Tiago Splitter — who played only 36 games last season due to injuries, including a hip that required surgery — will now miss the start of the 2016-17 season as well.
This time it’s a strained hamstring, the team announced on Tuesday. Here is the entire official release, for your reading pleasure:
Atlanta Hawks forward/center Tiago Splitter has been diagnosed with a grade 2 hamstring strain, which he sustained in a recent practice. An MRI taken yesterday at the Emory Orthopaedics and Spine Center revealed the injury. He will be out a minimum of four weeks and his status will be updated as appropriate.
Splitter is Dwight Howard’s primary reserve, bringing some old-school big man game to the court. Plus, because Splitter can hit free throws, he may get some run in key moments while Howard sits. Splitter plays solid man defense in the paint, and if you get him the ball in the post he’s an efficient scorer. Keep him in his lane and he can help a team.
Splitter being out is just more run for high-energy center Walter Tavares, which is not a bad thing for the Hawks.
