Good Post. But what do you think we could get for Snyder in a trade? Just kidding. A couple of points: CD is quoted in today's chronic that Snyder will compete for the starting SG position - "It's a great opportunity for this guy," Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson said. "He doesn't have a whole lot of competition. (Not that Head is starting SG quality, but that comment can't make him feel good.) I don't see us moving Luther unless we get banks. Head is our best on the ball defender against good PG's. He gives us the flexibility of playing him at the point for defense and letting tmac run the point forward, definitely in crunch time. If we are trending toward roster flexibility and interchangeable parts, right now, Head presents a skill set combo that we don't have. Banks would probably be an upgrade because of pg offensive skills and potential. with our need for an athletic 4, one could credibly argue that our money is better allocated elsewhere. Personally, I'd pay for Banks' upside potential.
Mc Cable, are you Jonathan Feigen? or at least you can be his succeeder. Great post, do it more often.
I'll bet that MacBeth/JAG is still here in ClutchFans somewhere, but the board is very happy that you are m_cable rather than the next somebody else. That was a highly informative post. I hope that at least some posters will aspire to be more m_cable-like.
Is it just me, or is it possible that Kirk Snyder is the happiest guy in the NBA right now? The guy played college ball in Nevada, was drafted by Utah (always fun for a black player), and was then traded to New Orleans/OKC for the post-Katrina season. He busted his butt to prove himself at Nevada, and has had a rough time proving himself in the NBA until last season when he beat out JR Smith for a starting job. Then his team signs Peja and he no longer has a job. So he's stuck in summer league, playing with a bunch of scrubs, and he gets traded to HOUSTON! A team with some talent and a HUGE hole at shooting guard. His only competition to start (or first off the bench if we start TMac at the 2) is a hobbled Bob Sura and the young and undersized Luther Head. Don't get me wrong, the Hornets are an exciting team and all, but I'd have been jumping up and down if I were Kirk and my agent called me to pack my bags.
I second that! While it was widely rumored that Head might be included in a draft day trade to move up, it does in some ways seems odd to trade Head now because he is the polar opposite of Snyder. He is mature with low knuckelhead factor, but he isn't a great finisher and for an undersized guard he doesn't have playmaking skills. Thus, he and Snyder would seem to be a good tandem for different matchups and situations, and Head might be a good low cost insurance policy if Snyder has to endure a few stays in the dog house for not playing within his role. Nonetheless, not participating in the summer league is strikingly odd, and we don't have much in the way of tradeable assets if we do make a move for a PG or a 4/5 to replace Juwan Howard with our other TE (please, please please). m_cable, another good post. With Snyders 1 year contract extension deadline of October 31st (per this mornings Houston Chronicle), I begin to think ahead and wonder just when our larger TE expires. Does anyone know off hand? One thing we can say about Morey, he pulls off trades that are complete shockers that we didn't see coming. That should keep this board hopping!
Alston/Head/JLIII Head/Snyder/McGrady McGrady/Battier/Novak Battier/Howard/Hayes Yao/Deke This is based on CD's comment that Snyder has "doesn't have a whole lot of competition." Though, I wouldn't take that as there are no other shooting guards, but that there are no other healthy players/defenders between 6-3 and 6-8 - that's a huge gap. He's coming in to play defense on big guards, as his lousy Vegas Summer League scoring performance this month shows: 2-4/0-1, 3-12/0-2, 2-8/0-2, 2-10/0-3, that's 9-34 FG, 0-8 3PT, in summer league play - I think NO pulled him out of the last game because he was playing so bad. I sure hope we don't need to start him. I'd prefer it when we play teams with slower SGs so our lineup is at its strongest: Alston McGrady Battier Howard Yao CD made it clear they're going to protect McGrady from overextending his back as much as possible, and having him guard too many athletic 2s is a possible quick ticket to IR. In this line-up, Alston will be doing a lot more driving (don't want him shooting too many threes) and McGrady a lot more treying over shorter, slower guards. This may be our playoff lineup if McGrady is healthy up until then. Our defensive unit would be: Head Snyder McGrady Battier Yao with Head bringing the ball up with McGrady, Snyder and Head creating offense with penetration. Battier playing out at the arc at the 4 makes up for Snyder's so-so 3 pt shooting - you just don't want to be depending on him for your treys if you can help it. However, if Sura returns, it would make Head that much more valuable based on their height, where Sura runs the point, Head is at the 2 (more reliable/potential with treys), and they switch off on D. 6'5 and 6'3 is a lot better than last year's starting 6'1 and 6'1.
