Eric Snow

After college, Snow was chosen by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round of the 1995 NBA draft. He was immediately traded to the Seattle SuperSonics, where he played sparingly for the next two-and-one-half seasons.

On January 18, 1998, Snow was acquired from Seattle by the Philadelphia 76ers 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 point guard, Snow became a stalwart of the Brown-era 76ers teams. Snow's ability to guard opposing teams' shooting guards made him an ideal complement to Allen Iverson, a high-scoring but unusually small shooting guard.[1] 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. During the following season, Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant stated that nobody in the league defended him better than Snow.[2]

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

On July 20, 2004, Snow was traded to the Cavaliers in exchange for Kevin Ollie and Kedrick Brown. He was suspended without pay for a December 18, 2004 game against the Boston Celtics after a confrontation with Paul Silas, the coach of the Cavaliers.[3] 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 and a season-high 13 assists on April 19, 2005 against the Boston Celtics (which is also his high assist total as a Cavalier).[4] 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.[5]

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 during the first round of the playoffs before losing to the Detroit Pistons 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 and a season-high 11 assists on January 20, 2007 against the Golden State Warriors.[6] 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 NBA Finals 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.[7] 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.[8][9] After the injury, Snow conceded that he likely would not play in the NBA again.[10]

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[11] and began working as an analyst for NBA TV.

During his playing career, Snow reached the NBA Finals 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.