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Once again, Rodriguez makes an amazing article.
Neal is one of the few bright spots this team has. Hopefully this team never trades him. He has the at ude and confidence our whole team needs.
http://www.nba.com/spurs/features/110601_rodriguezReflections On A Dream Season
Ken Rodriguez
Spurs.com
Gary Neal began his first NBA season as a newlywed. He ended it as an expectant father. In between Neal forged a special relationship with Spurs fans. He became a rookie surprise, a clutch three-point shooter, an undrafted 26-year-old who made the shot of the season against Memphis at the buzzer.
Luck? Neal uses the word to describe his good fortune. The Spurs found him in the Las Vegas Summer League. The discovery wasn’t the equivalent of hitting the lottery. It was more like pulling the lever on a slot machine -- just once, for the heck of it -- and hearing ding! ding! ding! ding! ding!
Neal was an unexpected find, all right. Only one undrafted rookie in history had made the All-Rookie first-team. Who knew Neal would become the second? Or that he would win the confidence of the veterans in early October? Trailing the Clippers in the final seconds of the third preseason game, Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich asked Manu Ginobili to draw up the last play. Ginobili designed it for Neal. The shot fell through, and the Spurs escaped with a one-point victory.
“That was a great feeling,” Neal says.”After the shot, I said, ‘Thanks Manu, that kept me around for another week.’”
It is late morning on Memorial Day. Just back from a short vacation, Neal is reflecting on a season of wonders. That he made it past his first workout with coaches is a wonder itself. When he arrived, Neal recalls, nobody knew who he was. He remembers someone asking, “What’s your name?”
He looked around at all the guards present. The coaches seemed to know their names. But here he was: undrafted and unknown. Could there be two bigger strikes against him? Neal wondered about his chances, then others began wondering about him. Who shoots 50 percent from behind the arc, even in the Las Vegas Summer League?
Almost one year later, Neal’s father marvels. “He had the kind of season,” Gordon Neal says, “I don’t think anyone could have dreamed would turn out the way it did.”
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Once again, Rodriguez makes an amazing article.
Neal is one of the few bright spots this team has. Hopefully this team never trades him. He has the at ude and confidence our whole team needs.
Wish he was 2 or 3 inches taller.
I hear Neal is about to get traded for Kareem
"As a tribute to her, Gordon says, Gary wears No.14, the same jersey his mother wore in high school."
That's pretty deep, I have true respect for this man. On and off the court.
Ah ... that was an exciting game, and an incredible shot. It's a shame it wasn't the start of a comeback in the series, but that doesn't take anything away from Neal's clutch shooting.
That young man had better take his wife on her honeymoon this summer.
I admit that I had my doubts about the guy. That quickly went away once the season started. The man was fearless and the fact he could put the ball in the hole was awesome. Easily one of my favorite Spurs players.
He's lived the dream. Let's hope he continues to be fearless and shoot the ball well.
Superb article. Neal's emergence was the highlight of the season IMO.
Definitely a bright spot to the season!
Neal was the main reason we even went 6 and in that game 6 the bench including him got us back into it after being down big early! He was hitting shots! I liked that guy alot, has some heart.
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