I agree about Rubio and Fernandez. They are not even good players. Rudy is average and Rubio is barely even that. I just disagree about Splitter.
I have already said that Splitter can help the Spurs and would be a good backup center. Personally I think he is better than McDyess is. But the simple fact remains that you ARE overrating him.
Those 4 players on Baskonia are all more talented than him whether you can grasp it or not is irrelevant. As for Semih Erden that is another good example. He was one of many centers in Euroleague that were better than Splitter.
What you don't seem to understand is that Splitter is a system player and in Baskonia he played in a system that allowed him to get about 5 wide open dunks/layups every game and that allowed him to guard pick and roll and not have to deal with any post defense. He had athletes and rebounders around him.
Every single offense was created by guys like Huertas and San Emeterio. Splitter basically just had to defend the pick and roll, defend face up bigs and finish a wide open dunk or layup. That was the entire extent of his job.
Did he EVER do anything more than that? No.
Erden might be an idiot that was always in foul trouble, but he was always capable of grabbing a rebound from someone, or guarding someone in the low block. Things that essentially were always a bit difficult for Splitter.
The simple fact is that just about any decent center can play in the Baskonia system, which is exactly why Barac and now Batista already outperform Splitter in the center role on that team this year.
You don't seem to grasp that Splitter played with world class pick and roll players like Prigioni (before last year) and Huertas, a point that could create anything imaginable for him in Huertas, a guy like San Emeterio that took all the big shots, made all the needed baskets, carried the team game after game, etc.
Then a guy like Eliyahu who could control the rebounds and a guy like Teletovic who could hit any long distance shot you could think of. That was the team around him and they did all the skills work. All Splitter ever did was defend pick and roll and finish wide open dunks and layups - he was the working big body role player. That's it.
And that is what is so freaking hilarious about the fact that people here think he was the best player in Europe. Once again, Splitter in Euroleague was the same thing Jeff Foster is in the NBA.
He can be a nice backup 4/5 for the Spurs, but let's get real here. The expectations and hype are insanely absurd regarding him. Just the same as they are/were with Fernandez and Rubio, who were never even that good in Europe, especially Rubio, who basically could even be considered a bad player.
The problem is that the American fans here can't grasp that. They base everything on draftexpress.com and hype from morons like Sean Elliott. Then you have the trolls like temujin come in and make up a bunch of crap.
Thus, the Spurs fan base thought Splitter was some great player (better than Scola was the belief here), when he was always going to just be a solid role player.
I think you and I are in general agreement, it's just that I think you are forgetting to consider that in Baskonia Splitter played in a system that is designed to inflate stats. It's basically the Phoenix Suns of the Euroleague, and the stats that get inflated the most in that team are the center stats, due to the point guard play and pick and roll.
I am not saying that Batista and Barac are great centers or anything. They could both play in the NBA, but they are nothing special. The point is that they have better stats than Splitter did playing in the same team. They had no problem replacing him with 2 guys that are as good or better.
Yet, the Spurs fan base was totally convinced by 100% that Splitter was "the best center in Europe". I am sorry, but I don't think he was even a top 10 center in Europe.
I do think Splitter will be fine and will help the Spurs and he does need to play more to get comfortable. But nonetheless, he is ridiculously overrated in this forum.
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Kori can you answer please? Tell me what i did wrong and will apologize and I promise I will not do this again. Please allow me back to edit posts and make threads.
