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Pop can get away with not giving Tiago his due mins if he avoids Mem/LA in the playoffs.
He doesn't need a Tim/Tiago pairing to beat the other elite teams. But him thinking that Bonner or Blair can hang with Zbo/Mar or Bynum/Pau is just foolish.
Either that or there is a variable that you are not considering. Its bad enough that you guys act like you know more about basketball than Pop but acting like your body of knowledge is the only wellspring to pull from is even worse. Hubris upon hubris.
Pop can get away with not giving Tiago his due mins if he avoids Mem/LA in the playoffs.
He doesn't need a Tim/Tiago pairing to beat the other elite teams. But him thinking that Bonner or Blair can hang with Zbo/Mar or Bynum/Pau is just foolish.
When Jack and Kawhi closed out a recent game and Pop went small, wasn't Jack playing more of the 4 role. He's currently coming off the bench at the 3 for Kawhi, are you seeing him as a 2?
Yup. He isn't high on Tiago in terms of basketball skill.
I think he considers him a blue collar guy in the mode of Nazr/Rasho when Tiago is a high IQ player with great skills for a big man.
The not being able to handle big mins. is your typical Popfan excuse. I'm sure if Pop ran Tiago with timmy where he doesn't have to be the main focal point on offense and have to cover up for Bonner's D, he'd be fine handling 25-30 mins.
It's pretty obvious to me that there's a shortened PO rotation we see in games against good teams when the schedules allows it and a regular-season-everyone-can-play rotation for the remaining games. Indiana and Boston clearly belong to the first category.
Hope I'm wrong but imo that's how it is.
The MEM and LAL games will answer a lot of questions tho.
If you remember, Splitter and Duncan played together 15 minutes in the season opener. Since then, it's been a downward spiral. I can't even remember the last time Pop willfully played Duncan next to Splitter. The recent occurrences were almost all due to either injury or foul trouble.
This is true, when Tiago is playing he's the focal point on offense and the only one defending the $###ing basket. The 3 games against the Lakers will indeed tell the tale. If the rotations are 32/16 minutes for Tim and Tiago, and 24/24 for Blair and Bonner...it's going to be tough.
Just saying there might be other variables is a cop out in the context of discussion on a message board. When all else fails look at what is actually happening vs what you think should happen. You then arrive at your logical answer given the known variables.
So why does Pop downplay Tiago's abilities publicly and not give him minutes (even when Tim is limited in a game minutes-wise?
Why does he also invent things (not fair to the team...) that when examined hold little truth in your opinion?
OK, why do you insist Splitter can play more when he asks to be taken out of games himself?
I've noticed how gassed he looks at times as well, but when has he asked to be taken out of games?
Because I've seen him play more minutes in condensed schedules (ACB tournament, even if it's not as long of a period) & be fine plus I've seen other players (take college kids for example and their minutes played then jumping into the nba) do ok as well. Sure maybe he's tired now but why are you taking this one game and trying to extrapolate that into something he always does? He's played more minutes in games this season and been fine and never asked for a sub.
All I'm saying is people, right or wrong, keep trying to invent reasons why he's not being played when it seems obvious to me when you just step back and look at what's actually been said and actually happened it paints a clearer picture even if many of us don't agree.
But he didn't play a condensed NBA season before that.
Eh, can't ask you to prove a negative. We can only go by when he did ask to come out.He's played more minutes in games this season and been fine and never asked for a sub.
People try to fit their agenda to everything they observe and refuse to see what's actually observable.All I'm saying is people, right or wrong, keep trying to invent reasons why he's not being played when it seems obvious to me when you just step back and look at what's actually been said and actually happened it paints a clearer picture even if many of us don't agree.
His looking gassed much of the season and asking to be taken out are not inventions.
Eh, I don't put much stock into what Pop says. Tbh, I think Pop thought Splitter was soft at first so he's been a little bit tough on him.
Plus, when Pop calls him blue-collar, that's not really a negative. Pop's favorite type of player are the blue-collar type.
When has that happened in a non-blowout? Splitter has always at least played the minutes behind Duncan unless it's a blowout vs. a weak team.
We'll get a lot better idea of what Pop has in mind for Splitter with three games left against the Lakers and one against Memphis w/ Randolph. Shall be interesting.
How do we not know what he has planned after seeing the majority of the season and last year?
Also, why would he not play Tiago more if it's a blow out?
He hasn't looked gassed much of the season. Just recently since coming back from injury with no practice and reduced pt. You don't get gassed easily and produce well, which he has consistently.
Of course it's subjective, but he looked gassed early in the season to me, and that was after six games averaging about 27 mpg in Europe.
You can counter by saying he looked awesome then, I suppose.
Maybe because he thinks Tiago is an important piece to the puzzle & doesn't want him getting another silly injury like back spasms?
Watching how Tiago has actually been used for the overwhelming majority of this season, one would logically conclude, based on the known variables, that Tiago would continue to be used as the backup center to Tim Duncan.
As for Splitter asking out, here are more specifics: halfway through the fourth Pop told Mills to go in for SJax but Splitter pointed at Pop (the sign to ask for a rest) so Pop told Mills to get Splitter instead. For the record, Splitter had played the previous nine minutes.
The players have been told to ask out of games immediately if they get tired or they feel any tightness ... so it's better than Splitter asked out rather than risk injury.
Manu is more injury prone than Tiago and plays more minutes, does pop not think he is vital?
Exactly, and that means barely any minutes in the payoffs. However, when Tim has limited minutes (blowouts...) Tiagos minutes are still not inversely related.
1. Splitter is proven. He's not going to get any better in a blowout. Everyone knows what Splitter can do. As Pop says, Splitter has been doing the same things for the last ten years. Someone like Diaw needs those minutes much more in order to learn the system.
2. Splitter is prone to coming down with nagging injuries. For that reason, he's one of the last players I want seeing playing meaningless minutes. For example, someone like SJax is an important piece to the puzzle but I'd rather him play meaningless minutes because he's someone who has played huge minutes in the past while staying healthy.
But Tiago needs minutes to correct the fitness issue perceived by many. Getting inconsisten minutes can cause issues and monitoring minutes doesn't always prevent injuries (see Tim & Manu over the past couple years)
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