- Take bad shots (Check) Many people forget that Snyder does take some questionable shots. Course, given his athleticism, he makes a fair few of those, but man, for a slasher, I seem to recall him taking some very questionable fadeaways pulling up in his man's face last season. - Make bad passes (Clear) One thing I'll give him is that he doesn't make many mistakes. I think Kirk played some PG in Byron Scott's offense in NO once, and it certainly shows. Not to say he's a playmaker like Tmac, but he doesn't turn the ball over like Bouncy Whales does. - Commit silly fouls (Clear) Nothing much here. He plays clean and hard defense. - Can't rotate correctly (Semi-check) This one's interesting. Snyder has all the tools to be a good man-defender, but I think he's mediocre as a team defender. Of course, comparing him to two of the best team defenders in Battier and Hayes are unfair, but he's never shown me much in this department. - Can't read a pick-and-roll efficiently (Check) This one's easy. Snyder is not a good pick and roll player. For one, his bad release doesn't let him pull up off the pick well. For another, he rarely looks to find the roller or the open man after the pick. All in all, I think Snyder is merely adequate in the mental aspect of things. He's no Stromile Swift on the dumb-o-meter, but it's painfully obvious that he's a little slower in other aspects of the game that doesn't involve him finishing on a fastbreak or slashing hard to the rim. Which is fine, because that's what he's brought in to do, and he does that well enough. It'll be interesting to see how he adjusts to a more complicated offensive scheme under Adelman though.
Let's collectively take a whack at formulating a rough draft of the official Dumb-o-meter(TM). I'll start with the Rockets that come to mind: Arbitrary Player: Dumb Units: 10^-1 __ | <-- Shane Battier (too few to quantify) | | | <-- Luis Scola | 10^0 --- | <-- Chuck Hayes (people here have "a nose for the ball") | | <-- On-the-court Rafer Alston (he does handle the ball well) | | 10^1 --- | <-- T-Mac (bad shot selection sometimes) | | | | <-- Yao (too many TO's) 10^2 --- | <-- Mike James | <-- Steve Francis | | | <-- Bonzi Wells 10^3 --- <-- Kirk Snyder | | | | | <-- T-Mac, Greek version 10^4 --- <-- Off-the-court Rafer Alston | | | | | 10^5 --- | | | | | 10^6 --- <-- Stromile Swift (Yes, that is one million whole Dumb Units) Blame Stromile for the log scale. And my engineering nerdiness.
Snyder sounded like such a humble guy that I really hope he finds a place in the team. I can't really see a place for him behind T-Mac, Bonzi and Head but maybe Adelman will get him some time. I'm definitely more of a Snyder fan after that interview. Although that interview was awful, I liked Snyder but what was the deal with 4 minutes of how his work out schedule was going. It's one thing to talk about it for 30 seconds and then another to base the entire interview on how the "basketball related workouts" translate to playing basketball. I know we're still weeks from training camp but that interviewer has got to come up with better questions.
Hahah. I thought he looked too stocky to look like Mos Def.. however, he sounds more articulate than Mos Def in a normal conversation.
It's good he had such a purposeful summer. But either Snyder or Bonzi is going to be disappointed in their minutes this season. There won't be consistent minutes for both of them.
If he works on his dribbling he could be a pretty good scorer but not at Tmac's level. If he continues to work hard and improve I see him being like a Gerald Wallace with better offensive skills(not necessarily more points) and less defense. The Iguodala comparison was pretty good but he is one of the most talented guys in the NBA IMO as far as being able to rack up 15 assists in a game from the SG/SF position and play great defense as well as playing his heart out every game. I hope to see the real AI in an all star game in the next 2-3 years. Snyder is still very young and should be coming into his own pretty soon. I think he will be a valuable player on our team to provide insurance in case Bonzi or any other swingmen get injured(don't want to say their names). His ability to play SG/SF will be huge for us this year which is why keeping him or Head is a very difficult decision. In a perfect world, both will be on the roster but I am kind of worried about how we will keep both on the roster. For those who think Snyder has a low Bball IQ, I think he has a decent Bball IQ. I think he is a player that needs a lot of freedom so he can just use his athletic ability and not worry about certain sets. When he played last year he seemed to be to caught up in the fact that he was actually playing so he missed a lot of assignments. I don't think it has to do with IQ but more with the shock of playing all of a sudden and him not really being ready. That is why I like his attitude in the interview. He says he will be ready when he is called on.
He can play, I would not be surprised to have him supplant Bonzi, he has a lot more upside, and is athletically gifted. If he played in the Utah series, I think the Rockets win it....even Yao wondered why he was not playing. Kirk is an udnerated player, he should be battling Luther, Francis and Wells for PT at the SG position. DD
For crying out loud,Kirk had a broken wrist.That's not an injury you just bounce back from as your shot and being able to finish at the rim are affected bigtime.Just being able to grip a basketball while getting it raked is a hassle.Think back to the preseason before he got hurt.The guy stood out.And when he was trying to come back Gumby's margin of error was very low due to injuries,depth,wanting to save his job,and tortured genius/stubborness which prevented him from getting the most out of the assets at his disposal. Snyder can stroke it fairly well when healthy and can be a monster defensively and on the boards.He also provides athleticism that this team has been lacking.I think too many don't realize what this guy can do when at 100%...esp. playing for Adelman.Kirk's a good open court player who can also get to the hoop.Snyder might be a bit raw but he still has a bunch of upside IMO.At the very least he's a good role player or a decent bargaining chip.
I think Snyder's biggest problem last year was that after coming back from injury, he had to compete against Bonzi Wells for the very little playing time left at the SG/SF position after McGrady, Battier and Head got theirs. The end result was that except for a game or two, neither Snyder nor Wells made any sort of real contribution to the team. Will the situation for Snyder be any different under Adelman? Not sure.
Actually Snyder is better looking than Lebron I think he's bulked up since last season too, his shoulders look bigger.
He took good shots, he just didn't make them, and he passed it off to T-mac... which was the right pass considering that he was the only one capable of making anything happen.
