Splitter’s gone, but job of replacing him goes on

ATLANTA — The plans were set before the Spurs even left Miami’s AmericanAirlines Arena on Monday night.

Once the Spurs landed in Atlanta, a day in advance of Wednesday’s preseason game at Philips Arena, Manu Ginobili, Patty Mills and Boris Diaw were to meet their old friend and new Hawks center Tiago Splitter for dinner.

And after that?

“Maybe some frogging,” Mills said.

For five seasons, Splitter was an underrated part of the fabric of the Spurs, both and off the court.

He was an integral cog in an NBA championship team in 2014. His comical, off-the-court “frogging” photos with his fellow “Foreign Legion” bench members— literally, the players would squat to pose like frogs — were a social media sensation a few years back.

Even so, Splitter’s trade to Atlanta in July — the first domino in the Spurs’ pursuit of free agent LaMarcus Aldridge — did not come as a surprise to his former frogging partners.

“We sort of expected it,” Ginobili said after Monday’s three-point loss in Miami. “You hoped he could stay and they could find a way to make it work. I really enjoyed playing with that guy. It’s hard to lose somebody like that. It’s painful.”

“But,” Ginobili continued, nodding across the locker room in Aldridge’s direction, “when you can get somebody like him …”

In the Spurs’ final team meeting of last season, after their Game 7 ouster against the Los Angeles Clippers, coach Gregg Popovich was candid. Changes were coming.

That foreknowledge didn’t make the makeover easy.

Popovich said he and general manager R.C. Buford were as gutted by the decision to trade Splitter as they were swapping George Hill for Kawhi Leonard on draft night 2011.

But the Spurs needed maximum cap space to make a credible offer to Aldridge. Moving Splitter and his $8.5 million salary was paramount to making the math work.

It is a chance every general manager in the NBA would have taken 100 times out of 100, but not one without significant risk.

“We didn’t know what the outcome would be,” Popovich said. “But we knew if we wanted to change the team and add talent, it’s something we had to do.”

The Spurs and Hawks agreed to the trade on July 1, the first day of free agency.

What followed were a tense couple of days around Spurs headquarters as they waited out Aldridge.

Had Aldridge said no, the Spurs would have wound up losing their starting center for a conditional second-round pick and the rights to a 30-year-old Greek never expected to set foot in the NBA named Giorgos Printezis

“I was pretty optimistic we could get him (Aldridge),” said Ginobili, who followed the hot stove news from Argentina. “You end up trusting they’re going to make it work.”

In a way, the Spurs are still in the process of making it work.

A five-time All-Star, Aldridge is a clear upgrade over Splitter , especially offensively. But that doesn’t mean Splitter’s absence won’t be felt.

He is a season removed from leading the Spurs in defensive rating. A year ago, the Spurs were 20-5 in the regular season when Splitter started at center with the usual first unit.

Splitter’s 12.4 net rating last year was tops on the Spurs, even as he dealt with persistent calf issues.

With him out of the lineup, the Spurs’ pick-and-roll defense collapsed.

“He’s been a big part of our psyche and our fiber,” Popovich said of Splitter.

Though Aldridge is known as a marquee scoring star, the Spurs are growing confident he can help fill in the gaps in dirty work Splitter used to provide.

Aldridge’s defense was probably underrated a bit last season in Portland, when he ranked sixth in the league among eligible players in field-goal percentage defense at the rim.

“I thought he was just a scorer, but he can do a little bit of everything we need him to do,” guard Danny Green said. “I’m sure he’ll adjust to that, and I’m sure Pop is going to push him to be that guy.”

The main difference between Splitter and Aldridge on the defensive end, Popovich said: Splitter spent five seasons immersed in the Spurs’ system. Aldridge just got here.

“It’s more just learning their schemes and their calls,” Aldridge said. “On offense, they play to my strengths. It’s more about the defensive end.”

The work for Aldridge, and for his new team, continues Wednesday in Atlanta.

But before that, there will be dinner for some Spurs with an old friend, and a pause to remember the past.

And then maybe some frogging, for old time’s sake.