PHILADELPHIA — When the Utah Jazz were retooling their roster last summer, one of the odd men out was Raul Neto, who had been with the team for four seasons.
The 6-foot-1 guard from Brazil didn’t have a spot on the roster — the Jazz couldn’t afford to keep him — so he signed with the Philadelphia 76ers, where he’s become a mainstay for one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.
While he’s never going to beat out Ben Simmons for the starting point guard spot, he’s been Simmons’ primary backup at times this season and is playing more minutes than he did in his last three years with the Jazz.
Neto has played in every game for Philadelphia this year, averaging 3.9 points and 1.5 assists in 11.7 minutes per game. His best outings came in early November when he played 30 minutes for three straight games, including the one in Salt Lake against the Jazz, as he scored 11 against Utah, 13 at Denver and nine against Charlotte.
In Monday’s game, Neto played 14 minutes but didn’t shoot well, making just 1 of 7 shots and finishing with 3 points and an assist.
Since his rookie season when he started 53 games and averaged 5.9 points, Neto played in barely half the games for Utah the next three seasons, partly due to injuries, and just 11 minutes in the games he did play.
Just as he was in Utah, Neto was his usual affable and accommodating self as he answered questions before the game with the Jazz.
“It’s been great so far. It’s been a change of team, city, conference — a little bit of everything,” he said. “I’ve been pretty happy and taken advantage of everything here.”
Like other former Jazz players, he had nothing but good things to say about his former team and hometown.
“It was great in Utah — they gave me an opportunity,” he said. “I had a great four years with my teammates, the coaching staff, the people there. I’m always going to be grateful for them, but I have great people here too. No bad feelings, just the opposite, just good feelings about those four years.”
So does he miss anything else about Utah?
“I miss the view of the mountains,” he said. “It’s different here — everywhere I look here I see buildings. It’s a bigger city. The nature in Utah was nice, but I’m here for basketball.”