Updates
Wed, Feb 17th 2010, 09:50
O'Neal ready to prove himself in Miami ... or elsewhere
There was a time not long ago when Jermaine O’Neal spent All-Star Weekend playing in the big game instead of playing the waiting game.
That was the stretch, from 2002-07 with the Indiana Pacers, when he was picked for the East roster and his value was as a vital part of the hoopla rather than as an expensive expiring contract.
Now, as the clock ticks closer to Thursday’s trade deadline, the 31-year-old center’s hopes are less about being an All-Star again than returning to a core role in Miami or wherever his next stop may be.
With Heat president Pat Riley reportedly an aggressive player in the market ahead of the deadline, O’Neal’s $23 million contract that runs out at the end of the season makes him either a burden or a topic of interest in discussions.
“You deal with it,” O’Neal said. “When you come into the season expecting to do certain things, especially when you’re finally healthy, and it doesn’t happen the way you want it happen, you have to stay under control and stay patient. You tell yourself that if it doesn’t work out in this situation, at least other people around the league can see that you’re healthy and can play and make a difference.”
When O’Neal was shipped from Toronto to Miami before the trade deadline last season, the hope was that he could give the Heat a solid interior presence and an inside-out option to go with Dwyane Wade’s transcendent perimeter game.
But with O’Neal in the middle, the Heat were bounced from the first round of the playoffs and are again swimming in mediocrity this season at 27-27.
Comments
Wallpapers
Click on the below images to download your favorite Jermaine O’Neal Wallpapers.
