Tiago

I'm not even going to read everything you wrote. Your conclusions and logic are based on false pretenses.

Who is Tiago going to play over? Put yourself in Pop's situation and try to see it his logic. Is he going to Play Tiago ahead of Duncan? No. Is he going to play Tiago over Mcdyess? No. Is he going to play Tiago over Blair? No. Is he going to play Tiago over Bonner? No.

The real issue is that Pop values Bonner's ability to spread the floor and make the defense adjust to Bonner. Popovich has had nothing but good things to say about Tiago. Pretty much all the spurs say good things about him too.

Like I said, all season long. Popovich just hates to play newcombers to the system. And if he has 3 veterans and a Dejuan Blair, Tiago is the 5th big man in his line up. This is how its going to be. Tiago would be starting on some NBA teams.

Tiago's forte never was playing above the rim, he rarely dunks and one can say he's a mediocre rebounder.

BUT...

...Spurs knew all this.

OP says he's in the dog house because he doesn't adapt his game, but I think it's the other way around, if anything.

I have to agree, Splitter has too many bigs ahead of him, thats why he plays mostly against garbage teams. Pop wont play threw rookie mistakes in big games, he doesnt have too, it appears. Lets hope we somehow get by in the playoffs against big lineups with blair and bonner playing significant minutes.

Tiago Splitter = Travis Knight

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Originally Posted by ChuckD

I don't hate Tiago, as some here might think, but I do hate the way he's playing, and that is why is isn't playing more, I can assure you.

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Please do, I could use some assurance. Music to my ears.

Ready to be assured! :hungry:

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...Splitter was limited to only 3:33 of game action — and all of his playing time came at the end. It marked the second consecutive game where his playing time was low after playing only 1:04 in the game against Atlanta. Sunday’s game seemingly was an ideal game to put him in against Portland’s big inside players. But Popovich decided to go with other players — even inserting Duncan back into the game. It looks like Splitter’s role on the team will be as a gigantic insurance policy in case fatigue or injuries should strike any of the other Spurs’ big players.

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http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...-they-used-to/

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Originally Posted by Cessation

I have to agree, Splitter has too many bigs ahead of him, thats why he plays mostly against garbage teams.

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This is what Pop has said. Specifically, Pop stated that McD is playing too well right now for Splitter to get any significant time.

The answer is minutes. Spurs are 20-3. Splitter is not going to get minutes. Trying to analyze Splitter's game this year is a moot point.

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Originally Posted by duncan228

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...-they-used-to/

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This is such a downer. Time to drink a bottle of cough syrup. This is indeed a sad day. Thanks 228.

The Cleveland game, was it a fluke? Splitter sure looked good, moving well on the receiving end of Tony's and Manu's passing. It seemed like something to build on.
Now it's clear that Splitter has been deemed a garbage time player, and has been getting garbage minutes...and consequently has been looking like garbage. Kinda hard for anyone to distinguish themselves in garbage time IMO.

I guess most would say our current record settles the question, but the ultimate goal should be improving our team chances down the road. Is our gimmick lineup of Blair, Bonner and an increasingly creaky Dice good enough to get out of the west? I doubt it.

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Originally Posted by Capt Bringdown

The Cleveland game, was it a fluke? Splitter sure looked good, moving well on the receiving end of Tony's and Manu's passing. It seemed like something to build on.
Now it's clear that Splitter has been deemed a garbage time player, and has been getting garbage minutes...and consequently has been looking like garbage. Kinda hard for anyone to distinguish themselves in garbage time IMO.

I guess most would say our current record settles the question, but the ultimate goal should be improving our team chances down the road. Is our gimmick lineup of Blair, Bonner and an increasingly creaky Dice good enough to get out of the west? I doubt it.

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That's how you get more minutes, play well during the time you're given. Didn't HS athletics teach you anything?

if pop gonna waste Splitter this year

then :pctoss

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Originally Posted by Capt Bringdown

The Cleveland game, was it a fluke? Splitter sure looked good, moving well on the receiving end of Tony's and Manu's passing. It seemed like something to build on.
Now it's clear that Splitter has been deemed a garbage time player, and has been getting garbage minutes...and consequently has been looking like garbage. Kinda hard for anyone to distinguish themselves in garbage time IMO.

I guess most would say our current record settles the question, but the ultimate goal should be improving our team chances down the road. Is our gimmick lineup of Blair, Bonner and an increasingly creaky Dice good enough to get out of the west? I doubt it.

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The ultimate goal is to win a championship. Tim and manu probably won't be here "down the road". Splitter is not a garbage player, but you really can't justify giving him quality minutes when the Spurs are playing this well. I agree that it is hard for a player to distinguish themselves in garbage time, but thats the route alot of players have to go thru to prove themselves. I still hope that Splitter can work his way into the rotation this year.

Seriously, what games are you watching? He's a soft player? Really? Is it simply for the reasons you've mentioned? "He doesn't dunk, he takes charges" Are you basing his softness on those reasons?

