The Power Of Ainge

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And lo, Snyder beheld a vision of Ainge and all was right. .  .

Snyder couldn't pass up a chance at the NBA
Posted: Tuesday April 6, 2004 10:05PM; Updated: Tuesday April 6, 2004 10:05PM 


RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Nevada junior Kirk Snyder says he weighed it all -- his teammates' advice, his coach's concerns, his mother's insistence he eventually return to earn his college degree. 
But in the end, the 6-foot-6 swingman who helped lead the Wolf Pack to its first berth in the NCAA tournament's "Sweet Sixteen" said he couldn't pass up a chance to play next season in the NBA.
	
"It's a dream come true," Snyder said about his decision to forgo his senior year at Nevada and enter the NBA draft in June.
"It was a really, really hard decision, but now that I've made it, it feels like there's a big burden off my chest," he told The Associated Press.
"I just want to play basketball and get a chance to play with some of these athletes you see on TV," he said Tuesday from San Antonio.
Snyder of Upland, Calif., was named the Western Athletic Conference's player of the year. He averaged nearly 19 points per game while playing every position but center for the Wolf Pack (25-9), who beat Michigan State and Gonzaga before falling to Georgia Tech in the regional semifinals at St. Louis, Mo.
Snyder said he spent most of his first official day as a former collegiate athlete working out Tuesday in San Antonio.
He said it wasn't until the end of the regular season that he began to seriously consider leaving Nevada early, when the Boston Celtics' executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge paid a scouting visit to Reno.
"I kind of figured it out the last home game when we had Danny Ainge sitting courtside. I kind of realized that going to the NBA might be a reality," Snyder said Tuesday.
"Then when we went to the tournament, it gave me so much confidence. It made things a little bit more clear. Winning a couple of games there was important to my career and important to me as an individual," he said.
Nevada coach Trent Johnson, who recently signed a new five-year contract with the Wolf Pack, told reporters last week he was trying to persuade Snyder to return for his senior year unless an NBA coach or general manager guaranteed he'll be a first-round draft pick.
Johnson had said he preferred Snyder to postpone hiring an agent so he could leave the door open to returning to Nevada, but said he would support his decision.
"All I've wanted is what's best for him," Johnson told the Reno Gazette-Journal on Monday.
"I told him if he listened he would be in position to go to the NBA after his junior year," he said.
"I've had conversations with three (NBA) general managers. They like him. They don't want me to use their names."
Johnson said the general managers told him that where Snyder goes in the draft could be determined by the number of players coming from Europe or jumping from high school to the NBA.
Snyder said he had talked with Johnson about his decision. He said he expected to be picked in the first round but that he had received no assurances. He said he promised his mother he would return to school at some point to complete his undergraduate degree.
"I could go anywhere from 13th to late in the first round. Most of what I hear is first round definitely," Snyder told KTVN-TV in Reno Monday night.
On Tuesday, he said the spot in which he gets drafted "really wasn't part of my decision."
"People thought it was, but it never was. It didn't help or hurt in my thinking," he told AP.
"The most important part for me was whether I thought I was going to get any better in college. What would I be learning? What would I be doing next year? What would I go through?" Snyder said.
That and the risk of injury, he said.
"Obviously, that's not a positive thing you want to happen but it can happen with 30 games," he said.
Snyder admitted some Wolf Pack teammates tried to talk him into staying, including Chad Bell, who sat out this year after transferring from New Mexico to join Nevada.
"Chad, the new guy, he really wanted to get an opportunity to play with me. He told me I should think about staying. But they understand it is a golden opportunity," Snyder said.
Todd Okeson, Nevada's senior point guard, said Snyder brings out the best in his teammates.
"He's big, He's physical. He's strong. He can play soft if he wants to. He can play back to the basket. He can bring up the ball when I'm tired," Okeson told reporters last week.
"He does it all. ... He does an outstanding job at all four positions. He's not selfish at all."