Strongsville grad Neale ready for a busy week
By RICK NOLAND Staff Writer
CLEVELAND -- Thank heavens for call waiting, or Tucker Neale may never have gotten the chance to get busy.
It was Sunday night, about 10:30 p.m., and the 24-year-old was at his parents' house in Strongsville, watching the end of the Olympics on television.
At the same time, the 1990 Strongsville High graduate was talking on the phone with former classmate Duane Sheldon, currently the head boys basketball coach at Midpark High.
As the former teammates on the 1989-90 Strongsville basketball team that went 23-1 were chatting, the phone beaped in Neale's ear.
``I said, `Hold on, Duane. I've got another call,'|'' Neale said Monday evening at Gund Arena. ``Then I came back a few seconds later and told him, `Hey, good news. I'm going to Cavs camp. '|''
Eight hours later, after a fitfull night's sleep, it was 6:30 a.m. Monday morning. Neale was packing his gear in preparation for an 8 a.m. physical at the Cleveland Clinic, with his first practice as part of the Cavs' rookie-free agent mini-camp scheduled to start at 3 p.m.
``I hadn't been up at 6:30 in probably three years,'' laughed the 6-foot-3, 190-pound guard, who graduated from Colgate in 1995 as the school's all-time leading scorer. ``I wanted to jump around and call everybody I knew, but I knew I had to get to bed. ''
Owner of a degree in educational issues, a prelude to law school, Neale is nobody's fool: He knows his chances of making the Cavs' final 12-man roster are about as good as Angola's were against the Dream Team.
At the same time, the young man who may one day become a financial planner also knows the next few days will help him monetarily.
``It's a bargaining chip overseas,'' said Neale, who was added to the Cavs' mini-camp roster when Jeff Grayer and LeRon Ellis pulled out at the last minute. ``Whether I make it here or not, I'll have `NBA' next to my name now. ''
For Neale, it's a classic case of better late than never. He didn't get to go to any NBA camps after his senior season at Colgate because of the NBA lockout. Instead, he made $35,000 (tax free) playing professionally for the Hannover Flyers, a team in Germany that allowed him to put his six years of schooling in that language to good use.
``The crowds were real different,'' said Neale, who averaged 31 points a game. ``One night there'd be 1,000, the next night 4,000, the next night, maybe 200. Sometimes they'd have sparklers, flags and they'd sing all the time. Other times a church could be louder. ''
This coming season, Neale hopes to move up a level in Europe, which would mean playing in France or Turkey. That's considered the second-highest division of European play, with the top clubs playing in Greece, Spain and Italy.
``One thing I won't do is play in the CBA,'' Neale said. ``Financially, I can make more overseas. I'm not crazy enough to take a financial beating for a dream. It becomes a business after a certain point. ''
Neale first learned that lesson coming out of high school, when Division I colleges showed little interest in him despite the fact he averaged 24 points a game on a Strongsville team that was 20-0 during the regular season.
Instead, he played for Division II Ashland, but broke his hip after just four games. When Ashland went under investigation for NCAA violations, he transferred to Colgate and sat out a season.
Once eligible, Neale wasted no time making an impression on the rest of the Patriot League. He averaged 21.9 points as a sophomore, 26.6 as a junior (fifth in the nation) and 24.0 as a senior. He finished his three-year career with a school-record 2,075 points.
During Neale's senior season, he teamed with then-freshman center Adonal Foyle, considered an NBA lottery pick whenever he decides to make himself eligible for the draft, to lead Colgate to its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.
Along the way, Neale lit up the scoreboard for 41 points against Lafayette and a career-high 45 vs. Bucknell. As a senior, Neale was the Red Raiders' MVP; as a junior, he was Patriot League Player of the Year.
After all that, however, the lockout ruined his dream of attending an NBA rookie camp last season.
``It was terrible,'' Neale said. ``I thought my first camp was going to be with the Boston Celtics, then I had to scurry and get a spot overseas as quickly as possible. ''
It may have come a year late, but Neale is now in an NBA camp. It happened, at least in part, because his parents have call waiting, which is probably the only way any caller got through to the Neale household Monday afternoon.
``It happened so late Sunday night, I didn't have a chance to call anyone,'' Neale laughed. ``I'm sure my mom's been burning up the phone lines all day. ''
Copyright 1996 The Medina County Gazette