Who played better--Nene or Tiago?

[E20]

I couldn't really watch the game, I was busy, but the only thing I saw was around the the 3rd Q when Bill Walton was mentioning that Tiago is already NBA ready and Tiago then proceeded to make a tip-in off an offensive rebound, but my question:

Who played better?
Nene an established NBA center or Tiago Splitter who has had virtually no NBA experience against Team USA?

Thoughts/Comments? I'm still reading the game blog so my bad if this has been already discussed.

[HighLowLobForBig-50]

tiago played great, lotsa hustle , reb, drove to the bucket well
nene looked overwieght, little slow, at least one mean throw down

[Dex]

Tiago definitely looked better in this game. He was active, effective, and kept Brazil at least within striking distance through the beginning of the game. As soon as he sat on the bench, USAs lead ballooned from 5 to 18. Albeit in a losing effort, Tiago was probably Brazil's best player tonight, even over Barbosa.

Nene was noticeably out of shape, missed more dunks than he put down, and seemed pretty ineffective against the US big men. It got so bad that Bill Walton was actually poking fun at him for being out of breath on the bench. Meanwhile, Splitter drew high praise from Walton, who repeatedly said that he should be brought into the NBA as soon as possible.

Tiago's game seems a little more based on finesse, which definitely had better results than trying to throw your weight around against the likes of Howard and Stoudemire.

[ChumpDumper]

If you have NBAtv, they have a replay scheduled after the ARG-PAN game.

[timvp]

Nene had gained about thirty pounds of fast food since the end of the playoffs. Not much of a comparison.

[Spurs Brazil]

Tiago was the best Brazil player tonight.

Nene and Leandro looked horrible

[wildchild]

Nene has more natural ability but Splitter is a strong worker. damn Splitter so good prospect! Good for Spurs!

[samikeyp]

Tiago. He was lifting weights while Nene was lifting cheeseburgers. :)

[George Gervin's Afro]

NeNe is a BEAST!

[samikeyp]

NeNe is a BEAST!

True...no buffet can tame him! :)

[Slo spurs fan]

Nene had gained about thirty pounds of fast food since the end of the playoffs. Not much of a comparison.
Maybe he hung around with Beno?

[smrattler]

Nene had gained about thirty pounds of fast food since the end of the playoffs. Not much of a comparison.

Wouldn't that worry you if you were his coach, GM, fan?

I know it's off season, but most elite athletes don't gain so much weight and get so out of shape so fast. This guy looked phenomenal physically in the playoffs.

Shaq used to come in out of shape and give you the best player on the planet by the all-star break. Nene is no Shaq. At best he'd give you a really good player by all-star break. But you don't give as much leniency for that much return, do you? The shaq rules don't apply to everyone.

At worst, he becomes like a Shawn Kemp that this stuff adds up, takes it's toll and eventually catches up with him. This guy comes in anything close to this by camp and gets a nagging injury that he carries around all year (hamstrign, ankle, whatever), that'll prevent him from getting into shape and he'll be pretty useless.

[ChumpDumper]

:lmao @ the Nuggets. Well they only owe Nene $50 million more, right?

[MoSpur]

Its obvious Nene is out of shape. Ever since the injury he hasn't been the same. He did a good jod recovering during the season and playoffs.

[The Franchise]

Tiago was better. Nene was a useless turd.

[picnroll]

Nene sucked and Barbosa sucked harder. Suns best chance is if the Brazilian Blur comes off the bench with Amare during a brawl.

[Demo Dick Marcinko]

Nene sucked and Barbosa sucked harder. Suns best chance is if the Brazilian Blur comes off the bench with Amare during a brawl.


Don't worry, Grant Hill will more then pick up the slack!













All 15 games that he plays, uninjured. :lol

[Spurs Brazil]

Tiago keeping playing better and Nene keeping playing worst. Peter Ramos killed Nene yesterday