Sharpshooter Neal makes case to NBA teams

LAS VEGAS - As he trotted through the tunnel leading out of Thomas & Mack Center for the last time Sunday, Gary Neal stripped off his white and black Spurs summer league jersey and lobbed it into the crowd.

He hopes to replace it with a new NBA uniform soon enough.

"We have to see if I get a call back, or go back to Europe," Neal said. "I think the five games I played here didn't hurt me at all."

A 25-year-old shooting guard who has spent the past three seasons overseas, Neal capped a strong summer league with a spectacular flourish Sunday, making a strong bid for an invitation to training camp - in San Antonio or elsewhere.

In one of the most brilliant Las Vegas shooting displays this side of the famed Gun Store, Neal made six 3-pointers and scored 25 points - including 13 in the game's first 2:45 - to pace the Spurs to a 78-64 victory in their summer league finale.

With it, the Spurs joined Toronto as the only team to leave Las Vegas 5-0, having done so with a roster devoid of assured NBA players. The Grizzlies, their foil in the finale, by contrast boasted three players with NBA experience - Hasheem Thabeet, Sam Young and DeMarre Carroll.

"It's just a tribute to the guys and how hungry they are," summer league coach Mike Budenholzer said. "There's a reason we wanted them to be on our summer league team. They're competitive and play hard. Sometimes that's more important than the talent and the draft picks."

The Spurs certainly didn't expect to go undefeated in Vegas, not when NBA-level players DeJuan Blair, Garrett Temple and James Gist began dropping like flies. First-round pick James Anderson didn't play either, held out with a hamstring strain.

Of course, finishing undefeated wasn't exactly a goal for the Spurs' brain trust. After all, championship trophies are handed out in June, not July.

"We try and not lose sight that it's summer league, and we're evaluating and trying to look at (players) in certain situations," Budenholzer said. "Winning and losing isn't an important part of that evaluation for us."

With the NBA free-agent market for shooters drying up, especially after Spurs target James Jones announced Sunday he would re-sign with Miami, Neal picked a good time to get hot.

Undrafted out of Towson University in 2007, Neal is hopeful this summer might finally break down the door to a career in the NBA. He played the past two seasons with Italian club team Benetton Treviso, once home to Vinny Del Negro and Andrea Bargnani.

The Spurs are in the market for a shooter and, well, Neal can do that. In five games in Vegas, he led the Spurs in scoring (16 points per game) and made 17 of 30 from 3-point range.

He opened Sunday's finale making four consecutive 3-pointers. The first ball he tossed up, just seconds into the opening quarter, resulted in a four-point play.

"After that," Neal said, "I knew I had the green light for at least three more shots."

By the 7:15 mark, the score was Neal 13, Grizzlies 0. By half, he had pumped in 23.

If Neal's objective coming into Vegas was to open some eyes, mission accomplished.

"I'm sure a lot of people are talking about him," Budenholzer said.

Whether that translates to an NBA gig for Neal remains to be seen. The summer league annals are littered with players who have starred in July never to be heard from again.

But for one magical afternoon, Neal was the talk of Las Vegas. With summer league over and his jersey perhaps bound for eBay, Neal is headed home, to wait for the phone to ring.

"I hope it does," Neal said. "We'll see."