Snyder has his work cut out for him, but his reputation for developing guards will serve him well regarding the progression of Trey Burke and Gordon Hayward.
By: Joe Atmonavage
The Utah Jazz announced last week that they have hired former Atlanta Hawks assistant Quin Snyder as their head coach to replace Ty Corbin. Snyder agreed to a three-year deal with the Jazz.
Snyder will be asked to step in immediately and help the Jazz improve after a 25-57 record for the 2013-14 season (and a .434 winning percentage over Corbin’s three-plus-season tenure). Snyder made a name for himself at the University of Missouri for good and bad reasons. He took the Tigers to the Elite Eight in 2002. In 2006, Snyder resigned after the Tigers were placed under NCAA investigation as a result of various violations. Since then, Snyder has taken a journeyman approach to landing his first NBA lead job. He coached the D-League’s Austin Toros (2007-10), was a player development coach for the Philadelphia 76ers (2010-11), an assistant coach for the Lakers (2011-12), and this past year was an assistant for the Atlanta Hawks.
Snyder has played for, coached with, and worked for some of the brightest minds the game of basketball has seen. He played and coached under Mike Kryzewski. As the coach for the Toros, he worked with Spurs legends Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford. He worked under Doug Collins in Philadelphia and Mike Brown in Los Angeles. In Atlanta, he worked with Mike Budenholzer, another one of Popovich’s disciples. Collins told USA TODAY that Snyder is “one of the best basketball minds I’ve ever been around.” Such an expansive pedigree makes Snyder a likable hire for the Utah Jazz moving forward.
The Jazz were tanking last season. Plain and simple. They would not have kept Corbin around if they were serious about winning. They also would not have played a lineup of Trey Burke-Derrick Favors-Richard Jefferson-Gordon Hayward-Marvin Williams nearly 400 minutes more than any other five-man lineup for the season if they were trying to win. Snyder will be given the chance to take over a solid young core. They had five players, 23 or younger, score more than 10 points per game last season. However, uncertainty with that young core looms because Hayward, the most important asset of that core, is a restricted free agent this offseason. I suspect the Jazz will match most offers any team makes to sign Hayward. Bringing back Hayward is extremely important for Snyder’s immediate success. As of late, teams have had no problem getting rid of coaches in the blink of an eye, so Snyder would be wise to push to bring back Hayward.
With that said, the Jazz are in a nice position to improve in the coming years and Snyder figures to be a big part of that. Snyder is known for his development of guards and with two young, talented guards in Burke and Hayward, Snyder is in an ideal position to help them make that next leap. The Jazz also have the No. 5 pick in the upcoming draft. The Lottery Mafia draft expert and founder, James Plowright, has the Jazz selecting Indiana’s Noah Vonleh with their pick in his latest mock draft. A Vonleh-Favors frontcourt has an extremely bright, athletic future. Pair that duo with Burke and Hayward and there’s ample reason for optimism in Salt Lake City.
Where Snyder will need to improve the Jazz the most is on the defensive end of the floor. They allowed 111.3 points per 100 possessions, second-worst in the league. While they are not quite there yet, with their length, Favors and Hayward have the chance to be solid defenders in this league.
I like the hire because of Snyder’s diverse background in the basketball ranks and the way other top basketball minds talk about him. He has come into a better situation than last year’s record would suggest, so don’t be surprised if the Utah Jazz are this year’s Phoenix Suns in terms of exceeding expectations by a wide margin.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
