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马刺中文论坛 » 环球刺讯 » [48MOH]10.14 Tiago Splitter and Nando De Colo

 
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 2009-10-14 12:06  #1
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[48MOH]10.14 Tiago Splitter and Nando De Colo

48MoH readers have seen the name Bruno tossed about here and there. Bruno is a trusted friend firmly situated in France, where he is able to make all sorts of smart observations about the Spurs, the NBA, and their various relationships in the international basketball community. For the upcoming season we’ve asked a few friends of 48MoH to serve as international correspondents regarding the development of Spurs-drafted players currently playing overseas. Not only does Bruno know his stuff, but he’s in a position to watch the Spurs hopefuls play and gather information via original language sources. More details about our correspondents are forthcoming, but Bruno will keep us up-to-date about the play of Tiago Splitter and Nando De Colo. His first submission is designed to bring us up to speed:

Tiago Splitter

Tiago Splitter has a long history with the NBA. In fact, I don’t think there is a player outside the NBA who has been in more NBA talks than Splitter. He entered the draft 3 times (2004, 2005 and 2006) but withdrew for lack of an affordable buyout of his contract with Tau (Siska Baskonia). In 2007, he was automatically eligible for the draft as an international player born in 1985. While he had been projected as a lottery pick for years, he was available at the end of the first round because of his relative lack of improvement and because he had to wait one year before joining the NBA. The San Antonio Spurs finally drafted him with the 28th choice and it was seen as a steal by most NBA analysts.

The 2008 summer should have been the happy ending of this saga but it didn’t happen as expected. On the one hand, Tiago had a very good year and Tau made him a great offer. On the other hand, the Spurs were financially limited by the rookie salary scale and Tiago had to give back a part of his NBA salary to pay a part of Tau’s contract buyout. As a result, he decided to sign a new 4 year contract with Tau. This contract has a buyout clause after 2 years. The buyout is lower if he leaves Tau for an NBA team than for another European team. Later in the same summer, Pop said “When he agreed to come, he didn’t know they were going to offer him so much (in Spain). With the way the economy is, he would have had to be an idiot to come here next year.” So it looks like Spurs don’t have any ill feelings towards him or, at least, they’re good at disguising them.

This year, Tiago will play the Euroleague and the Spanish league. It’s the highest level of basketball outside the NBA. To be honest with you, few interesting things should come up from these games. Tiago is only 24 years old but he has played 213 games in Spanish league and 121 in Euroleague and is one of the very best centers in Europe. It’s quite unlikely that he plays significantly better or worse than in the previous years.

What will be more interesting to follow is how well his team plays. A lot of things have changed in Tau this summer. First, the team isn’t called Tau anymore. Tau was the name of the main Sponsor but with the economic crisis they have ended a 22 year long sponsorship.Their new main sponsor is a bank called Caja Laboral, it’s also the new name of the team. Second, a lot of players are new. 5 of last year’s 7 best scorers are gone. To replace them, they have added mainly young talented players. How well this new team will perform this year will surely be a factor in Splitter’s choice to leave them or not in 2010. This year, I won’t only say “Go, Spurs, Go” but also “Go, whoever plays against Caja Laboral, Go”.

Spurs will surely be interested in signing Tiago next summer. I don’t see how a player with his combination of size, quickness, strength and skills at both end of the court couldn’t turn into at least a solid role player. He will likely never be an all star because he is limited by a poor jumpshot, but he is, nevertheless, a very good player. Next year, the Spurs won’t be limited by the rookie scale and will be able to sign him with the MLE. The question is now: How much money Spurs will offer him? It’s possible that Spurs’ offer isn’t the kind of money he wants. Or the Spurs could think he isn’t worth his asking price. They could struggle with the luxury tax or decide to spend their MLE on another player. “Tiago Splitter and the NBA Part 2″ will be in your theater between May and July 2010.

Nando De Colo

Nando De Colo isn’t the usual prospect you see growing year after year. At 19 years old, he was a total unknown. At 21, he won the 2007-2008 French League French MVP title (they also give a MVP title to a foreign player). After his breakout season, Nando entered the 2008 draft but withdrew after not receiving a first round promise. The 2008-2009 year was more difficult for him with a lot of ups and downs. He was automatically eligible for the 2009 draft and was picked by Spurs with the 53rd pick after his “so-so” year.

