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Good to hear that Splitter feels a connection to Spurs players, and has a strong drive to improve. He can still develop his post skills, and an outside shot.
I translated it a little bit rushed, it’s 10:30 a.m. here andI’m a bit sleepy yet, so... Seems the author translated it from english and I translated it to english again that's why it looks a little bit weird.
(journalist bull header) With the help of an argentinian, Splitter fights for the 1st ‘’brazilian’ NBA le
Eder Fantoni, in a collaborationto Folha de S. Paulo
In his third season in NBA, Tiago Splitter already reached something beyond he could imagine. After a hard start in the north american league, the center earned the starter condition, improved his game and for the first time in his career , is in the finals of the most hyped basketball’s championship of the world.
It’s the only second brazillian player to reach such achievement– Andy Varejao already reached the finals, but he was in the bench. In this season, Splitter doubled his (playing) minutes in court by San Antonio if compared tothe 2010-11, his rookie season – 24,7 minutes per game.
(he has) Improved his free throws, rebounds, steals and points. Much of that because of an argentinian.
Splitter, 28, told to Folha (the newspaper’s name) Manu Ginobili has been kinda of mentor to him in the U.S. At 35, the forward (wtf?), who plays for the spurs since 2002, 3 NBA le winner and part of the Big Three of NBA (big three of San Antonio?)alongside the guard Tony Parker and the center/forward Tim Duncan.
“Ginobili helped me in the adaption to the team. I play easily with him. He has a superb court vision.” – said (Splitter) .
Duncan was another importante team mate to the brazilian adapt to the game. Both make the Spurs frontcourt since december, since Splitter earned the starting status.
“Since the lockout, we are training together . And in the off season too. He’s a role model.”
But until the brazilian becomes a Duncan itself, it requires time. Or, like recognizes Splitter, “it’s hard to be like Duncan.” The 37 years old athlete, who plays for the Spurs since the beginning of his career and has four NBA championships, is considered an icon of San Antonio, something Splitter wants to be.
“I want to be somebody identified with the city of San Antonio” – says Splitter. “I want to be the first brazillian to win an NBA championship. I think it’s a bit individualistic from me (wtf?)”.
Splitter was the only player from Brazil actively playing in the playoffs – Brazil had six athletes playing in the NBA this season.
“Everything happened. The biggest issue were the injuries. I hope they (the brazilian players) can be back stronger next season” – told Splitter.
Last edited by PingPong; 06-02-2013 at 05:36 PM.
Good to hear that Splitter feels a connection to Spurs players, and has a strong drive to improve. He can still develop his post skills, and an outside shot.
“I want to be somebody identified with the city of SanAntonio” – says Splitter. “I want to be the first brazillian to win na NBAchampionship. I think it’s a bit individualistic from me
Terrible read because of the spacing and the translation but the story is there .. It answered my Q a few days ago..yes, he is the 1st Brazilian to win(if ever), an NBA le... good luck Tiago.
Tiago is a great guy who has adapted well with the Spurs. The fact that he has improved his Achilles heel - FT shooting - in just one year shows his commitment to improve himself. Here's hoping he will stay a long time with the Spurs and improve further upon his post game and maybe take some jumpers from 10-15 ft range in the coming years. He will be a force to reckon with.
I hope it's okay to insert an article RE: Tiago & European Big Men With High Buyouts for the Long-Term
The Tiago Splitter Buyout: San Antonio and the Virtues of Patience
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/05/29/tiago_splitter_buyout_san_antonio_and_the_virtues_ of_patience.htmlThe San Antonio Spurs are far and away the best-managed franchise in the NBA, so you can learn a lot about business practice from focusing on what they do. Conversely, people who fail to appreciate the role of general business considerations here get things wrong. Henry Abbott, for example, attributes their success at finding valuable players with non-lottery picks almost entirely to Gregg Popovich's coaching strategy. But while player development is important, building a team really is mostly about finding the right guys. Sometimes you get the No. 1 overall pick and snag Tim Duncan, but to succeed over a 15-year span you need to do better than that.
