From Deseret News archives:
Snyder says he's more grown-up now
Second-year guard and his wife are expecting first child
"I'm afraid of roller-coasters, so when the roller-coaster was going slow, I think I was doing pretty good. But then when it drops out beneath you and you start panicking, that was one of the stopping points for me."
Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said Wednesday he's anxious to see if Snyder, who will participate in his second Rocky Mountain Revue starting Friday, has changed at all from the emotional young player of last season, the one with all kinds of athletic ability but a need to understand how to play with his teammates and help make them better.
Snyder spent the off-season in Reno and in Atlanta working with a personal coach and with NBA veterans, including Shareef Abdur-Rahim, being critiqued and trying to learn mental focus.
Whether it works on the court is yet to be seen, but Snyder says he has definitely grown up in another way as he is about to become a first-time daddy. His wife, Haley, is due to deliver their son on Aug. 16. "An official Jazz baby, huh?" Snyder said proudly before a summer-league practice at Zion's Bank Basketball Center Tuesday.
"It's crazy. It's changing me a lot, (in) a positive way, I guess," said Snyder, who was yanked from a game and reprimanded by Sloan March 29 after making some exciting plays and then running near the opposing coach (Houston's Jeff Van Gundy) and mugging to the crowd, looking like he was trying to show up the Rockets, who went on to win by 14. Snyder has also been accused of making unnecessary comments to opponents on the court.
With the baby on the way, Snyder is more into thinking about the consequences of his everyday actions.
"Some of the things that you don't really focus on, like being a good person, doing everything the right way, try to lead by example. Stuff like that," he said of the changes he feels in himself nowadays.
"You come to the point it just changes you. It really does.
"Just little stuff, like I'll be listening to some music, and the guy say a cuss word here, a cuss word there. Now I'm like, 'I wouldn't want my kid to listen to this.'
"I wouldn't want my kid to come up to me and say, 'Dad, this, this, this.' And I'm like, 'What did you just say?' Stuff like that."
He's pretty rational about former teammate Raja Bell's decision to move to the Phoenix Suns as a free agent, which leaves, at least for now, more opportunity for Snyder, who also plays the shooting guard spot.
"We'll see when the season starts, and we have our team, if I get the opportunity to fill the void," Snyder said Wednesday. "It's not going to be up to what I think or what I say, it's going to be up to (the coaching staff and front office) giving me that opportunity."
