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Wed, Dec 10th 2008, 09:55
Jermaine set to face former team
Jermaine O’Neal’s career revival remains a work in progress.
The former Indiana Pacers forward still is learning how to play alongside Chris Bosh, the Toronto Raptors’ All-Star forward and first option on offense. O’Neal also has been dinged up — no surprise to Pacers fans — and his coach was fired last week.
But despite the early hiccups and subpar stats, O’Neal is at peace.
That wasn’t the case his final two years in Indiana, he said.
“I really didn’t feel wanted from a management standpoint of view,” he said during a telephone interview Tuesday, one day before facing his former teammates for the first time. “There were comments made behind the scenes. You just want to feel support.
“If you don’t have a relationship with the person that runs the team, you want to move on. Nobody can do their best job if they don’t feel like they’re wanted.”
O’Neal’s comments were directed at Pacers president Larry Bird.
The two had a tumultuous relationship, which ended this summer when Bird traded O’Neal to Toronto for T.J. Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, Maceo Baston and first-round pick Roy Hibbert.
Bird said at the start of training camp that the Pacers hadn’t had a leader since Reggie Miller. O’Neal, a six-time All-Star who averaged 18.6 points as a Pacer, was anointed the leader after Miller retired in 2005.
“I understood he was talking about me when he made comments like that,” O’Neal said. “There’s not many players that would want to stay in a situation like that.”
Bird said he doesn’t “comment on other team’s players,” when reached by phone Tuesday evening.
O’Neal described his relationship with Raptors president Bryan Colangelo as a “very enjoyable situation.”
“He lets you know what he’s thinking — good or bad,” O’Neal said. “I didn’t have that in Indiana. I’m extremely happy where I’m at. We would all like to have a better record, though.”
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