In hindsight, should we have traded Diaw instead of Splitter?

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Originally Posted by barbacoataco

Who are all these 7 ft with skills playing on 2nd units around the NBA? West might give up an inch or two at the most, and he is a strong player that doesn't get pushed around. His numbers were down a little last year, but the previous 2 he ranked top 10 in NBA defensive rating. Players his age often re-energize with a new team for a year or two. Especially with the
Spurs managing his minutes. Plus his mid range jumper will make him effective coming off the bench.

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This is right on the money. It had to be incredibly bad in Indy last year for him to opt out of a $12 million contract. I am certain that effort on defense would suffer for anyone in that situation that knows he is just playing out the string in a bad situation.

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Originally Posted by AFMadison

I like that. I will miss Splitter's defense though, but one of the guys he played that great defense against during that 2014 finals run is now on our team. Bobo also stretches the floor and is our best passing big. His defense I think will come more in handy in the future, sometimes he's put on Lebron and sometimes Durant. Bobo can also stay healthy.

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This. Dirk is too old now and Aldridge isn't a factor anymore. Grizzlies are the only main worry tbh

Splitter just can't stay healthy. Would have been a mistake for the spurs to trade Diaw instead of Splitter. Let's see how many games Splitter is out for Atlanta due to injury this season.

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Originally Posted by TXstbobcat

Splitter just can't stay healthy. Would have been a mistake for the spurs to trade Diaw instead of Splitter. Let's see how many games Splitter is out for Atlanta due to injury this season.

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http://38.media.tumblr.com/316395eeb...mdj8o4_400.gif

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Originally Posted by ElNono

Pop doesn't consider Diaw a "big". He used to call the frontline pairing of him and Tim, "medium ball". In other words, Boris is tall, but that doesn't mean he plays like a classical big.

EDIT: to the 2nd part, the Spurs will trot many lineups out there, depending on the opponent or whatever experiments Pop want to try out. The point is that we have the talent to match up despite losing Tiago.

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He may not think of him as a traditional big, but he's played more C than SF in his Spurs tenure. PF is the perfect position for him. He isn't a great shooter or particularly mobile, for a 3 but is above average for a four. Really the only big team left is Memphis and they've tried to add versatility in Green and Wright so they can go small. The safer bet is for Anderson, Manu, or Green to get the backup 3 minutes.

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Originally Posted by kobyz

Diaw seems to become somewhat satisfied after the title, someone need to slap him in the face to refocus him...

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Someone need to slap yo momma in the face n kick yo pops in the sac

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Originally Posted by TXstbobcat

Splitter just can't stay healthy. Would have been a mistake for the spurs to trade Diaw instead of Splitter. Let's see how many games Splitter is out for Atlanta due to injury this season.

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Will be interesting to see how Atlanta handles that. I think one of the reasons Pop was never big on him was his durability. He was injured during his first training camp and that basically relegated him to the bench his first year.

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Originally Posted by cd021

He may not think of him as a traditional big, but he's played more C than SF in his Spurs tenure. PF is the perfect position for him. He isn't a great shooter or particularly mobile, for a 3 but is above average for a four. Really the only big team left is Memphis and they've tried to add versatility in Green and Wright so they can go small. The safer bet is for Anderson, Manu, or Green to get the backup 3 minutes.

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Completely agree with that. He also played a ton of stretch-4 for us, out on the perimeter (in a similar vein to the Bonner role). Boris is the kind of guy that's versatile enough to give you flexibility, much like Manu has played the 3 before when we needed floor spacing. The premise in this thread is what do you do when you need a classical C in the lineup (which is really rare these days, maybe against teams like Memphis or Utah). I don't know that Anderson has earned his minutes out there yet. I'm sure Pop will give him his chance, especially early on, and I hope it works out. But if it doesn't work out, Boris can certainly play the position if we're being forced to go big with Marjanovic.

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Originally Posted by BG_Spurs_Fan

Disagree that Boris wouldn't be valuable to other contenders, however, not to Atlanta obviously, as they have lots of PFs and needed a true center. Also, it seems the Spurs were willing to work with them on the trade instead of dumping him to another team with cap space for a lot of reasons, including sending Splitter to a good situation where he knows Bud and he'll play rather than burying him in the NBA purgatory that Philly or Sacramento are. It raises their image to FAs when they show they care about their own even when trading them. Morey or Hinkie would have probably looked for the best possible asset they could get without giving a damn about the player being traded, but not Pop and RC.

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That is such a great point. That is another example of front office stability allowing for decisions that benefit the organization in the long term instead looking to maximize short term return. Now that the advantage that big market cities had has been minimized (social media, new TV contract and the CBA) the organization is poised to take advantage of long-term good will that has been built up.

