Get your Tiago fix here: Caja Laboral v. Real Madrid
by Tim C. on May 28, 2010 8:00 AM CDT
in Outside the League
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PrintACB Semifinals Game 1: Real Madrid @ Caja Laboral, 1:15 PM CDT
He'll rip our hearts out. Or maybe just Madrid's.
Last week, the best basketball league ever - the ACB - held the opening round of its playoffs. The first round is over, and the top three seeds all advanced. The lone upset was the advance of 5th seed Unicaja Malaga, who are already down 1-0 to the Barcelona juggernaut in the semifinals.
That means Nando De Colo's fourth-seeded Valencia team got the boot. Nando had a very forgettable series, and probably sealed his fate of playing in Valencia, not San Antonio, for at least one more season. He was terrible, with a Ian Mahinmi-like foul rate, and some very un-clutch plays when he could actually stay on the court. But he was a rookie, so at least it's not a trend yet. Next year, he'll get Euroleague experience - clearly an inferior league to the ACB, but still valuable experience.
For those few that watched the Caja Laboral v. Estudiantes series, Tiago Splitter turned in a great performance as his team cruised to a blowout victory in game one. He then turned in a not-so-great showing in game 2, and Caja barely escaped with the victory. But they still swept the best-of-3 first round series, and he still looked like far more of a player than Nando.
This means the the Spurs' South American Savior 2.0 is moving on to the second round, where they'll face the team trying to steal him out from under the Spurs this summer - Real Madrid. Madrid lost their first game of the opening round, but won the next two to earn the right to play Baskonia, led by the league MVP that those fuckers have no right to take away from us that Real will reportedly make an offer to this summer. In the semifinals, it's a best of 5 series, so there will be at least 3 more games(and likely more than that) to watch Tiago play. Anyhow, the first game is today at 1:15 Spurs time.
If you want to watch some good basketball in the middle of your Friday, be sure to check out ACB360, which will be streaming all of the games live... for free. What a novel concept.
**PS: I don't actually believe Euroleague to be inferior to ACB, but the reaction I got last time makes this disclaimer necessary.
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Last week, the best basketball league ever – the ACB
That made me laugh. Let’s hope Splitter plays just well enough to get over here, but not well enough for any of those teams to want him that badly…is it to late for that?
P.S. Stupid Crazy Pills
i don’t know how the whole thing works with the player’s rights and all that, but if you enter the draft, shouldn’t it be MANDATORY to play for the team that drafted you?…
So if they don’t play for the team, should they be punished/fined severely?
Yo, I’m 6-11, but I just want to dribble through my legs and shoot jumpshots like a guard. - Marc Blucas on Tim Duncan
just read this, even though its a few years old
by FreshmakerDTM on May 28, 2010 11:09 AM CDT up reply actions
what happend to 7’1" center Sergei Karaulov?
Yo, I’m 6-11, but I just want to dribble through my legs and shoot jumpshots like a guard. - Marc Blucas on Tim Duncan
Yeah, I was joking, but what this article fails to mention is how stupid the 1st round pay scale is. The fact that the NBA has not taken into account the professional players of Europe and else where is a sign that they have no idea how to handle foreign players.
It screws over teams that put in an investment in their over-seas scouting.
This is the first time I’m watching play. Thanks Tim.
I should say I was expecting little too much from him. After seeing the game, I think I need to tone down the expectations on him if he ever becomes a spur.
Keep the faith!!
He played good defense though. I have to clarify what I said before. I have to tone down the expectations because I was thinking of him as a next Mark Gasol if not Pau….
Keep the faith!!
He would still be the best big next to Tim since D-Rob.
"I like the fact that he’s a man." – Hubie Brown on DeJuan Blair
by Manu ex Machina on May 28, 2010 3:37 PM CDT up reply actions
let us hope so. If he can bring the kind of defense that Dice provided during playoff’s with some scoring would be great.
Keep the faith!!
He is a very good defender but you wouldn’t know it by looking at his stats. He’s not the best shot blocker out there but his paint defense is really good. He defends well without fouling too
"I've got Tim (Duncan) and you don't. That's the difference." -Gregg Popovich
I don’t know what will crush me more! If we don’t get Splitter, or don’t draft a good big to help us this year?
