If Oden falls through, sign and trade Neal to Utah for Mo Williams.
Neal is a better scorer than Mills and Nando but Nando is the better passer. I think Neal should have stayed over both those guys. He's a tough compe or whose balls didn't shrink when the Spurs needed a basket. The defensive lapses killed him though. Especially in the finals when he repeatedly left his man open behind the arc.
I suspect you hit the nail on the head.
I don't buy that a front office as astute as this one misjudged the market for Neal to such a degree that they felt they needed to rush to sign a supposedly cheaper alternative before the market had worn thin. Not when Neal was always likely to cost around what they paid Belinelli anyway. The most likely conclusion is, as you alluded to, they flat out picked Belinelli over him.
On the surface, it doesn't make much sense. A healthy Neal is a better shooter/scorer than Belinelli and those are not only the main strengths of both, but mainly what they're looking for in that role. But I remember reading a Harvey article a couple of seasons ago where he said the coaching staff didn't find Neal to be a high IQ player and in the end, that's probably why they decided to move on.
The thing that sucks about Neal is all he has to do is get better percentage shots up in moderation. Which I think he could fix easily. Gonna miss him if we do not decide to bring him back..
His defensive IQ is ridiculously low. I don't think I've ever seen him make one good defensive play.
That 3 kept the Heat in the game. If Neal had simply been in position it likely wouldn't have happened. Instead he was in no man's land. With no Neal Pop is less likely to be tempted to sacrifice the defense for scoring. Also on offense no Neal means less hero ball and more trusting the pass.
Nice round up. Btw, why can Miami just sign him as a FA given there cap situations? Are you assuming the Champions discount?
They have the mini MLE (~$3.2M) available to offer.
Oh ok. Thought they spent that on Bird for some reason.
gay x neal.........................................
He signed for the minimum, but will still receive almost $4.5M from Denver this year because they used the amnesty provision on him.
So the Heat could end up signing Neal and Oden?
Some chuckers are better than others, tbh.
At least Belli knows how to show off his big testes.
Not really sorry to see him go if he does. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He'd hit a nice shot, then chuck a few away and then patrol the paint while his man was hitting shots from the perimeter.
Anyone who doubts or regrets why the Spurs let Neal go only has to watch this play about 100x then you will be like, I am glad the M...... F..... gone.
BS,Spurs gameplan was to contain Lebron at any cost,Gary was hedging to help out.
And its not like Miller isnt a deadly 3 pt shooter anyway....he's gonna get a few
Even if you dont
That was the worst defensive play of the finals.
Obviously you didn't hear Pop's message to Neal in Game 3, "Gary, just to let you know. Tony told me to tell you to NEVER leave Miller or Allen."
So what you are saying is TOTAL BS about hedging b/c Pop and that wasn't only time repeatly had to tell Neal stop helping out and stay on your man. You can hear Neal yell b/c he knew he ed up yet AGAIN.
Neal was awful this season. Wish him the best, but glad he's gone.
Now if only Green can learn how to create for himself, then losing Neal would be nothing.
Marc Stein @ESPNSteinLine 15m Hearing: Bucks closing in on completing signing of Gary Neal after sources say Neal's agent David Bauman no longer in negotiations w/Hawks
Marc Stein @ESPNSteinLine 13m
MIL & ATL were top two pursuers after Spurs withdrew qualifying offer to make Neal unrestricted free agent. Deal w/Bucks now expected today
sucks that he'll have to play for Milwaukee.
Bud wanted Neal while Pop didn't, interesting.
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