Yes, Tiago is 6-11 and sturdy, albeit always with some minor nagging injury and numerous wraps around various limbs.
I'll put it this way: Tiago is much more of a legit center at 6-11 than Tyrus Thomas at 6-8.
And I should add that Tiago Splitter isn't someone I would describe as being nailed to the floor. That's more someone like Bourousis.
Splitter can get around really well. And as far as his hops go, I'm pretty sure he has more vert at this point than Tim Duncan does.
Do the spurs absolutely need a 6'11+ center to help Duncan out? Not necessarily. They much more need an athletic versatile defender who can protect the rim. Thomas with that 9 ft standing reach would make a far better frontcourt pairing with Tim Duncan. If Tyrus Thomas was 6'10-6'11" he'd be battling Dwight Howard for the defensive player of the year because of his incredible athletic talent. But that slightly smaller size actually makes him even more versatile defensively because he has no problem guarding guys out on the perimeter. That versatility makes him easily the best choice IMO. He can guard PF or C, quick or slow, perimeter oriented or post.
I guess you missed the bulls vs celtics 7 game playoff series last year.. TT played a phenomenal series, averaging 3 blocks a game and almost helped the bulls pull off the upset. No reason to think he couldn't have the same impact somewhere else.
maybe the best that TT would bring in, is this stopper potential. (I know, the "stopper" reffered to Salmons or a wing who could be a stopper)
to often we think exclusively about wings when talking about a stopper. but even if TT is clearly a PF on offense, he is capable of defending all SFs and could also take most SGs with his footspeed and wingspan. put him on Kobe? why not, he will look better than all other options. (including Hill).
he will foul to much for a real stopper though.
in general I disagree with most estimations what he could/would be on offense. someone said he is versatile on that end. well maybe versatile about what he tries (what usually his choach didn't want him to even think about) not what he can do effectively.
however, the hope would be, that he realizes that a good impression is crucial for his further career and plays defense as if his life depended on it.
Salmons would be the do a bit of everything player. he can't be the stopper, but he definitely would be an upgrade on defense over either RJ, Fin or Mason. Spurs can't lose on this end by getting him.
and Spurs could play a line up of Tony/Hill-Manu/Hill-Salmons-TT-Tim. that's not an adamant wll by any means, but if Manu and Tony deliver what we know they can, then this line up doesn't have a real liability on defense.
IMO anyone other than Tim, Tony, Many, Blair, Bogans, and Hill are up for trading at this point, presuming we get back equal or greater value. That being said, any trade has to be done very cautiously, since their biggest problem is team chemistry and a midseason trade has the potential to make that problem worse.
Manu & Duncan should be the only players on your list and you don't need chemistry to be a weakside shotblocker! That's what TT would bring. Like I said in another post "If dude is so dumb Pop needs to do the same with him like he says he do with Blair NOTHING, just let him go oyt there an do his thang". That's Pops problem now, he wants to run a set play everytime down. The lakers was down 11-0 did Phil jump up, NO he laid back smiling.
After thinking it over, I believe that a move for Tyrus Thomas is not the way to go for the Spurs. Though he does fill a need, there is no guarantee that he'll fit in, and/or get playing time.
But more importantly, he doesn't put us into the elite category this year or next. And if the Spurs make a trade it needs to do one of the two, or more specifically:
The Spurs should not make a trade unless they believe that move puts them into a position to either quickly turn things around and make a run at a le this year, or gives an even newer group time to play together this season and thus be better prepared for next season.
