San Antonio Spurs: Should They Trade Tiago Splitter?

The San Antonio Spurs losing to the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the 2015 NBA Playoffs began an offseason filled with question marks. Will Tim Duncan retire? What about Manu Ginobili? If they both leave does that mean Gregg Popovich is next? Even Danny Green told Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express News that things might be drastically different next year.

"“Hopefully, I’ll be back,” he said. “I love San Antonio. The fans have always supported us, from day one. It sucks that we had such a special group, and things may be changing and not be the same again.”"

With all those questions to left to be answered, yet another rumor has surfaced about the direction this franchise is headed in. According to Marc Stein of ESPN, the Spurs may look to trade Tiago Splitter to free up cap space in hopes of landing a high priced free agent or two.

But should they part ways with Splitter? Splitter has been an important part of a team that made back-to-back NBA Finals trips in 2013 and 2014, not to mention an NBA championship during that 2014 season. Splitter has been a reliable rim protector and has a more polished offensive game than most people give him credit for.

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Due to several injuries, Splitter only played in 52 games averaging 8.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks per game in 19.8 minutes per game. The previous season, Splitter only played in 59 games and again averaged 8.2 points per game along with 6.2 rebounds per game. He posted solid shooting percentages each season, shooting 55.8 percent in 2014-2015 and 52.3 percent in 2013-2014.

When he was on the court this season, he had a positive impact on San Antonio’s second rated defense. With Splitter on the court, their opponent’s offensive rating was at 100.4, when he was off the court that rating leapt to 102.9. In their recent series against the Clippers that difference was even starker.

	Opponent
Split	eFG%	ORtg
On Court	.477	100.4
Off Court	.487	102.9
On − Off	-.010	-2.5

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/8/2015.

With Splitter on the floor, a 123-minute sample, the Clippers scored 99.6 points per 100 possessions. In 218 minutes with Splitter on the bench they scored 112 points per 100 possessions. However, Splitter’s presence severely hampered the Spurs offense during that series.

With Splitter, the Spurs offensive rating was 94.9 and without him it jumped to 115.7. Popovich had to decide whether Spilitter’s impact on defense outweighed his offensive struggles — a tough decision that led to him only playing 17.6 minutes per game in the series. In the end, the series came down to one possession with Chris Paul hitting an improbable shot. Sometimes that’s just the way basketball is.

Splitter still has two years and $16.8 million left on the deal in signed after the 2013 NBA Finals. Is less than 60 games of mediocre offensive performance and solid defense worth that much money when there are potentially much bigger fish to fry?

The most enticing free agents hitting the market this summer are Portland Trail Blazers star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge and Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol. Both will likely demand a max contract and will be difficult to pry away from their current teams.

Either player would fit in perfectly with San Antonio. I’ll go into more detail on that next week as well as make a suggestion for a free agent that I think would be a lovely consolation prize. Hint: it’s Paul Millsap.

There is risk involved here. The worst case scenario is the Spurs trade Splitter, Duncan retires and they fail to land Gasol, Aldridge or Millsap. Then they’re left with a barren frontcourt, plenty of cap room, and no worthy post players to spend that money on.

Still, R.C. Buford knows what he is doing. Sometimes you have to take some risks to make something spectacular happen. No matter what happens this offseason, a sound infrastructure is still in place. Kawhi Leonard will undoubtedly receive a max contract extension and any rebuilding process can start around him.

I say go for it. Get what you can for Splitter and go all in for Aldridge or Gasol. If it doesn’t work out, Popovich can take solace in the fact that he has nothing left to prove in the NBA. He can take his five rings, an assortment of expensive wines, and walk into retirement whenever he wants.

But wouldn’t snagging a superstar or two and winning ring No. 6 be more fun? Buckle up for a wild offseason, Spurs fans.

Next: Murky Future in Brooklyn for D-Will

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