Dr. J. Naismith

Huh ... looks like HoopsNation was so far off after all. Raps are apparently after Jermaine.

Source - Click here

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MangoKidHoops

I wouldn't take the deal unless Indiana threw in their pick(12th).

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•LX•

Man I wish I could find a rumour that really excited me. Does this really qualify as a blockbuster? With all the swirling talk I'm thinking there's a huge multi-team deal in the works.

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Superjudge

I think you guys undervalue O'neal.

He may have had some injuriy issues, but standing beside Bosh he might not be too bad.

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MangoKidHoops

If this off-season netted us O'Neal and Jefferson, I'd probably look hard into renewing season tickets.

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Superjudge

meh.

who knows, I'm sure whatever happens none of us will have seen coming anyhow.

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Acie

Do you mean in a suit, during a timeout before he retakes his seat at the end of the bench?

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Belsius

I cant Oneal, I hope we trade for someone else.

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fancylad

If TJ will be the focal part of the trade from Toronto's point of view, i can't see an Oneal trade being the frontrunner. It's just too risky. It may yeild the biggest gain, but it also clearly involves the biggest risk in terms of injury.

I think if other teams pull out of trade talks, then it may go down, but i can't see BC thinking this is his best option.

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jeffb

I agree swap picks then give them #17,T.J and Rasho. But i wouldn't touch O'neal with his huge salary and injury issues!

This guy is scheduled to make 21.3 million next season and 23 million in 09/10 season.His career numbers are 14PPG &7RPG? No way! And the last 4 seasons he's averaged 51GP!!BC would be nuts to pull the trigger on this.

04-05(44 games played)
05-06(51 games played)
06-07(69 games played)
07-08(42 games played)

=Average of 51GP over the last 4 seasons!

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/indiana.htm

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•LX•

TSN is on the story now.

Source - Click here

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Apollo

This is the second time in the past two years the Pacers and Raptors have had Jermaine O'Neal talks. The first time it revolved around the 1st overall pick which Colangelo elected to use in selecting Andrea Bargnani. Now the second time its TJ Ford:

TSN

Ok, so here's the deal. During the time of the first negotiations two years ago the hold up was due to O'Neal's huge contract which had four years remaining. Now, two years later that contract only has two years remaining:

Click here to view Jermaine O'Neal's contract figures

So with that said the risk isn't large anymore. Yes, he's owed a lot of money but with only two seasons left O'Neal isn't a long term liability anymore.

Whats more lets look at the time O'Neal's contract expires, at the end of the 2009/10 season. What do the Raptors have going on that off-season? Well that just happens to be the off-season when Chris Bosh can opt out of his contract and become and unrestricted free agent:

Click here to view Chris Bosh's contract figures

When considering this the deal makes perfect sense. The Raptors will have a good idea about whether Chris is going to opt out or not before the end of the 2009/10 season and I know this because the man is an honest straight forward person. With O'Neals $23M off the books that off-season the Raptors will be able to match any offer for Bosh AND have money left over to bring in another nice player or re-sign O'Neal.


The Raptors need rebounding, defense and low post scoring. Jermaine O'Neal gives you all of that and I think he and Chris would feed off each other. It would also take a lot of pressure off Andrea.


That's not an accurate set of numbers once you consider he entered the league straight out of high school and hardly played in his first four seasons. That skews the numbers:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/...jKk.H7LNGkvLYF

He's been more a long the lines of a 20PPG 9REB player since being traded to the Pacers and receiving minutes.

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jeffb

If this guy stays healthy he can help.But at the same time he's still owed 44 million dollars over the next two seasons.This for a guy averaging 51 GP per season over the last 4 seasons and isn't a 20PPG/10RPG anymore.Like i said earlier alot of money for that big a risk.And when you're talking that kind of dough it is a risk.

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MangoKidHoops

I don't know where Andrea fits in if we deal for O'Neal. That would take away a lot of development. I think Andrea would go in a deal that would net us a swingman.

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Apollo

The thing is he's only 29 years old I don't think Colangelo would pull the trigger on the deal unless O'Neal is cleared by Raptors doctors. For that to happen he can't be damaged goods. So really if the deal does go down then it wouldn't be Colangelo taking a huge risk, it would be Colangelo taking a calculated risk. At the end of the day if it blows up in their faces its not like the Raptors were going to be legit contenders in the next two seasons, the contract expires in two seasons and they will have lots of cap space to re-sign Bosh the max money deal he will command.

Some pressure would be off of him, he wouldn't have to play center 25-30 minutes per game and he could go back to being the sixth man coming off the bench. I don't think he regressed last season, I think he was thrown to the wolves at center and he obviously wasn't ready. He would certainly bounce back playing 30 minutes per game at the forward spot off the bench.

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Adequate Swag

Apollo just summed up everything I was going to say.

This is without a doubt the best option the Raptors have gotten yet.

1) When healthy, JO is a beast. Whoever just quoted his career numbers needs to realize that this guy didn't get minutes when he was in Portland, and multiple seasons averaging close to 0 and 0 will hurt your career numbers. In his prime (which wasn't THAT long ago) this guy was an MVP candidate. Currently, his rebounding and defense (help defense anyway) are still above average, and he can run the pick and roll effectively. In addition, his scoring ability down low would prevent teams from aggresively defending Bosh at the wing or the elbow. JO, health issues aside, brings ALOT to the table in addressing Toronto's on-court deficiencies.

2) As Appolo stated, his contract is, in my opinion, a plus for a couple of reasons. First of all, at the very least, it comes off the books in 2010, the noted big summer for free agency. In addition, an expiring deal that big is a phenomenal trade asset. Teams like the Knicks will certainly be looking to take on deals like this so they can clear lots of room in 2010 for a Lebron run. So if JO shows anything on the court, he immediately becomes a tradeable asset next summer or during the following season.

3) How can you complain about a durability issue when we are trading TJ? You can't expect to trade a guy with significant injury concerns and get back a player of equal value with no such concerns. It's unrealistic. And honestly, I'd rather gamble on a great player staying healthy (or even giving us 60 games) than trade for an average player who has a better chance at playing 80.

The Raptors would be trading their back up point guard for a guy who, when healthy, would start for any team in the Eastern Conference AND fills a need. To those who don't like this deal, please present us with a better realistic option. Is it Boris Diaw? Seriously?

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MangoKidHoops

If the Raps are gonna make a run for it and still have a boatload of room for the 2010 summer FA, then this deal isn't bad. Yeah, it's a lot of money, it's a high risk, high reward type of deal, but the real work is for that summer of 2010. And if J.O. performs beautifully in 08-09, he could be a HUGE bargaining chip with as a 22 million expiring in the 09-10 season.

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MangoKidHoops

Thanks Swag. Beautiful post.

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Superjudge

I said exactly what Swag said!!!!!

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KirHarold

Pull Da Trigga!!!1

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