Personally I'd rather see this happen through the movement of one of the three non-TD 10m+ contracts in a "blockbuster" with a team that has a star player who is either 1.) isn't happy, or welcome, where he is and has a longterm contract (Monta Ellis, maybe Andre Igoudala) , or 2.) or appears to be planning on leaving for nothing over the summer (Dwayne Wade continues to be unimpressed with Miami's commitment to winning championships and if a team were able to trade for him they'd basically have a half season audition to prove otherwise)
All three of the players I name above may seem like pipedreams, but my point is that the Spurs are in the business of winning championships and if they don't believe this core can win together then they should aim to do nothing less than assemble one that has a shot while they still have the luxury of not having to find a top tier bigman. If the Spurs believe they can still achieve some of their vision from this past offseason then a simpe move for a solid (solid) wing defender to replace most, if not all, of the Finley/Bogans/Mason clutter.
What David Thorpe said about TT in his espn chat, and he did help TT in one of the summers I believe.
Is everybody wrong about TT? Read today that the Bulls would have trouble trading him because NOBODY wants to deal with his at ude.
David Thorpe
(12:33 PM)
I think it takes a strong and experienced coach to get the best out of him. He'd be great for Jerry Sloan, Pop, Phil, etc.
Thorpe also went on to say that TT was probably the top athlete at his posistion, and also a basketball enthusiast. The latter part meaning he we love to play for a coach with history such as Larry brown, pop, etc.
this is what i've been trying to say about someone like tyrus thomas. he doesn't have an awesome skillset and won't just tear it up on the stat sheet. what i would hope he would do if he was traded here would be to show enthusiasm (something i've yet to see from you know who). he could bring some energy and maybe his energy could infect the rest of the team. spurs have the talent and the skills obviously to win, they just don't seem to care. i feel like some energy would amplify those skills and who knows, maybe the spurs could look alive again. he is however, only 6'8" though, i'd like to see atleast someone who's 6'10"
I don't know a lot about this dude but what I saw against the Cs he seems to hav a decent midrange gm. So I just wanna see him & Manu in a P&R so he can finish at the rim.
Tyrus Thomas is 6-10!!!! If we deal all our expirings Mason/Finley/Mahinmi/Bonner then we can net Thomas/Salmons.
PG - Parker/Manu
SG - Salmons/Hill
SF - Jefferson/Salmons
PF - Thomas/Blair
C - Duncan/Mcdyess
Odd men out - Bogans/Hairston/Ratliff rotate with Mcdyess at Center to keep both fresh. Thomas can block shots and defend the Dirks/Odoms/Boozers and such that TD cant. Salmons is 6-6 and an even better option than RJ; cause when Jefferson cant cut it (Most every night) Salmons can play the 3spot easily. He also gets a decent amount of steals showing that he plays some kind of defense. Thomas' contract is only for this season. Salmons is for this season and next. After the season Jefferson will have an expiring contract of $15million which can be used to trade and clear space to resign Manu/TThomas/Splitter(if he is really that great) + add piece or 2 in the RJ trade immediately after the season in July.
With the Bulls steadily improving in a weak conference, would they be willing to sacrifice wins now to be bigger FA players in the summer? Unless they have disallusions of playoff success, I'd clear the space if I was them.
Deng's contract is not at all desirable but he is a long Lamar Odom equalizer with all-around game that AK47 can't touch.
Thomas is lacking the 7 foot frame but certainly is a defensive presence.
Am I re ed?
Is it worth losing Manu to bring in youth and talent like this?
I think deng is part of the nucleus they want to keep going into this summer, and no way they take jeffersons contract.
Is it possible?
No
TT is NOT 6'10". His draft camp measurement was 6'7 1/4" without shoes, 6'8" with. Don't believe every article you read. A lot of teams exaggerate their players measurements.
6-10 Matt Bonner and 6-7 Malik Hairston take exception.
I'd much rather have Salmons than Pargo too, but I'd be shocked if the Spurs took on Salmons' salary. They're already going to be in tough to re-sign Ginobili this summer and we know they want to bring Splitter over. Pargo would only be around as insurance, in case of an injury or foul trouble to Parker or Hill; he wouldn't actually be in the rotation.
Speaking of Splitter, I'm not sure if this has been posted, but Sheridan had some news on him today (basically just confirming what we already know)...
