From the Spurs paper of record:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA072107.04C.NZ.State.BKN_spurs-sp litter.en.2e959d9.html

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Splitter averaged 11.2 points a game, on 61.3 percent shooting, in 28 games last season with Tau Cerámica in the Spanish League and 10.7 points and 6.0 rebounds in 20 games with Tau Cerámica in the Euroleague.

Buford said if Scola jumps to the NBA this season, his absence on Tau Cerámica might help Splitter's development.

"A lot of their post offense went through Luis," Buford said.
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The Butler/Scola trade/fiasco suddenly makes a lot more sense to me. Essentially, the Spurs have made Tau Ceramica their own personal Euro-Toros.

I think that equally, if not more important than getting Butler's salary off the payroll for luxury tax relief was getting Splitter's development started. From all accounts, the guy's a great talent and in weaker years would have been a lottery pick.

To get Tiago in the NBDL, he'd first have to be signed to the 15-man roster. That would raise luxury tax/cap problems anew, so he's destined to stay in Europe, as has been foreseen from the start. I don't know much about the quality of competition in the Spanish and Euro leagues, but I got to think that it's on par (or at least close) to what the NBDL features.

So yeah, Scola goes to division "rival" Houston. But for the Splitter development-for-free scam to work, he had to go to a team in desperate need of a PF willing to take a chance on importing.

Come 2008-2009 when the Spurs roster will look quite different, this Splitter guy may very well be the starting 4. Given that Timmy will turn 33 that season, I imagine his slower feet might have him playing a lot more minutes at center. (Not to mention that we've got another PF project cooking up in Europe in Mahinmi.)

So with this new twist unearthed, I think I'm going to give Buford the benefit of the doubt on this one. So long as it's not Houston that's knocking us out of the conference semis next season.