Jermaine O’neal – the trade that never happened
October 9, 2008 by James Edwards
Filed under Chris Bosh, Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, Toronto Raptors
NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.
LeBron James must be crying in his orange juice. Once again the Cleveland Cavaliers have failed to help him out. It is very hard to believe that LeBron will spend his whole career in Cleveland.
Don’t get me wrong, Jermaine O’Neal is not the best player in the league, but he is a mobile scoring front line player that could have changed the whole complexion of the Cavaliers.
The Pacers were looking for a starter-quality center in return for O’Neal, which made it tough to make a deal work for the Cavs. They are not permitted to trade Anderson Varejao until at least Dec. 5 due to collective bargaining rules because they matched an offer sheet he signed on that date last year. They were not interested in parting with Zydrunas Ilgauskas.
source
Was that a collective groan from Cav’s fans? We missed out on Jermaine O’Neal because we wanted to keep Zydrunas? Zydrunas? You have got to be kidding me.
After 6 All Star years and now his 30th birthday, Jermaine is once again healthy and hungry.
“The fact is, I played on one leg for two years,” says O’Neal, whose averages shrank to 13.6 points and 6.7 rebounds in 42 games last season after he reinjured his knee in 2006-07. “You hear people say that you slowed down, that you don’t have it anymore — but you know that you still have it. All the naysayers who are saying that I lost a step, they’ll get a full dosage of me next year.”
Unfortunately for Cav’s fans, Jermaine will be a Toronto Raptor to join forces with Chris Bosh.
Photo source Newscom
As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.
More blogs about basketball.
