Reply With Quote
Neal = Haislip
He'll be an offensive spark in the last 5 minutes of blowouts.
http://projectspurs.com/2010-article...ive-spark.html
Gary Neal: Offensive Spark
Written by Jason Rogers
Monday, 02 August 2010 00:00
With what might turn out to be their final offseason move, the San Antonio Spurs signed former Towson star, and Italian league player, Gary Neal, to a three-year deal last week. Neal proved to be a pleasant surprise on the Spurs' undefeated summer league team, averaging 16 points per game and shooting 50% from the three-point line.
During Neal's current stint in Italy, he lead the league in scoring on 65% shooting from the field. While his offensive game appears to be fairly complete, defensively he often struggles. Here is how Draft Express evaluates this portion of his game:
The main thing he must work on is his defense, though, as he lacks great size or length and doesn’t always appear to be putting in the best effort on this end of the floor, particularly fighting through screens and such, although he is capable of making plays from time to time thanks to his quick feet and solid anticipation skills.
While this is troubling for a team that is known for defensive intensity, Neal is a player that has succeeded on every level.
At Towson, he set the school's all-time single season scoring record, has impressed in Europe as the Italian league's scoring leader, and turned plenty of heads in the NBA summer league with his shooting performance. The Spurs' coaching staff has proven itself time and again to be proficient in developing defensive skills in a wide array of players; I doubt that anything will be different with Neal.
For the Spurs, I believe Neal will provide a much needed spark for the team's second unit. With the likes of Manu Ginobili and George Hill possibly playing the role of sixth man, the Spurs' second team lacks an effective scorer - a role that Roger Mason and Keith Bogans were unable to fill despite high expectations. Particularly for Mason.
The Spurs now seem to be full of candidates to fill such a role. James Anderson, Tiago Splitter, DeJuan Blair, and even Garrett Temple have potential to really amp up the Spurs' second team attack. Each of these players (probably with the exception of Temple) have the potential of putting in substantial minutes with the starting five, possibly even breaking into the role of starter in the next few seasons.
Neal has all the marks of a solid bench player, a scorer, and more importantly a spark of energy to keep the second team compe ive. Many games down the stretch, the Spurs seemed to run out of gas late. Indeed, in the 2010 NBA playoff series against the Phoenix Suns, the Spurs took leads in the third quarter only to relinquish them later in the fourth. Perhaps some young, aggressive blood on the second team will help to mitigate such collapses.
Think in terms of a young Robert Horry. Not in style of play, but in compe ive edge; statistically small, but an intangible contribution that can be felt by his court presence. Not to say Neal is as good of a player as Horry was in his prime, but that the contribution will be similar. It is about a level of energy that the entire unit can feed off and thrive in.
The hope, I believe, is for Neal to be what Mason was supposed to be. I don't expect to see a big stat line from Neal, but his aggressive offense could be a key asset in creating the bench balance the Spurs need to make another championship run.
Neal = Haislip
He'll be an offensive spark in the last 5 minutes of blowouts.
Neal is a lot better than Haislip.
Am I the only person who thinks Neal will suck in this forum? Some of you even have the guy over James Anderson in your depth charts.
I have Neal pretty high on my depth chart . . . for the Toros.
I don't see a reason why the Spurs will pay someone guaranteed money who is not their draft pick just to put him in the Toros.
It's a running joke I am doing . . . settle down.
Neal will barely play if at all in this coming season
Seeing that it is a joke, but it is not funny, tbh.
Well, it's not for everyone, I guess.
Hopefully he doesn't pull a Tolliver on us...
like they said hes met expectations as of late, i dont know why he didnt make it into the nba early on in his career but for them to sign him to three years means that he meets things they are looking for and must have something suprising and special about him or else his deal would have been for 1yr.
i was going to tell you "because theyre NBA professionals and were not" but w/the bonner deal and letting exp contracts walk/lack of youth development they lost alot of credibility the past 2 seasons
You should probably start using the blue front... You seem to be running into problems with people understanding your humor.
I refuse! My comedic stylings are not for everyone, and I like it that way. All the cool kids get it and that's what's important.You should probably start using the blue front... You seem to be running into problems with people understanding your humor.
I honestly think the Spurs could possibly start the season with this.
PG Tony Parker | 11 Gary Neal
SG George Hill | 6 Manu Ginobili | 9 James Anderson
SF Richard Jefferson | 12 Alonzo Gee
PF Tim Duncan | 7 Tiago Splitter | 8 DeJuan Blair
C Antonio McDyess | 10 Matt Bonner
But the way I would do it with the current roster would be...
PG Tony Parker | 6 George Hill
SG Manu Ginobili | 8 James Anderson | 11 Gary Neal
SF Richard Jefferson | 10 Alonzo Gee
PF Tim Duncan | 7 DeJuan Blair | 9 Antonio McDyess
C Tiago Splitter | 12 Matt Bonner
Something like that...
OR...
PG George Hill | 7 Garrett Temple | Tony Parker 10
SG Gary Neal | 8 James Anderson
SF DeJuan Blair | 6 Manu Ginobili | 11 Richard Jefferson | 12 Matt Bonner
PF Tiago Splitter
C Tim Duncan | 9 Antonio McDyess
We've just got to work on Blair's lateral movement, Duncan's been a center now for years anyways, and Gary Neal will start, he's Mario Ellie 2.0 And no reason to play TP since we're trading him at the deadline
"offensive spark" ?
Note: let a player play his first NBA game, before calling him whatsoever. because he might very well end up as an "offensive fart"
Neal has been almost his whole career the first offensive option of his team. To succeed with Spurs, he will need to do the transition from being a volume shooter to being a high percentage shooter. If he can do this transition, he will be a successful Spur. Teams always need a quality shooter on their bench.
It's pretty simple between Neal and Anderson...the player that drains their threes gets the minutes.
For a second I thought you were talking about RJ....
For a guy whose likely ceiling is a poor man's Steve Kerr, Neal is getting a lot of love.
Basically. Either that or Pop pulls both out once they miss a rotation and Hill gets all the minutes.
people act like Neal's offense is going to automatically transition. he shot 37% from 3 in Italy last year as the main scorer on his team and with the 3-point line being closer. he's got to transition into a low volume shooter and shooting it farther out. we'll see, but i seem to be more skeptical than most. that's not even talking about his defensive ?'s.
he could very well suck total ass.
He'll be a volume shooter--off the bench in limited minutes. Lots of teams have shooters who anchor a second team off the bench.
If all these guys can stick in the rotation, we're gonna have a lot of firepower off the bench with Neal, Anderson, Manu, Bonner, Dice and maybe Gee or Temple.
I made the mistake of thinking the Spurs were looking for Eddie House when in fact they are looking for another Steve Kerr, hope Neal fits that role or better
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
