Quin Snyder was only in Atlanta for one season – but he left a lasting impression.
Snyder spent one year as an assistant coach before the Jazz came calling and offered him their head coach position. Snyder was back in town Wednesday for an NBA scheduled reunion.
“I’m unbelievably appreciative of Bud (coach Mike Budenholzer) and (general manager) Danny (Ferry) said. “Bud helped me in so many ways. Players here helped me in so many ways. Tons of positive and grateful thoughts and feelings.”
Kyle Korver worked extensively with Snyder last season. They would spend much post-practice time working on pick-and-roll strategy and different ways for the shooting guard to get open.
“I’m really happy for him,” Korver said. “He is a great guy. He is a really interesting basketball mind. I really enjoyed working with him last year. He really taught me a lot and showed me a lot. After you spend a certain amount of time in anything you tend to get pigeon-holed in thinking. Quin brought a whole new way of basketball thought for me. I felt I got better last year and a lot of that was because of him.”
Budenholzer said the relationship with Snyder continues even as they now on opposite sidelines.
“He and I are constantly seeking each other out for advice on lots of different things,” Budenholzer said. “He has been an invaluable resource for me and hopefully I haven’t screwed him up too much.”
Hawks players reflected on Snyder’s basketball mind Wednesday’s morning.
“I learned a lot from Q over this past year,” Paul Millsap said. “He’s very intelligent. Sitting and having a conversation, he’d make you think. A lot of stuff he’d say, I wouldn’t get until later on that day. That is how smart he is.”
“He spent a few years in Europe and he has a good blend of we are still in the NBA but we are bringing some of the European flavor over,” Korver said. “There are few teams that are doing that. As the assistant, he got to be even more extreme. He got to come up with ‘what if we did the back screen into the dribble handoff into the pin down.’ He would come up with this wild stuff. A lot of it, as a player, it helps you think of possibilities and makes you think. He is a really great basketball mind.”
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