The San Antonio Spurs brought back the entire roster from the 2013-14 NBA season. That’s not such a crazy thing to do when you consider the Spurs won the 2014 NBA championship and reached the 2013 NBA Finals with that core intact.
One of the players who was missing from the 2014-15 opening-day lineup, however, was injured starting center Tiago Splitter.
According to Dan McCarney of San Antonio Express-News, Splitter will make his season debut on Tuesday, November 4 when the Spurs host the Atlanta Hawks. He’d been sidelined with a calf strain and back issues that forced him to miss the entire preseason and the Spurs’ first two games of the regular season.
When asked about how Splitter’s doing, head coach Gregg Popovich responded with his usual wit.
"“[Tiago Splitter]’s great,” Popovich said. “On a scale of 1-10, he looked fine. Handsome kid.”"
At least that’s solved.
San Antonio turned heads during the summer of 2013 when it handed Splitter, now 29, a four-year contract worth $36 million. The front-loaded deal netted Splitter $10 million in 2013-14 and will make him $9.25 million during the 2014-15 campaign.
Some feel he’s overpaid, and limited playing time suggests he may be. San Antonio understands his value.
In 2013-14, Splitter played in 59 games and averaged 8.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 21.5 minutes of action. That’s remarkably limited playing time for a player who’s making $10 million in a season.
The good news for Spurs fans is that Popovich has never built his rotation based off of name value or financial worth. That didn’t change with Splitter.
Don’t confuse limited playing time with limited value.
What Splitter provides the Spurs with is an outstanding defensive presence. He’s also one of the best passing big men in the NBA, which helps facilitate a motion offense that relies heavily on its interior players being able to set up slashers and shooters.
For the 2014-15 season, Splitter’s most significant value will be on the defensive end.
He isn’t a shot-blocker or a turnover-creating big man, but the Brazilian big man knows how to protect the rim. He uses his 6’11” and 245-pound frame to force scorers out of the paint, altering shots with his 7’2″ wingspan when they choose to attack the basket.
According to NBA.com, Splitter held opponents to 44.7 percent shooting when he met them at the rim. That’s not only a good mark, but it ranks amongst the elite in the NBA.
The only qualified players—at least 60 games played and 5.0 field goal attempts faced per contest—who ranked higher were Roy Hibbert of the Indiana Pacers and Robin Lopez of the Portland Trail Blazers.
In 2014-15, we’ll learn if Splitter can execute at that level with elevated minutes.
Splitter’s impact isn’t only in protecting the rim, but in defending the pick-and-roll. While he’s no DeAndre Jordan as an athlete, he moves well in preventing players from diving to the basket and recovers strong enough to contest jumpers from the high post.
That’s invaluable for an aging Spurs team.
Per Basketball-Reference.com, with Splitter on the floor, the Spurs had a defensive rating of 96.3 and a net rating of plus-10.4. With him off the floor, the defensive rating jumped to 105.1.
That’s a difference of 8.8 points per 100 possessions.
He may not pad the glamour stats, but Splitter is the key to San Antonio’s defense. He solidifies the defensive interior with Tim Duncan and seems to improve with every passing game that he plays.
With Splitter back in the rotation, look for the Spurs to build its defense around him. His infectious energy and rapidly developing fundamentals will play a major part in San Antonio’s attempts of repeating as NBA champions.
Whether it’s 21 minutes or 40, Splitter is a major player in the Spurs’ championship aspirations.