Tiago Splitter understandably a bit frustrated

[dbestpro]

The only offensive liability that Splitter might have is that he can't shoot the three. Otherwise, we have no idea what he can do on offense as they never run a play for him. The only outside shot that was an airball was an unexpected pass thrown his way in garbage time with 2 seconds left on the clock.

The end point is that we still do not know what Splitter is capable of and neither does Pop.

[admiralsnackbar]

The Spurs record does not mean that Pop is handling the situation correctly. They could have just as well won those games AND given Tiago time to play.

I don't disagree, but there's room to speculate that Splitter is still working on conditioning and learning the system from the book with the coaches, whereas Blair is at the stage where he needs practical experience on the floor. While it's possible that we could still be winning games while bringing along two as-yet un-assimilated players logging heavy minutes, it seems more cautious -- perhaps foolishly so -- to incorporate one player at a time. One of the benefits of the long NBA season, perhaps.

[Mel_13]

The Spurs record does not mean that Pop is handling the situation correctly.

But it certainly is a very strong argument that he is.

They could have just as well won those games AND given Tiago time to play.

We've all read the stories about Manu going to Pop and pushing for a fast start to pile up early season wins. While it's not impossible that they could have the same record while playing Splitter more, the opposite is more likely if you force-feed minutes to a rookie that missed all of training camp and all of the preseason.

[TJastal]

Splitter is good on D, but he is an offensive liability

And since the Spurs are the new Suns, Splitter won't see much time unless he improves his O.

He's not an offensive liability in pick and roll situations, which makes him perfect for the starting lineup w/ Ginobili. That's why he should be learning now as a starter and not chained to the bench.

I agree with Bruno here that now is the time to get him experience so he can be ready come playoff time. Furthurmore, Blair is tailor made as a bench player and fits perfectly with McDyess in the 2nd unit.

But Pop is too married to his precious ginger. Can't win without him.

[Chomag]

“He’s used to playing a lot of minutes and being a big part of what’s going on,” Popovich said. “That’s not happening for him right now, and I’m not in a position to give him 30 minutes to get him going. That’s not fair to him or to the whole group.”

Well how the is he supposed to grow into a valuable asset to you Pop if you don't go through some growing pains with him? Tony was out there as a 19 year old kid screwing up left and right but he kept getting the minutes..

I understand what you mean. You can teach all you want but sometimes you have to just let your student go out there and learn. A player usualy learns his most on the court even when making mistakes. Sometimes you got to make a mistake here and there to learn from them right?

[TJastal]

I understand what you mean. You can teach all you want but sometimes you have to just let your student go out there and learn. A player usualy learns his most on they court even when making mistakes. Sometimes you go to make a mistake here and there to learn from them right?

+1

You learn most from your mistakes. By denying him PT now and the chance to grow from his mistakes, Pop is pretty much writing off Splitter for the playoffs. Which IMO will screw this team over come playoff time.

[Chomag]

He's not an offensive liability in pick and roll situations, which makes him perfect for the starting lineup w/ Ginobili. That's why he should be learning now as a starter and not chained to the bench.

I agree with Bruno here that now is the time to get him experience so he can be ready come playoff time. Furthurmore, Blair is tailor made as a bench player and fits perfectly with McDyess in the 2nd unit.

But Pop is too married to his precious ginger. Can't win without him.

This is what I'm thinking. If pop wants to give Splitter limited minutes great, but he should be out there working with the big 3.

Why not at least play him the first quarter with the starting line up, and then decide if you wants to give him more minutes in the game? Splitter would be less inclined to be pressured at forcing his game like he has been doing latley, and just let the game come to him.

[benefactor]

The thing that worries me is that the type ball the Spurs are playing now can continue to amass wins in the regular season. If Manu keeps playing the minutes he is playing the Spurs can generate enough offense to beat most teams on most nights. Pop isn't going to shift this philosophy unless his hand is forced...which means that Bonner will continue to get minutes ahead of Splitter.

I'm willing to give those that are pleading for patience the benefit of the doubt, but in the back of mind I can't help but think that fools gold in all of these wins and the ones forthcoming will be exposed in playoffs. Bonner will continue to get rotation minutes and the Spurs will get destroyed in the paint while watching Bonner chuck up 0-fers. By the time Pop makes the adjustment to Splitter to try shore up the defense it will either be too late or Splitter will not play well...as is the case with any player who has not had enough minutes to be properly acclimated to their new teammates.

[Man In Black]

Come or highwater...we'll know come AS Break if he's chained...or UNLEASHED.

[TJastal]

This is what I'm thinking. If pop wants to give Splitter limited minutes great, but he should be out there working with the big 3.

Why not at least play him the first quarter with the starting line up, and then decide if you wants to give him more minutes in the game? Splitter would be less inclined to be pressured at forcing his game like he has been doing latley, and just let the game come to him.

Makes perfect sense. Why can't a supposed HOF coach cannot see the obvious?

Only thing I can think of why Pop won't do it is to preserve the minutes of his precious 3pt shooting ginger which he paid almost 4m/yr for and must use 15-20 minutes a game.

[nkdlunch]

Why are ppl ing at how many minutes Manu is playing???

realize these facts:
1. Spurs need the best record possible to get best seeding possible to have any kind of chance. In order to do that they need to play 110% every single game of the season.
2. These are Manu's last 2 years possibly, Spurs need to use Manu right now and stop "saving" him for postseason.
3. Regardless of how much they play, if any of our big 3 get injured in playoffs its game over. So why even worry about it?
4. Being tired in playoffs. The decision has been taken already that Spurs prefer being tired and a high seed than half tired and a low seed.

Extract every bit of juice out of Manu and roll the dice in April. That is what manu duncan and Pop have decided this past summer.

