Splitter

[Kingster]

This guy I find very intriguing. Sounds like a Beidrins, but more potential offensive upside. Haven't seen him play, but by this account he's a defensive force, athletic, quick. He used to have a good jump shot, but lost it due to the concentration on the low post game. I'm thinking if he used to have it, there's probably a better than 50-50 shot he regains it with some practice. Then you've really got something. Has anyone seen any film on this kid?

PS In their mock draft they have him taken as the 11th pick.

http://www.draftexpress.com/viewprofile.php?p=25

 

[CaminoChaos]

Splitter isn't even in the draft is he? Every people say he's been coming out for the last 3 years but he never does.

 

[nbrans]

Splitter isn't even in the draft is he? Every people say he's been coming out for the last 3 years but he never does.

He's definitely in the draft this year because he's old enough that he's automatically in the draft. But whether he's going to get clearance to play over here is another story.

 

[BritishColumbia]

He will be drafted this year ..... no doubts. But I am not sure that he will go to USA to play in NBA.

 

[Kingster]

He will be drafted this year ..... no doubts. But I am not sure that he will go to USA to play in NBA.

One thing for sure, I don't want this to be another Nowitsky, where Petrie passes on him because supposedly he doesn't want to come to the USA, when later Nelson convinces him. I'm wondering if Petrie is talking to him over in Europe right now....

 

[beb0p]

I've seen Splitter played. To me, he's like a much skinnier but quicker Scott Pollard. In Splitter's case, his skinny frame and weak upper body means he'll get beat up defending the post. Above average leaper (though not explosive) but not a good shot-blocker. Has a tough time guarding meaty centers. But very good at playing the passing lanes, he is an oddball who is more likely to come up with a steal than a block. With his height, quickness and hustle, will probably be a pretty good rebounder. Including offensive rebounds.

offense is limited. Jump shot is Darius Miles ugly. Very good touch around the basket, but can't post up because he lacks the strength to hold his position. Usually score by running the floor, put backs, and moving w/o the ball.

With his active body and quickness, he can be a very good bench guy who comes in and gives the team a spark. I see him more as a 6th/7th man than a starter. In the mold of a weaker David Lee or less explosive (but equally quick) Andris Biedrins.

 

[SacTownKid]

Beidrens he is not. This guy may have some serious post abilities if he keeps improving at the pace he has. Beidrens is more of a hustle guy.

 

[ParniValjak]

No thanks!

I would rather someone with a much more upside than Splitter. He is not a shotblocker and his upside is not great. A VERY good role player in the PJ Brown mould. Nice piece to have but not somone you can build around.

 

[Smills91]

No thanks!

I would rather someone with a much more upside than Splitter. He is not a shotblocker and his upside is not great. A VERY good role player in the PJ Brown mould. Nice piece to have but not somone you can build around.

Which makes him an IDEAL Petrie candidate. I would not be shocked if this was our pick.

 

[ParniValjak]

Which makes him an IDEAL Petrie candidate. I would not be shocked if this was our pick.

I wouldn't be shocked if we did pick him up, but I would be somewhat disappointed. Unless Petrie has other trades up his sleeve where he bring in that star big, getting Splitter is just like getting a nice role player that you can depend on.

Never likely to be an All-Star just a solid dependable type of role player. I would like this pick if we had a stud at C or PF to play next to him but on its own, its not really inspiring.

 

[Kingster]

I've seen Splitter played. To me, he's like a much skinnier but quicker Scott Pollard. In Splitter's case, his skinny frame and weak upper body means he'll get beat up defending the post. Above average leaper (though not explosive) but not a good shot-blocker. Has a tough time guarding meaty centers. But very good at playing the passing lanes, he is an oddball who is more likely to come up with a steal than a block. With his height, quickness and hustle, will probably be a pretty good rebounder. Including offensive rebounds.

offense is limited. Jump shot is Darius Miles ugly. Very good touch around the basket, but can't post up because he lacks the strength to hold his position. Usually score by running the floor, put backs, and moving w/o the ball.

With his active body and quickness, he can be a very good bench guy who comes in and gives the team a spark. I see him more as a 6th/7th man than a starter. In the mold of a weaker David Lee or less explosive (but equally quick) Andris Biedrins.

