Tiago Already Gaining Respect?

Splitter in the colors he is suited for. Silver and Black baby!!!!

We have all been wishing and hoping for the day to see this.  Tiago Splitter is in San Antonio and doesn’t he just look great in some silver and black?  Practice has started and Tiago has already shown his teammates that he is ready for the season and making the transition very well.

One Spur that was eager to watch him in action in person was that of Tim Duncan.  Duncan stated that he has only seen him on the tube watching his games in the World Championships, and as of yesterday, Timmy had a chance to see him first hand.

“I wanted to see what he does, what he’s good at, how he moves,” Duncan, the Spurs’ All-Star forward, said of his new teammate.

Granted all eyes were on Tiago Splitter during the practice.  Many other than Duncan wanted to see how he would react, how is learning was.  To one, Antonio McDyess he really was surprised by the way Splitter caught on with things:

“One thing that surprised me was how quick he catches on,” Antonio McDyess said. “This is a tough system to learn, and I noticed he was catching on real fast.”

And for Head Coach Greg Popovich, he feels that he isn’t going to say anything that is going to confuse Splitter to much.

Playing overseas for his whole career thus far, Tiago is in a new country and though he has settled in on the court, he hasn’t found his way around town just yet.

“Everything is new,” said Splitter, who averaged 12.8 points and 5.2 rebounds at the World Championships. “Not just the city — the country, Texas, everything. I’m getting used to it. In two or three weeks, I’ll be fine.”

When Splitter was playing in Spain, he stated that his coaches made tapes of Tim Duncan, just him so he can improve on his offensive game.

“My coaches (in Spain) made tapes of just Tim Duncan moves,” Splitter said. “I tried to learn from him. Now I have the opportunity to practice every day with him.”

Spurs fans we are in for a treat this coming season.  Duncan and Splitter are going to be a great duo, not like Duncan and Robinson but they will make a name for themselves.  Going to be a great year.

Welcome to San Antonio Tiago!!!