Eric Snow (born April 5, 1973) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach and former professional player. He played the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

position in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

from 1995 to 2008 and appeared in three

NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...

. Known for his defense, Snow was named to the

NBA All-Defensive Second Team The NBA All-Defensive Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1968–69 NBA season to the best defensive players during the regular season. The All-Defensive Team is generally composed of ten players in two ...

in 2003. Following his playing career, Snow served as an assistant coach at Florida Atlantic for two years (2014-2016) after having worked two seasons at SMU (2012–14) as the director of player development under Larry Brown, his former coach.

High school career

Snow began his basketball career at

Canton McKinley High School McKinley Senior High School is a public high school in Canton, Ohio, United States. It is the only high school in the Canton City School District and has two campuses: Downtown Campus (mostly known as Early College High School or Timken High ...

in Canton, Ohio. He was McKinley High School's MVP for three straight seasons.

College career

Snow attended college at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

. He played varsity basketball at Michigan State under head coach

Jud Heathcote George Melvin "Jud" Heathcote (May 27, 1927 – August 28, 2017) was an American basketball player and coach. He was a college basketball head coach for 24 seasons: five at the University of Montana and nineteen at Michigan State University H ...

. In his senior season, the Spartans earned a #3 seed to the 1995 NCAA Tournament, but they were upset in the first round by

Weber State University Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. History Weber State University was founded ...

NBA career

Seattle SuperSonics

After college, Snow was selected by the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

with the 43rd overall pick in the

1995 NBA draft The 1995 NBA draft took place on June 28, 1995, at SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It marked the first NBA draft to be held outside the United States and was the first draft for the two Canadian expansion teams, Toronto Raptors and Vancouve ...

. He was immediately traded to the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

, where he played sparingly for the next two-and-one-half seasons.

Philadelphia 76ers

On January 18, 1998, Snow was acquired from Seattle by the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

in exchange for a second-round draft pick. At the time of the trade, Snow was averaging just 4.4 minutes per game; Sixers head coach Larry Brown gave him a bigger role in Philadelphia. In his first full season in Philadelphia, he started every game he played in and averaged 35.8 minutes per game. As a pass-first, defensive-minded

, Snow became a stalwart of the Brown-era 76ers teams. Snow's ability to guard opposing teams'

shooting guards The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

made him an ideal complement to

Allen Iverson Allen Ezail Iverson (; born June 7, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "the Answer", he played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) at both the shooting guard and point guard positions. Iver ...

, a high-scoring but unusually small shooting guard. Despite missing thirty-two games early in the 2000–01 season due to injury, Snow played a crucial role in helping the 76ers earn the top playoff seed in the Eastern Conference and ultimately reach the 2001 NBA Finals, where they lost in five games to the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

. During the following season, Lakers shooting guard

Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely r ...

stated that nobody in the league defended him better than Snow. In 2002–03, Snow posted career highs in points per game (12.9), rebounds per game (3.7), minutes per game (37.9), field goal percentage (45.2%), and free throw percentage (85.8%). Snow's excellent free throw percentage was particularly noteworthy, as he had been a very poor foul shooter in college and early in his NBA career, averaging 52.1% from the stripe during his four seasons at Michigan State and 59.2% as a

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

. He also averaged 6.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game in 2002–03.

Cleveland Cavaliers

On July 20, 2004, Snow was traded to the Cavaliers in exchange for

Kevin Ollie Kevin Jermaine Ollie (born December 27, 1972) is an American basketball coach and former player. Kevin is the head coach for Overtime Elite, a professional basketball league co-founded by Dan Porter and Zack Weiner for top players between 16 and ...

and

Kedrick Brown Albert Kedrick Brown (born March 18, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. Born and raised in Zachary, Louisiana, Brown played college basketball at Okaloosa-Walton Community College (now Northwest Florida State C ...

. He was suspended without pay for a December 18, 2004 game against the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

after a confrontation with

Paul Silas Paul Theron Silas (July 12, 1943 – December 10, 2022) was an American professional basketball player and head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a player, he was a two-time NBA All-Star and earned five selections to the N ...

