Tag: Gary Neal

Crucial questions at Spurs camp

E-N beat writer Jeff McDonald breaks down five storylines to track as the Spurs open training camp today:

1. Tony Parker’s encore

Individually speaking, it’s difficult to imagine point guard Tony Parker turning in a better season than the one he posted in 2011-12. He averaged 18.3 points, a career-best 7.7 assists, made his second All-NBA team and finished fifth in league MVP voting.

If the Spurs are to remain among the league’s elite, Parker will need to duplicate his career year.

2. Leonard’s maturation

The Spurs made no major additions this offseason, betting internal improvement would be enough to keep them among the ranks of title contenders. Hopes are highest for Kawhi Leonard, a revelation as a rookie last season, even in a compressed season.

The 21-year-old small forward’s confidence grew leaps and bounds during an offseason spent with the U.S. Select team and spearheading the Spurs’ summer league squad in Las Vegas.

“We expect more from him this year,” team captain Tim Duncan said. “We’ll see what load he’s ready to carry.”

3. Blair’s comportment

The Spurs’ sometimes starting center went public during the summer with his frustrations in falling out of Gregg Popovich’s playoff rotation two seasons in a row. At one point, DeJuan Blair said he expected to be traded.

Still on the roster at the start of camp, Blair’s attitude will go a long way toward how his contract year plays out. Blair showed up at camp in top shape and saying all the right things, so that’s a start.

4. Backup point guards battle

The Spurs never settled on a backup for Parker once T.J. Ford went down with a career-ending injury last season. The scrum there will be the most intriguing camp battle.

Patrick Mills might be considered the front-runner after running the show for Australia in the Olympics, but Gary Neal, Cory Joseph and rookie Nando De Colo also will get shots.

5. Race for the 15th roster spot

For all intents, the Spurs open camp with 14 of the maximum 15 roster spots filled. That leaves one slot open for six non-roster invitees to arm-wrestle over.

Four of those job-seekers — Eddy Curry, Josh Powell, Derrick Brown and Sherron Collins — have NBA experience.

Given the Spurs’ never-ending search for size, Curry — a 7-footer with a well-documented history of weight issues — is perhaps the most interesting candidate.

Spurs’ renewed defensive effort takes shape

By Mike Monroe

There are some strange new markings guiding the Spurs’ renewed emphasis on defense, reminders to the team’s interior defenders about how to approach certain defensive matchups.

At each end of the three full courts inside the team’s practice facility, magenta-colored lines mark the sides of trapezoids that delineate an area in which defenders are reminded to play traditional post defense — squared-up and keeping their bodies between offensive players and the basket.

The baseline and free-throw line form two sides of the trapezoid. The magenta lines run from the corner of each baseline and sideline diagonally to the sides of the free-throw line.

Curiously, the magenta markings are inscribed with the letters K and M because the club is calling the area inside the trapezoid the Karl Malone zone, homage to the Hall of Fame Utah Jazz power forward who did the bulk of his scoring inside the delineated area.

“If you’re on the line or closer, you play post defense,” Spurs forward Matt Bonner explained. “If you’re on the other side, you play perimeter defense. It determines how you position your feet.”

How did Bonner know that the shape of the Karl Malone zone was a trapezoid?

“I learned that from my daughter’s Sesame Street shape book,” he said.

Jazzy influences: In addition to having a daily reminder of Malone, the Spurs last week were under the observation of another Jazz Hall of Famer, retired coach Jerry Sloan.

Long a favorite of Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, Sloan spent several days at camp and sat in R.C. Buford’s box in the stands at ATT Center to observe Wednesday’s intra-squad scrimmage.

“Having Coach Sloan here was really special, not just for me, but our players,” Popovich said. “They all respect him so much. Being able to just talk basketball and be around the guy was really special for me, because every time the season begins everybody is doing their own thing with their own team and you don’t get to do that. Being able to go to dinner with him, to have him in our coaches meetings and add to what we’re doing is really a win for us. I think he enjoyed it, too.”

First cut: The Spurs waived point guard Sherron Collins, the former Kansas star who played 20 games for the Charlotte Bobcats in 2010-11.

With a backcourt that includes five other players with guaranteed contracts who are either point guards or combination guards — Tony Parker, Gary Neal, Patrick Mills, Cory Joseph and Nando De Colo — the odds were stacked against him.

Nineteen players remain on the training camp roster.

mikemonroe@express-news.net
Twitter: @Monroe_SA

Spurs notebook: Neal know his role as reliable Parker backup

In a perfect world, Gary Neal would prefer to do what he does best.

A scoring guard by trade, he would love to be given the green light to fire away whenever he is in the game.

With the Spurs in search of a point guard to back up All-Star Tony Parker last season, Neal often found himself in the unaccustomed position of having to run the second-unit offense instead of supplying it.

Entering his third NBA season, the 27-year-old Baltimore native is steeled to fill a similar role for the Spurs in the campaign to come.

“That’s pretty much how it went for me last year,” Neal said. “Unless an injury or something occurs, or I get beat out for the spot, I’ll probably be the backup point guard again.”

The 6-foot-4 Neal has plenty of competition for the job, starting with Patty Mills, the lightning-quick Australian who turned heads after his late-season arrival last year and at the London Olympics.

Rookie Nando de Colo and second-year UT product Cory Joseph will get a crack, too.

In a snapshot of how the race stands now, Neal started at point guard for the silver team in Wednesday night’s intrasquad scrimmage, while Mills backed him up.

Neal admits he heard the criticism last season that he is not a natural point guard.

“You hear lots of things about the backup point guard and me playing it,” Neal said. “Last year we went on a 20-game winning streak and won 10 games in a row in the playoffs with me as the backup point guard.”

Though Neal admits he was uncomfortable at his new position at first, he believes he grew more confident by season’s end.

His final numbers were almost identical to the season before, when he earned first-team All-Rookie honors. In 56 games in 2011-12, Neal averaged 9.9 points and shot 41.9 percent from 3-point range.

His assists nearly doubled, to 2.1 per game, while his turnovers remained static at 1.1 a game.

Up for debate: Ever the political animal, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich gave his team a unique bit of homework Thursday.

Before practice, he handed each player a DVD of Wednesday night’s presidential debate to take home and watch.

“Of course, we have so many foreign guys on our team, they were quick to point out they can’t vote, so they shouldn’t be obligated to watch the debate,” forward Matt Bonner said. “Regardless, they live here, so it’s good for them to be aware.”

Bonner, who plans to vote for incumbent Barack Obama over challenger Mitt Romney in November, said Popovich’s message was well received.

“Basketball isn’t everything,” Bonner said. “There are bigger things going on in the country we live in.”

Splitter limited: Center Tiago Splitter, hampered by back spasms, participated only in the non-contact portion of Thursday’s practice.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

Key dates

Saturday: First preseason game — vs. Montepaschi Siena, 7:30 p.m., ATT Center

Oct. 31: Regular-season opener — @Hornets, 7 p.m., KENS, NBA TV

Nov. 1: Home opener — vs. Thunder, 8:30 p.m., TNT