Gary Neal was one of those guys a lot of fans saying during the playoffs “where do the Spurs keep finding these guys?” He played a huge role for San Antonio in the NBA Finals.
Neal was a reserve guard (he did start 17 games for San Antonio last season) who averaged 9.5 points a game, mostly often knocking down threes but he could score off the bounce or the catch-and-shoot, and he played smart defense.
Neal was a restricted free agent and while the Spurs signing of Marco Belinelli meant they were not likely to match an offer for Neal, offers were slow to come in because the Spurs could threaten to match and force a sign-and-trade. Other teams were leery to make an offer.
That may be about to change because the Spurs may be about to pull their qualifying offer, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.
Hearing: San Antonio in process of withdrawing qualifying offer to Gary Neal, making Neal an unrestricted free agent and sure to speed exit
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 23, 2013
He will not last long on the open market, a number of teams that could use a guard will jump into the mix. He is a nice sixth man, volume scorer kind of player (who has played a little point to, if a team needs that).