Tiago Splitter is now an Assistant Coach for the Blazers

In the late 50's I played Gray Y at Ockley Green and we had screening drills early on along with passing, and dribbling, and thousands of lay ups. Give and go was big as well. Go Ockley Green Comets! Also, played baseball for Paramount Oil and McGuire Bearing.

 

This argues that we hired Splitter because we're going to commit to the kind of style of play that the Pacers embodied this year and that Splitter's Paris team (which also way over-achieved) used. Notice that we just got rid of two ball-stoppers in Ant and Ayton (three if you count Bari). Hope the writer is on to something! (Another thing: it suggests to me that Scoot and Jrue could be on the court at the same time, much as Halliburton and Nemhard were.)

Money quote:

there is a trend that has been building overseas and here at home right under our noses. I'm only aware of it because I'm a youth coach and my interest in how Tuomas Iisalo got the Grizzlies job led me down this rabbit hole...
For those of you unfamiliar with what’s going on in the EuroLeague, the offensive side of the game of basketball is evolving, and quite quickly.

Pushing the pace in transition either with the dribble or the pass, and attacking relentlessly by flowing into action after action after action with zero holding of the ball; these are the edges being exploited. They require what's known as "0.5 decision-making" or "0.5 basketball". It's deciding what to do before the ball arrives to you and executing instantly. It's similar to how the Pacers play but more extreme. It requires players like Demin, Traore, Saraf and Wolf.

It’s not a coincidence that the Nets selected three play-makers from Europe and a center who has point guard skills. Marks and Jordi are pursuing a new vision of offensive success.

Will this work in the NBA? I don’t know, but Marks and Jordi seem to think so and I’d bet on them knowing basketball. I have also seen it work at the youth level and the Pacers just almost won a chip playing this way as the longest preseason longshot of all time (or close to it). The Grizzlies hired Tuomas Iisalo from Europe to build a team like this. The Blazers, who are giving the reins of the offense to Deni Avdija, just hired Thiago Splitter as an assistant to either help Billups coach this style or ultimately replace him. Reports are the Blazers wanted Demin and that Marks wanted Yang-- big play-makers and play-making bigs.

If we sign Ben Simmons then the jig is up!

 

https://parisbasketball.com/en/2025/06/splitter-a-coach-in-paris-history/

https://basketballsphere.com/en/tia...o-the-euroleague-playoffs-now-nba-is-calling/

 

Edited for time travel.

 

Clingan too for that matter. He showed signs of elite defense, so an offensive minded big man coach would be perfect.

 

I did a bit of a dive on Paris Basketball, and this guy looks fun. He's currently just been signed by Panathanaikos, one of the giant clubs of Europe, but I can see either the Grizzlies coach (who brought him to Paris from his previous job in Germany) or Splitter advocating for bringing him over. Yes, he's only 5'9" but so what? Just watch the highlights!

 

Looks like they just added James Posey to the coaching staff too.

 

God I feel old...

 

Nate we can agree on that one -- it does not seem like that long ago he was playing -- LOL

 

3x champ

 

https://www.nba.com/blazers/news/trail-blazers-add-james-posey-to-coaching-staff

 

Love the approach, imagine the players respect ex-ballers more than most.

 

He was teammates with Billups for a short time in Denver during the 99-00 season, won NBA titles with Miami in 2006, Boston in 2008, Cleveland in 2016 (as Asst Coach)