<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Tiago Splitter may be forced to withdraw from the NBA draft for the second year in a row due to his buyout clause. "We have a big problem," his agent Herb Rudoy said. "We?re working on it, but very likely he?s not going to get out." This would be the second year in a row Splitter opts out of the draft. He has a contract with his team Tau Ceramica through 2008. The NBA teams can only pay up to $350,000 toward a buyout, so Splitter would be forced to pay the difference. And right now, that figure is too high. "The good news is he is really becoming a terrific player," Rudoy said. "The bad news is he?s really becoming a terrific player. They don?t want to lose him. But either way it?s going to work out. He just turned 20. He?s only going to get better. We kept Manu Ginobili over there until he was 25, and when he came in he was prepared for the NBA. We can do the same thing here." Rudoy?s other player, Martynas Andriuskevicius won?t be playing at this year?s annual NBA Pre-Draft camp which began Tuesday. The 7-foot-3 Lithuanian is considered a possible top 10 pick in the June 28 draft, and he will hold a private workout Thursday in Chicago for NBA clubs. Andriuskevicius? biggest concern is his thin frame, and the teams interested in him before the draft lottery, Portland and Milwaukee, have both gotten high picks so it will be interesting to see where he is going to land.</div> Source Holding Splitter until he's 25 !?!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post"> Source Holding Splitter until he's 25 !?!</div> I doubt that his agent meant to say that Tiago Splitter would be overseas until he is 25. That's out of context. Besides, his contract runs out in 2008, at which time he would only be 23. Either way, it's sad to hear. Of course Splitter could benefit from a year or two over in Europe, but he's one of the players who, even if in a minor way, could contribute to an NBA team right away. It's sad that contracts are keeping some of Europe's brightest and most prepared stars out of the NBA.