, the coach of the Cavaliers. It was the only game that Snow missed in his first three years with the Cavaliers. He had a season-high 16 points on January 22, 2005 against the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

and a season-high 13 assists on April 19, 2005 against the

(which is also his high assist total as a Cavalier). Snow ranked fifth in the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.56); he donated $20 for every one of his steals and assists during the 2004–05 season. Snow played in and started all 82 games for the Cavaliers in the 2005-06 season, helping the Cavaliers return to the playoffs for the first time since 1998. He started all 13 playoff games for the Cavaliers. He scored 18 points in a Game 5 victory over the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast D ...

during the first round of the playoffs before losing to the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at Li ...

in 7 games in the semifinals. The following season, for the fifth and final time in his career, Snow played in all 82 games. He had a season high 18 points on January 13, 2007 against the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

and a season-high 11 assists on January 20, 2007 against the

. However, he gradually lost playing time through the course of the season to Daniel Gibson, until he came off the bench on January 30, 2007, bringing an end to Snow's streak of starts that lasted for 127 games. The Cavaliers made the

and lost to the San Antonio Spurs in a sweep that year. In his 13th NBA season, Snow was named team co-captain, along with

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest pl ...

. Snow only played in 22 games that season. On March 11, 2008, it was announced that Snow would miss four to six weeks due to arthritic-related symptoms in his left knee, ending his season. After the injury, Snow conceded that he likely would not play in the NBA again. Unable to play, but still listed as an active player on the Cavaliers' roster, Snow served on Head Coach Mike Brown's staff as an unofficial assistant coach for the 2008-09 season. On April 4, 2009, Snow was given a "medically necessary" release and began working as an analyst for

NBA TV NBA TV is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit. Dedicated to basketball, the network features exhibition, regular ...

Achievements

During his playing career, Snow reached the

three times (and once with each of the teams on which he played): the SuperSonics in 1996, the 76ers in 2001, and the Cavaliers in 2007. All three appearances were losses. In Philadelphia and Cleveland, Snow served as team co-captain along Allen Iverson and LeBron James, respectively.

Coaching career

Snow was hired as assistant coach for the

Texas Legends The Texas Legends are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Frisco, Texas, and are affiliated with the Dallas Mavericks. The Legends play their home games at the Comerica Center. The team began as the Colorado ...

in 2017 through NBA's Assistant Coaches Program (ACP) after his two-year spell as assistant coach for the

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Florida, Dania Beach, Davie, Florida, Davie, Fort Lauderd ...

. Prior to that, Snow had been the director of player development for the

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

through 2012–2014.

Personal life

Snow is the younger brother of former

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

Percy Snow Percy Lee Snow (born November 5, 1967) is a retired American football linebacker who played at Michigan State University and was a first-round draft pick of the Kansas City Chiefs. Snow was a consensus selection on the 1989 College Football All- ...

, who also played at

and played for both the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

and the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

of the NFL. He married his college girlfriend, Deshawn in 1998, the two divorced in 2010. The couple have three sons: Jarren, Darius, and Eric Jr. With second wife Carrie he has sons Noah, Graceson and Brayden His son Darius signed to play football with

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

for the class of 2020.https://www.mlive.com/sports/2019/07/4-star-michigan-state-commit-darius-snow-proud-of-family-legacy-but-wants-to-make-his-own-name.html 4-star Michigan State commit Darius Snow proud of family legacy but wants to make his own name

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , align="left" , 1995–96 , align="left" ,

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, 43 , , 1 , , 9.0 , , .420 , , .200 , , .592 , , 1.0 , , 1.7 , , .6 , , .0 , , 2.7 , - , align="left" , 1996–97 , align="left" ,

, 67 , , 0 , , 11.6 , , .451 , , .267 , , .712 , , 1.0 , , 2.4 , , .6 , , .0 , , 3.0 , - , align="left" , 1997–98 , align="left" ,

, 17 , , 0 , , 4.4 , , .435 , , .000 , , .500 , , .2 , , .8 , , .0 , , .1 , , 1.5 , - , align="left" , 1997–98 , align="left" ,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, 47 , , 0 , , 18.0 , , .429 , , .125 , , .721 , , 1.6 , , 3.5 , , 1.3 , , .1 , , 3.9 , - , align="left" , 1998–99 , align="left" ,

, 48 , , 48 , , 35.8 , , .428 , , .238 , , .733 , , 3.4 , , 6.3 , , 2.1 , , .0 , , 8.6 , - , align="left" , 1999–00 , align="left" ,