So in a draft reputed to be the best in several years, in which the 14th pick could be as good as the 4th pick of last year, you think that Splitter, who is ranked #11, would be a good guy coming off the bench?! If that's the case, I better lower my expectations considerably for pick #10!

 

[Kingster]

No thanks!

I would rather someone with a much more upside than Splitter. He is not a shotblocker and his upside is not great. A VERY good role player in the PJ Brown mould. Nice piece to have but not somone you can build around.

Who is your pick?

 

[beb0p]

So in a draft reputed to be the best in several years, in which the 14th pick could be as good as the 4th pick of last year, you think that Splitter, who is ranked #11, would be a good guy coming off the bench?! If that's the case, I better lower my expectations considerably for pick #10!

This is a deep draft, but Splitter is not the 11th best player. A team desperately needing a big man may reach for him. And I think that's what Draftexpress is predicting. But Splitter ain't lottery material. There are some very talented PG and SF that make this draft very deep and should squeeze Splitter to the mid to late 1st round.

 

[fnordius]

So in a draft reputed to be the best in several years, in which the 14th pick could be as good as the 4th pick of last year, you think that Splitter, who is ranked #11, would be a good guy coming off the bench?! If that's the case, I better lower my expectations considerably for pick #10!

The 4th pick last year wasn't the 4th-best guy, either.

Go back and look at some great draft years, like 1996. If you go through the list, the 10th-best guy is not bad at all, he's really very good. But that doesn't mean that the 10th pick was any good. In '96 #9-#12 were Samaki Walker, Erick Dampier, Todd Fuller and Vitaly Potapenko -- all of them picked over Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Jermaine O'Neal, Ben Wallace, ZI, Peja, and others. The top 5, AI, Camby, SAR, Marbury and Ray Allen, were all very safe bets. After that, people started having to guess, and some did far better than others.

This year is similar, in that the top 3 or 4 will be about as sure things as you can get. By #10, you may get a great bargain or you may get real dud. And when others are getting Oden, Durant, and so on, can you really get excited about someone as good as last year's #3-#4 range (Adam Morrison and Tyrus Thomas)?

 

[Vlade4GM]

I'd compare him to Anderson Varejao. He's a really good man to man defender. Not a shot blocker though, but still helps and rotates well. He moves well without the ball, not much of a jump shot. Not a strong finisher because of small hands. Good touch, but limited post moves. He's a role player starter at best.

 

[ParniValjak]

Who is your pick?

Best player available regardless of position. Unless we get a top 3 pick.

 

[ParniValjak]

I'd compare him to Anderson Varejao. He's a really good man to man defender. Not a shot blocker though, but still helps and rotates well. He moves well without the ball, not much of a jump shot. Not a strong finisher because of small hands. Good touch, but limited post moves. He's a role player starter at best.

Pretty much sums him up perfectly. With all due respects to Varejao, he is not really someone you build your team around.

 

[Smills91]

Pretty much sums him up perfectly. With all due respects to Varejao, he is not really someone you build your team around.

You're assuming we get a franchise player at #10?

 

[ParniValjak]

You're assuming we get a franchise player at #10?

I am assuming we can do better than Varejao at 10 yes. We need a genuine starter, bordering on all-star, not a glorified role player. You get those outside the lottery.

 

[Smills91]

I am assuming we can do better than Varejao at 10 yes. We need a genuine starter, bordering on all-star, not a glorified role player. You get those outside the lottery.

I think Splitter will be MUCH better than Varejao...I think the PJ Brown in his prime comparisons are pretty accurate. PJ Brown was a mighty fine ball player in his day.

 

[ParniValjak]

I think Splitter will be MUCH better than Varejao...I think the PJ Brown in his prime comparisons are pretty accurate. PJ Brown was a mighty fine ball player in his day.

Yeah PJ was a fine player but not an all-star type. Not someone you could possibly build a good team around. He was really a role player. Make that a great role player who would consistently deliver 10/10 and good defence.

What we need is a star. Not a role player.

 

[Smills91]

Yeah PJ was a fine player but not an all-star type. Not someone you could possibly build a good team around. He was really a role player. Make that a great role player who would consistently deliver 10/10 and good defence.

What we need is a star. Not a role player.