m_cable Quality Post! If writing in question and answer form is comfortable keep doing it. I think it was more informative that way. If you start to sound to strange we will reserve a room at Rusk State Hospital for you .
Exactly, that is precisly why Stromile rarely closed out games. JVG feels execution is priority #1 and if you blow offensive/defensive assignments at the end of games, that will cost you the W. If Snyder makes too many on court mistakes, he won't be playing in the 4th quarter. Fortunately, if the season is a disaster, JVG will be gone and the next coach will have a shot at Snyder. Hopefully, we won't have to see that "fortunate" outcome.
Interesting post MCable. The part about Luther is the most interesting. I too thought it was odd that Luther wasn't playing in the summer league considering many 2d year players to include Deron were playing. Combine that with what CD said about more trades to be made, it does make sense that he is one of our most tradeable assets. Now I'm wondering who we could get from Luther and the MLE?
My line of thinking is that Battier will start out the game guarding the opponent's best swingman. At least at the start of the game, so that Mcgrady isn't pushed to take on a hard target for his entire court time. If Battier struggles immediately, then you might make a change, but however long he can hang with his guy and hold his own, makes it worth it. Then for much of the rest of the game, Battier will move between SF and PF, mixing and matching in different lineups. Once we get to crunch time Battier can go to the 4, T-mac to the 3 and whoever to the 2. This gives us a quicker lineup that should be more efficient at collapsing and rotating. The thing about the NBA is that teams rarely pull out all the stops for a full 48. A lot of the time it's more about keeping your team in the game, making runs with and against certain lineups, and then trying to pull through at the end. That is much more of the Rockets M.O. than blowing the doors off teams. Even when we were successful two years ago, we didn't blow out a lot of teams. We went on big runs and let the other teams go on big runs themselves. It was that way during the regular season and it was certainly that way against the Mavs in the playoffs. As for Juwan starting, I hate to say it, but I'm pretty sure that's what JVG is going to do. At least initially. Shane has gotten some pub as playing the PF from CD as well as Mcgrady, but they've been saying more along the lines of matching up with teams like Phoenix rather than, "Shane's our new starting PF". And as much as I don't care for Juwan's production or declining skills, he does know the offense and can play his role pretty well in the sets, which is terribly important for this team, because JVG's offensive plays look like absolute s*** if they aren't run correctly. If you execute the offense correctly, then it can be effective, but since it's so rigid and stifles creativity with a "don't make a mistake" mentality, messing the offense up even a little usually turns the play into a fugly mess.
The Head Snyder McGrady Yao Battier lineup will have McGrady bringing the ball up and running pick and roll. This is probably our best offensive unit, with possibly Novak being used in place of eithre Snyder or Battier depending on who is not hot.
It's a greatest post I have ever seen here. Although he is a role player in a "nothing-risk" deal, the anlysis reflects your hard working and patience. Thank you
It's hard to say right now. I'm telling you, I had absolutely no inkling that we would even think about this guy. Else I definitely would have scouted him on mysyenergysports before they ended their trial period. Heck, I actually watched video on two of his teammates, Rasual Butler, and J.R. Smith (along with a couple dozen other players around the league), but didn't think for a second that JVG would accept Snyder onto our team so I didn't bother. But going by the few games I have seen of him, and some internet research (scouting reports, articles etc), I would lean towards him being more of a slasher who can spot up a bit, rather than a guy that can move off the ball and catch and shoot on the move (Butler was more of the off-ball mover, and Smith was a perimeter floating catch and shoot guy). Snyder definitely has a solid body, and the athletic ability to finish as well as run the court. I really can't say much more than that right now. We'll have to see him in action to really figure out his game.
