The 2014-15 season came with high expectations for the Phoenix Suns, a young team on the rise that had won 48 games the year prior. But with the trade deadline departures of Goran Dragic, Isaiah Thomas and three other players, the Suns lost one-third of their roster and fell apart soon after.
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Still, the season was not a complete waste. Young players who needed more minutes finally got them, the core is intact moving forward and Phoenix will look to regroup in the offseason. But in order to put the season in context, it’s time to take a look back on 2014-15 and examine how everyone performed and how they fit in for the long-term.
Today, we begin our daily 2014-15 Phoenix Suns Player Grades with Jerel McNeal, the D-League call-up who has had the shortest tenure in Phoenix of anyone on the roster.
Who is Jerel McNeal? How did he end up in Phoenix? And is there a chance McNeal showed us enough in such limited time to warrant the contract he earned through 2015-16?
Next: Weaknesses
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
Strengths:
Again, it’s hard to fully explore McNeal’s strengths as an NBA player when he only logged a grand total of 34 minutes with the Suns (15 of which came last night). But for starters, he was an upgrade over “veteran” A.J. Price, who missed every three-point attempt he took after Nov. 26, 2014 — before he was even in Phoenix.
But back to McNeal. His limited playing time means most are still unfamiliar with his game, but taking a look at his time with the Bakersfield Jam in the D-League, we get a clearer picture of his strengths.
He’s a bit short for a shooting guard, but he likes to operate with the ball in his hands as a point guard and uses his wider frame to back down defenders before planting a pivot foot, spinning away from his defender and putting up a jump shot in the paint.
He has a crossover that’s low to the ground, and he can effectively use a hesitation dribble out of pick-and-rolls to freeze the hedging defender before blowing by him. He’s not afraid to attack the basket, he creates a little separation with his off-hand when challenging bigger defenders and he really likes to use spin moves to free up space when he’s looking to score.
To be clear, a lot of these moves won’t be anywhere near as effective against NBA defenders, especially since McNeal’s build doesn’t give him as much of an advantage at this level.
But at the very least, he has a decent skill set to work with as a third-string point guard. That will depend on his role with the Summer League team in the offseason, but the good news is that by signing McNeal through the offseason, the Suns will have a point guard for summer games, allowing Archie Goodwin to focus on improving at his true position of shooting guard.
McNeal’s contract for 2015-16 is guaranteed if he’s still on the roster by Jul. 21. That means the Suns could also include him in a summer trade if they need to match salaries, making him an asset in yet another way for Phoenix.
Next: Lowlights
Lowlights:
Poor McNeal. The guy makes his NBA debut, he finally gets signed to a contract for the rest of the season, and what should have been his fifth on-court appearance for the Suns is ruined by a bizarre roster snafu.
The two minutes and missed shot he logged against the San Antonio Spurs on Apr. 12 officially never happened because McNeal wasn’t listed on the active roster. The team was down to nine healthy players and this was probably his best bet at surpassing his season-high 10 minutes, but because his name wasn’t on the roster, he was forced to sit out and the Suns received a technical foul.
The Suns, with only 9 available players, marked Jerel McNeal as inactive and he played. So now they have 8 available players. #SunsAtSpurs
— Paul Coro (@paulcoro) April 12, 2015
Before every game, each team’s head coach gets a list of players. The coach is responsible for circling active players and crossing out inactive ones. But McNeal was not on the roster, created by the league, and head coach Jeff Hornacek didn’t think to check to make sure everyone was on there.
According to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic, Hornacek took blame for the event, but coaches usually only cross out the inactive names before circling everyone else. Chalk it up to another bizarre incident in the 2014-15 season for the Suns, and easily McNeal’s lowlight of his time in Phoenix.
Next: Highlights
Highlights:
Missing one of his rare opportunities to log NBA minutes was a letdown, but making his NBA debut after signing 10-day contracts with the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Hornets and never playing in the past must have felt nice. In three minutes against the Golden State Warriors, McNeal scored two points, making one of his two shots.
Sure, he fouled Stephen Curry twice in that time, and sure it was only three minutes, but his first NBA points had to feel good coming in a game that was close (at the time) against the league’s best team.
McNeal’s D-League accomplishments also made for a nice finish to the season, as he was awarded the 2015 NBA Development League Impact Player of the Year Award.
The NBA D-League announced that Jerel McNeal has won the Impact Player of the Year Award #NBADL
— Chris Reichert (@Chris_Reichert) April 14, 2015
The recipient of the award is voted on by the D-League’s 18 coaches. After joining the Jam, McNeal lead the team to a 20-6 record in his 26 games, averaging 19.2 points, 4.7 assists and 4.2 rebounds in 33.3 minutes per game.
Via a press release from the Phoenix Suns:
“Jerel joined the Jam almost halfway through the season and instantly contributed to the team’s success,” said Chris Alpert, Vice President of Basketball Operations for the NBA D-League. “He was not only able to be a key contributor in Bakersfield, but to parlay his skills into an NBA contract with Phoenix and we’re pleased to congratulate him on an impressive season and this honor.”
Next: Final Grade
Grade: C
Truth be told, McNeal’s impact on the Suns’ season was entirely negligible. He hardly played, he joined the team at a time when they were virtually eliminated from the playoff hunt and despite all his accomplishments in the D-League, his ceiling at this point feels like a third string point guard or summer trade chip.
Still, that’s not really McNeal’s fault. He did the best with the situation he was given and things are looking up for him personally. He made his NBA season debut, and even with that disappointing roster screwup, his name is out there now. Even if he doesn’t have a future in Phoenix, teams always need third string point guard in emergency situations.
McNeal probably doesn’t have a long-term future with the Suns, but he’ll have a chance to prove himself this offseason running the point guard for Phoenix’s Summer League team.
His terrible numbers in limited minutes shouldn’t be the determining factor in assessing his value, but they do have to figure into our grade here. McNeal earns a passing grade due to small sample size and the underdog factor in a lost season that made it easy to wish the best for him.
Next: Phoenix Suns: 10 Takeaways From The 2014-15 Season (Part 2)