I agree we need a star, but what you described about PJ is pretty indicative of a PJ Brown type player. If we came out with a player of PJ's caliber or better I consider this a successful draft...for every Jermaine O'Neal in the mid first round there is a Fredereic Weis. Bigs are definitely a riskier pick and so making sure you get a quality player vs a bust is a must. I think Petrie is pretty conservative and will not really hit a home run. Kevin Martin is really the only big swing he took and that was a late 1st so it was a low risk pick really. At #10 I predict Petrie be ultra conservative with the pick and makes sure he picks a winner.

I think guys that top that Petrie list is Splitter/Hawes/Noah as bigs and Brewer/Conley/Green as smaller players.

 

[jimbodan]

Just wondering if anyone else saw Splitter play today on NBATV? I watched the game and really wasn't impressed at all with Splitter, he had a pretty bad game. Other than 1 or 2 free throws his only points came on either garbage dunks/layups or when he got the ball wide open under the basket. His rebounding looked pretty bad as he didn't seem to go after the ball at all. I don't think he took any shots from outside of 5 feet so I couldn't really tell how his shot looked. His free throw form was pretty bad though. On the positive side he seemed to not shy away from contact down low. He also set good hard screens and seemed to be able to finish down low.


EDIT: Forgot to mention his defense, I couldn't really tell how he was defensively since his team played a zone and more often then not he would have to rotate out to challenge a three point shooter on the wing. I didn't see him try to guard any bigs one on one enough to be able to form any opinion on his skill there.

 

[SacTownKid]

Just wondering if anyone else saw Splitter play today on NBATV? I watched the game and really wasn't impressed at all with Splitter, he had a pretty bad game. Other than 1 or 2 free throws his only points came on either garbage dunks/layups or when he got the ball wide open under the basket. His rebounding looked pretty bad as he didn't seem to go after the ball at all. I don't think he took any shots from outside of 5 feet so I couldn't really tell how his shot looked. His free throw form was pretty bad though. On the positive side he seemed to not shy away from contact down low. He also set good hard screens and seemed to be able to finish down low.


EDIT: Forgot to mention his defense, I couldn't really tell how he was defensively since his team played a zone and more often then not he would have to rotate out to challenge a three point shooter on the wing. I didn't see him try to guard any bigs one on one enough to be able to form any opinion on his skill there.

His defense was actually rather good. If you notice he is excellent at sliding over to help. This definately wasn't his best game but he is not really treated like a main part of the team. He doesn't get much opportunity to show what he can do on Tau it's kind of like he is just there and that's how it is most nights.

Splitter isn't a good shooter, he mainly does get his points off dunks but has really shown growth in his post moves this last year. His positives are things like athleticism, defensive fundamentals, and IQ.

 

[jimbodan]

His defense was actually rather good. If you notice he is excellent at sliding over to help. This definately wasn't his best game but he is not really treated like a main part of the team. He doesn't get much opportunity to show what he can do on Tau it's kind of like he is just there and that's how it is most nights.

Splitter isn't a good shooter, he mainly does get his points off dunks but has really shown growth in his post moves this last year. His positives are things like athleticism, defensive fundamentals, and IQ.

Yeah he definitely moved around well rotating, I was pretty surprised that he kept ending up on guards at the perimeter. I just couldn't really get a feel for his individual defense from that game, have you seen him enough to know how he is at man to man defense?

 

[SacTownKid]

Yeah he definitely moved around well rotating, I was pretty surprised that he kept ending up on guards at the perimeter. I just couldn't really get a feel for his individual defense from that game, have you seen him enough to know how he is at man to man defense?

I have only seen him play about 5-6 times throughout the years and 3 of those times are this year. All I know is that he has really improved from where he was on certain parts of his game, his low post moves being the most significant.

Individual defense is hard to gauge in international play. So much ball movement over there. I think Splitter has solid man to man defensive skills playing his man physically and also kind of being a pest like a 7' Doug Christie or Ron Artest (obviously not as prolific as these two of course but could one day be the equivalant ). I said Ron Artest earlier but he is more of a 7' Doug actually. I have also noticed when players post him up they are quite often effected by his length. He also plays the passing lanes quite well which makes it tough for the guy he is gaurding to easily just pass out of the lane. Could very well be a 1 steal, 1 block a night guy at PF/C.

He is a VERY fundamental player, almost to a fault and I think this is why it may look like he is a poor rebounder. He is very good as boxing out, which effectively takes his guy off the backboards but also takes himself out sometimes. The good thing is it usually allows his team to get the rebound though.