Gary Neal

Gary Neal

Neal with the Hornets
Free agent
Position Shooting guard / Point guard
Personal information
Born (1984-10-03) October 3, 1984
Baltimore, Maryland
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight 210 lb (95 kg)
Career information
High school Aberdeen (Aberdeen, Maryland)
Calvert Hall (Towson, Maryland)
College La Salle (2002–2004)
Towson (2005–2007)
NBA draft 2007 / Undrafted
Playing career 2007–present
Career history
2007–2008 Pınar Karşıyaka (Turkey)
2008 FC Barcelona (Spain)
2008–2010 Benetton Basket (Italy)
2010 Baloncesto Málaga (Spain)
2010–2013 San Antonio Spurs
2013–2014 Milwaukee Bucks
2014–2015 Charlotte Bobcats / Hornets
2015 Minnesota Timberwolves
2015–2016 Washington Wizards
Career highlights and awards
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Gary Neal (born October 3, 1984) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Neal attended Aberdeen High School and Calvert Hall College High School in Maryland before playing college basketball at La Salle University and Towson University. He began his professional career abroad with teams in Turkey, Spain and Italy before signing with the San Antonio Spurs in 2010. At 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall and weighing 210 lb (95 kg), Neal is considered a combo guard.

High school career

Born in Baltimore, Neal played at Aberdeen High School and one year at Calvert Hall College High School. As a junior, he led Aberdeen to a 21–4 record and won their state championship, while averaging a triple double per game. One of his Aberdeen teammates was former George Mason forward-center Jai Lewis. During his senior season, his Calvert Hall team went 22–9. One of his teammates on that squad was former Miami shooting guard Jack McClinton.

College career

As a freshman, Neal was the Atlantic Ten Rookie of the Year. He led the La Salle Explorers in scoring with an 18.6 average during his two seasons for the Explorers.[1] Before the 2004–05 season, Neal was dismissed from the team due to a rape allegation by a University of New Haven women's basketball player who was working at La Salle camp.[2] Neal was later acquitted after prosecutors failed to convince a jury that the woman was too drunk to consent to sex.[1]

Neal sat out the 2004–05 season to transfer to Towson University.[1] He initially joined Towson with no athletic aspirations, but was given a walk-on spot on their basketball team in 2005–06 conditional on the result of his rape case. Neal was activated as soon as he was acquitted, and received a scholarship for his senior year in 2006–07. That year, he returned to high scoring numbers averaging 25.3 points per game, 3.5 assists per game, 4.2 rebounds per game, and he led the Tigers to the 2nd round of the 2007 NCAA conference tournament, before losing to Old Dominion University. He became the fourth basketball player in NCAA history to score at least 1,000 points with two different schools.[3]

Professional career

Neal in 2010
Neal in 2010

Pinar Karsiyaka (2007–2008)

Neal was eligible in the 2007 NBA draft in June and was projected to be on the bubble to get drafted. Neal went undrafted. When playing for Pınar Karşıyaka, Neal led the Turkish Basketball League in scoring, averaging 23.6 points per game.[4]

FC Barcelona (2008)

Eventually, FC Barcelona bought out Neal's Pınar Karşıyaka contract. Neal was signed by FC Barcelona in January 2008. In Barcelona he averaged 2.3 points per game[5] in the Euroleague and 3.3 points per game[4] in the ACB with Barcelona during the 2007–08 season.

In June 2008, he was signed by the Italian Serie A outfit Benetton Treviso. With Benetton, he was named to the ULEB Eurocup (the league below the Euroleague level) All-Eurocup Second Team during the 2008–09 season.[6]

Neal then joined the Spanish club Unicaja Málaga,[7] where he finished the 2009–10 season, averaging 12.6 points per game in Spanish League play.[8]

San Antonio Spurs (2010–2013)

On July 22, 2010, the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA signed Neal to a three-year deal.[9] In the 2010–11 NBA season, Neal played 80 games and started one and scored 45.1% of his field goal attempts, 41.9% of three-pointers, and 80.8% of free throws; he also averaged 9.8 points per game and 2.5 rebounds per game.[10] On April 27, 2011, during game 5 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs and the Spurs trailing the Memphis Grizzlies 97–94 and the series 3 games to one, Neal hit a three-pointer with 1.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter.[11] The Spurs beat the Grizzlies 110–103 in overtime and forced a sixth game in the series.[12] However, the Spurs lost Game 6 to the Grizzlies 99–91 and were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round.[13] In 22 minutes that game, Neal scored 8 points and made 5 rebounds, one assist, and one steal.[14]

On January 2, 2012, the Spurs assigned Neal to the Austin Toros of the NBA D-League as he recovered from an appendectomy.[15] However, he was recalled on the next day without playing any games for the Toros.[16]

On December 10, 2012, Neal scored an NBA career-high 29 points to go along with his career-high 7 3-pointers made in a win against the Houston Rockets in overtime.[17]

On June 11, 2013, in Game 3 of the 2013 NBA finals, Neal scored a career playoff high of 24 points on 9 of 17 from the field and 6 of 10 from 3-pointers to help lead the Spurs to a blowout 113–77 victory over the Miami Heat.[18] However, the Spurs lost the series in seven games.

