Liam McNeeley

Offense

Liam McNeeley brings a high feel and unselfish approach to the offensive end, but his athletic limitations pose serious questions about his NBA upside. He has flashes of craftiness with the ball, showing deceptive quickness, some wiggle, a competent handle, and the ability to chain together crossovers, hesitations, and directional changes. However, he lacks speed, deceptive pacing, or the ability to accelerate past defenders. Even when isolated against slower bigs, he struggles to generate clean separation.

McNeeley is a below-the-rim player with limited jumping ability, hang time, and fluidity. While he has solid frame and broad shoulders that allow him to create some angles, he lacks the length, bend, and elevation needed to finish effectively in traffic. Inside finishes often result in weak attempts or rejections when challenged by size or length with several misses not even reaching the rim. His lack of explosiveness severely caps his upside as a driver.

He does flash some touch on runners and floaters, and a reliable midrange game could help compensate for his limitations around the basket. But at present, his inability to score efficiently inside is a clear weakness.

Off the ball, McNeeley plays with purpose and moves well enough. UConn utilized him in off-ball actions; coming off staggered screens, pindowns, and handoffs to try and get him open. He makes smart reads as a cutter and will punish defenders who overplay him or cheat on screens. That said, even when he gets a step, his lack of quickness and burst makes it hard for him to consistently capitalize on those openings.

While this usage sort of makes him a theoretical movement shooter, McNeeley was inconsistent shooting on the move.  His accuracy dropped both off screens and when posting or driving and trying to shoot while jumping to the side or fading back.. He does square himself well and has solid footwork, but the lack of quick release and difficulty creating space limits his shot quality.

His catch and shoot jumper is more encouraging. He has a smooth, compact release and solid mechanics when he can get his feet set and shoot in rhythm. The shot isn’t especially fast or high, but when given time and space, he can knock it down at a good clip. He is not someone who stops on a dime or hits step-backs regularly, but he does at least have the confidence and willingness to shoot through slumps.

As a passer, McNeeley is steady and fundamentally sound. He reads the floor well and has good touch and accuracy on his bounce passes, drop-offs, and simple lobs. While he’s not a dynamic creator, he moves the ball within the flow of the offense and displays good touch on entry passes and pick-and-roll feeds.  If anything Liam is generally careful and I didn’t really see many crosscourt or big down court passes.  He tended to be a bit conservative and mostly throws to someone close to him.

Most of McNeeley’s turnovers come more from his shaky handle and lack of strength instead of his decision-making. He gets stripped frequently, both on the move and even just holding the ball, and can be prone to traveling or committing offensive fouls when pressured. He also mishandles passes more than expected, and his ball security will need to tighten to handle NBA physicality and pressure.

McNeeley is an average rebounder, mostly collecting uncontested boards. He lacks the jumping ability, length, or anticipation to grab rebounds in traffic, but he’s willing to box out and put a body on his man. He’ll make hustle plays for loose balls, but doesn’t project as a plus rebounder for his position.

Defense

Defensively, McNeeley is smart, tough, and physical, but is just limited. He moves well enough  and was a solid defender along the perimeter. You don’t necessarily want him hunted or isolated, but he moves his feet, takes good angles, and has the functional strength to absorb contact and not give space versus smaller guards and wings.

Against quicker, more dynamic scorers, McNeeley becomes a target. He lacks lateral quickness and recovery speed, and is particularly vulnerable to quicker guards or downhill attackers. If he gets screened or caught flat-footed, he doesn’t have the tools to recover and contest. His change-of-direction is decent both east to west and north to south that said, his so-so speed, length, and vertical hops can prevent him from contesting step backs or other counter moves particularly well.  He also gives a decent amount of space to guard against the drive, which worked well enough in college, but might not in the NBA, especially since he doesn’t have the tools to close ground and contest quickly.

That said, he does a good job fighting through screens, using strength and anticipation to navigate contact. He generally expects drives rather than jumpers, which again worked more in college than it will in the pros. When guarding quicker guards off ball or defending actions like flares and curls, his lack of speed can be exposed.

McNeeley can occasionally block a shot or disrupt a finish thanks to his strength and positioning, but he’s doesn’t really offer much when helping inside. He doesn’t have the vertical explosiveness to challenge or rotate effectively in the paint. When bigger players build momentum and body him up near the rim, he can get bumped back and struggles to recover and contest effectively.

His team defense is solid. He rotates well, tags rollers, and helps along the perimeter. But he struggled a bit in rotation due to lack of speed, length, and quick or explosive leaping ability. He could diagnose where to go, but struggled to get out to the perimeter fast enough and get good contests. Or he had to sell out trying to contest making him vulnerable to pump fakes and drive bys.

McNeeley does have enough anticipation to grab a few loose balls or deflect passes, but he doesn’t generate many true steals or jump passing lanes often. He’s more of a positional defender who plays within the system than a playmaker on that end.

Overall, he was already sort of at his limit trying to defend at the college level and I think could really struggle in the NBA and will need to provide a lot offensively to make up for defensive limitations.