|
| Team: NON-NBA College Team: Benetton Treviso |
| Physicals | Positions | Rankings | Salary | Misc |
|---|
H: 6' 4"
W: 210 lbs
Bday: 11/03/1984
(25 Years Old)
|
Current: SG
NBA: SG
Possible: SG
| Rank 13 in Overseas Free Agents
| Agent: David Falk
|
High School: Calvert Hall H.S.
Hometown: Aberdeen, Md.
Best Case: Joe Forte
Worst Case: Jimmie 'Snap' Hunter
|
|
| Basic Per Game Statistics - Comprehensive Stats - Statistical Top 25s |
|
| DraftExpress Overseas Free Agent Rankings: Players 13-24
December 29, 2009
Now in his third season in Europe after an eventful NCAA career, few American guards are thriving as much as Gary Neal is in Italy right now. He leads the league in scoring at over 20 points per game, and is managing to do so in an extremely efficient manner (65% 2P, 37% 3P, 5 FTAs per game) despite shouldering an absolutely massive offensive load for retooling Benetton Treviso.
Neal operates as Benetton’s main facilitator and is looking absolutely outstanding creating shots for himself and others on the pick and roll, being arguably the most complete offensive player in that league.
While no one will confuse him with Steve Nash anytime soon, he has improved his playmaking skills substantially while keeping his turnovers to a minimum. Neal is very effective off the dribble and possesses a terrific mid-range game, needing very little space to get his shot off thanks to his quick release and excellent body control, being equally dangerous coming off screens.
Fluid and highly versatile, yet not incredibly explosive, he gets the rim nicely and finishes well around the basket, often opting to dish the ball off to an open teammate cutting to the rim or spotting up if things are looking overly congested in the painted area.
While obviously no NBA team will be giving him the type of Brandon Roy-esqe offensive freedom he’s enjoying in Benetton at the moment, it’s legitimate to wonder whether he has the talent to translate his very intriguing game back to this side of the ocean. "I'm happy in Europe,” Neal has said in the past, “but of course I'd like to play in the NBA because it's in the United States where it's easier on the family."
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.
As far as we can tell, Neal has never participated in any NBA summer leagues (even after leading the Turkish league in scoring at 26.5 ppg as a rookie) and was not invited to the NBA pre-draft camp either following his senior year.
Is it time to amend these wrongs and give him a longer look this summer? We absolutely think so. It seems like Neal is open to that too.
“He's game for anything,” his agent David Bauman told us via email. “He'd love to be in NBA, but he won't do it if it means a big financial loss.”
"The key for Gary is he sees basketball as his profession. If he can make a good living in the NBA, he would love to go. But he won't be like many of these players today who will claw and fight in the summer league, turn down good money overseas, just to try to make a roster in October."
"He has come a long way since Towson State and being undrafted. His first job was for $55,000 in a small team in Turkey. He did so well that after 4 months, he was 'traded' to FC Barcelona for big money. He's been blossoming in Treviso for the past two seasons. He is the perfect player for Europe and has adjusted well."
"Gary is a free agent after this season, so everything is possible."
"I remember during Gary's NBA workouts guys like Leo Papile of the Celtics and Tony Ronzone of the Pistons telling me Gary is 'instant offense' for a second unit, aka Flip Murray."
"Having said that, if the right situation presented itself to Gary for the NBA, we're all ears. Otherwise, he knows he will have a long and lucrative career in Europe (similar to the trajectory of our client J.R. Holden and others...)"
 [Read Full Article]
Portsmouth Invitational Tournament: Day Two
April 5, 2007
Neal broke out and showed his scoring prowess during his second game of the PIT. His shot from three point range didn’t fall with tremendous accuracy, but just about everything he put up looked good. Neal had a number of creative drives inside where he used a solid dribble and good lateral moves to get to where he wanted on the floor. Neal created his angles to the basket with good effect, not over-committing to a drive and putting himself in traffic or too far toward the baseline. He had several drives that displayed his ability to absorb some contact from larger opponents while maintaining the balance and finish needed to put his shot in up off the glass.
Neal’s jump shot was consistent in release and body form regardless of shot type. His set shots were fundamental and smooth, but his ability to move in any direction and still maintain control was impressive. He’s got good core strength which helps him to maintain control when moving and there is no wasted motion in his quick release.
