GARM Faq: Kirk Snyder Trade Edition.

Here's something new that I'm trying out. I'm putting together a one stop post that goes over all facets of a particular subject, and explains my take on things and more importantly the implications of the topic in question. Hopefully I've got a few nuggets in this post that are a bit unique and interesting. But regardless, I've tried to cover all bases of the Snyder trade and give a good summary of the pertinent questions to explain the trade and the questions that get raised by the trade.

Hope you find this useful or interesting:


Who did we get? What was the trade?

We landed Kirk Snyder a 6'6" SG from the Hornets. He's on the third year of his rookie deal. He's making about $1.5 mill this year, and we have a team option on him for next year. He was drafted by the Jazz and later traded to New Orleans as filler in that gigantic Antoine Walker to Miami deal.

As for this trade it appears that we traded for him with our small trade exception from the Derek Anderson trade, cash, and the option for the Hornets to swap 2008 2nd round picks with us. Basically if we have a worse record than the Hornets in 2008 they get our 2nd round pick and we get theirs. If we have the better record then nothing happens, and the deal is completed. Snyder's $1.5 million salary fit perfectly under our $1.7 million TE, thereby showing exactly how a trade exception is able to be used.


So is he any good?

Well I thought there was no way that we'd trade for him, else I would have scouted him on mysynergysports. Unfortunately their trial period of providing video highlights is over. So this breakdown of Snyder is based on the few games I've seen him play, scouting reports, stats, video highlights, and a bit of common sense.

He's got good size for a two guard, and has the physical tools to be very good at both ends of the court. He's got very good strength, explosiveness, quickness, and footspeed. He's not a bad shooter, and has the ability to drive, finish and run the floor. He plays with a lot of fire and intensity, and did improve his production from his rookie year to sophmore campaign.

Unfortunately he also plays wild and out of control a lot. He's not a high IQ player and is prone to inconsistency and making mistakes. His wild streak also gets him in trouble sometimes, like when he taunted the Rockets bench during a game, and got into a fight with Jerry Stackhouse after a game in the hallways. And while I don't have a link, I'm almost positive that he's made some dumb comments in the past that raised my eyebrows. Supposedly he got into it with Sura and made some racist comments or something. All in all he's got quite an attitude.

Going by his offensive skills, body type, attitude, temperment, and B-ball IQ, I can't think more perfect comparison for him than Stephen Jackson. So he can either flame out and be a basketball vagabond, playing in one country or another, or he can be a contributing member on a title team and end up as an impact player in the league, if still a bit enigmatic. I could see both scenarios as well as some in between.


Wait so you're saying that Snyder is a knucklehead? What happened to JVG's "No knuckleheads" rule? Does that mean that JVG is on the outs or out of the loop with player aquisition?

Good question. I don't think there's any doubt that JVG's power and influence is diminishing. If I remember correctly the upcoming season is the last year that he's got guaranteed dollars on his contract. I'm sure I read somewhere that next next year, his contract is only partially guaranteed or there's some kind of buyout.

Also bringing in a hotshot young up and comer like Morey definitely blurs the lines of power in the front office and coaching staff. With CD getting bumped at the end of next season, if we have a bad season then it's makes a ton of sense for Les to clean house and send JVG out the door along with CD. Then let Morey choose his own coach.

That being said, JVG probably still has a good amount of pull with the front office moves. That battier trade was a JVG move if ever I've seen one. The difference with that one was Morey and JVG were probably on the same page with that trade. Battier's stats are pretty much off the charts and exactly in line with the kind of analysis that Morey is using.


So does that mean Morey is making his presence felt in the personnel decisions?

Absolutely. Both of these guys, Battier and Snyder rate highly in the analysis that Morey uses. They both have favorable plus/minus ratings which Morey has admitted is a big part of his evaluations.

And while Battier could be perceived as a JVG move, this Snyder trade smacks totally of Morey. For all the talk about knuckleheads, and his no-nonsense approach, I find it incredibly hard to believe that JVG would accept Snyder on his own. I'm sure in this deal Morey must have talked him into it.


But why did the Hornets just give him away. Doesn't that mean something is wrong with him?

Not necessarily. It appears that they just made a choice to go with Rasual Butler instead. With Chris Paul leading that team it appears that they just made a conscious decision to surround him with shooters. The signing of Peja is an example of this, as well as the report that they'll be re-signing Butler who is a better perimeter shooter, while trading Snyder who is a better slasher. With a PG talent like Chris Paul, I guess the thinking is that he should have the ball at all times.

And I'm guessing that they had renounce Butler, thereby losing his bird rights, in order to clear cap space for Peja and Bobby Jackson. And it appears that those deals put them pretty close to the salary cap. So if they wanted to re-sign Butler they would need to clear cap again by trading Snyder away for nothing.

Also don't discount the cash that we're including in the deal. I found out that Peja was ultimately sent to NOLA/OKC in a sign and trade. This gave Indy a very big TE to work with. When I first saw that, it seemed like an enourmous favor from the Hornets. I was wondering if they got anything out of the deal.

Sure enough, the transaction report said cash considerations to the Hornets. Don't let George Shinn fool you. He's still a cheapskate. Regardless of all the money he spent this offseason, they're still right at the salary cap. And it's not the big things that exposes a skinflint. It's the little things, like sqeezing cash out wherever you can.