Milwaukee Bucks (2013–2014)

On July 30, 2013, Neal signed with the Milwaukee Bucks.[19]

Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets (2014–2015)

On February 20, 2014, Neal and Luke Ridnour were traded to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for Jeff Adrien and Ramon Sessions.[20] In April 2014, Charlotte changed their name to the Hornets. On December 12, 2014, he had his best game since the 2012–13 season with the Spurs when he scored 25 points in the Hornets' 107-113 double overtime loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.[21]

Minnesota Timberwolves (2015)

On February 10, 2015, Neal was traded, along with Miami's 2019 second-round draft pick, to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Mo Williams, Troy Daniels and cash considerations.[22]

Washington Wizards (2015–2016)

On July 9, 2015, Neal signed with the Washington Wizards.[23] During the 2015–16 season, he missed 23 games due to injury, forcing the Wizards to waive him on March 9, 2016.[24]

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2010–11 San Antonio 80 1 21.1 .451 .419 .808 2.5 1.2 .3 .1 9.8
2011–12 San Antonio 56 7 21.5 .436 .419 .781 2.1 2.1 .5 .0 9.9
2012–13 San Antonio 68 17 21.8 .412 .355 .865 2.1 1.9 .4 .0 9.5
2013–14 Milwaukee 30 2 20.2 .390 .360 .833 1.7 1.5 .2 .0 10.0
2013–14 Charlotte 22 1 23.0 .438 .406 .961 1.8 1.7 .5 .0 11.2
2014–15 Charlotte 43 0 21.7 .359 .293 .863 2.2 1.9 .4 .0 9.6
2014–15 Minnesota 11 1 23.8 .429 .355 .879 3.2 1.8 .6 .0 11.8
2015–16 Washington 40 2 20.2 .465 .410 .855 2.1 1.2 .5 .0 9.8
Career 350 31 21.4 .423 .383 .849 2.2 1.6 .4 .0 9.9

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2011 San Antonio 6 0 18.5 .370 .263 1.000 3.0 .8 .2 .2 7.7
2012 San Antonio 14 0 15.5 .476 .444 .846 1.3 1.4 .1 .0 7.5
2013 San Antonio 21 0 18.6 .385 .348 1.000 2.1 .7 .1 .0 6.8
2014 Charlotte 4 0 26.0 .353 .222 .714 2.0 1.0 .0 .0 11.3
Career 41 0 17.5 .411 .364 .944 2.0 1.0 .1 .0 7.2

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lambrecht, Gary (November 26, 2005). "Neal expected to join Towson". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
  2. ↑ Katz, Andy. "Maine coach to replace Hahn". ESPN. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
  3. ↑ Outside the Lines, ESPN, February 20, 2011
  4. 1 2 Neal, Gary . Euroleague.net. Retrieved on July 28, 2013.
  5. ↑ – 2007–08 Stats. Euroleague.net. Retrieved on July 28, 2013.
  6. ↑ – 2008–09 All-Eurocup first, second teams announced. Eurocupbasketball.com (March 27, 2009). Retrieved on 2013-07-28.
  7. ↑ – El Unicaja contrata al escolta Gary Neal hasta final de temporada. (Spanish). Marca.com (April 6, 2010). Retrieved on 2013-07-28.
  8. ↑ – Historial estadístico Neal, Gary (Spanish). Acb.com. Retrieved on July 28, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Spurs Sign Gary Neal". NBA. July 22, 2010. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Gary Neal career stats". NBA. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  11. ↑ NBA (April 27, 2011). "Gary Neal Forces OT at the Buzzer". YouTube.
  12. ↑ "Gary Neal's buzzer-beating 3-pointer gives Spurs chance to win in OT". Associated Press. April 28, 2011. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  13. ↑ "Grizzlies hold on, win series 4–2 to stun top-seeded Spurs". ESPN. Associated Press. April 29, 2011. Retrieved June 28, 2011.
  14. ↑ "Box Score: Grizzlies 99, Spurs 91". ESPN. April 29, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
  15. ↑ Spurs Assign Guard Gary Neal to NBA D-League Affiliate Austin Toros. Nba.com (January 2, 2012). Retrieved on 2013-07-28.
  16. ↑ Spurs Recall Gary Neal from Austin Toros. Nba.com. Retrieved on July 28, 2013.
  17. ↑ Notebook: Spurs 134, Rockets 126. Nba.com (December 10, 2012). Retrieved on 2013-07-28.
  18. ↑ Heat at Spurs – June 11, 2013 – Game Preview, Play by Play, Scores and Recap on. Nba.com (June 11, 2013). Retrieved on 2013-07-28.
  19. ↑ Bucks Sign Free Agent Guard Gary Neal
  20. ↑ Bobcats Acquire Neal, Ridnour from Bucks in Exchange for Sessions, Adrien
  21. ↑ Grizzlies outlast Hornets 113-107 in 2 OTs
  22. ↑ Minnesota Timberwolves Acquire Gary Neal and Second-Round Draft Pick from Charlotte
  23. ↑ "WIZARDS SIGN Gary Neal". MonumentalNetwork.com. July 9, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  24. ↑ "WIZARDS SIGN MARCUS THORNTON". MonumentalNetwork.com. March 9, 2016. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
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