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great read
http://www.foxsportssouthwest.com/12...34&feedID=3742
Neal latest unsung hero for Spurs
By Steve Hunt
FOXSportsSouthwest.com
December 30, 2010
Gregg Popovich definitely has one of the best eyes for talent in the entire NBA. Year in and year out, the San Antonio head coach does an outstanding job of finding guys who will not only fit well into his system but thrive in it.
The latest example is 6-foot-4 two guard Gary Neal, who signed a three-year deal with the Spurs in July after a successful four-year run overseas. Neal is Mano Ginobili’s backup but has seen time in 31 games and is averaging 8.1 points, 2.5 boards and one assist in just under 18 minutes a night.
With 2010 first-round pick James Anderson continuing to be sidelined with an injury and George Hill also working his way back, Neal has seen plenty of run and Popovich couldn’t be happier with the results thus far.
“He’s been very important to us, especially providing scoring off the bench. He sticks his nose in defensively, does a good job and has shown a quick confidence level to take shots and make shots,” the San Antonio head coach said after Thursday morning’s shootaround. “He’s been a real plus for us.”
Neal started his collegiate career at LaSalle before transferring to Towson to finish out his eligibility. After going undrafted in 2007, he went to Turkey and led the league in scoring. Since then, he has played for FC Barcelona, Benetton Treviso in Italy and spent last year in Spain. Those years in Europe have definitely helped him so far in the Alamo City.
“The biggest thing will be the experience of playing at that level,” Neal said. “I got a better understanding of my game and a better knowledge of how to play like what to do and what not to do. I think that’s helped me in this situation with the Spurs. Everything is pretty much scripted. Everything that you’re supposed to do is what you do. I’m supposed to shoot threes in the corner and I do. That’s helped me understand and accept my role here.”
After the Spurs gave him a three-year contract over the summer, he admits his expectations were high heading into his rookie season in the NBA but even he didn’t expect to log this many minutes so early in the year.
“It’s good to get a chance to play. I take of advantage of the time that I had when George [Hill] was out and I got 25-30 minutes. I thought I played well,” Neal said. “We happened to win the majority of those games. It’s just a process. I’m starting to get an understanding of the system offensively and defensively and just trying to improve day by day.”
Like most rookies who has played for him, Popovich has never been hesitant to offer some words of wisdom.
“He told me to just play defense, play hard and rebound. He said my offense will come,” Neal said. “Good shots will fall. You’ll get good shots. Just take the open shots. Most of all, he’s been on my butt to play defense and play hard.”
Playing for someone like Pop can be tough at times but Neal is glad he has a good core of longtime Spurs to ask plenty of questions like Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Ginobili.
“When you come into a situation with those guys that have won championships, been on winning teams and who are good people, it makes your job easier. You’re coming into a system and Coach Pop has 977 plays and 36 defensive schemes,” Neal said. “When you can talk to those guys and they can walk you through it on the court and stuff like that, it helps the coaching staff. Just being around those guys, they’re guys that are willing to help and willing to teach. That makes things easier for a guy like me.”
Tonight, he should be one of the first players off the bench once Popovich wants to give Manu some rest. And facing the Mavericks, who are right behind the Spurs in the West standings is something he knows will be a stiff challenge.
“Anybody you play that’s one or two games behind you in the division is an important game. We just played the Lakers and they’re a Western Conference powerhouse and the champion. That was a statement game for us, a benchmark for us to find out where we really are and tonight will be another one,” Neal said. “Dallas is a good team. They have great players, a great record and we’re playing in Dallas. It’ll be a great test for us.”
Even though he spent several years overseas, technically, he is still a rookie. And that means he has to endure several rookie rites of passage but with the Spurs, that’s nothing too demeaning.
“I had to pick up doughnuts. We share the duties between me, James Anderson and Tiago Splitter. We have to pick up doughnuts from Krispy Kreme but the guys here are great,” Neal said. “There’s no rookie hazing or anything like that, no pink backpack or anything like that.”
