Season Player Wrap-Up: Tiago Splitter

Mar 20, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Tiago Splitter (22) dunks during the first half against the Golden State Warriors at the AT

Power forward/center6-11, 235Three seasonsUnrestricted free agent

Averages: 10.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 1.6 apg, 0.8 spg, 0.8 bpgPercentages: 56.0 FG%, 73.0 FT%Advanced: 19.7 PER, plus 10.1 net rating

When looking at Splitter’s game, there is nothing that jumps out at you that will make you come out of your seat. Being 6-foot-11, you would hope that he would be more dominate and more aggressive when down on the block, that is not the case with him.

What he is good at offensively is not putting back shots, his favorite move when down low seems to be a reverse layup, not a dunk, a layup, more than likely he ends up getting it sent back. What he does do well on the offensive side is setting screens and rolling to the bucket which sometimes sets himself up for good finishes, when not trying to lay the ball up but actually finishing it with a dunk.

Defensively I feel is his best asset when we are talking about his game. During the playoffs he stood his ground against different bigs and sometimes found himself defending James in the Finals and he did a decent job on him. What he does really good is not go for the block, constantly jumping, he stands his ground with arms raised, what is funny is he can still tip the ball without jumping blocking the opponents shot attempt.

What many people do remember about Splitter this season is not a dunk in a game, but one that was attempted and sent back by one LeBron James. I did not like the fact that he got blocked but I have to say that I loved seeing how hard he went to the rim, this is what we need to see from him next season. James was not going to shy away from Splitters’ dunk attempt, anyone else, he may have faired better.

Dan McCarney from San Antonio Express-News summed up his skills: “Such subtle skills don’t grab headlines, they just win games. Whether Splitter continues to do that in San Antonio will be determined by the market”.