Splitter: ‘I just have to be more patient and prove myself’

Hawks center Tiago Splitter (right) will miss at least six more weeks with a calf injury. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Hawks center Tiago Splitter (right) will miss at least six more weeks with a calf injury. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Patience is something of which Tiago Splitter is getting all too familiar.

The reserve center will miss at least six more weeks with a Grade 2 right calf strain. The latest injury comes when Splitter was nearing a return from a Grade 2 right hamstring strain that has prevented him from playing this season. According to the Hawks on Friday, both injuries are related to the right hip injury that ended Splitter’s first campaign with the team last season and required surgery on Feb. 25.

“I pushed hard to get back on the court and I had another step back,” Splitter told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Friday. “I have to be resilient and keep working and be part of the team. It’s the only way to go.”

Splitter said he was getting close to a return to contact practice. The hamstring injury was to keep him out at least four weeks with a target return of mid-November.

“It was getting better,” Splitter told the AJC. “Everything was looking good. I just have to be more patient and prove myself that I can do this.”

If Splitter is ready after six weeks, the most optimistic of the timeline, he could return the second week of January.