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Houston Rockets General Manager Carroll Dawson announced today that the team has acquired guard Kirk Snyder from the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets in exchange for cash and future draft considerations. The third-year guard out of the University of Nevada was the 16th overall player selected in the 2004 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz.

“Kirk is going to fit in very nicely on our roster,” said Dawson. “We were looking to get bigger at the guard position and Kirk brings not only size, but very good athletic ability and a defensive presence. He’s played in 136 games over the past two seasons and moved into a starter’s role around midseason last year.”

Snyder (6-6, 225, Nevada) has averaged 6.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 136 games (52 starts) with Utah (2004-05) and NOK (2005-06). In his only season with the Hornets, Snyder posted career highs of 8.0 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game in 2005-06. This past season, Snyder reached double digits in scoring on 25 occasions, including three 20+ point performances. He also averaged 9.9 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists during his 45 starts last season. A career 41.9 percent shooter, Snyder connected on a career-best 45.3 percent (205-453) of his field goal attempts last season, including 35.7 percent (46-129) from behind the three-point arc. His season-best 28-point scoring night on 2/11 against the Minnesota Timberwolves came in the midst of a 10 game stretch in which he posted double digits on seven occasions, including his first career double-double (16 points, 12 assists) on 2/8 vs. Seattle.

Selected by the Utah Jazz in the first round (16th overall) of the 2004 NBA Draft, Snyder finished the season ranked fifth among all rookies in three-point field goal percentage (35.3, 30-85). He played in 68 games with seven starts and registered 5.0 points and 1.8 rebounds during the 2004-05 season. Following the season, he was traded to the Hornets as part of a five-team, 13-player deal on August 2, 2005.

Snyder finished his college career at Nevada as the seventh all-time leading scorer in school history with 1,404 points and also ranks in the school’s all-time top 10 in field goals and free throws made. The Los Angeles, CA native was named WAC Player of the Year as a junior, thus becoming the first player in school history to earn the award. That year, he led the team in scoring average (18.8 points) and ranked second in rebounds (5.7) while playing in 34 games and leading the team to its first Sweet Sixteen appearance in school history.

InsideHoops.com Editor Says: Snyder got plenty of starts last season but he's really best as a backup. It's starting to become startling how teams seem so willing to quickly trade him at the early stages of his career. Addition by subtraction? The Rockets basically got him for free, so it's a good move on their part.

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