Tiago Splitter

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Splitter and the second or maternal family name is Beims.
Tiago Splitter

Splitter with the San Antonio Spurs in 2010
No. 11 – Atlanta Hawks
Position Power forward / Center
League NBA
Personal information
Born (1985-01-01) January 1, 1985
Blumenau, Brazil
Nationality Brazilian
Listed height 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight 245 lb (111 kg)
Career information
NBA draft 2007 / Round: 1 / Pick: 28th overall
Selected by the San Antonio Spurs
Playing career 1999–present
Career history
1999–2000 Ipiranga (Brazil)
2000–2010 Saski Baskonia (Spain)
2000–2001 →Araba Gorago Alava (Spain)
2001–2003 →Bilbao Basket (Spain)
2010–2015 San Antonio Spurs
2011 Valencia BC (Spain)
2015–present Atlanta Hawks
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men's Basketball
Representing  Brazil
FIBA Americas Championship
2005 Santo Domingo National Team
2009 San Juan National Team
2011 Mar del Plata National Team
Pan American Games
2003 Santo Domingo National Team
South American Championship
2003 Montevideo National Team

Tiago Splitter Beims (born January 1, 1985)[1] is a Brazilian professional basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a member of the San Antonio Spurs in 2014, Splitter became the first Brazilian-born player to win an NBA championship.

Professional career

Brazil and Spain (1999–2010)

Splitter began his professional career in 1999. In 2000, he began to play in the Spanish Liga ACB.

In 2004, Splitter became a naturalised citizen of Spain.[2]

Splitter was named the MVP of the Spanish Supercup tournament in both 2006 and 2007. He was also named to the All-Euroleague First Team for the Euroleague 2007–08 season, after leading Saski Baskonia to the Euroleague Final Four. The following year, Splitter reached the Euroleague 2008–09 season playoffs, but failed to make another Euroleague Final Four participation. His performances earned him a spot on the 2008–09 All-Euroleague Second Team nevertheless. Splitter was named the Spanish League MVP in 2010.[3] Splitter was signed by the San Antonio Spurs on July 9, 2010, so that he could join them for the 2010-11 NBA season.[4]

Splitter was expected to declare for the 2006 NBA Draft, but because the expensive buyout of his contract discouraged NBA teams with high draft picks from drafting him, he remained in the Spanish ACB League for that season. Splitter was automatically eligible for the 2007 NBA Draft, as he was at least 22 years of age at the time of the draft. He was selected in the first round, with the 28th draft pick overall, by the San Antonio Spurs.

On May 28, 2008, ESPN Brazil reported that Splitter re-signed on a two-year contract with Saski Baskonia that would keep him in the Spanish ACB League through the 2009-10 NBA season. The contract allowed the Brazilian to make 8 times more than the NBA rookie scale salary cap would have allowed him to make with the San Antonio Spurs.[5] On June 7, 2008, the San Antonio Express-News reported that Spurs General Manager R.C. Buford stated that Splitter had informed the team that he would not be coming to San Antonio for the 2008-09 NBA season.

Splitter had instead signed an extension with Saski Baskonia that would keep him in the Spanish ACB League through 2010.[6] It was announced on July 9, 2010, that Splitter agreed to opt out of his contract with Saski Baskonia, and sign a contract with the San Antonio Spurs, of the NBA.[4]

San Antonio Spurs (2010–2015)

Tiago Splitter before a game against the Orlando Magic at the Amway Center

On July 12, 2010, Splitter signed a contract with the San Antonio Spurs.[7] The deal is believed to be worth $11 million for 3 years.

He earned his first start of his NBA career on March 19 against the Charlotte Bobcats in place of Tim Duncan who got injured.

On February 8, 2012, Splitter and teammate Kawhi Leonard were selected to play in the 2012 Rising Stars Challenge. On February 17, it was revealed that both Splitter and Leonard would be teammates for Team Chuck. However, due to an injury, he was released from Team Chuck and was replaced by Derrick Favors.

On May 29, 2012, in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks attempted to slow San Antonio's offense through continual fouling of Splitter, sending him to the free throw line with the "Hack-a-Shaq" strategy.

