SI: Jermaine O'Neal wants trade, sees Lakers as best fit

I'd have no fear of the Lakers if getting O'Neal means losing Odom. No fear at all.

Sounds like a subtle swipe at Carter.

Evan

 

JO is overrated. He gets paid First Team All-NBA money and didn't even average 20 PPG this past season. In fact, I don't think Larry Legend receives enough scrutiny over the mess he's created in Indiana. They have FAR too much money and years invested in mediocre players.

JO
07/08 $19,710,000
08/09 $21,352,500
09/10 $22,995,000

Murphy
07/08 $9,206,349
08/09 $10,126,984
09/10 $11,047,619
10/11 $11,968,253

Dunlady
07/08 $8,219,008
08/09 $9,000,000
09/10 $9,780,992
10/11 $10,561,984

Marquis Daniels
07/08 $6,370,000
08/09 $6,860,000
09/10 $7,350,000 (TO)

Tinsley
07/08 $6,300,000
08/09 $6,750,000
09/10 $7,200,000
10/11 $7,500,000

Their best young player (Granger) is due for a payday sooon. They haven't drafted well, just gave three years to a questionable NBA talent (Diener) and apparently are trying to trade the player that was supposed to be the centerpiece of the season-ruining GS deal (Diogu).

Seriously, if you're an Indiana fan what do you have to look forward to? I mean hell, Rockets fans were freaking out about paying Juwan Howard $6-7 million a year.

 

I wanna see what's next.
Whether the LA lakers have a big deal or not!

 

man those are some ugly contracts for that team. they need to start over as quickly as possible.

trade jho for young talent and picks. and trade some of those other players for TE, just to get rid of them.

 

Simmons nailed it earlier:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070417&sportCat=nba

 

I would balk at giving up Odom and Bynum for JO too.That's just crazy.

Frankly I'm not sold on what Jermaine's production would be like playing in the BIG West on a regular basis anyway.

And Andrew is going to be at the very least a solid starter in this league for a long time......with possible major upside from there.

Odom has always been an enigma,albeit a very talented one.Nothing against Kobe,I just see Odom being more consistent somewhere else.

 

O'Neal has had some injuries so there may be something special in the tank. But I agree, losing Odom and Bynum gets the Lakers nowhere. If O'Neal is shooting 44% in the east then thats as red a flag there can be.

 

Honestly, even if the Lakers acquire Jermaine O'neil without giving up Odom I'm not afraid of them. Both Odom and O'neil are injury prone, and after those two and Kobe the rest of the team is garbage. Well, I shouldn't call Derek Fisher garbage but if he's their starting point guard they are still weak there.

 

He can't guard the pick and roll. How do you think Both Mike Bibby and Troy Hudson got those nice contracts?

From lighting Fisher up in the playoffs, and that's when they had Shaq in the paint.

 

shaq planting himself in the paint is why they couldn't guard the pick and roll. when you get picked and there isn't a help defender within 15 feet, the mike bibby's of the world are going to have a field day.

 

I don't think Jermaine O'Neal is overrated at all. I think he put up some big time numbers considering he was injured.

 

JO is a good player, don't get me wrong. I just expect more from players making the kind of salary he makes. You know, like maybe averaging over 20 PPG and winning more than 50 games in the lousy Eastern Conference? The only time he's ever averaged more than 20 PPG is the year of the Pistons/Pacers brawl in which he only played half of the season.

He's in the same salary range as KG, Shaq, AI, Kidd, Kobe, Duncan and others. Those are either former MVP's or MVP caliber players. He's nowhere close to that level. I don't care that he finished 3rd in MVP voting four years ago whenever the Pacers were loaded and they won 61 games. He's nowhere near that elite kind of status. I'd take somebody like Boozer making a fraction of what he makes over him in a heartbeat.

 

I would be a bit concern if I were the ROX or other another Western Conference team. Adding JO to a Kobe/Odom LA team makes them pretty tough. In fact, i would say that LA would have the best 2-3-4 combination in the league if he is traded. Add a health Chris Mihms/Brown combo as a more than serviceable 5 and a Fisher/Farmar combo at the 1... LA is tough. They would also have a decent bench with Walton, Sasha, Evans and Cook.

LA Lineup
PG Fisher
SG Kobe
SF Odom
PF JO
C Mihms

Bench
PG Farmar
SG Sasha
SF Walton
PF Evans/Cook
C Brown

 

Having to deal with Kobe Bryant sounds as fun as getting your teeth drilled, so the "best fit" remark seems ill-considered.

I agree with the posters here -- J.O. is overvalued. I'm not writing him off, but I will say that he's as soft as Chris Webber is, yet never gets called out for it (only he was nowhere near the basketball natural Webber was in his prime). He gets shut down by players like Raef LaFrentz and falls back on his jumper when he's as strong as anyone on the floor. He can't put the Lakers over the top if their third best player is Derek Fisher, esp. since he's already peaked and misses so many games.

If he's acquired without the Pacers getting Odom, on the other hand, the Lakers could make some noise. As a Celtics fan I hope J.O. doesn't get traded to the Nets for change, though.

 

O'Neal should count his lucky stars he has played in the east so long.

 

thats very doubtful

Oneal makes huge bucks (~18-19M)

Lakers would almost HAVE to send Odom since he is the only guy short of Bryant that makes even close to that.

otherwise the Lakers would have to gut their team just to addup to Oneals salary.

forget about those dreams lakerbois....its either one or the other, Odom or Oneal

 

the lakers would be able to keep bynum to get o'neal but they most def would have to give up odom or put together a 5-6 for 1 deal that most likely would include bynum. if they keep odom they'll be in a worse or just as bad of a situation as boston is, great trio but no depth around them. and boston is at least playing in the east, the lakers in the west would have a much more difficult time.

for some reason i dont see the lakers making any moves though. i dont know if its their front office that is reluctant or any other front office not wanting to trade with the lakers. it almost as if the only way a team will trade with them is if they are getting the obvious better deal. otherwise i dont see it happening.

kind of ironic if you think about all the laker fans posting about the lopsided trades in the lakers favor like any of those will ever happen

 

yea

I dont see any way that IND would accept a multi-player trade that DIDN'T include Bynum.

here's ya a good one

Bryant wants traded?

send him to IND for Oneal.




yea yea, I know, Oneal wants to go to LA to play WITH Bryant...but wouldn't it be funny?

 

that would be HILLARIOUS send them bryant for o'neal + some extras

i am sure laker land would be rioting in the streets again over that deal.

of course these are the same people who believe that the lakers are a 50+ win team better than the rockets this upcoming season though they havent really made any significant changes to the roster (outside of getting fisher back) so who know how they would react.