I doubt Van Gundy has a long-term problem with Snyder. As I recall, the reason we picked up Sura in the first place was that he's a mean SOB. The next best thing to getting our mean SOB back is getting the SOB who was mean enough to mess with our SOB.
awesome post. really cleared the air for me. I was wondering about all of those things, but overall this seems like a great trade win/win situation.
m-cable, great post...I didn't know if I should post this here or in the original trade topic, but here goes... Out of curiosity, I checked out the Jazz game from two seasons to get a handle of Snyder's skillset and how that would translate to the team. Here are some observations: 1. Snyder primarily scored on slashes to the basket. His long arms, leaping ability, and strength makes him an ideal finisher around the hoop, making him a great target for passes from Yao on cuts to the basket. Snyder is the best slasher the team's had since Cuttino Mobley, and I envision this is how he'll get most of his touches on offense. There was one time he posted up Wesley and scored on a quick drop step, so Snyder is not an offensive liability. He's big enough to post and competent enough to score (Snyder was the primary scorer on his Nevada team that went deep into the previous year's tourney). Now, I didn't really see him shoot from the perimeter. Maybe he did for the Hornets, but this is an area that Snyder will obviously have to improve. I imagine Snyder getting all the looks Wesley did in our offense, but I assume they'll run more cuts to the basket for Snyder. 2. From what I saw, Snyder is a decent playmaker. There were three passes (two in a half-court set, one in the open floor) in which Snyder had an assist. All of them were "heads-up" plays, so he can think on his feet. I haven't seen any of Snyder's games with the Hornets last season, but, at least in this game, he demonstrated BB-IQ. 3. Snyder is a versatile defender. Sloan put him on Sura to start the game, and then he was used on McGrady to help cool him off. Although Snyder couldn't do much with McGrady, he had an on-the-ball block on a Sura drive and had a weakside block on Weatherspoon as he drove to the basket on a broken play. He definitely puts effort into defense and can at the very least get some PT from JVG with his defensive versatility. Maybe JVG can turn him into a defensive beast who knows...Snyder has all the tools. 4. On the play in which Snyder taunted the Rockets bench...On a broken play from the Jazz, Snyder had an open lane and challenged Deke, scoring with his left hand and getting fouled. His momentum carried him toward the Rockets bench and he basically stared at one of the assistants then turned away just as JVG walked up to him. I'm no apologist, but from my eyes, it looked like Snyder was just excited to have scored on the play plus this was in the midst of a huge run by the Jazz to get back in the game...so the crowd had a part in provoking Snyder's taunting action. Now, this was not professional (and Sloan promptly subbed Giricek for him and gave him a talk at the bench) but the kid has some cajones and swagger that I think this year's Rockets team lacked with Sura and Barry injured and out. With all the potential offense we might have lost when James decided to go to the T-Pups, Snyder brings James' moxy at less that a third of the price. In conclusion, with his skillset and youth, Snyder is potentially a huge piece of the championship puzzle. I agree with m-cable that it all comes down to how JVG utilizes him. Will JVG have enough confidence in the kid to post him on the low block or even run plays for the kid? The good thing is that Snyder really has no one to compete with for the starting-2 guard spot (I don't think Luther is an ideal starter at the two, and I bet the Rockets don't think so either) i.e. JVG may have no choice but to trust Snyder and let him do his thing albeit within the confines of a T-Mac/Yao offense. Potentially, Snyder could be the scorer when our second unit is out there with Novak as an outside threat. Again, JVG might be forced to try to this out...hopefully Snyder can come through. From what I've seen, he can be our starting 2 of the future...
