Hey Spurstalk, thinking of doing a weekly thread of ex Spurs that contributed heavily to the organization.
Starting this thread with the the best Pick and Roll Spurs big the last 12 years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v_HJTuYl-g
Imo, the reluctance of playing him more when he was clearly a top 3 defensive big in the league in his peak..disappointing.
I think there are several spurs fans that would have rather seen scola as a spur and this might explain why splitter didn't really get a whole lot of love or appreciation. at least not to any great extent. i personally, think of him as a solid contributor to the 2014 le.
Tiago was beyond solid for three years, imo.
I would say, Pop was even late at playing him the minutes he deserves...I think scola was too limited defensively.
imo, we wouldn’t have a Spurs “system” in 2012-204 without tiago
Very good passing defensive big, very much part of the coffee gang / Beautiful Game chemistry.
I love Scola and still fantacize what could’ve been, so I wouldn’t comment on that part.
If Pop played him as much as you wanted when you wanted, he never would have made it to 2014. Loved his game, but he was a ing China doll.
Pop neutering him his rookie season in favor of the Turd Towers
Could have used him in that '11 Memphis series when Timmy and McDyess were getting bullied tbh
Spurs are sitting on 4 rings without the Golden God tbh.
Baiting dumbass Dejuan Blair into that flagrant probably saved an epic choke in '14 + great defense on Aldridge/Gasol/ZBo/Bosh. Great player, just couldn't stay healthy tbh.
Lol Pop playing Dejuan over Tiago
meh, he for sure wasn’t preserving him against Memphis in 2011
I just don’t see the Scola thing. Even at his absolute peak, no way Scola would have had the foot speed to defend pick and rolls. Tiago was amazing at that end. He and Kawhi were arguably the two best and most important defenders around that time.
Are we talking about Splitter or Manu?
Yeah, I can't imagine caring about Scola not being on the team. He was a good player, but the team was fine. I sure wouldn't hate on Splitter behind that. Dude was one of the best big man-defenders in the league and had the agility to play PF in his era. He was absolutely part of Tim's Indian Summer and was solidly the third member of the "Medium Three" over guys like Mills and Diaw. They don't win in 2014 without him, because they don't beat the Mavs in the first round without him. Dude's 100 percent earned his ring.
first thing i think of when i hear splitter is the 2011 series against memphis
would playing him had been enough to swing that series? i dno, probably not. but still hilarious that we were trotting out bonner/blair out there in a series where even duncan was getting bullied and it was clear we needed size
but splitter was one of the good ones tbh. kind of a wuss at times, couldnt post up fisher, but very sound and mobile defender, terrific passer, great hands/timing with his rolls, solid finisher. we'd be light one without him
He was a defining player in the 2013 Memphis series. The Spurs completed the sweep because on his defense on Conley. Dude was limited -- a poor man's Poeltl -- but as a role-player he was excellent in finishing off PnR plays and contesting shots as the weakside defender.
spitter played 60 or more 2 times, and less than 60 5 times. Manu played 60 or more 13 times, including 70 or more 7 times. He was an Ironman compared to Splitter.
We should have traded Diaw instead of Splitter.
I remember Tiago completely fixing his free throw liability in one single off season.
We eventually did.
Trading Splitter was the right move. He was a broken s , and played 38 games and 8 games the next 2 seasons and was out of the league.
Can you do one on Spurs legend Stephen Jackson?
Thanks.
If only he got to play vs Memphis in 2011. He wasn't over himself yet though
Underated spur and player in general tbh, one of my faves of that era. Actually have his jersey somewhere
Fair enough. Manu was certainly more durable than Splitter; Splitter's 5-year Spurs career looks like Manu's late career in terms of minutes and games played.
Odd that you used 60 games as the cutoff, though. Splitter played exactly 59 games twice, with one of those being in the 2012 lockout season that only had 66 regular season games. That's equivalent to 73 games in an 82 game season.
It's also not all about games played. Minutes matter too, and I think Manu's career would have been shorter in terms of games and years if Pop had played him in the mid 30s per game instead of the high 20s he averaged in his prime. Even more so with Splitter.
He and Gary Neal in that north side ford commercial always makes me laugh.
People in here summed it up. Spurs don’t go far in 2013/2014 without Splitter. Dirk/LMA couldn’t do against him. Also ZBo doesn’t dominate like he did in 2011 once Splitter was in the lineup. He was the best big the Spurs had next to Timmy after D-Rob left. He was definitely better than guys like Nazr, Rasho, Elson and Oberto.
Loved the play where he got his revenge on Miami with the block on Wade which led to the Spurs hitting 3 straight 3s in Game 5.
Last edited by timtonymanu; 12-14-2022 at 05:05 AM.
Pop really was pissed when Tiago got injured in his first training camp ... main reason Tiago did not play much in his rookie season
Spurs probably win at least one more ring between '05-'13 if they had managed to workout Scola's buyout and bring him into the team. The fact we basically let him walk to a division rival due to the corpse of Jackie Butler still hurts
But yes, Splitter was instrumental in both those Finals runs against the Heat. His stats don't jump off the sheet, but his screening, his passing, his rolling all were instrumental to making that offense him and he was always a good rim defender (when healthy)
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