only open till tim leaves, so we got to get players that can come in now, cause after tim is gone, we are back to just a playoff team that will never win...... this drafting and stashing is pretty pointless, and keeping the team we have now is not gonna get it done, beno and barry are as useless as it gets in the nba, horry is declining more and more ever year, sure he did good on defense this year but that will be gone soon too........ we got lucky we didn't have to face the mavs this year, now next year we won't be as lucky and we'll be older and slower............. there had to be one american that could help now, but rc and pop busted a nut when splitter dropped so they went with another guy that will rot overseas....... they should have went with tucker, except he goes to one of the teams that is a legit threat to our chances of repeating
What makes you think that Alando Tucker could even get into the rotation on this team in 2007-08?

[whottt]

what's the point of drafting and stashing??? so far it's only worked once and that was with manu, and none of these guys we draft and stash have the potential manu had....... drafting and stashing is fucking pointless




Technically...it hasn't failed yet either. I guess Karualov....

[Mr. Body]

Technically...it hasn't failed yet either. I guess Karualov....

It's a half-full/half-empty dichotomy that will have this forum arguing for years.

It's just as easy to say that none of the post-Manu picks have panned out at all, since none of those players have ever made it into a Spurs uniform. In essense those were non-picks.

Really, no team has done better than the Spurs at being successful while 'not having draft picks'.

[djohn14]

Any chance Tiago is playing on our Summer League team?

[T Park]

If the Spurs wanted a bigman, this was the best available.

Its just a shame he can't play this year. Dude looks like on youtube like hes got skills.

Will be interesting to watch him in the qualifying tournament playing for Brazil.

[timvp]

I think this may actually affect Oberto more than Scola. If there is truth to the rumors that it's possible for Splitter to get out of his contract early and join the Spurs next year, that gives the Spurs a fall back option in case Oberto's agent drives up the asking price to an unreasonable level.

[T Park]

next year as in 07 -08???

REEEALLLYYY

[remingtonbo2001]

If the Spurs wanted a bigman, this was the best available.

Its just a shame he can't play this year. Dude looks like on youtube like hes got skills.

Will be interesting to watch him in the qualifying tournament playing for Brazil.

If Tiago was able to come over this year, the Spurs wouldn't have been able to pull his name outta the hat at 28. I don't expect him to come over this year.