He played his most productive season with the Spurs in 2012–13 NBA season, averaging 10.3 ppg and 6.4 rpg while playing all but the final game of the regular season. He started 58 games as the Spurs finished the West in the two-seed behind the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Spurs would advance to the 2013 NBA Finals, only to lose to the Miami Heat in seven games as Miami won their second straight championship.

On July 13, 2013, he re-signed with the Spurs.[8] On June 15, 2014, Splitter won his first NBA championship after the Spurs defeated the Miami Heat 4 games to 1 in the 2014 NBA Finals.

After missing the first 20 out of 21 games of the 2014–15 season with a back injury, Splitter played out the rest of the season until missing the final six games of the regular season with a calf injury. He returned for the playoffs but the Spurs were knocked out in the first round by the Los Angeles Clippers in seven games.[9][10]

Atlanta Hawks (2015–present)

On July 9, 2015, Splitter was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for the draft rights to Georgios Printezis and a future second-round pick.[11] On February 16, 2016, he was ruled out for the rest of the season after electing to have surgery to repair his right hip.[12]

Brazilian national team

Splitter won gold medals with the Brazilian national basketball team at the 2003 Pan American Games, the 2005 FIBA Americas Championship, and the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship.

Personal life

Splitter is the son of Cassio and Elisabeth Splitter. He was raised a Christian despite his father being of Jewish descent.[13]

In 2009, Splitter's sister Michelle,[14] also a basketball player, died of leukemia at the age of 19.[15]

On July 3, 2010, Splitter married Amaia Amescua in her native Vitoria, Spain. Among the guests present were current and former teammates Luis Scola, Pablo Prigioni, Sergi Vidal, and Jordi Grimau.[16] They have one son, Benjamin.[17]

Career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

Note: The Euroleague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

Euroleague

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2003–04 Tau Cerámica 16 1 11.2 .619 .000 .632 2.4 .3 .4 .3 4.0 3.9
2004–05 Tau Cerámica 19 2 17.8 .533 .000 .487 4.5 .9 .7 .7 7.0 7.6
2005–06 Tau Cerámica 24 11 21.6 .599 .000 .547 4.6 .6 1.3 .5 9.5 10.8
2006–07 Tau Cerámica 20 12 24.7 .580 .000 .529 6.0 .8 1.4 .3 10.7 13.2
2007–08 Tau Cerámica 25 13 22.5 .618 .000 .645 5.0 1.1 1.0 .8 14.0 16.1
2008–09 Tau Cerámica 17 12 24.7 .655 .000 .602 5.4 1.6 .6 1.6 14.0 17.8
2009–10 Caja Laboral 16 14 26.7 .535 .000 .636 5.4 1.8 .8 .5 13.0 15.8
Career 137 65 21.5 .593 .000 .582 4.8 1.0 .9 .7 10.5 12.3
† Denotes season in which Splitter won an NBA Championship

NBA regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2010–11 San Antonio 60 6 12.3 .529 .000 .543 3.4 .4 .5 .3 4.6
2011–12 San Antonio 59 2 19.0 .618 .000 .691 5.2 1.1 .4 .8 9.3
2012–13 San Antonio 81 58 24.7 .560 .000 .730 6.4 1.6 .8 .8 10.3
2013–14† San Antonio 59 50 21.5 .523 .000 .699 6.2 1.5 .5 .5 8.2
2014–15 San Antonio 52 35 19.8 .558 .000 .750 4.8 1.5 .7 .7 8.2
Career 311 151 19.8 .560 .000 .690 5.3 1.3 .6 .6 8.3

NBA Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2011 San Antonio 3 0 16.7 .625 .000 .000 4.7 .3 1.0 .3 6.7
2012 San Antonio 13 0 12.9 .638 .000 .372 2.8 .8 .4 .3 5.8
2013 San Antonio 19 15 20.4 .536 .000 .788 3.1 1.2 .8 .7 6.1
2014† San Antonio 23 18 22.4 .610 .000 .718 6.1 2.0 .7 .5 7.5
2015 San Antonio 7 7 17.6 .375 .000 .316 4.4 1.3 .6 .1 3.4
Career 65 40 19.1 .572 .000 .586 4.3 1.4 .7 .5 6.3

See also

References

External links

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