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/column...eAssets-100210
In San Antonio, the Spurs currently plan to have Brazilian forward Tiago Splitter aboard next season, three years after they drafted him 28th in the first round. (Splitter has been waiting all that time so he will not have to sign under the rookie scale, which would have limited his salary to $900,000 this season.)
The Spurs can now sign him with mid-level or bi-annual exception money
Ya know, the cynic in me has me wondering why this would be reported at this time. It isn't news; we've known this for quite some time.
But it makes me wonder if the Spurs want to make it crystal clear, and have been pushing the notion that Splitter will be here next year; it'd only make sense to build a market for him if the Spurs to truly want to get value in return.
Not saying they're eager to trade him, but it seems, at least to me, the Spurs are working the phones and shopping Splitter's rights proactively. (talk about reading into ...)
Matt Bonner isn't 6'10", either. Tim is a true 6'10" and is clearly taller than Matt. I'd guess Matt to be maybe 6' 8 1/2".
I have no idea if Hairston is listed true or not.
Thomas is a player I'm sure the Spurs will want to go after especially after the Lakers game when we didn't have a defender to match up w/ Lamar Odom and Thomas could be better at guarding Dirk than Bonner or Mcdyess. When we drafted Gist RC was talking about how an athletic 4 is having a big impact in the league, and I believe the Spurs have tried to acquire TT before.
The real reason Bulls r looking to make trades is to free up cap space for next summer and since TT is an expiring it's pointless to trade TT for more expirings they would either want expiring + young talent (Hill or Blair) or find a trade partner willing to take on TT w/ Salmons or Hinrich and that's the dilemia the Spurs will face.
Is it worth trading all of r shooters to land Salmons?
I would not trade Splitter or a 1st rounder. Splitter was the reason for the Scola trade since the Spurs thought he would fit better next to Duncan and I believe the Spurs think very highly of him.
I was agreeing with you.
You're right about Bonner and Hairston's 6' 1/4'' without shoes. (he's listed as 6-6 or 6-7 in just about all the E-N Game Previews)
Just like Tim's closer to 6-10 than 7-0, what player's are listed at, for varying reasons, is often exaggerated or off the mark. (for example: Houston and San Antonio exaggerated for a Twin Towers marketing campaign; Hakeem was closer to 6-9 and Tim's probably a little over 6-10.)
Thomas would be the one they would rather move.
Thomas looks good tonight..he's made some impressive drives to the basket against Howard and Gortat..
Bogans is "not up for trading" in your mind, seriously?
If there's no team chemistry to begin with, then how could another trade make it worse? It could only stay the same or get better. This team needs to improve themselves if they intend to be a contender again with what's left of the Duncan era (and by all accounts, they do). Standing pat for fear of changing something that already doesn't work is not how they're going to do it.
If the Spurs think Splitter is even 50/50, then they need to be concerned. This franchise can't afford to get nothing out of that asset. If they talked a team into acquiring him for something relatively significant and he didn't come out though, the Spurs organization would look real bad around the league. Teams would be reluctant to deal with them going forward because that's unethical.
I don't get that sense at all. Maybe they'd throw him in as a sweetner to be able to dump Jefferson's contract now, but nobody is going to bite even if they did. Including him in a trade for Thomas or someone of that ilk is both unnecessary and foolish. Unless it's in a trade that nets the Spurs Iguodala or someone of similar value, they should hang onto Splitter.
I'm fairly certain Duncan is a full 6-11. Nowitzki isn't noticeably taller than him and he's listed at 7-0, but Duncan is noticeably taller than, say, Bosh, who's listed at 6-10. Olajuwon I've heard is about 6-9 1/2. You know who (among many others) I'm fairly certain is exaggerated? Howard and Stoudemire. Howard looks to be about 6-10 and Stoudemire, we've seen him attempt to defend Duncan in the post, he can't be over 6-9, at most. Bynum and Gasol are taller than they're listed, though. Both are probably a full 7-1.
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