DNPcoaching decision Splitter, game over, series/season almost certainly over

[Mugen]

Nah I want him to get minutes. However Splitter has struggled to grab rebounds against bigger and stronger opponents and in general can get bullied by them relatively easily. He's shown that relatively recently versus LA as well.

If you're talking about earlier in the season, then i'd agree with you. But Splitter has improved his rebounding immensely since then.

Against LA, Splitter did a great job from keeping Bynum from the offensive boards and he wasn't man handled like he was earlier in the year.

The only knock on Splitter is his offense but that's not gonna change if he's forced to create 1 on 1 from 15feet out. He's just as good a finisher around the rim as most of our other bigs and his offense shouldn't be a issue when hes playing with the Big 3.

Can't believe i'm still defending this guy when it's a moot point until next season.

[Cane]

He's the Spurs' best option. Splitter may struggle, but Bonner will always be manhandled.

You mean last time they played and he about posted a double double? How'd Bonner do that game again?

Unless I'm looking at the wrong numbers, you're right about Splitter almost having a double-double but he also shot 30% against LA (10 attempts) and had 8pts/8 boards in about 28 mins of play. Blair had 11 boards, 12 pts on 50% shooting in under 26 mins. Bonner was 3-3 from 3, 13 pts on 4-5 overall shooting, 3 boards in under 24 mins of play.

Whereas Pau Gasol had 17/17 on 7-12 shooting in 40 mins of play and Bynum had 4 pts/4 boards before going down with injury in 13 mins. Odom had 23/7.

The Spurs bench bigs are going to struggle competing with size specifically when the game is slowed down. The Spurs are going to have to make quick decisions/passes and exploit the bigs when they're out of position like what CP3 and the Hornets accomplished yesterday.

Hopefully Splitter can help...he's had some great games against some of the up and coming bigs like Cousins and LMA but his lack of great strength/size can get him pushed around relatively easily against bigger guys. Dice needs to make an impact as well, his game 1 performance was

[Agloco]

It'd be nice to see how Splitter would do but lets not forget that he gets abused by bigger and stronger players especially on the boards. It seems like Splitter struggles just to grab/boxout basic NBA rebounds which is asking for trouble with guys like Randolph on the floor and the lack of floor spacing the Grizz have.

Splitter should be banging with Gasol. Timmy should cover Randolph.

[jag]

Pop's comments after the game:

We are going to have the same general game plan, it wasn’t like we got beat by 25,” Popovich said. “We played hard, we missed some free throws down the stretch, and had some good looks that just didn’t go in.

“Shane hit a big three, Mayo hit a big three from the corner, so shot have to go in for us down the stretch. It doesn’t mean that you change your philosophy.”



Read more: http://www.48minutesof .com/on-sh...#ixzz1JtmmHJMM

Oh well

[John Basedow]

Pop's comments after the game:

We are going to have the same general game plan, it wasn’t like we got beat by 25,” Popovich said. “We played hard, we missed some free throws down the stretch, and had some good looks that just didn’t go in.

“Shane hit a big three, Mayo hit a big three from the corner, so shot have to go in for us down the stretch. It doesn’t mean that you change your philosophy.”



Read more: http://www.48minutesof .com/on-sh...#ixzz1JtmmHJMM

Oh well

That's it, Pop...stay the course

[Agloco]

That's it, Pop...stay the course

Did Luva get back at you about your bet?

[John Basedow]

Did Luva get back at you about your bet?

Yeah we're set.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Pop's comments after the game:

We are going to have the same general game plan, it wasn’t like we got beat by 25,” Popovich said. “We played hard, we missed some free throws down the stretch, and had some good looks that just didn’t go in.

“Shane hit a big three, Mayo hit a big three from the corner, so shot have to go in for us down the stretch. It doesn’t mean that you change your philosophy.”



Read more: http://www.48minutesof .com/on-sh...#ixzz1JtmmHJMM

Oh well

Honestly, this is all idle ing. We won't see Tiago unless we get down 3-1 or something like that. Pop has gone full on Larry Brown in his treatment of first year players on his team.

So anyone wondering what Splitter's run will look like can look at Hill's treatment against the Mavs. It was clear to all he could make a difference, but he didn't get any run until game 5 when it was too late.

[yavozerb]

Honestly, this is all idle ing. We won't see Tiago unless we get down 3-1 or something like that. Pop has gone full on Larry Brown in his treatment of first year players on his team.

So anyone wondering what Splitter's run will look like can look at Hill's treatment against the Mavs. It was clear to all he could make a difference, but he didn't get any run until game 5 when it was too late.

agree...Not sure why this is even up for debate. This has been the way pop has run his playoff rotation since his arrival.

[FromWayDowntown]

Pretty sure that Pop has vacation plans for the South of France in mid-May and doesn't want anything to interfere with those plans -- non-refundable tickets and chateau deposits being the that they can be.

[jag]

Pretty sure that Pop has vacation plans for the South of France in mid-May and doesn't want anything to interfere with those plans -- non-refundable tickets and chateau deposits being the that they can be.

What's your opinion on the C/PF rotations?

[Rummpd]

If the above article from 48minutesfrom .com is to be believed and I have no reason to doubt their fine writers - game set, match, over

[honestfool84]

Did anyone send Pop an email this time?

[honestfool84]

If the above article from 48minutesfrom .com is to be believed and I have no reason to doubt their fine writers - game set, match, over

with all due respect, Dr., you sound like a pussy Spurs fan.

i sure am glad the Spurs have more balls than you're showing.

[FromWayDowntown]

What's your opinion on the C/PF rotations?

