FanHouse Tiago Splitter

Argentina, which won the Olympic gold in men's basketball in 2004 and took home bronze in 2008, is ... having a bad summer. Manu Ginobili is not playing with the team due to injuries. (Injuries aggravated by last summer's Olympic run, we should note.) Andres Nocioni is out. Carlos Delfino didn't have a contract until a couple weeks ago, so he demurred from national service. It's up to Luis Scola and Pablo Prigioni and ... it hasn't gone well at FIBA Americas.

Canada, meanwhile, lost Samuel Dalembert due to an internal spat early last summer. Steve Nash still won't give up his summer for a team on the third tier of international competition. There is one current NBA player on the Canadian roster: Joel Anthony, who lost his starting job on the Heat to a decrepit Jermaine O'Neal. Yet, here's Canada, 2-0 and through to the quarterfinals after blowing out Mexico and the Virgin Islands.

Crystal Ballin' takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.

San Antonio has a solid foundation with Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, but for the most part, the rest of their roster has gotten very old all of a sudden. That's what happens I guess when you've been competing for titles for the last nine years. It would be great for the team to get some young talent who could step in and contribute right away, and for years to come as well.

Picks: #26, #45, #57.

Needs: Interior defense and rebounding, and someone who can spell Parker at the point guard spot.

Best case scenario: Mario Chalmers is still on the board, because he's experienced and could probably get some of those Jacque Vaughn minutes fairly early in the season.

There aren't many gigs that pay better than professional basketball, but these days it's hardly a given that the best players will flock to the NBA. For one, most foreign clubs will include things like housing and taxes, which means that the salary being offered really does go straight to a player's pocket. Ball in Europe breaks down the math:

For example, the player drafted at No. 1 this year knows that he will earn 8.339 million USD in his first two seasons combined. Even with an exchange rate of one euro to 1.50 USD, this is still a large amount in Euros. But this salary is gross, so the player has to pay 29% tax on the amount; so he will only earn 5.920 million USD, about 4 million Euros, in two years.

If you go to the middle of the first round, the guaranteed salary for a player drafted 15th in the first two seasons combined will be about 2 million USD net. This is 1.3 million Euros in two years, so about 650.000 Euro per season. Guaranteed. This is a salary that good European players are paid in Europe.

Once you get out of the first round and into the second, the disparity gets even larger. And something Ball in Europe doesn't mention but is just as prohibitive are the expensive buyouts that a lot of players will need to cover out of pocket. An NBA team is only allowed to pitch in $500,000 to buy out a foreign contract, but that's sometimes just a drop in the bucket.

Crystal Ballin' takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 28th NBA Draft.

Needs: The Suns need to strengthen their bench so they can play more than seven people on a nightly basis. Oh, and it would be nice to get some players that are familiar with that "leaving the bench rule."

Best Case Scenario: Phoenix is taking a serious look at trying to move up in this year's draft. Need some proof? Check out the fact that they are working out Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, and Jeff Green today, all of whom are slated to go in the top 10. The best of the group for the Suns might be Noah, but they'd probably have to get Milwaukee's pick at 6 to guarantee themselves a shot at him.

More Likely Scenario: It's looking more and more like the Suns will somehow improve their position in the draft. In case they don't, here's what they're looking at with their 24th and 29th picks: international players. Phoenix doesn't see any immediate help for their team this deep in the draft, so they'll focus on players like Tiago Splitter and Petteri Koponen who can develop their game out of the country and off of their roster.

Anyone familiar with the NBA Draft has been uttering this name for approximately five season now. And yet somehow, the guy always pulls out at the last minute. It's gotten to such a point that Peter Schrager has written a column on Splitter's odd celebrity:

Though I've never seen him play in person, I feel like I've known him forever. He's an old friend I've never met; a crony I couldn't recognize in a police lineup.

[...]

If you ARE an NBA Draft-aholic, Tiago's part lifelong buddy from overseas/part flakey friend. On the one hand, he's one of the most well known international basketball prospects of his generation. On the other, he's an elusive enigma.

I'm going to jump in right here with an analogy of my own: Splitter's a coelacanth, one of those weird prehistoric fishes that keeps turning up in today's oceans. Splitter's a relic from a crazier draft era, and yet he was never on the hype-level with Darko or Skita. So here is, still walking among us, reminding us of how much fun things used to be.

Crystal Ballin' takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 28th NBA Draft.

The Pistons are at a crossroads. With just one NBA title to show after five trips to the Conference Finals, they're now one of the league's oldest teams in a division with two of the league's up-and-coming-est teams (the Bulls and Cavs).

To re-tool on the fly and preserve their place among the league's true contenders, the team needs to get younger and more athletic -- and soon. Fortunately, they have two first-round picks: the 15th (courtesy of the Magic) as well as the 27th.

Needs: Pretty much everything but power forward. The team hasn't had a legitimate backup point guard in years, and considering there's at least a chance Chauncey Billups leaves, they might be in need of a starter. Following the Carlos Delfino trade, the team could use a swingman to backup Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince -- though there's always a chance Joe Dumars plans to address that need via free agency (Grant Hill? Morris Peterson?).

Oh, and a starting center would be nice, considering Chris Webber isn't expected to return and the only other option currently on the roster is Nazr Mohammed.