Pop and the rest of the staff are high on Splitter, they always say that he's got great bb IQ, they see him as a long time investment, that's obvious. I would be concerned if Tiago is in the same role after the whole season, so far it's been just 23 games, so it's closer to "expected" than to "surprise". Big guys need more time to adjust in the NBA, and as we know our system is not so simple, so it would take time but I hope it will be worth it.

It seems Pop has made a decision of not developing Splitter this season. I'm curious to see how this plays out later. Might go either way.

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Originally Posted by jjktkk

...but you really can't justify giving him quality minutes when the Spurs are playing this well.

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So you would give Splitter more minutes when we're playing bad? This would be the best time to try and develop him, when we're rolling. Winning should bring flexibility, not rigidity.

I don't know about "quality minutes," but it makes sense to play Splitter in different situations and combos. If he fails, so what? We're playing well, we can afford to take some chances.

Another reason to be more flexible would be that even though overall we're playing well, Bonner and Dice have certainly had their ups and downs. Why not give us another potential option?

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Originally Posted by gsh

i would like to invite some of you to visit my planet. Or maybe i can visit yours. Either way, just for once i'd like to be seeing the same things some of you are.

When i watch splitter play, the word "soft" doesn't even come to mind. If splitter had landed in memphis, like pao gasol did, he would be playing 25 minutes per night, and putting up respectable numbers.

Hell, if the spurs hadn't signed dejuan blair, splitter would be playing 25 minutes per night here, and putting up respectable numbers. And people would be talking about how wonderful he is. And a lot of his learning process would have to have taken place next offseason.

Even with a 20-3 record, i think a lot of people still don't accept just how good, and how deep this team is. Blair took a while to adjust to a starting role, so a lot of people still don't accept that he's good enough to deserve that starting job.

Splitter is solid. He's going to be good in this league, and he's going to make a huge difference to this team. And people are going to be falling all over themselves saying that they worshipped him all along. The spurs are trying to teach him how to play the game smart. How to draw charges. How to defend without drawing a bunch of rookie whistles. I still think pop is nursing that plantaris injury, and from what i learned about it, i think that he's very smart to do it.

But soft? That's pretty harsh. And i think it's pretty unfair. Just because he hasn't come charging out like a bull? He wasn't soft before he came here, and i don't think he suddenly got scared. It's a different style of play, and pop has the luxury of bringing him along at a slower pace. Next year, mcdyess will probably retire, and tiago will take all of those minutes. Maybe he'll get a lot of them this year, i don't know. But as long as we have a 20-3 record, i'm having a hard time finding stuff like this to bitch about.

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+1

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Originally Posted by Capt Bringdown

Bonner and Dice have certainly had their ups and downs. Why not give us another potential option?

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Most all players have their ups and downs. But because the Spurs are playing well, Pop has let them play thru their ups and downs. Whose to say, that by Feb., or Mar. that Splitter starts getting regular min., once he becomes acclimated more to the Spurs system. But because the Spurs are 20-3, I'm not going to criticize Pop's decision to not give more playing time to Splitter. I believe in the old adage, "if it aint broke, don't fix it".

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Originally Posted by ChuckD

I don't hate Tiago, as some here might think, but I do hate the way he's playing, and that is why is isn't playing more, I can assure you. I've argued sematics about whether he's soft or he's passive, but I assure you that Pop sees those as one and the same. He's pretty passive on both ends, and Pop won't abide that. It's not like it's unfixable, but he needs to take steps to up his game.

1) Attack the rim on offense. Don't stop one step short and throw up a runner. Finish strong, with a dunk or a point blank can't miss layup.

2) Attack the penetrators when you're defending, especially guards. You're bigger than them. Show them why that matters.

The good news for fans is that he's going to play rotation minutes instead of garbage time against Milwaukee on the B2B. Pop will need to manage Tim and Dice, and MIL is a much better front line matchup than Denver/Nene/KMart.

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:toast

Well, he would have played rotation minutes. Strained abdominal, will not return, per Spurs telecast. I think his nuts were just crushed in the first half when he got kneed.

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Spurs vs. Bucks: Notes from Shootaround
by Andrew A. McNeill
48 Minutes of Hell

...Tiago Splitter worked with Spurs assistant Coach Chad Forcier before the game. Splitter did a drill where he had to rebound the ball and go back up strong while two big assistant coaches hammered him. He then worked extensively running the pick-and-roll with Forcier. To finish his work, he took some time to have fun and be the ballhandler on the pick-and-roll, with the much smaller (probably 5’11″) Forcier setting picks for Splitter. Splitter capped it with a pull-up 3-pointer. I don’t think anyone else could taking any more drills seriously after that.

Splitter also worked on shooting 3-pointers from the corner a little bit, which I thought was interesting.

Splitter also practiced shooting free throws one handed, with his guide hand (his weaker, left hand) of the ball. Usually players do this to learn to balance the ball better on their shooting hand.

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http://www.48minutesofhell.com/spurs...om-shootaround