I wont be crushed if Splitter does not come. I don’t expect him to , it seems he can make more money in Europe.
The Spurs = Not your granddaddies 7th seed !
Well the greek and even eroupe econmy are going on a downfall which is why many GM and sports anaylers think Splitter will be coming to the spurs. I am expecting him to come and contrubite right away.
GO SPURS GO
SPURS 2010 NBA Champions (if team is healty LoL)
Negative: Turk needs the ball to be effective and you saw what happened in Toronto when he didn’t have it
"I've got Tim (Duncan) and you don't. That's the difference." -Gregg Popovich
LOL i loved every part of that suns loss
Was I the only one ?
Suns Fans check their closets for Manu Ginobili Bro.
Well, I think it proved that for all the talk, these were the same old Suns, albeit with a better bench. The Lakers proved, as the Spurs always did previously, that if you play solid D on them, they’ll let you outscore them most of the time.
Really, comparing the Spurs vs the Lakers against the Suns shows how much our defense has fallen. With the exception of JR and Dragic (I’m still trying to wrap my head around how this guy went from being completely dud to the BS he was pulling off in the playoffs), all of the guys who killed the Spurs did little beyond the norm against the Lakers. Please POP & RC, Please find some way to make the team D recover!
Yeah man, i was hoping man that those Bums would go off on LA just so I wouldnt feel so bad about our team D.
New Suns my ass. Dragic was OK, a very low OK, Dudley was nothing, Frye was nothing
And Grant didnt look like the defensive Stopper he was heralded as, even though I love Grant Hill.
Im gonna drown in my sorrow Bro’s
Suns Fans check their closets for Manu Ginobili Bro.
by SpursNumberUno on May 30, 2010 9:36 PM CDT up reply actions
you know how all these FA stars are going to sit down and talk about where they want to play and possibly play together…
well, can Manu sit down with Luis and say, with Brooks/Martin and Yao.. when will you ever get to touch the ball?.. take the MLE and lets win a ring together in San Antonio!
Wish it was that easy but hey you may never know some players have taken paycuts before to join a championship contender.
GO SPURS GO
SPURS 2010 NBA Champions (if team is healty LoL)
i know. i’m dreamin. but the MLE would be almost almost double what hes making now…
by FreshmakerDTM on May 31, 2010 9:19 AM CDT up reply actions
Tiago or no Tiago
Splitter went with the money one time before when the Spurs couldn’t get him awary from his present team. I’m betting he won’t be able to turn down a 2-3 year contract with Real Madrid, worth at least $15 mil a year. They will offer that to him. The Spurs won’t be able to offer him more than $6 million and that simply won’t be enough to tempt him away. Here’s the best scenario— Talk to Splitter and see if he is willing to go to the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets for close to what he is being offered by Real Madrid. New Jersey’s new boss has the cash and he might go for Splitter. Tiago might be tempted to play in the Big Apple. The Spurs get to pick up the number three draft spot and have a chance to draft a big man like DeMarcus Cousins or Derrick Favors. If the Spurs don’t get a big man to shore up their front line it will be a very long season. Duncan and McDyess are gettting longer in the tooth and there is no true post up player left on the squad. Blair is too short to fill that spot. Also Soliman Alabi might be available at the 20 spot. He is a true big who can defend at the rim and haul down rebounds, but needs work on his offense. There has been talk about drafting the likes of Paul George, James Anderson and Xavier Henry, but they do not answer the big problem. line is don’t Luke Babbett has looked good at the Chicago combine, but I don’t think he’ll be available at the 20 spot. The bottom line is “don’t place your hopes on acquiring Splitter.” I hope I’m wrong, but R.C. would really be the magician if he somehow pulls that off.
You do know Real Madrid hasnt even said anyting offical about that and it probably not even true it just a rumor. It was posted on a site that is the equvilent to hoopsworld were they put fake stories. Also The way the Eruo and Greek economy is going the spurs will be able to match it and even if that rumor is ture it said only 10 million erous is the most they will offer. Take him for what he is worht but most likley he is comign over and spurs get a 3 in the draft.
GO SPURS GO
SPURS 2010 NBA Champions (if team is healty LoL)
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