SB Nation - Kirk Snyder

Q&A with Kevin Pelton

Stop-n-Pop — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:00:16 -0000

If Daryl Morey is, as Bill Simmons calls him, Dork Elvis, Kevin Pelton is Chuck Berry or Bo Diddley. From his statistical analysis primer to APBRMetrics Central to the APBR forum to his current work at Basketball Prospectus Kevin is responsible for a fairly large chunk of what has inspired a great deal of content on this site.

After reading some of his work with fellow SB Nation sites Blazer's Edge and Third Quarter Collapse, I thought I'd contact Kevin to see if he could give us any insight on the current state of the Wolves and he was kind enough to provide the following responses:

1- David Kahn has repeatedly cited the defensive potential of Jonny Flynn as being a primary reason for selecting him over Stephen Curry with the 6th pick in the draft. Unfortunately, Flynn doesn't seem to have a college record that would suggest him becoming a terrific on-the-ball defender in the NBA. Is there anything on his stat sheet that would indicate development into the type of defensive player that Kahn is talking about? Are there any historical precedents for a player in a 2-3 zone putting up similar numbers in college before becoming a solid NBA defender?

I glanced at the numbers for a handful of Syracuse players to come into the NBA the last few years, and I don't see a lot of evidence that playing in a zone held back their numbers. Hakim Warrick ended up a better shot-blocker than you would have predicted based on his college statistics, but he and Carmelo Anthony both underachieved a bit in terms of their steal percentage. As far as guys playing at the top of the zone, the best comparison would be Jason Hart, who was a terrific thief in college (averaging better than three steals per game as a junior) and kept that up in the NBA.

These being defensive stats, a lack of them isn't necessarily damning. Amongst guys with similar college defensive numbers, you find a pretty good defender in Delonte West and a stopper in Kirk Hinrich (who did block more shots in college). What those guys had that Flynn doesn't is height and strong defensive reputations in college. It's hard to find much evidence backing up Kahn's optimism about Flynn's potential at the defensive end.

2- The Wolves currently have a massively unbalanced roster with 9 bigs, 4 points, Corey Brewer and Wayne Ellington. While they appear to be serviceable at the 1 and the 4/5, they are headed towards disaster at the 2/3. What undrafted free agents or cost-conscious veteran free agents would provide value to the Wolves at the 2/3?

The Timberwolves are already ahead of the game with Paul Harris on their summer-league roster as one of the better wings who went undrafted. As you guys have mentioned, Lee Cummard is another undrafted player who would make sense, and I'd add the Marquette duo of Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews. As for as veteran free agents, there's not a whole lot out there on the wings. It seems like the best Minnesota can hope for is a reclamation project along the lines of Kirk Snyder and Rodney Carney the last couple of years. Unfortunately, that group includes Carney, Rashad McCants and Gerald Green, guys the Timberwolves have already given a shot. Besides them, you're looking at Morris Almond and Luther Head. The chances of finding a real contributor are low, but then so is the cost.

3- Setting aside any opinion on whether David Kahn is serious or not with his desire to play Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn side-by-side, do you think that this is a duo that could work together at the NBA level?

Yeah, I think it could work. With the modern NBA emphasizing speed over size, I think it's possible to get away with a smaller duo like Flynn and Rubio. The bigger question is whether you're maximizing talent, and that's where a Flynn-Rubio duo would fall short. Ultimately, you're keeping one or both of them from exploiting their ability to create with the ball in their hands if you play them together. That's why people have rightfully criticized the Wolves.

4- One of the biggest arguments against the selection of Jonny Flynn with the 6th pick is that the Wolves left each and every single non-Harden/Evans shooting guard/wing on the board while taking a second point guard. The team then picked up Wayne Ellington at 28 instead of taking players like Jermaine Taylor, Marcus Thornton or Jodie Meeks. Did the Wolves get good value at 28 with Ellington? Was there any shooting guard/wing worth taking at 6 instead of Flynn?

Given the Timberwolves' need for a shooter, I think Ellington was about as good of a value as they could have gotten at 28. I'm not a huge fan of any of the other shooting guards who went early in the second round, and the available small forwards other than maybe Chase Budinger were more 3/4 types, not guys who would space the floor.

I didn't love the wings on the board at pick six either, unless you count Stephen Curry in that group (and even Curry I felt was somewhat overrated). Neither Demar DeRozan nor Gerald Henderson put up strong numbers at the NCAA level, and anyone else would have been a reach. If the Minnesota front office didn't want to take a chance on DeRozan making good on his potential, I don't think you can blame them for that.

END

Thanks again to Kevin Pelton for taking the time to answer a few questions. We encourage our readers to make Basketball Prospectus (especially the Unfiltered blog) a daily stop.

The Dream Links - June 3rd, 2009

Tom Martin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:42:30 -0000

Via ESPN.com

View full size photo »

Today's ESPN Insider-free links delve into NBA predraft workouts, former Rockets Rafer Alston and Kirk Snyder, and how awkward it must be for Jeff Van Gundy to analyze his brother on television. Post any missed links in the comments section.

Draft Stuff

Morey, Sikma attend predraft workouts in Minneapolis - BostonHerald.com

"...Houston General Manager Daryl Morey and Rockets’ assistant coach Jack Sikma...attended Monday’s workouts. Ohio State’s B.J. Mullens, UCLA’s Darren Collison, Gonzaga’s Austin Daye were among the 12 players who worked out Monday."