No. Diaw's a rare and valuable package to have in today's game and Aldridge can replace a lot of what Splitter brought.

I also suspect the Spurs and Splitter probably have a wink wink agreement to bring him back in two years, especially if Duncan plays out his contract. Green even tweeted something along the lines of, he wouldn't be surprised to see him back one day. I wouldn't even be surprised if the Hawks are in on it, which might partially explain why they essentially gave up nothing.

Sure, Splitter would pair better next to West defensively, but as has been said, West seemed unlikely, at least in conjunction with Aldridge, at that point and besides, that's too narrow a view to have. West is probably one and done and in the games that really matter, if he and Diaw is a defensive/rebounding problem, Pop can limit or altogether stagger their minutes.

bump

because this guy is dime a dozen in the league :lol

Splitter is gone because he is soft both on the court and off it. Couldnt stay healthy and when he played with an injury he was like a kid in a mans game,

I am glad he is gone, because you expected something of him and rarely delivered, he had one good year and that was it.

Good riddance Vagina!

Diaw is a Swiss Army knife and an invaluable part of our bench. There's no question about that.

However, that doesn't change the fact that the West-Diaw front court is far from ideal, and that on paper, Splitter-West would be much better defensively.

Splitter - West pairing probly good for 20 games TOPS because SPLITTER is always injured

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Originally Posted by Uriel

Diaw is a Swiss Army knife and an invaluable part of our bench. There's no question about that.

However, that doesn't change the fact that the West-Diaw front court is far from ideal, and that on paper, Splitter-West would be much better defensively.

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Game isn't played on paper. Bad idea in July. Still a bad idea.

Op should just take the L tbh :lol

Diawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww rules

:bobo

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Originally Posted by Uriel

Diaw is a Swiss Army knife and an invaluable part of our bench. There's no question about that.

However, that doesn't change the fact that the West-Diaw front court is far from ideal, and that on paper, Splitter-West would be much better defensively.

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dont double down on this one, not worth it

I'd take 2012-2014 Splitter over current Diaw. But I don't think there's much of an argument at this point that Tiago is at that level. Hopefully, his internship in Atlanta will allow him to get healthy, since even at 31-32, a healthy Tiago is a potential great fit next to LMA for a couple of years. There will be times the Spurs miss Splitter, but there's not much debate that overall, they are better off without him right now.

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Originally Posted by Chinook

I'd take 2012-2014 Splitter over current Diaw. But I don't think there's much of an argument at this point that Tiago is at that level. Hopefully, his internship in Atlanta will allow him to get healthy, since even at 31-32, a healthy Tiago is a potential great fit next to LMA for a couple of years. There will be times the Spurs miss Splitter, but there's not much debate that overall, they are better off without him right now.

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I'm sorry, despite how well Splitter may have played 2012-2014, there's no denying that Diaw played better particularly in the championship run. When they won that year, Diaw could have won finals MVP. In fact, if he did win, then it would not have been a surprise.

Folks keep on focusing on Kawhi as being the reason why the Spurs got out of the dark years, but they all too easily forget that when Diaw joined the team that the Spurs started piling up the winning streaks. The man is a genius and gets too easily dismissed because he takes it easy during no-bearing games.

The tiago is good thread is as equally amusing as the Jimmer Thread.

Smh people disrespecting the golden God.


The reason we suddenly played champion level basketball was defense and as much as I love bobo he's not a defensive player. When did bobo last shut down a quality level matchup?

So, yes Diaw is great for this team, but splitter was more important pre LMA.





The whole Diaw> splitter thing requires massive hindsight, among them:

That kawhi would benefit from the increased spacing

That lma would play excellent defense

That splitter would be injured


Ok so number three isn't really hindsight.

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Originally Posted by Chinook

I'd take 2012-2014 Splitter over current Diaw. But I don't think there's much of an argument at this point that Tiago is at that level. Hopefully, his internship in Atlanta will allow him to get healthy, since even at 31-32, a healthy Tiago is a potential great fit next to LMA for a couple of years. There will be times the Spurs miss Splitter, but there's not much debate that overall, they are better off without him right now.

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I'd take 2003 Duncan over the current one.

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Originally Posted by Uriel

Diaw is a Swiss Army knife and an invaluable part of our bench. There's no question about that.

However, that doesn't change the fact that the West-Diaw front court is far from ideal, and that on paper, Splitter-West would be much better defensively.

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:lol

OP won't abandon his sinking ship. Like a bawss.

We sure could've used this guy's rim protection against LeBron the other night.

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