Pop lets Tiago Splitter off the hook

[Marcus Bryant]

Hopefully he'll be ready to come over in 2010.

[ChumpDumper]

So should we be upset that the Spurs picked this guy at 28?

[Marcus Bryant]

So should we be upset that the Spurs picked this guy at 28?

Yes.

"FAIL" or whatever.

[Bruno]

Damn, if Hollinger is anywhere close in this projections of Splitter, the Spurs lost a guy who would have been a beast.

See the bright side.
timvp will stay timvp and won't become splittervp.

[Marcus Bryant]

Is Hollinger doing nothing more than projecting out his Tau stats from last season on a 48 minute basis?

[T Park]

Yes.

"FAIL" or whatever.

Wrong.

"Epic Fail"

[Harry Callahan]

So should we be upset that the Spurs picked this guy at 28?

Not because of ability. He was a talented player obviously. The contract situation made him available in the first place.

The Spurs have first shot if he wants to play with the big boys down the road.

He was good enough to contribute now and that won't happen. That is the problem.

[ChumpDumper]

He was good enough to contribute now and that won't happen. That is the problem.

And the Spurs were supposed to know all of this a year ago.

[timvp]

Is Hollinger doing nothing more than projecting out his Tau stats from last season on a 48 minute basis?

Fortunately, I have a system for converting Euroleague performance to NBA performance, one that's been uncanny in its accuracy in previous seasons. For instance, a year ago I projected a PER of 7.36 for Marco Belinelli, 15.16 for Juan Carlos Navarro and 16.27 for Luis Scola. The actual numbers were 8.23, 11.90 and 16.18, with only Navarro deviating from his projection. Previous seasons have shown similar accuracy.

The reason this works is that there's a predictable relationship between a player's stats in the Euroleague -- the highest level of European basketball -- and what they'll be in the NBA. Crossing the Atlantic does the following to a player's results:

• Scoring rate decreases 25 percent;
• Rebound rate increases by 18 percent (there are more missed shots in NBA play);
• Assist rate increases by 31 percent (Euro scorers are tightwads with assists);
• Shooting percentage drops by 12 percent; and
• Overall, PER drops by 30 percent.

Given that is only a one year sample size but I'll hand it to Hollinger that his projections were pretty accurate.

Which sucks considering he has Splitter rated better than everyone. According to Hollinger, Splitter would have gone third overall in this draft.

[T Park]

Yeah the notion that RC " ed up" with this pick is a misnomer.

He picked a great player. It just sucks the rookie scale got in the way.

Had he came over and played as it showed above, AND, Ian played also and they drafted a Mario Chalmers, and signed a JR Smith, this team would've been unbeatable.

[MoSpur]

Quit it timvp!!! We're already in the dumps about not going to the NBA Championship. Splitter taking more money to stay in Europe was salt on the wound.

[Marcus Bryant]

Given that is only a one year sample size but I'll hand it to Hollinger that his projections were pretty accurate.

Which sucks considering he has Splitter rated better than everyone. According to Hollinger, Splitter would have gone third overall in this draft.

So keep his rights and see how he feels about making the jump in 2010. The Lux Tax shouldn't be a concern that summer. Perhaps with a couple of years at his new salary that will be enough for him to stomach taking the NBA rookie contract...if he indeed ever wants to play in the NBA.

[Marcus Bryant]

Or maybe Ian's PER will be 100.8 then and we won't care.

[T Park]

Or maybe Ian's PER will be 100.8 and we won't give a .

I wonder what his projections from NBDL to NBA are

[Harry Callahan]

And the Spurs were supposed to know all of this a year ago.

No they didn't know a year ago. From the time they drafted TS until the first of this month, it was generally assumed on both sides he would be here. It just hurts the cause to miss out on a good player, that's all.

I think it was a good pick given the information available in June of 2007.

Only 20-30% of the guys that are drafted in the first round in a particular year turn out to be quality players anyway.

TS was way better than the 28th best player available.

[polandprzem]

What's making it even worse is that we did not got the european Championship vbookies

[Marcus Bryant]

No they didn't know a year ago. From the time they drafted TS until the first of this month, it was generally assumed on both sides he would be here. It just hurts the cause to miss out on a good player, that's all.

I think it was a good pick given the information available in June of 2007.

Only 20-30% of the guys that are drafted in the first round in a particular year turn out to be quality players anyway.

TS was way better than the 28th best player available.

He was available because of his contract. Spurs took a gamble. Maybe it'll pay off in 2010. Perhaps never.

[mikekim]

we'll be fine. we'll adjust and be solid contenders with realistic hopes/expectations of winning again...as usual

[Nbadan]

Thank G.B. for making our dollar valuation worthless - just goes to show, you can stay away from the political forum, but the political forum won't say away from you....

[T Park]

Thank G.B. for making our dollar valuation worthless - just goes to show, you can stay away from the political forum, but the political forum won't say away from you....

Thank you for polluting our forum with your idiocy.

[objective]

the mistake wasn't the gamble on Splitter, it was the gamble that Splitter made Scola frivolous.

[Brutalis]

If I remember correctly Tiago was a projected mid first round pick. And he fell all the way to us. Which now makes me wonder if SA maybe knew what other teams knew, but decided to take the chance anyways? Knew = Tiago might just resign in Europe.

[Nbadan]

Thank you for polluting our forum with your idiocy.

"our" forum


.........Yeah, kinda like 'those' people....

[T Park]

"our" forum


.........Yeah, kinda like 'those' people....

Way to twist something into a racist connotation jerkoff.

[The Franchise]

Gotta give props to Pop for falling on the sword for RC. Also kept the door open for Splitter at some point in the future.

It's also a good sign that Pop seems involved in the offseason a lot more than usual. The last few summers, Pop has let RC run the ship while he disappeared to the Maine wilderness. This summer Pop has stayed in town.

Hopefully offseason magic ensues.

Pop only spoke the truth. Splitters decision was common sense.