Jermaine O'Neal

Q & A

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Recent Q & A

Question:

What did you do to train during the lockout?

Answer:

I worked out all over the place during the offseason, in Houston with T-Mac, in Chicago, in Vegas and L.A., and even in China. I really wanted to focus on my legs, and get the legs strong, get the quads strong so I can control the knee.

Question:

Why did you not re sign with the Miami Heat during the off-season?

Answer:

I knew what the Heat were trying to do, and I could have re-signed back with those guys,. But it comes down to fit. It comes down to personalities and style of play, and I thought Boston has all that for me. It came down to winning now, and not worrying about chemistry.

Question:

Does it matter to you if you're starting with the Celtics or not?

Answer:

Not at all. As a competitor I want to be in there contributing and helping my team out, but at the end of the day all that matters is that we win. Whether I am in the starting line up or coming off the bench, the only thing I'm concerned with is doing whatever I can to help the team.

Question:

I saw you hurt your hamstring in camp. Is that a serious injury? Something we should be concerned about?

Answer:

I'm not really concerned about it. I'm more concerned about being in with the guys and getting that chemistry up. The first four days were really good. Wednedsay, Thursday, and Friday, I was just starting to get comfortable with the system, the philosophies that Doc wanted and also playing with those guys. It's very difficult to learn areas of an offense and defense when you're not in there. That's probably the most frustrating part about it, but I don't have any doubt in my mind that I'll be back in there soon.

Question:

Do you feel like you have to carry the load for the Heat?

Answer:

We have a lot of guys on this team who play very, very well. Obviously, having D-Wade is definitely a bonus, but we have a lot of guys who can really put the ball in the hoop and on any given night guys can go for big nights. It makes it easier. It has been a while since the knee surgery and I’ve been struggling with it, trying to get back. All in all it’s not really about me scoring 20-plus points a game, it’s about me helping the team get to the next level and that’s really where my focus is.

Updates

Fri, Jan 16th 2009, 10:31

O'Neal indifferent to trade talk

Say what you want about Toronto Raptors centre Jermaine O’Neal, he’s agreeable.

Come off the bench behind Andrea Bargnani? Hey, he’s all for it.

“I have no ego about that,” O’Neal said.

Get traded before the NBA’s Feb. 19 deadline? That’s fine, too.

“If I was to get traded, God bless ‘em,” O’Neal said after practice yesterday. “I have a really good agent in Arn Tellum and he keeps me aware of what teams are trying to acquire me. ... And [Raptors president] Bryan Colangelo? He’s my man. We have a very friendly relationship and I respect his view.”

It’s fitting the Raptors will roll into Indianapolis tonight for the 41st game of the season, the halfway point of a campaign that has been decidedly half full.

O’Neal was acquired from the Indiana Pacers in the off-season for T.J. Ford and Rasho Nesterovic. Had things gone as planned, O’Neal would be the engine driving Toronto to new heights as he returned triumphant to the city where he starred for eight seasons.

Instead, the Raptors are eight games under .500, alone in 12th place and three games out of a playoff spot. O’Neal has been spotty, mixing some impressive stretches of play with bouts of rust while missing 12 games because of injury.

It hasn’t worked, though optimism remains. “There are a lot of games to play,” Raptors head coach Jay Triano said. “We’ve still got 50 cents on the dollar, so we need to cash that and see if we can get on a roll.”

As the season reaches its fulcrum, the elephant in the half court is the role O’Neal will play from here on in.

In O’Neal’s absence, Bargnani has exploded, easily playing the best basketball of his career, looking every inch the No. 1 overall pick he was in 2006.

In the nine games Bargnani has started at centre in place of O’Neal, he’s averaged 22.3 points a game, 7.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks, while shooting 55.7 per cent from the floor and a sizzling 57.8 per cent from three-point land.

O’Neal says he has no problem working his way back into the lineup slowly if he does play tonight. He said the decision will be made this morning, when the Raptors’ training staff can evaluate how his right knee responded to practice yesterday.

But whether it’s tonight or Sunday against the Phoenix Suns, O’Neal says he’s fine backing up Bargnani for now.

“I’m going to come off the bench and I’m going to work my way back into it,” said O’Neal, who explained that what was a relatively innocuous condition was made worse when his knee swelled considerably on the four-hour flight from San Francisco to Toronto in late December. “He’s earned the right to stay in the starting lineup.”