I can't believe nobody has posted this yet. Tiago Splitter who was supposed to be the savior for the Spurs. Tiago Splitter who they banked on to come over in lieu of sending Scola to the Rockets. Tiago Splitter who has royally screwed the Spurs over by signing with Tau lol. Oh man the irony of it all. Rockets truly get Scola for nothing. Spanoulis quits and goes back to Greece Scola comes over Splitter signs with Tau leaving the Spurs with nothing to show for this trade except some spare cash Tiago Splitter re-signs with Tau Tiago Splitter, center of the Brazilian national team, re-signed with Tau for two more years. The player, who was being courted by the San Antonio Spurs, preferred to accept the contract from the Spanish team, which will pay him eight times more money. The Brazilian has been under contract with Tau since 2000. http://espnbrasil.terra.com.br/blog/blog.aspx?idBlog=14
I'm just sick of hearing about this guy if he's never actually going to play in the NBA. Before he finally got drafted last year he was mentioned in what, the last 4-5 mock drafts? I don't blame him for taking 8x the money and staying in an environment he's already comfortable in. I wouldn't call that "screwing" the Spurs by making the most logical choice.
Who are the Spurs sending over for contract negotiations? Maybe the Rockets can trade Brad Newley to the Spurs for Splitter in 5 years.
Wow, for somebody who declared and then undeclared for every draft for the past 5 years, I am a little dissappointed he has pretty much given up on NBA ball. If I were him, I'd have left the NBA draft alone along time ago.
he will come over when he is ready... He is being smart, taken the bigger payoff now because he hasnt made the big paycheck yet... 2 years from now he will be bigger, stronger, more experienced and nba ready. Very smart move, Most be taking notes from scola
I doubt he'll end up coming over here at all, unless he's past his prime. Since he's a low 1st round pick, he's locked into a rookie contract of 3-4 years at less than 1 mill per. And that's gross income. In Europe where they use net income and a stronger Euro, he'll have to give up a ton of money in order to come to the NBA. I'm sure that situations like this that will force NBA GM's to put off drafting a lot of foreign players until the 2nd round, where they aren't locked into a particular salary slot.
I don't think he'll ever come over unless they somehow give him a bye on the rookie contract that 1st rounders are required to sign. It just doesn't make sense for him financially to do so.
This is getting to be a big problem for the NBA, the rookie scale is hurting NBA team's chances of bringing Euro players over to play. They can make MORE money in Europe playing less than half the games...... If the NBA does not come up with some new rules regarding Euros, or set up some sort of supplemental draft. More and more quality players will stay in Europe, and their league will get better and better, and closer to the NBA in quality. Portland is facing the same dilema with Rudy Ferndandez, he would have to take less money to come over here to play, because of the rookie scale in place for first round picks. I am not sure what the solution is, but something needs to change in a hurry. DD
No change is needed in my opinion. It's up to the team to do the intel on a player like Splitter, buy a high second round pick and draft him there instead of using a first round pick. Portland and San Antonio are not stupid ... they knew the possibilities of drafting them in the first round. They took the chance anyway.
The solution is simple... A player should be free from the first round rookie scale after 3 or 4 years just like the other players taken in the same class... I thought that was the case. Guess I was wrong
I remember people were b****ing about Rockets drafting Brooks instead of Splitter (and McRoberts, and a few other names).
Well, I'll definitely eat crow on this one; I thought Splitter would have been an excellent pick on draft day as a backup center to take over from Mutombo. Really, this comes as somewhat of a surprise, considering how much this guy has seemingly wanted to be in the NBA; I swear that he's been sticking his head in and pulling out for years. This isn't a Fran Vasquez, who became automatically eligible without showing any interest in coming over, even for a workout. I do expect to see Splitter come over eventually, maybe later in his career, when he feels like he's accomplished everything he can in the European Leagues. For all the fans who hate seeing 19 and 20 year old benchwarmers on European teams getting selected in the lottery and brought over immediately, this should serve as a validation of the strategy; if you draft a player who's too good, you'll face resistance in getting him to come over; ironically, the NBA's best chance of getting international superstars is by looking at bench players from the European Leagues; the European Leagues' best chances to get American internationals is by doing the same to the NBA...
Now all we need is for Rudy Fernandez to follow suit. This could make the top picks of the 2nd round more attractive now, since Euros who sign in the 2nd round can sign for however much they think they deserve.
You know when you'll really have to worry? When players start going to Europe out of high school or college. There's nothing that stops it from happening. A mid-first rounder in the NBA can benefit from it. It's inevitable though.
