POPE IN THE POST
Scout Splitter tweets out once-in-a-lifetime meeting
NBA players are used to being before big crowds and in front of world-famous people. But when Nets scout Tiago Splitter was on a riser in Rome last weekend, with 15,000 looking on, this was different. This was meeting the pope. Splitter — hired by the Nets in April as a pro scout, with added duties for player development — may not be Catholic, but he’s Christian. And for the 33-year-old Brazilian, he may live three times that long and never have another experience like meeting Pope Francis and gifting him a Nets basketball.
“It was a gift for him. A lot of people do that. They go see the pope and they bring something,” Splitter told The Post. “It’s interesting. You go upstairs in St. Peter’s, you have this crowd watching, every day like 15,000 people watching. It’s like an NBA celebration every time he goes for a worship. He’s a pop star.”
The Nets basketball gift idea — and the trip — came about from Splitter’s friend Luciano. The fellow Brazilian had not only helped Splitter set up his foundation, but had earlier set up his own, called Chasing Justice. Because of their work helping children, they earned an invitation to the Vatican.
“They got invited to go there and receive the honors for doing the right things. He invited me to go to Rome,” said Splitter, who made the trip short and was back for the Nets’ game versus the Jazz on Wednesday. “Luciano as a good friend invited me to go and see the pope. It happened so fast, a couple weeks: ‘Hey, let’s go to Rome and see the pope this day.’
“He said you’re going to see the pope; bring a basketball with you. I had a Brooklyn Nets basketball with me. It’s always a good experience, a nice experience to see a guy like the pope. Even though I’m not Catholic, I’m Christian. He’s a guy that did a lot of [great] things, and I think he has the right mindset to do good things in the world.”
Splitter was raised Christian despite his father being of Jewish descent. He spent 2010-15 playing for San Antonio, and is the latest branch of the Spurs tree to find its way to Brooklyn since general manager Sean Marks’ arrival.
The Brazilian big man won an NBA title in 2014 with San Antonio while Marks was serving as an assistant coach. But after a long career, Splitter retired last February due to a hip injury that had dogged the entire back end of his career. He was hired by Marks and the Nets two months later.
This weekend, Splitter got to speak with Pope Francis and talked to him about his basketball career.
“One of the things I told him, I play so many years basketball. I told him this is a present I’m bringing, a gift for you,” Splitter said. “And he said, ‘Well,’ — he didn’t know if I still played or not — he said, ‘well, keep playing basketball.’ ”
Truthfully, Splitter looks like he could still suit up for the Nets, and joked, “My hip might feel better now.” But he added Pope Francis simply told him, “Keep playing basketball, and God bless you.”
While Splitter made Brazilian history as the first from his country to win an NBA ring, Pope Francis — an 81-year-old Argentine — has made papal history as the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas and the first from the Southern Hemisphere.
When Splitter and his friend asked what their respective foundations could do to help the world, Pope Francis told them the answers to their question were in the good book.
“We asked how we could change the world, how our foundations could change the world. Then he said, everything is in the Bible,” said Splitter, before admitting, “I think he was kind of in a hurry.”