Tony Snell of the Milwaukee Bucks was traded last week to the Detroit Pistons as part of a salary dump involving Jon Leuer and the No. 30 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
That pick was later traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but Snell’s status as a future Piston remains unchanged. Snell is not stranger to the Central Division; he started his career with the Chicago Bulls before being traded to the Bucks for Michael Carter-Williams.
Snell was quoted in a recent piece by Keith Langlois of NBA.com about his new digs in Detroit:
“Just the fact that I’m wanted – that’s what it’s all about,” Snell said Thursday as the team’s practice facility. “All I can do is what I do – work hard and try to perfect my skills and just go from there.”
Clearly, Snell is just happy to be getting playing time on a team with playoff aspirations in the Eastern Conference, especially after seeing his minutes slashed considerably in 2018-19 once coach Mike Budenholzer took over.
Though Snell is ostensibly the kind of player that would fit Bud’s system (a 3-and-D wing), he played the fewest minutes of his career (1304) since his final season with Chicago (1,301), and he played the fewest minutes per game of his career (17.4) since his rookie season (16.0), per Basketball Reference.
Those 17.4 minutes per game represented a 10-minute drop from the 2017-18 season to last year.
Perhaps with a new team, Snell will be able to make his mark in a way that he was unable to on a stacked roster with championship aspirations in Milwaukee.
Follow Us
Subscribe