It’s a week of reunions at the Toyota Center for the Houston Rockets. The headline on Wednesday was the return of former first-round pick Cam Whitmore. But the more meaningful reunion arrives Friday night, when Tiago Splitter returns to Houston.
Splitter, who played in the NBA from 2010-17, is now the interim head coach for the Portland Trailblazers following the arrest of Chauncey Billups last month.
But before that, Splitter served as an assistant coach in Houston for the 2023-24 season. He worked very closely with Rockets star forward Alperen Sengun.
“He taught me a lot when he was here.” Sengun said before Friday’s matchup, “He was my brother. Mentally, I would say he helped me a lot. Because, like before the game, we are playing Joel Embiid, [Nikola] Jokic, you know, I was telling him, ‘We’re gonna play with the tough bigs tonight and I need to lock in.’ And he was saying, like, ‘They need to lock in to guard you. So that’s what they think right now.’’’
Splitter, a Brazilian native who spent over a decade playing professionally in Spain before joining the NBA, helped a young Sengun unlock his confidence. That season, Sengun’s third, the Turkish big man made his largest leap: his scoring increased by 6.3 points per game, he made a career-high 8.4 shots per game, and his rebounding, assists, and steals averages all increased as well.
Sengun then followed that breakout year with his first All-Star appearance a year ago and has now played his way into MVP conversations this season.
While Kevin Durant is the biggest name on the Rockets roster, Sengun is the homegrown cornerstone that Houston can build around for years to come. And that’s, in large part, due to Splitter’s impact.
Splitter was already familiar with Sengun before he arrived in Houston, having coached against him while on the Brooklyn Nets staff. But once he was hired by the Rockets, Splitter developed the then 21-year-old into the Rockets’ top scorer and rebounder, while becoming a consistent low-post threat for the first time.
“He’s one of those, we could say, old-school big guys playing back to the basket and a lot of speed moves, up-and-unders, pump fakes, using his body,” Splitter said. “Hook shots, baby hook shots, running hooks. So all those type shots that maybe in the 2000s or ‘90s, big guys would have. And we don’t see that many big guys like that. You know, all the newbie guys, they’re playing facing the basket, shooting threes. And when you see a guy like that, like an old-school big guy playing, it always caught my attention because he was a little bit [of] the era that I play.”
Splitter, who was 38 and six years removed from his playing days at the time, guarded Sengun in their first practice together and was immediately impressed by his quickness.
“I had to guard him to really feel him, how fast he was,” Splitter said. “It’s a different sport, but Tyson Fury, one of the biggest boxers in the world, he moves very well. And you look at him, and you say, “Oh, he can’t move.’ But Alpi is one of those guys. Like, he got the quickness on short movements that nobody’s expecting, and then he’s got touch, right? You’ve got to be able to do that, and to finish the play, and he got the soft touch. Basically – you’re born with that.”
Friday night marks the first time Splitter and Sengun will face each other since the coach left Houston. And Portland will most certainly have to lock in to guard him, just like their coach said two years ago.
