Bringing Jermaine O’Neal to the Cavs Would Be a “Disaster”
J.O. at home. Photo. Steve HillThe end of last week saw a flurry of rumors about the Cavs‘ potential interest in acquiring Jermaine O’Neal to give LeBron some much-needed help.
Cleveland’s News-Herald apparently thinks brining in J.O. would be a terrible idea:
The buzz this week in Cleveland has been the trade rumor involving Pacers forward/center Jermaine O’Neal.
Yes, O’Neal is available, but not for the expiring contracts of the Cavs’ Wally Szczerbiak and Eric Snow, a league source confirmed last week.
However, not everyone thinks it’s a great idea bringing O’Neal to the Cavs.
“He’s not the guy that’s advertised,” said one league source.
O’Neal is billed as an athletic 7-footer who can run the floor. There’s only one drawback: He doesn’t run.
“He’d be the worst guy for LeBron (James),” the source said. “He’s a black hole. He never passes out of double teams. It would limit what LeBron can do. It would be a disaster.”
O’Neal hasn’t played as many as 70 games since the 2003-04 season. He’s been injury-prone. He’ll be 30 in October and has much wear and tear on his body. He has $44 million remaining on his contract and has no plans of opting out.
“Disaster” is a little much, don’t you think? It would only be a disaster if Jermaine never played a game. If he comes back and plays 70+ games, it would clearly make the Cavs a significantly better team. It doesn’t really matter who they give up for him either, all pieces beyond LeBron are clearly expendable.
From the other side, yes, the Pacers want to unload O’Neal’s monster contract, but they also probably think they can get better than whatever mess of spare parts the Cavs can offer in return.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:30 am
fallinup says:
1: Who would Indy want to get in return? And aside from a fire sale, who could the Cavs give to them?
2: JO is overpayed and hardly plays.
3: I could see JO and Lebron eventually coming to blows in the locker room.
4: JO seems to be injured a lot and only proved valuable in the playoffs when Reggie Miller was still around. His best play was the crack in the jaw he gave to the detroit fan that rushed the court.
No No to J.O.!
June 9th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Chuck........I Love this game says:
uummm… No, the cavs would be worse with this injury prone loser who eats up cap space. Dude NEVER plays anymore. If I were the cavs I would leave this one be. Not unless the pacers are trying to take big ben off they hands. Taking ben wallace is the only way I’d do it!
June 9th, 2008 at 10:34 am
yallallreadyknow says:
hehehe…
forget James. How about ben wallace and jermaine o’neal on the same team? hehaha.
now…that locker room would be very exciting
June 9th, 2008 at 10:35 am
doc says:
He still in the league?
June 9th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Korady says:
““Disaster” is a little much, don’t you think?”
I thought it was an understatement
June 9th, 2008 at 11:09 am
MoxWestCoastRep says:
A former all-star and current over the hill big man to the cavs- Take 2.
June 9th, 2008 at 11:26 am
evan says:
I’m glad the Cavs are committed to trading for no one drafted after the year 2000.
June 9th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Taj says:
He doesn’t run?? Neither do the CAV’s!!!!!
June 9th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
DO says:
jermaine just needs a change of scenery. if he goes to a winning team, he’ll play his ass off, unless they start losing.
June 9th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
evan says:
@DO : Can you think of anyone that’s gotten the “change of scenery” trade that’s gone to his new place and thrived? I can’t considering an improvement in stats, improvement in attitude and helping his new team become successful.
The closest I could come up with for recent title winners was Antoine Walker with the Heat in 2006. He wasn’t even in that J.O. situation and was traded in a massive deal with the C’s.
June 9th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Big Shot BOB says:
No way I say!!! This would be an experiment gone worng…Similar to waht my Warriors tried to do this season with bringing Chris Webber back…just didn’t work.
June 9th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
D.I. Dollar says:
Just because J.O. has the (old and NBA Finals) Kobe mentaltity of having to have the ball in his hands on a sorry team, doesn’t mean that he won’t concede to play with a super star like Lebron. Why wouldn’t it work? He can score is used to having the team on his shoulders. Lebron needs help desperately.
June 9th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
kobeef says:
Jermaine needs to get healthy again.
It will take a lot of work to make that happen and I am not sure he’s got the attitude to do that.
If he can get back into shape he’s worth looking at IF you are a team that has some big contracts you need to move to imprve your team. Chicago is a team I could also see involved in the discussions re. O’Neal because they need to move some guys regardless of who they draft (Kirk if it is Rose and Gooden if it is Beasley)
Obviosuly, NY has a few guys who are much worse options than Jermaine and would be happy to trade for him (Marbury, Jerome James, Jared Jeffries, Eddy Curry)
June 9th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
JoeGym says:
Something about him I never really liked, he’s a 7footer who I believe led the league in getting his shot blocked?
Think about that, would LBJ put up w/a yet another guy who cant finish after going againts triple teams all nite? A guy who’s supposed to be an All Star at that, I’d pass unless he was the only option, Cavs have to do something or LeBron is gone.
June 10th, 2008 at 12:02 am
krip says:
JO would definitely improve the cavs, right now everyone on the teams besides maybe West and Gibson (shooters) are totally and utterly expendable. I don’t know if pacers want any of the cavs tho, maybe Big Z or Ben Wallace and change?
June 10th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Icy says:
I’ll give you an AK47 for your mess of contracts. He can run with your and with iggy you can have a front three that will kill in the east.
Utah would just need a third team so they can get at least one guy in return that would be worth keeping.