Tony Parker has surely played a big role in Nando’s drafting. Tony knows Nando’s family since he was a child because Nando’s parents have coached him during youth basketball summer camps. The bulk of the connection between Tony and Nando comes from the 2008 summer. They both played for French national team. It was an awful summer for the team but Tony liked what he saw from Nando and even said that he would like to have him with Spurs. Before the start of the 2008-9 season, Nando also said the he would like to be drafted by the Spurs. This summer, Tony helped to create links between Spurs’ front office and Nando’s entourage, including a dinner that saw Gregg Popovich, Nando De Colo, Thierry Henry and other friends of Tony Parker seated around the point guard’s dinner table. Tony Parker acted as a liason of sorts between the Spurs front office and the De Colo family.

This is not to suggest Parker forced the Spurs’ hand. But Parker’s relationship with and endorsement of De Colo was surely a helpful resource for the Spurs’ front office.

With Spurs not offering him a guaranteed contract, Nando signed a 2 year contract with a Spanish team, Valencia BC, this summer. His contract has an NBA buyout clause after the first year.

Valencia should be a solid team this year. They had a lot of ambitions but have had a setback this summer with the loss of their main sponsor. They will play this year in the Spanish league and the Eurocup (second level of European competition behind the Euroleague). This is a high level of competition and it will be even more a challenge for Nando because he will play PG for Valencia–he mainly played SG in the past. He will share the PG spot with the solid but limited Serbian player Marco Marinovic. After a good preseason, Nando has earned the starting job. Something to notice is that the coach of the team is Neven Spahija, who is a very good friend of Gregg Popovich. When the Spurs’ staff made a trip to Europe last spring, Popovich went to Valencia to visit Spahija. Getting an in-depth analysis of Nando De Colo will be as easy as a phone call for the Spurs.

When describing Nando, the first words that pop up in my mind are: “he is talented but… ” The main “but” is his defense. In Europe, he is a quite weak defender and in NBA it will be worse. He isn’t athletic or quick enough to defend most NBA PGs. At 6′5″, he has a good height to play SG but he has crocodile arms and weighs only 185 lbs. I’m quite convinced that his future in NBA is at the SG spot: adding weight is light year easier than adding quickness. With the Spurs still having Parker and Hill at PG, his future with Spurs seems brighter at the SG spot. On the offensive end, he has the complete package and a lot of talent even if he has some limitation due of his relative lack of athleticism.

The little “but” on this side of the court is that he is quite wild; he can commit some dumb turnovers or try too many complicated things. Playing PG and being Valencia’s main ball handler should help him to polish his offensive game and limit tendency toward wild plays without removing his creativity. The Spurs’ plan for Nando is to let him have one or two years in Europe before evaluating him again.

Your expectations for Nando De Colo should be quite reasonable. After all, he is only a 53rd pick in a quite weak draft and has been drafted two spot after Jack McClinton who has since been waived by the San Antonio Spurs.

Robertas Javtokas and Sergei Karaulov

A little word on both players, in case you don’t know who they are:

Robertas Javtokas (56th pick in 2001) was said to be close of signing with Spurs in 2006. It didn’t happen and it looks like it was his first and last chance to join the NBA. He is a solid European player but will be 30 years old next summer and he seriously lacks skills. He will play the Russian league and the Euroleague with BC Khimki where he will share the C spot with Timofey Mozgov.

Sergei Karaulov (58th pick) has done nothing significant since being drafted by the Spurs. He has signed this summer with Krasnie Krilya Samara, a first league Russian team. If he follows the same path as in previous years, he will stay on the bench or be loaned to a weaker Russian team. Sergei Karaulov will need more than one miracle to make it in the NBA.


http://www.48minutesofhell.com/2009/10/13/tiago-splitter-and-nando-de-colo/
香瓜离线中   引用
 2009-10-14 12:06  #2
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加入日期: 2004-04-25
帖子: 4429
现金: 40 盾
香瓜 荣获 2005-06 Fantasy NBA ChinaSpurs 联赛第13名
回复: [48MOH]10.14 Tiago Splitter and Nando De Colo

原文里有些文字有链接,我没有转载过来。建议看原文
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