Kobe Bufkin shares impressions of Quin Snyder as head coach

Kobe Bufkin is headed to the ATL after the Hawks selected him with the No. 15 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. Now, as he heads off into the pros, he couldn’t be more intrigued by his match with his new head coach in Quin Snyder.

Bufkin discussed Snyder in his introductory press conference with Atlanta on Monday. He said that he has already had some great talks with his new coach and that he is ready to build a connection that both he and Snyder want and expect to have.

“Coach Q is a great guy. We had a lot of conversations with him,” Bufkin said. “You can tell from the jump that he’s a coach that demands a relationship from his players. That’s something I enjoy. I love being able to talk to the coach on and off the court.”

Snyder joined the Hawks’ franchise as a midseason hire back in February during the last NBA campaign. He coached for the final 28 games of Atlanta’s season as the team went 13-15, which included a Play-In victory over the Miami Heat, who made it to the NBA Finals, and a 4-2 series loss to the Boston Celtics, the other finalist in the Eastern Conference in this postseason.

That came after leading the Utah Jazz for eight seasons. Over that time, the Jazz went 395-313 (0.557) and finished top-three in the West in each season, including three first-place finishes in the conference.

Bufkin learned from an NBA level coach while at Michigan as Juwan Howard helped him break out as a sophomore in Ann Arbor. He will now get the real deal from Snyder alongside his new backcourt mates in Trae Young and Dejounte Murray.

What NBA Draft experts say about Bufkin

With his relative youth and scoring upside, NBA evaluators are high on Bufkin overall.

It starts with his ability to use his length and body control to score at the basket. They couple that with what they have deemed as ‘credible’ shooting from 3. The pluses don’t stop there, though, as he’s a plus rebounder and capable ball handler. His size and length gives him a chance to be a versatile defender too.

“Finding a prospect with so few holes, flashy skills, and above-average size at a premium position is rare,” reads a league scouting report via RotoWire.

Bufkin might not walk into an NBA locker room and change the course of a franchise, but the outlook is strong that he can be a high-level contributor in the near future.

“Bufkin may be locked into a sizable role by the later stages of his rookie season and could become a reliable sixth man sooner than later,” the scouting report said.