Logging this many minutes so early could pay huge dividends later in the year. It was a similar situation with Hill last season. He took his lumps early on but by the time the playoffs rolled around, he was ready for a steady diet of playoff basketball. A similar scenario could be playing out with Neal.
great read
Wonder how Splitter feels sitting on the bench and seeing a (much less accomplished) rookie get so many minutes while he piles up DNPs - Coach's decision.
Splitter's over his injuries. Popovich needs to play him so he'll be ready for the playoffs and the Lakers if Blair bombs and when Bonner chokes. Doesn't hurt to have more options.
Love the Neal acquisition - seems like a cold-blooded shooter. We'll see in the playoffs. I remember feeling this way about Roger Mason Jr. too in the RS.
977 plays?
fwiw, Gary Neal has more twenty point games (3) than any rookie except Wall or Griffin.
I doubt it. Or maybe 90% of the plays were made for Finely.
lol donut runs
HOly crap 9 hundred plays, wow ... BTW Neal is being doing a great job, good talent and looks like a gread guy.
For sure is going to ASG, right?
hopefully his in the rookie game and 3pt shootout...
What I remember about the 3 pt shootout is that it was the day that Roger Mason Jr. made it painfully clear he wasn't going to be clutch the rest of the season. His performance was awful, and it never got better.
Neal will be in the rookie game, idk about the 3pt contest though.
unsung? not true among Spurs fans and serious bball watchers.
unknown? surprising? yes
Talent and hustle, a damn good combo.
I wish so much it could be anyone but him. I just can not look at the guy and root for him.
Excellent read. Thanks for posting.
nice article. I'm going to have to keep an eye out for Steve Hunt stories in the future.
The reason any of these players are unknown is because we watch only NBA ball. We don't watch Euroleague (most of us) and we have no way to watch some other leagues. There's some serious talent lurking out there. Not everyone who plays great ball had a high profile road.
I hope Neal's minutes won't be impacted by the return of Anderson. Not one second.
Maybe a small decrease will keep him from hitting a rookie wall? Who knows, hard to say.
Hopefully Manu gets a rest more than anyone.
neal should have been our secret weapon
Originally Posted by ploto
"I wish so much it could be anyone but him. I just can not look at the guy and root for him. "
Neal should have been drafted. Should not have been a "unsung hero". But he had to deal with an accusation of rape while at La Salle University. At the trial he was found not guilty (2005).
Some people will not root for him because of the accusation.
Even if the jury said: no guilty. He has to live with it.
For those who have studied a little bit the case, sure Gary Neal made bad judgment. But it would be very difficult to call it a rape.
He made sex with a drunk student girl at a bball camp. That night she got drunk but refused to leave at her girlmates requests to stay with Neal and another guy in their room.Then, the 2 guys made sex with her as she was drunk (cho-cho nickname, got it?). She never said no or stop. Trial facts.
After some days she said it was non-consensual.
This kind of situation is hard to evaluate. I was not there and you neither. Yes he was stupid. As the judge said: "This court does not condone the lack of respect you showed the victim, yourselves, and the lack of responsibility".
I'd just say: give Gary Neal a chance.
Every person decides his or her criteria for which players, actors, and musicians for whom he or she will root and support. Some people still attend Mel Gibson movies and can separate what he has done and said personally from what he does artistically. Others do not. For me, what Neal did is beyond the line. I am not talking about a legal case and whether or not he was found guilty. I am talking about his admitted personal actions. They are too offensive for me to look past and become a fan of his basketball game. Others can, and that is their choice. It is also my prerogative not to, as well.
Typical Ploto to come in and on the Spurs.
Nothing to see here.
Horrible comparison. Gibson is a grown man with repeated incidences and Neal was just a kid. You are taking something he did when he was 19 and using it to define him as a person now. If there were routine reports of him being a womanizer like Rothlisberger then I could understand where you are coming from, but to crucify him on one incident where he was both not fully mature and intoxicated doesn't make much sense.
like you've rooted for anyone in a Spurs uniform in years.
PS Hi, dummy.
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