Group Draft Workout Update -- DraftExpress
A group workout is scheduled for today. No word yet if the Rockets are attending, but I would think so.

List of predraft workouts held by the Rockets -- DraftExpress
Many of you may have already seen this, but I felt like posting it in order to update everyone.

DraftExpress: Pre Draft Measurements and Combine Results
Uh, Damion James is fast.

Dionte Christmas on Life As a Sleeper -- NBA FanHouse
FanHouse's Matt Steinmetz attended the big NBA draft work-out in Oakland, Calif., on Monday and Tuesday. Temple's Dionte Christmas was one of the prospects. Some people think Christmas could be on the Rockets' radar.

Rockets Related

Former Rocket Kirk Snyder's life is spiraling out of control
"Kirk Snyder was in the news a few weeks ago, having been accused of breaking into a home and assaulting a man. He has been indicted on two felonies, and has since received another assault charge for allegedly attacking an inmate at the county jail. Believe it or not, it gets worse."

Jeff Van Gundy Elaborates On Calling Brother's Finals Games

Obviously I was a little bit leery of doing the games, and I remember speaking to Mike [Breen] and Mark [Jackson] about it, and I said maybe I shouldn't do the games because I'm not sure I could be critical of Stan. And Mark said, "Well that's no different, you're never critical of any coaches."

Chris Ballard on how similar Rafer Alston's play has been to another former Rockets point guard - SI.com
Matt Maloney gets some love.

Houston Rockets announce summer skills camps - abc13.com
Have you got a kid who likes basketball? Here's a chance for him to get better.

General NBA

President Obama predicts Lakers in six - Ball Don't Lie
Well, I guess that's it then. L.A. is going to win, because the president said so.

In the N.B.A., ‘Flagrant’ Is a Matter of Interpretation - NYTimes.com
A nagging question is dominating the N.B.A. playoffs. The question: When is a flagrant foul not a flagrant foul? The answer: When it is changed the next day.

Toothpicks Do Not Add up to Salvation - FreeDarko
Mike Breen best not read this.

Why Everyone Doesn't Hate Lamar Odom - The Baseline
Bethlehem Shoals's take on Lamar Odom.

Lopsided Trades - Blazer's Edge
Interesting and thorough information about lopsided trades from Ben.

Friday Night Link Dump

Gamecock Man — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 02:47:29 -0000

More photos » by John Bazemore - AP

8 months ago: Former Nevada head basketball coach Mark Fox laughs during a news conference where he was introduced as Georgia's new basketball coach, Friday April 3, 2009 in Athens, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Browse more photos »

Football

Joe Person on Spring Practice. The big news is that the injury bug has hit our secondary to a certain degree. We're young and thin at the position due to graduation and early departures, so staying healthy once fall rolls around will be really critical to not suffering a 2007-like defensive collapse down the stretch.

Basketball

Devan Downey All-America Honorable Mention. Downey is the first Gamecock to be so honored since BJ McKie.

Other NCAA News

Georgia Hires Mark Fox of Nevada. Fox, a former assistant of LSU coach Trent Johnson while Johnson was getting his start at Nevada, has been a successful mid-major assistant and head coach. Fox is known as a strong recruiter for helping to bring Nick Fazekas and Kirk Snyder to Nevada, and the style of play Fox picked up from Johnson can succeed in the SEC as indicated by the way LSU played this past year.

Like Westerdawg, I think this is a good hire for UGA. UGA was hoping to hit a home run and hire Mike Anderson, Jeff Capel, or Oliver Purnell, but as cocknfire seems to imply, programs like UGA can't always make that kind of hire. A coach like Anderson that has built another power-conference program to a high level has little incentive to take on a tough job at a school with little tradition. That's why schools like UGA and South Carolina end up going for the successful mid-major candidates like Dennis Felton, Darrin Horn, and Mark Fox. And oftentimes, those hires are successful, as Carolina's choice of Horn appears to be thus far. Fox isn't a sure-fire hire; Dennis Felton had good credentials when he got to Athens, and he failed. Indeed, Fox has a tough road ahead of him, as UGA moves into next year with lots of holes and question marks. However, if Fox can successfully instill his system and can lure some of the substantial in-state talent in Georgia to Athens (the Atlanta area is a recruiting hot bed and lots of the talent goes to the ACC schools and SEC powers), he could have some success two or three years down the road.

Vols and Bruce Pearl Renegotiate Contract. Would have loved to see him go to Memphis to replace John Calipari. Oh well.

Hoffa Gone, Snyder Hopping the Pond?

wyn — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:15:47 -0000

Well, that was quick. Rafael Araujo has been cut (Zgoda has the story), an unsurprising move considering the roster size and signing of David Harrison.

In just over 5 minutes of preseason action, Araujo notched 1 point and 2 rebounds. Not exactly a loss to lament.

In other transaction news, the Reno Gazette-Journal has this bit about Kirk Snyder:

And while Snyder isn't in camp, [agent Chris] Emens said his client is considering three offers from international teams -- one in Europe and two in Asia -- and is in conversation with one NBA team, which he declined to name. Emens said he expects Snyder to make a decision sometime next week on where he will play this season.

Seeholzer had this story on his PiPress blog yesterday, but didn't link to the RGJ.

As for Snyder, he played very hard for the Wolves last year and was a positive contributor, but his minutes would've been slim at the 2/3 with Miller, McCants, Brewer, Carney and such getting burn.