Speaking of Tiago Splitter, for example, Abbott writes "Splitter was once the Spurs' [Jonas] Valanciunas, if you will—only the kind you draft 28th overall instead of fifth."
Except that's misleading. When the Spurs drafted Splitter at position 28 he was already a known quan y in NBA circles, and few people doubted he'd be a successful player. He considered entering the 2006 NBA draft, but the problem was that no teams wanted to take him with a high pick. And the issue wasn't that they doubted his talents; it was that he was still under contract to play for a Spanish team. By the 2007 draft he was 22 and thus automatically eligible to be drafted, but again nobody wanted to take him with a high pick because it seemed he'd be unavailable to play NBA basketball for years. So the Spurs took the 28th overall pick and used it to make a long-term investment. They were confident that sooner or later Splitter would want to come to the NBA to test his skills against the best players in the world. And, indeed, he did. But not until the fall of 2010.
When Splitter finally joined the team, the Spurs had a guy who'd been MVP and Finals MVP of the Spanish league, an all-Euroleague first team player, and a multi-time champion on various levels of basketball. And from Day 1 in the NBA he was an efficient scorer and solid rebounder, he just took a year or two to master the Spurs' defensive rotations.
But his success wouldn't have come as a surprise to any of the scouts working on the 2006 and 2007 drafts, all of whom thought he was a good player. The reason he fell to the Spurs is that most general managers feel they have to manage for the short-term. If the team does badly next year you might get fired. So he can't draft a guy who'll be completely useless for the next three years in the hopes that it'll get you high-quality cheap talent five or six years down the road. GMs implement drafting strategies that are the equivalent of a CEO who focuses on quarterly earnings estimates rather than on developing the next generation of products. A good player on a rookie contract is an extremely valuable commodity in a sport with a salary cap, and displaying a modi of patience to get one should be a no-brainer. But few teams have the discipline to do it.
Let's hope he wants to be identified with S.A. for less than full market value.
Settle for 9 million a year then. Stay.
Get stronger and please be more aggressive in the post.
Doubtful. Players often say this, but what they mean is "...if I get paid".
It's not totally outlandish. There's a pretty long track record of Spurs players being willing to do this. I'm not saying he's going to sign for dirt cheap, but when was the last time we paid full market value to resign one of our own?
He will stay...and they will pay him to stay.
Splitter
Nene
Flopajao
Barbosa
Fab Melo?
???
who's the 6th brazilian?
edit: scott machado
It's a major newspaper in Brazil, kinda like NYT, so their sports articles are generic. Big media usually are ty when it comes to sports.
i hope he identifies with the spurs on a reasonable contract
According to some Spanish journalists, he and the Spurs have already reached an agreement.
Maybe it is the same with Manu. Since the deals for each were dependent on each other.
Tim's second and third contracts. Manu's current contract.
Anyone who's left money on the table got paid FIRST. Tiago started late, age 25. This may be his only shot for a prime time deal.
Good point, actually. There have been exceptions -- I'm pretty sure Danny could have earned more somewhere else last year, for example -- but in general, you're right.
I'm in agreement with everyone who says, "he wants to stay if he gets paid".
In other words, if the Spurs pay a load, he wouldn't leave to go anywhere else. I mean, cool and all, but. . .it doesn't exactly make me giddy either. lol
Anyway, nice article, thanks for translating it OP.
I would happily take less money if it made the team better by giving them more financial flexibility. Getting paid 7 figures to play basketball is one of the biggest privileges I can imagine.
Getting paid 8 figures is more of a privilege.
He's got to grow balls.
Then please finish around the rim.
If Tiago finds himself on another team without Duncan he better get ready for some hatred from his new team's fans. The shots he gets will be much tougher. His post game is not polished, it's gonna be rough.
I think if he gets a more proeminent role, he can pull a 2012-13 Andy Varejao. Not exactly the same numbers, but he can fit to bigger roles, like he did in Spain.
"Took him a year or two to master the defensive rotations"
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