They realized the cake roads the Lakers have had to the NBA finals was mainly due to their great regular season record. That is what they want. The easiest road possible to the finals.

[Sofaking]

Butthurt splitter fans

[lefty]

He's not an offensive liability in pick and roll situations, which makes him perfect for the starting lineup w/ Ginobili. That's why he should be learning now as a starter and not chained to the bench.

I agree with Bruno here that now is the time to get him experience so he can be ready come playoff time. Furthurmore, Blair is tailor made as a bench player and fits perfectly with McDyess in the 2nd unit.

But Pop is too married to his precious ginger. Can't win without him.

And that`s about it

He can't shoot the ing ball

[ElNono]

Count me very much in the pro-Tiago camp. I just find some of the near-hysterical whining and moaning over his playing time to be amusing.

[ElNono]

Tjastal?

No thank you.

[ElNono]

We've all read the stories about Manu going to Pop and pushing for a fast start to pile up early season wins. While it's not impossible that they could have the same record while playing Splitter more, the opposite is more likely if you force-feed minutes to a rookie that missed all of training camp and all of the preseason.

We're about 1/4 into the season. The fast start already happened.
The question is what's going to be the barometer going forward to determine when to get the foot off the gas a little bit and buy the vets some rest (ourside of any injures that would force the issue). Is it going to be the west rankings? something else?

The other thing that might go against a faster Tiago development and will impact his evaluation is that he probably won't be getting minutes with vets such as Manu or Tim when his time comes around. It's clear that it's not the same to play a P&R with Hill than with Manu, and it's not the same the defend when you have another legitimate 7 footer next to you in Tim, as opposed to Blair.

So, some interesting things going forward to keep an eye on.

[Mel_13]

We're about 1/4 into the season. The fast start already happened.
The question is what's going to be the barometer going forward to determine when to get the foot off the gas a little bit and buy the vets some rest (ourside of any injures that would force the issue). Is it going to be the west rankings? something else?

The other thing that might go against a faster Tiago development and will impact his evaluation is that he probably won't be getting minutes with vets such as Manu or Tim when his time comes around. It's clear that it's not the same to play a P&R with Hill than with Manu, and it's not the same the defend when you have another legitimate 7 footer next to you in Tim, as opposed to Blair.

So, some interesting things going forward to keep an eye on.

First, my post was in response to someone who was looking backward rather than forward.

Looking forward, I definitely agree with the notion that Tiago probably won't be seeing much time with Tim. He's played 195 minutes this season and only 11 of those with Tim. That could change, but my best guess is that Tiago's spot in the rotation (assuming he gets a permanent role) will be as Tim's backup. With Tim playing 29 mpg, there is slot behind him for Tiago to fill.

IF he gets that role, he'll get plenty of minutes with Manu or Tony on the court to feed him in the pick and roll.

On the defensive end, chances are he'll get most of his minutes next to Bonner as I believe Dice will move to the starting line-up about halfway through the season. Someone has to lose minutes for Tiago to play and Blair seems like the most likely candidate to me. Barring injury or a prolonged shooting slump, I don't see Bonner sliding into that 5th big slot.

[ploto]

But it certainly is a very strong argument that he is.

No- the Spurs success is almost exclusively due to a healthy Tim, Manu, and Tony, as well as an improved Jefferson.

Are you claiming that Bonner, Blair and Dice have been so spectacular as to be assured that Tiago could not have contributed similarly.

[DesignatedT]

No- the Spurs success is almost exclusively due to a healthy Tim, Manu, and Tony, as well as an improved Jefferson.

Are you claiming that Bonner, Blair and Dice have been so spectacular as to be assured that Tiago could not have contributed similarly.

Bonner and Dice have been fantastic up to this point in the season. I don't expect this type of success to continue for the red rocket but he has definitely been a contributor in our early success. Dice is our 2nd best big man period. Blair is the question mark here, since he obviously plays better off the bench but he isn't playing many minutes to begin with. Splitter definitely needs to start seeing the floor more and I believe he will as the season progresses but so far all the other bigs have indeed stepped up to the challenge this season. I really do feel that Splitter is a perfect fit for our starting lineup (move blair back to the bench) but it's apparently going to take awhile for him to earn that role and we have no idea how he is doing behind the scenes.

[Mel_13]

No- the Spurs success is almost exclusively due to a healthy Tim, Manu, and Tony, as well as an improved Jefferson.

Are you claiming that Bonner, Blair and Dice have been so spectacular as to be assured that Tiago could not have contributed similarly.

I said no such thing, but this is typical of the way you respond in these threads.

Let's review.

You said

The Spurs record does not mean that Pop is handling the situation correctly.

To which I responded:

But it certainly is a very strong argument that he is.

Which it is. Winning 85% of the team's games is a very strong argument in favor of the proposition that the coach is handling the situation correctly. Now if you'll stick to what I actually said instead of creating words for me, I'd be most appreciative.

[ploto]

Winning 85% of the team's games is a very strong argument in favor of the proposition that the coach is handling the situation correctly.

How does winning mean the coach is handling every aspect of the team correctly? You can not use their record to claim support for every decision Pop has made as necessarily being the right one. He has made many errors and they have won despite them.

Just because they are winning does not mean Pop's starting Blair is the best possible handling of the big man situation.

[FilSpursFan]

Give the kid a little time..

[DieHardSpursFan1537]

He's still progressing. He's doing fine for a rookie.

[senorglory]

Except he doesn't shed light on why he can't give Tiago minutes.

He said awhile back that McD is playing to well to spare any minutes there... which is at least a partial answer.

[Rummpd]

12 minutes so far tonight before the half already and 6 pts - CIA POP!


Update he looks fairly good in TWO halves tonight