Wish your former star well Caja Laboral Baskonia fans, and be very afraid NBA Western Conference, for today it’s (reportedly) official: Tiago Splitter has come to terms with the San Antonio Spurs on a multi-year deal for an as-yet undisclosed amount.
San Antonio sports radio station KTKR-AM broke the news, going on to report that Splitter is expected to sign the contract on Monday.
With San Antonio’s budget wiggle-room now presumably all taken up and Matt Bonner re-signed, this will probably mark the end of the Spurs’ off-season moves – barring that rumored Tony Parker-to-New York trade.
In ACB (Spanish League) play in 2009-10, Splitter statistically dominated the Spanish League to take the season MVP award and later the championship series MVP nod as well.
Splitter led the ACB “playing ranking value” over 27 of the league’s 34 weeks. He ended up ranking first in ranking points per game (at 21.2, he blew away second-place finisher Gerald Fitch’s 17.9); sixth in scoring at 15.7 ppg; eighth in boards at 6.72 rpg; third in defensive rebounds with 4.9 per game; 14th in blocks at 0.76 per; fourth in total free-throw attempts (despite missing five games); and first in fouls drawn (with a crazy 5.72 per game).
And the verdict from ESPN TrueHoop Network blog 48 Minutes of Hell: “Between Splitter and James Anderson [...] this offseason, given expectations, has been a success.”
Video follows, just to pump Spurs backers up a bit more (yeah, like they need it). For a sneak preview of the ACB MVP’s skills, San Antonio faithful will surely be tuning into the FIBA World Championship, in which Splitter is still expected to be leading Team Brazil.
Tags: 2010 FIBA World Championship, Caja Laboral Baskonia, ESPN, Euroleague, FIBA, Matt Bonner, New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs, Team Brazil, Tiago Splitter, Tony Parker, YouTube
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Great story! We are looking forward to Tiago here in San Antonio!
@ Franco: Yeah, i’ll bet you are. This Lakers fan is hatin’ life after the Splitter news, i tells ya…
Os Davis if you are a Los Angeles Lakers fan you should be interested to know that the Lakers are reportedly talking with the agent of Vassilis Spanoulis. Supposedly, if Derek Fisher signs a contract with the Miami Heat then the Lakers would offer Spanoulis a contract (supposedly 3 years $15 million).
However, this would also be contingent on Spanoulis not signing a contract with Olympiacos Piraeus, which he is likely to do, unless Josh Childress decides to not opt out of his contract. But since Childress has until July 15th to decide, then that means that if Fisher signs with Miami (not saying he will but if he did) before Childress decides on if he is staying in Greece or returning to the NBA, then the Lakers could have the contract offer to Spanoulis officially before Olympiacos would be ready for him to sign with them.
Which means in that scenario that Spanoulis would likely be joining the Lakers next year as their new starting point guard.
@ Misko: Could you provide a source on that? I read in the Greek media that there was a possibility of Spanoulis signing with “some interested NBA teams,” but which teams were never specified.
Meanwhile, Spanish media in two places has the Lakers supposedly angling for Terrell McIntyre:
http://www.malagahoy.es/article/deportes/733353/mcintyre/rechaza/la/primera/oferta.html
http://www.encancha.com/noticia-numero10915-equipo100.html
But i just can’t imagine the Fish ever leaving L.A.
@Os Davis: Here is a link where any breaking news of the Lakers is talked about right away.
http://thelakersnation.com/forums/
By the way, Splitter and his new bride were seen today eating at an Italian eatery on the Riverwalk. Now that he is married, maybe she can fatten him up for us a bit,lol.
@ Franco: Well, Italian food is great for 15-pound shy Splitter, then — that was DeNiro’s secret to putting on 40 pounds in a hurry for “Raging Bull.” Or perhaps he could take up the Guinness diet, which helped Renee Zellweger bulk up 20 pounds for the Bridget Jones flicks…