, 82 , , 80 , , 35.0 , , .430 , , .244 , , .712 , , 3.2 , , 7.6 , , 1.7 , , .1 , , 7.9 , - , align="left" , 2000–01 , align="left" ,

, 50 , , 50 , , 34.8 , , .418 , , .263 , , .792 , , 3.3 , , 7.4 , , 1.5 , , .1 , , 9.8 , - , align="left" , 2001–02 , align="left" ,

, 61 , , 61 , , 36.5 , , .442 , , .111 , , .806 , , 3.5 , , 6.6 , , 1.6 , , .2 , , 12.1 , - , align="left" , 2002–03 , align="left" ,

, 82 , , 82 , , 37.9 , , .452 , , .219 , , .858 , , 3.7 , , 6.6 , , 1.6 , , .1 , , 12.9 , - , align="left" , 2003–04 , align="left" ,

, 82 , , 82 , , 36.2 , , .413 , , .111 , , .797 , , 3.4 , , 6.9 , , 1.2 , , .1 , , 10.3 , - , align="left" , 2004–05 , align="left" ,

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, 81 , , 15 , , 22.8 , , .382 , , .289 , , .738 , , 1.9 , , 3.9 , , .8 , , .2 , , 4.0 , - , align="left" , 2005–06 , align="left" ,

, 82 , , 82 , , 28.7 , , .409 , , .100 , , .688 , , 2.4 , , 4.2 , , .9 , , .2 , , 4.8 , - , align="left" , 2006–07 , align="left" ,

, 82 , , 45 , , 23.5 , , .417 , , .000 , , .637 , , 2.3 , , 4.0 , , .7 , , .2 , , 4.2 , - , align="left" , 2007–08 , align="left" ,

, 22 , , 5 , , 13.9 , , .158 , , .000 , , .455 , , .9 , , 1.9 , , .4 , , .2 , , 1.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 846 , , 551 , , 27.3 , , .424 , , .208 , , .763 , , 2.5 , , 5.0 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , 6.8

Playoffs

, - , align="left" , 1996 , align="left" ,

, 10 , , 0 , , 2.4 , , .143 , , .000 , , .000 , , .4 , , .6 , , .2 , , .0 , , .2 , - , align="left" ,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, align="left" ,

, 8 , , 0 , , 6.0 , , .455 , , .500 , , .500 , , .3 , , 1.5 , , .5 , , .0 , , 1.6 , - , align="left" , 1999 , align="left" ,

, 8 , , 8 , , 38.3 , , .420 , , .231 , , .815 , , 4.1 , , 7.1 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 12.4 , - , align="left" ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, align="left" ,

, 5 , , 4 , , 27.6 , , .484 , , .750 , , 1.000 , , 2.0 , , 7.0 , , .8 , , .2 , , 7.4 , - , align="left" ,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, align="left" ,

, 23 , , 9 , , 31.2 , , .414 , , .000 , , .727 , , 3.7 , , 4.5 , , 1.2 , , .1 , , 9.3 , - , align="left" ,

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, align="left" ,

, 5 , , 5 , , 34.2 , , .321 , , .167 , , .773 , , 4.4 , , 5.4 , , 1.2 , , .0 , , 10.8 , - , align="left" ,

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, align="left" ,

, 12 , , 12 , , 34.6 , , .422 , , .100 , , .879 , , 3.3 , , 5.6 , , 1.5 , , .0 , , 11.5 , - , align="left" ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, align="left" ,

, 13 , , 13 , , 31.4 , , .421 , , .000 , , .759 , , 3.3 , , 2.8 , , .9 , , .2 , , 6.6 , - , align="left" , 2007 , align="left" ,

, 19 , , 0 , , 12.8 , , .316 , , .000 , , .571 , , 1.5 , , 1.5 , , .6 , , .1 , , 1.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 103 , , 51 , , 24.0 , , .404 , , .200 , , .782 , , 2.6 , , 3.6 , , .9 , , .1 , , 6.6

References

External links

*
Eric Snow
– Official Site
Shoot for the Moon Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snow, Eric 1973 births Living people 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American sportspeople African-American basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Ohio Basketball players from Canton, Ohio Cleveland Cavaliers players Florida Atlantic Owls men's basketball coaches Michigan State Spartans men's basketball players Milwaukee Bucks draft picks Philadelphia 76ers players Point guards Seattle SuperSonics players Sportspeople from Canton, Ohio