If things don’t work out in the NBA Draft tonight, Gary Neal can look forward to Monday.
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Neal could be chosen in the second round, but if teams pass on the 6-foot-4 Towson University guard, he has options.
“I’ll have a clear picture by Monday,” said Neal, who has offers to play overseas if the NBA doesn’t come knocking. “The draft is hard to figure out.”
Last fall, before Towson went 15-17, Tigers’ coach Pat Kennedy said he could foresee Neal being selected in the late first or early second round in the NBA Draft ? depending on his performance.
Despite scoring 25.3 points per game ? good for fifth in the nation ? and earning a place on the Mid-Major All-American team, Neal hasn’t been projected as a definite selection in either of the NBA Draft’s two rounds.
“I feel like individually, I was a guy that wanted to show the NBA that I could dribble the ball and cut down my turnovers,” Neal said. “I would have loved to win 20 to 23 games. If I was able to do that, that would have solidified me as a pick.”
Neal has worked out individually for Minnesota, Boston, Golden State and Cleveland. Each has a late second-round pick, save for Cleveland, which has told Neal that they’d be interested in him if he goes undrafted.
Neal earned a reputation as a long-range sharpshooter, and worked to become a balanced offensive talent in his senior season, when he handled the ball more and proved to be capable of scoring in the lane.
“Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it,” Neal said. “If you want me to come off the bench and get 10-12 points in 20 minutes, I can do it.”
Some projections have Neal rated behind Maryland duo Mike Jones and D.J. Strawberry at the shooting guard position. CBSSportsline.com rated Neal as the 22nd best player in the nation this past season. An analyst on the same site doesn’t have Neal being drafted, nor does he list Neal in the top-10 at shooting guard ? despite the site’s rating him as the nation’s eighth-best guard in ’06-’07.
THE NEAL FILE
» Age: 22
» Height: 6-foot-4
» Weight: 210 pounds
» Hometown: Aberdeen
» High School: Aberdeen (freshman-junior) and Calvert Hall (senior)
» Did you know? Neal was named the Atlantic 10 Conference rookie of the year as a freshman at LaSalle, averaging a team-best 18.6 points per game ? Neal scored 1,039 points in two seasons at LaSalle ? Finished with 2,295 career points after setting a Towson record with 810 points in ’06-’07
