NBA Draft diary

The former Nevada guard details how he's preparing for June 24

After helping to lead the University of Nevada to the Sweet 16 in this year's NCAA Tournament, 6-foot-6 junior guard Kirk Snyder decided to take the next step -- the NBA. In the weeks leading up to the June 24 draft Kirk will give SI.com's readers a periodic glimpse into his preparations, thoughts and experiences in his draft diary.

Most people think that getting an agent is a really tough process. I think it's really easy. I think when you find somebody you're willing to work with and you can communicate well with, you go with him. The Xs and Os of making money and all that stuff wasn't as important to me as finding someone I could feel comfortable with.

Roger Montgomery, my agent, talked to my mom throughout the year and I talked with him a couple of times and he made it seem that his interest is beyond the relationship that he has with me because of basketball, and I truly feel that deep down inside my heart.

Before I decided it was meat market, man. I'd go in hotels and guys would call me left and right. There were so many middle-men, I lost count. I eventually had to go into hotel rooms under a different name. So many middle men, it was too many to count.

But it's tough for any college dude to make the choice because here they have you playing basketball and you're not supposed to have contact with any agents and then, as soon as the season's over, you have to find someone, and quick.

For now, my agent just told me to enjoy things. It's kind of a tough time right now because you don't what could happen; you don't know what's going to happen. He tells me to just be cool, relax, work hard, have fun and enjoy that you get to play basketball. He takes care of everything else and that makes my job easier. I've got my own little place in San Antonio, which gives me a good base of operations to get ready for the draft.

I work out with a strength and conditioning guy who also works with the Spurs, Bremond "Bay-Bay" McClinton, throughout the week. Everyday we lift, do lower body, upper body and run afterwards. For the most part, from the beginning, I've done two-a-days. But now it's team workout time and hopefully I'll play hard and open some people's eyes so they'll open their pocketbooks.

Helping me with that, basketball-wise, is Bob Hill, whom I work with almost every day. We work on what I've got to be able to do in the NBA and how to be more consistent doing it. We do a lot of cone drills, a lot of footwork and maintaining balance. We work on shooting the same shot every time, remembering to follow-through. A lot of what I'm working on are those things you learn to do when you're little that you stop doing when you're playing [competitively] in college. And, on other side of things, we work on things you need to stop doing that you did in college -- like pump-faking -- that won't work anymore in the NBA.

Whatever Coach Hill says, in the sense of basketball and trying to play at his level, it's gold. It's something that's proven. He's been an NBA coach and he's been around talent and he's seen the league. But he's a realist. He tells me that if you work on the things that you can control, you'll be fine, even something as simple as remembering to tuck in your shirt when you meet teams. It might be weird that somebody needs to tell you to tuck in your shirt, but if you want to get a job, you want to look your best, right?

With more than a month of workouts, mostly alone, in already, sometimes it's nice to get a change of scenery. So, a few weeks ago I we went down to Houston and worked out with a group of guys John Lucas had in for a workout. There were a couple of NBA guys and a couple of guys who are trying to get into the NBA, myself included. There were probably 12 guys. We also played some one-on-one, and two-on-twos. It wasn't fun but it was basketball.

Overall he seemed at ease with what I was doing, but Lucas got on me a little bit about little stuff that I couldn't do. For example, he told me that when you're coming off of a pick, basically you should take your man down a little bit. What I was doing was coming off the pick and immediately trying to get off a shot. Coach Lucas wanted me to come off the pick and to take the man down and then run around him as opposed to just running across the pick.

But, overall, I'm comfortable right now, or as comfortable as I can be, because of all the hard work I've put in. My body is changing: I'm getting bigger, I'm getting stronger. I'm getting faster. My endurance level is at the level it needs to be. I'm ready for the workouts.

I expect I'll go in and shoot the ball, play defense. Each team will probably have tape on what they want to see me do that they don't think I can do. They'll know who I am, that's for sure. If they're bringing me in, they've probably seen me play more than five times, so there's nothing I can hide. I can't go in and tell them I can do something because they'll be able to tell me that that they know I can't do that because they've seen me on tape.

I think I can pretty much do anything a guys is supposed to be able to do at my spot. I'm nervous about the unthinkable things that can happen (injuries and the like). But if I can control it, then why should I think about it and if I can't control it, then why even think about it.