Tiago Splitter - Assistant coach

[Village Idiot]

Coach Billups, and some of the players,´statements yesterday had a massive tidbit that has gone way under the radar, the signing of Tiago Splitter as an assistant coach. Most of us remember Splitter as a solid Brazilian big who had a long but unillustrious NBA career. ´

A little over a year ago I was promoting Thomas Iusalo as a potential Billups replacement given his innovative style and success with Paris Basketball. Then Memphis went out and hired him and in less than a season he´s their head coach. Opportunity lost.

Well it turns out Tiago Splitter took over the Paris Basketball team, and without making any major additons, had them amog the better teams in their first season in the Euroleague. He took a lot of the basics of Iusalo´s offense, added to it and then implemented a new defense. The crazy thing about the D is that he had them morphing from man to zone in the middle of a possesion.

Some quotes, all copied from Blazersedge, regarding his impact on the team thus far:

”I expect for us again to play faster,” Billups said. “Not only that, but even in the halfcourt, some of the cutting patterns and things like that will be totally different — not as much standing around or just run the pick-n-roll and the other three guys are just kinda standing and watching the entire time. … We’ll be better about that and not being as predictable.”

“The way we’re playing this year is going to be a lot faster,” Henderson said. “We always talked about how we wanted to play fast, but there was never really any construction around it, so we were kinda just free-roaming a little bit. But I feel like this year with [St. Andrews] and Tiago and [Billups] as the head of the snake, I think it’s going to be a lot of fun, a lot of unexpected cuts, and I’m gonna be able to know where everybody’s at. We’re all gonna be moving in unison.”

“For players who tend to get stuck in the corner, this offense is really great to get you involved, to make you feel like you’re involved,” Blazers wing Matisse Thybulle added. “Ultimately, with any offense, that’s the goal: keeping guys engaged. And offenses just have a tendency to have certain players get stuck in spots on the court where they don’t feel like they’re a part of things, and then that creates all types of problems, whether it’s engagement, buy-in or effort on defense. Not that those are things were necessarily worried about, but the fact that everyone’s gonna be more involved, everyone’s gonna be more of a threat, I think it’s going to be exciting for guys like myself and Toumani [Camara], defensive players who sometimes tend to get lost in the corners.”

I continue to be very optimistic about this team. I can see us being this season´s Rockets and not only making the play-in but the playoffs. Recall that last year I was the most pessimistic person in the record predictions thread so its not like I am prone to unbridled optimism. If Scoot is back by December and has really improved as much as everyone says, I see us winning 50-55 games.

[zzaj]

I liked that the Blazers hired a big-man as a coach--although the irony that they hired someone who seemed to always be injured wasn't lost on me. lol.

Both Clingan and Yang have some in-game fundamental things that they need to work on, and my hope is that Splitter will stress those.

As for the actual offense? I'll believe it when I see it. Although, I hope it's true. They certainly are going to need every advantage they can get since they'll be one of the worst shooting teams in the league.

Also, combination defenses aren't that uncommon. "Man-Zone" happens quite often in college basketball. The goal is to make reading defensive schemes harder for the offensive team. Good NBA players are savants at reading and processing defenses though, and all good teams have at least one player that can break man or zone defenses.

Still, change and development is good. Especially when you're a non-playoff team.

[Walton1one]

The offense should be somewhat better b\c you don't have ball stopper\black holes like Simons & Ayton anymore, which should mean more shots for Deni\Camara & Sharpe. Jrue is not an aggressive "get my own" type of player so he should fit in fine, though his games\minutes have been on the decline (as has his play).

The problem child will probably be Grant, I would expect to see him (with Billups seal of approval of course) jacking up more shots. Whether he is more efficient than LY is anyone's guess, but one thing you can be assured of, Grant taking more shots is NOT conducive to POR winning meaningful games.

Of course, none of this alleviates POR pathetic FG%\3ptFG%, but the front office does not seem to this is an issue? Adding Splitter is nice and all, but he isn't out there shooting. Will improved ball movement (TBD) equate to better FG%? Maybe, but seems to me they are banking on a lot of players shooting better than their career averages to date and that rarely works out...

You have to laugh at Billups talking about focusing on the offense and yet they did nothing to address it in the offseason...

[dckingsfan]

I liked that the Blazers hired a big-man as a coach--although the irony that they hired someone who seemed to always be injured wasn't lost on me. lol.

Both Clingan and Yang have some in-game fundamental things that they need to work on, and my hope is that Splitter will stress those.

As for the actual offense? I'll believe it when I see it. Although, I hope it's true. They certainly are going to need every advantage they can get since they'll be one of the worst shooting teams in the league.

Also, combination defenses aren't that uncommon. "Man-Zone" happens quite often in college basketball. The goal is to make reading defensive schemes harder for the offensive team. Good NBA players are savants at reading and processing defenses though, and all good teams have at least one player that can break man or zone defenses.

Still, change and development is good. Especially when you're a non-playoff team.

I like the hiring of Tiago Splitter and Patrick St. Andrews. It makes sense as does the offense they are putting in place. Solid if not spectacular.

Both Clingan and Yang have some native skills, so working on expanding those skills makes sense. I am "guessing" that with Williams out, Yang is going to get early minutes which will both show his flaws and also make it easier to understand where he needs to develop. It sounds like Williams is also tutoring Yang... that can't hurt.

I also think it is going to take half a season before the new offense takes hold. I really think that the new offense will be especially good for Sharpe.

[BlazersBroncos]

I continue to be very optimistic about this team. I can see us being this season´s Rockets and not only making the play-in but the playoffs. Recall that last year I was the most pessimistic person in the record predictions thread so its not like I am prone to unbridled optimism. If Scoot is back by December and has really improved as much as everyone says, I see us winning 50-55 games.

This is where I am at. Think this team is going to be really fun. Have not been so excited for a Blazers season since the Dame / LMA / Batum days.

I think HOU is a solid comparison - a team that lacked a true #1 and still made some noise. I think Deni is going to be a monster this year and cement himself as a solid #2 option. I am not as sold on Scoot or Sharpe taking that next step but between the 2 there is a decent chance one elevates his game. Cant wait to see Yang against 2nd units early w/ RWIII out. Love the defense and professionalism Jrue and MT will bring (RWIII falls into this category as well). Think DC out the gate shows himself to be a Zubac level player (Maybe not 24/25 Zu yet - but prior Zu). Camara will cement himself as a Tay Prince type 3/D - this I would bet money on.

Only guy I really cant be even remotely optimist on is Grant. Even ZBO wasnt as out-in-the-open selfish as Jerami.

But we have some exciting pieces. No, we wont win a ring, no we didnt get a blue chip (Granted w/ Flagg going to DAL I am more convinced than ever that the league decided where these top pieces go - and they wont ever set our little market up with a needle mover unless we are some day in a position to gift a big name to a big market ala NO w/ AD or DAL w/ Flagg or CLE w/ Irving + Wiggins + that trash #1 pick who I cant remember). But the team has some fun youth, some great tone setting vets and if we truly have a new offense in place its even more interesting.

[JasonStern]

Only guy I really cant be even remotely optimist on is Grant. Even ZBO wasnt as out-in-the-open selfish as Jerami.

Z-Bo at least rebounded. A black hole that at least gets his own ball is better than just a black hole.

Sincerely,
Z-Bo's greatest Blazers RealGM fan, which I am pretty sure I just won by default