Weaknesses:
To be honest, McNeal hasn’t gotten enough playing time for us to have a completely clear picture of what his weaknesses are. But the fact that he’s barely cracking the rotation on a team finishing their season in an injury-plagued state, along with the fact that he spent most of the year in the D-League, indicates he’s just not quite talented enough to warrant more playing time anyway.
Before the season finale last night, McNeal had played a grand total of 19 minutes officially (21 unofficially, but we’ll get to that in a bit). He had a Player Efficiency Rating of -10.9 and after making his first shot in a Suns jersey, he proceeded to go 0-for-5 over the next three and a half games.
After 10-day contracts with the Hornets and Jazz, Jerel McNeal finally gets his NBA debut. Good for him
— Scott Howard (@ScottHoward42) April 3, 2015
McNeal finished the season with 34 minutes in five appearances for the Suns, averaging 1.5 points, 0.5 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. He made three of his 10 shots and went 1-for-2 from downtown.
McNeal registered a “DNP – CD” in one of his seven possible games with the Suns and he didn’t get to the foul line until last night’s season finale. His shooting percentages in 27 games with the Bakersfield Jam this year indicate he’s not a tremendous shooter (43.3 percent from the field and 34.9 percent from three-point range), which is potentially problematic for a 6’3″ guard who isn’t much of a distributor either.
Next: Strengths