From what I've seen, I don't think that there's much that Tiago Splitter could have done on Sunday to have curbed the abuse that the Spurs bigs took in the paint. I'm intrigued by Tiago's size and I think he can play. But I also think that he plays best when things are loosy-goosy schematically. He scores best in scramble situations and he's most effective defensively (to me) when he doesn't have to worry about rotations and such; when the game slows down and requires that players stay true to a scheme, he's much more of a thinker than a player and, in those situations, I think he's relatively passive and foul-prone.

With that said, I don't think it would be advisable to run Splitter out there on Randolph at any point in time, because I think he lacks both the mobility and credibility (with officials) to be effective in that situation. So, if you pair Splitter with Duncan, you're asking Tim to play extended minutes defensively against Randolph. While I have no doubt that Tim could handle that task and could probably stay out of foul trouble, I think you'd lose a lot from him on the offensive end and I think you still run the risk that Randolph will take away your one real hope in the paint with a couple of strong moves and a favorable whistle (particularly if, for instance, you get an official like Steve Javie in Game 2, who doesn't mind pissing off a home crowd). At that point, you're trying to deal with both Gasol and Randolph with the offensively-challenged and not exactly "credibile" quartet of McDyess, Blair, Splitter, and Bonner.

Still, if the same continues in Game 2 -- if the Spurs can't hit shots from anywhere and the Grizzlies are effectively pounding the ball into the paint, I'd hope that Pop would use Splitter in situations where he could check Gasol for periods of time -- mostly when Duncan sits, and particularly if Gasol is in the game and Randolph is not (there was a 3 minute stretch of the 1st quarter and a 3 minute stretch of the 3rd quarter when this was true; there was also a :50 stretch of the 2nd when Gasol was paired with Haddadi).

[crc21209]

Useless thread. It's gonna take a miracle for Pop to give Tiago meaningful minutes, until then, stop making 1000000000 threads about it....

[honestfool84]

Rummpd, couldn't you have inserted this into any of your other threads regarding Splitter?

here, let me refresh your memory.

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176580

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175399

this one is more about Bonner... but there are plenty of Splitter mentions in here:http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175854

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175799

regards.

[Fireball]

Unless I'm looking at the wrong numbers, you're right about Splitter almost having a double-double but he also shot 30% against LA (10 attempts) and had 8pts/8 boards in about 28 mins of play. Blair had 11 boards, 12 pts on 50% shooting in under 26 mins. Bonner was 3-3 from 3, 13 pts on 4-5 overall shooting, 3 boards in under 24 mins of play.

Whereas Pau Gasol had 17/17 on 7-12 shooting in 40 mins of play and Bynum had 4 pts/4 boards before going down with injury in 13 mins. Odom had 23/7.

You only took the numbers of the game against the Lakers where Tiago had his poorest performance ... all the other games before Tiago played very good and more consistent than Bonner or Blair. The Lakers have the most talented front line in the NBA - look at Timmy who just had 10 point in three games against them. Its ok to struggle against them when you only can score around the basket. With Blair and Bonner the offense runs more smoothly than with Splitter, but its time for defense now. When Monty Williams can play guys like Aaron Gray and Mbenga against the Lakers, Tiago can do not much worse against the Grizzlies.

[SA210]

Did anyone send Pop an email this time?

[SA210]

Pop's comments after the game:

We are going to have the same general game plan, it wasn’t like we got beat by 25,” Popovich said. “We played hard, we missed some free throws down the stretch, and had some good looks that just didn’t go in.

“Shane hit a big three, Mayo hit a big three from the corner, so shot have to go in for us down the stretch. It doesn’t mean that you change your philosophy.”



Read more: http://www.48minutesof .com/on-sh...#ixzz1JtmmHJMM

Oh well

F'kin moron

[SA210]

Honestly, this is all idle ing. We won't see Tiago unless we get down 3-1 or something like that. Pop has gone full on Larry Brown in his treatment of first year players on his team.

So anyone wondering what Splitter's run will look like can look at Hill's treatment against the Mavs. It was clear to all he could make a difference, but he didn't get any run until game 5 when it was too late.

We've seen where this philosophy has gotten us the past couple of years.

[Obstructed_View]

Nah I want him to get minutes. However Splitter has struggled to grab rebounds against bigger and stronger opponents and in general can get bullied by them relatively easily. He's shown that relatively recently versus LA as well.

No, not actually. He was very physical against Bynum in one game and posted a double double in another if memory serves. You going to suggest that Pop keeps him out because he'd get six fouls before the first TV timeout next?

Let's point out his biggest flaws:

No jumper - That's not great, but Duncan has been really good from 15 feet out, so they would actually play well together.

Goes up weakly on offense - That little floater is ugly but he's probably got more dunks than any of the bigs despite playing a fraction of the minutes. Blair has the same ugly floater.

*

So his problems are on the offensive end. If the Spurs were a) not one of the top offensive teams in the league or b) relied on the center position for huge production, then you'd be reluctant to put Splitter in the game. And the Spurs' problems are on the defensive end.

*Isn't a second year player - This is what's going to doom the Spurs to watching the conference finals from their couch. Not really relevant to the discussion.

[Obstructed_View]

Honestly, this is all idle ing. We won't see Tiago unless we get down 3-1 or something like that. Pop has gone full on Larry Brown in his treatment of first year players on his team.

So anyone wondering what Splitter's run will look like can look at Hill's treatment against the Mavs. It was clear to all he could make a difference, but he didn't get any run until game 5 when it was too late.

Gary Neal says hi.

[FromWayDowntown]

Gary Neal says hi.

Even Beno Udrih thinks that argument is hard to support.

[Josepatches_]

There was like five threads on the Splitter situation on the first two pages, glad you added another one.

And I would open five more if Pop was reading them