Defensively Neal really needs to apply himself more because he’s got the body to be a physical and disruptive defender but hasn’t shown the desire to apply himself. There was one play when his bench was up and barking at him to pressure the ball handler and when Neal did this he was able to move his feet and use his hands to disrupt his opponents dribble. More of this type of effort and intensity will be vital for a shooting guard of his diminutive stature.
[Read Full Article]
NCAA Weekly Performers, 1/30/07-- Part One
January 31, 2007
Currently the 3rd leading scorer in the country at 26 points a game, Gary Neal is a player who is very much deserving of at least a mention on this site. Playing in a fairly strong conference as far as mid-majors go (the Colonial—which sent George Mason to the Final Four last year), his numbers are legit when looking at the way he scores them, on tape at least.
Neal has decent, but not great size for the NBA shooting guard position, standing right around 6-4 and with a pretty good build. He doesn’t have a great wingspan, but is athletic enough to play in the NBA. He is a very fluid player who moves effortlessly on the court, possessing a solid first step, good quickness, and the ability to create separation from defenders with the way he gets off the floor in the mid-range area. Not terribly explosive vertically, he seems to prefer pulling-up off the dribble rather than slashing all the way to the basket and finishing strong.
This is exactly Neal’s best attribute as far as the NBA is concerned -- his mid-range game. He is very much adept at finding spaces within his team’s half-court offense to get his shot off, and is excellent at pulling up sharply and creating quick separation from defenders for a variety of tough jumpers from 18-20 feet out, contorting his body thanks to his strength and sometimes using the glass to his advantage. Although his numbers from 3-point range aren’t fantastic-- 32.6% on the year-- he appears to be a very good shooter who will certainly be able to knock down shots at a good rate at the next level once he has the benefit or true spacing on the floor, not to mention man to man coverage rather than an entire team defense geared almost solely towards stopping him. Once Neal gets his feet set, he is extremely dangerous, possessing excellent shooting mechanics and range that extends well beyond the 3-point line. In the game against Delaware in particular, he hit a couple of open shots from 25-30 feet out, and looked extremely smooth and effortless doing so.
The reason Neal’s percentages suffer are two-fold. For one, he plays for a very average team (5-6 in the CAA, 11-11 overall) and therefore draws an excessive amount of attention from opposing defenses. Even more so, though, his shot-selection is pretty poor, having a tendency to rely too much on his perimeter jumper, forcing the issue excessively, and taking contested shots early in possessions with multiple hands in his face. He’s getting better in this area as the season moves along, as indicated by his rising assist totals (9 for example just last week against UNC-Wilmington), but this is still very much a concern as it often is with high-volume scorers at the mid-major level. His court vision seems to be pretty solid, particularly off the dribble (he even gets some minutes at the point on occasion), but his decision making is still lacking all too often.
The fact remains, though, that Neal is capable of hitting some really difficult off-balance shots, especially coming off screens where he has a second to get his feet set and release a clean look. One problem we noticed on tape is that he doesn’t have a particularly quick release, so there are question marks about his ability to get his shot off against bigger and more athletic defenders—the kind the NBA is known for at the 2-guard position. This is something he’ll have to show starting at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (all-seniors camp held in April) and if he does well there, then at the Orlando pre-draft camp in June and in NBA workouts.
In terms of his ball-handling and slashing ability, we should note that he averages about 8 free throw attempts per game, but only had 6 free throws total in the two games we saw him participating in, meaning he’s likely better in this area than he looked in the games we saw on tape. It’s quite clear that he is much better going left than he is right, but we’re eager to see him in person to get a better read on just how advanced his slashing ability is.
Defensively, we can’t say that Neal is anything more than average. He doesn’t seem to put that much effort into this part of his game, letting less athletic players blow right by him apathetically all too often, especially following possessions where he wasn’t the one who ended up shooting the ball. His body language in particular can look very concerning at times, hanging his head a bit when things don’t go exactly his way, and visibly pouting when a teammate dares to look him off and deny him a touch. It’s possible that we just caught him in some bad moments compared with the way he usually plays, so this is another thing we’ll be looking at when we inevitably see him in early April in Portsmouth.
[Read Full Article]
| |