So depending on how much cash we sent them and the salary commitment that we took off their hands, we could very well be paying for Butler's contract and some other operating expenses for the Hornets. George Shinn is a crafty bottom line guy, make no mistake about that.


Great. This sounds like a real "low-risk" move.

Technically it's actually a "high-risk" move, since Snyder's chances of butting heads with JVG could be pretty big. Also if he doesn't gain any consistancy then he could flame out pretty easily, with or without attitude problems.

So it's actually a "Low Cost" move. We got something for practically nothing, so if it fails we don't lose anything. And we've got, at minimum, two more years of him making a small salary.

Although rumors that he'll have value as an expiring contract this year is misleading. Since his team option for 2007 has to be exercised before the 2006 season begins, I doubt that we'll decline his option. We lose a ton of leverage if we do that and would practically be giving up on him. And the front office isn't going to trade for the guy only to decide that he's not worth keeping around for peanuts.

So Snyder has two years to harnass all that talent into a productive NBA player. Considering that he's making about 50% more than Bowen and we've used roster spots on the likes of Brunson, Spoon, and Ward in recent years, it's definitely a low-risk move... err... I mean low-cost move.


Great. So is Snyder going to start?

I doubt it. While it appears that Battier is going to play a lot of PF for us, I highly doubt that JVG will play him there full-time. Our most likely starting lineup no matter what moves we make (unless we bring in a PF who's a clear upgrade) should be Rafer, Battier, Mcgrady, Howard, and Yao. (Don't give me any grief Howard haters. You know in your heart that JVG's going to start him. It's going to happen and there's nothing you can do to stop it.)

But Snyder will come off the bench and play a lot. He'll get most of the minutes backing up the SG/SF. And will likely play a bunch of minutes with Battier and Tracy in an interchangeable blob of swingman and forward positions. In fact, if Snyder can bring the defense like he potentially could, I could easily see those three along with Yao and Head closing out games. That would be a quick, athletic bunch who could wreck havoc on offenses.


Okay. But what's with all the pu**ies on the board, complaining that Snyder is a punk. We could use that kind of attitude on this team.

I've heard this said quite a few times on the board. And here's been my response:

Most of the board doesn't give a rip if Snyder a choir boy or not. It's the JVG factor that scares a lot of people. Much of the time Snyder plays out of control and plays like a "knucklehead". So how's that going to mesh with Van Gundy. If Snyder makes some boneheaded plays, is JVG going to give him the Stro treatment and sit him on the bench until he can unload him to another team or just cut him from the roster. That's the question.

Pretty much everyone agrees that this is a low-cost trade. We get an athletic player with skills and offensive potential for next to nothing. But if he can't get along with JVG, then the trade will turn out to be worth nothing, which would be a shame considering how badly we need some good moves right now.


Okay fine. But now what.

The next most important aquisition is probably a backup PG. Possibly V-span can fit the bill, but JVG didn't sound too optimistic about him playing the 1. Also Marcus Banks has been linked to us, so he's a possiblity as well. I've already locked John Lucas III down on our expected roster. If the Rox mess up on signing him as our 3rd PG, then I'm going to be hella pissed.

After that we could still use another utility defender like Ariza or Jeffries, and another big man that can preferably play the PF and C like a Melvin Ely or Lorenzen Wright.

My guess is that we spend about $2 million of the MLE on V-span, the rest of the MLE on Ariza, then try to work a trade for a backup big man with our $4.2 million TE.

Also don't be surprised if we move Head. If we go with V-span and Banks with the MLE, Head could be odd man out, and one of the few assets that might field a need in a trade situation. And the fact that he didn't play the summer league troubles me a bit. That was a bit of an eye-brow raiser considering that even Dwight Howard played the summer league after his rookie of the year campaign. So I'm not sure what to make of Luther right now.


So is that it?

Pretty much, for now.

 

It's the Game Action and Roster Moves forum. Where we are right now.

 

Maybe. But he sounded VERY adamant when he made the statement:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/rox/3380991.html

Also, I took knuckleheads to mean more that he doesn't like stupid players that can't get with the program. And considering how horrific the offense looks when they don't run the plays correctly or have the chemistry to run them well, I can see his point.

What I don't doubt whatsoever is that JVG wants someone that can run his offensive and defensive sets. The set plays (yes I know that he'll encourage the team to run, but I'm talking about the half-court sets) and the standard defense is very restrictive and require perfect execution to be effective. A few mess ups turns either the offense or defense to s***.

So that's what I took knuckleheads to mean, and why it's a major question mark IMO for whether Snyder can get playing time under Van Gundy.

 

I probably will do it once in a while. I'm planning on doing one for the Summer Leaguers (Lucas, Novak, Hayes, Bogans, Carroll etc.), and will probably do one for our next big signing/trade.

I'm not touching James or the Gay trade though. I'm completely burned out on those subjects, and everything worth and not worth saying has already been beaten into the ground.

I also might do some on some pure strategy concepts like breaking down JVG offense/defense and how our new players and lineup options might mesh with that.

Just some ideas. I don't mean to be presumptuous, but who knows, maybe I can be the next Macbeth.