Rumor: Warriors and Pacers Spoke about Jermaine O'Neal

by Atma Brother ONE on Feb 20, 2008 1:30 AM PST in Rumors Comment 17 comments

In GSoM friend Tim Kawakami's passionate pitch for the Warriors to make a move for Elton Brand he shared one really important insight on the inside workings of the Warriors:

Everybody paying attention can sense how antsy it's getting around the Warriors' offices-Chris Mullin wants to pull the trigger on something by Thursday's trade deadline, and you know Don Nelson wants to pull the trigger on about a hundred things.

They're both probably accepting the reality that they have to sacrifice some of their future and have to take back some bad contracts if they want to be players this year-and believe me, they want to be players this year very much.

I love hearing that and you know me- I'm all in this year very much. But is forming the Golden State Pacers without Ron Artest going to get the Warriors there? Check out this piece from Mike Wells from The Indianapolis Star:

Any trade conversation involving the Pacers begins with Jermaine O'Neal. The Pacers and O'Neal have been trying to end their eight-year relationship for some time, but O'Neal's health and contract -- two more years, $44 million due after this season -- remain stumbling blocks. O'Neal has been slowed by knee injuries, again, and hasn't played since Jan. 16. He recently started doing on-the-court work, but his return date is not known.

The Pacers are making and listening to calls about him -- again -- but they have yet to find a deal they like. They've recently spoken with Golden State, New Jersey and Sacramento.

When healthy, like Michael- Jermaine's BAD!

GSoM community member Thoang77 also noted in a diary that Ric Bucher mentioned a package revolving around Mickael Pietrus, Al Harrington, Patrick O'Bryant, and the Warriors $10 million trade exception for O'Neal on ESPN on Tuesday night. Use your hops for a few thoughts.

Since he made the leap to the pro's straight out of high school, it really seems like Jermaine O'Neal is pretty old by NBA standards. However, he's only 29 and age-wise in the later half of his prime. If he could ever get his body right again, he might be able to get back to his All-Star and All-NBA form of several years ago. Remember this O'Neal ain't Shaq. He isn't close to retirement and is only 1 year removed from a near 20-10 campaign. There's a good chance Jermaine has plenty left in the tank, but just needs a change of scenery. Hey seeing your buddies Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington get moved for Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy, and Ike Diogu will make you do crazy things- the least of which being sitting out games and taking a very precautionary approach to healing up.

Trading for O'Neal and the $44+ million on his contract after this season for two more years is indeed risky. If he continues his streak of missing huge chunks of the season it probably isn't worth it. It's just as risky if not riskier than the Baron Davis trade with the New Orleans Hornets several years back. My guess is that adding O'Neal would prevent Chris Cohan from opening up his wallet for a big offseason extension for Andris Biedrins to,o but if O'Neal returns to his 20-10 and defensive player of the year type form that shouldn't really be a problem. Another big open question is whether Jermaine can play an uptempo game with BD, Jack, Monta, and the rest of the gang under Nellie. Obviously this wasn't as big of an issue when the Warriors brought on Chris Webber for a late winter/ spring rental since it cost very little and he wasn't expected to play big minutes, but that will be a critical factor in whether trading for O'Neal makes any sense. or pays off.

But let's not discount that Jermaine O'Neal could very well be worth the very expensive price tag and trade package. He could solve the Warriors biggest weakness, namely protecting the paint. Jermaine also gives the Warriors a low post scoring threat, though I've never been all that impressed with his dips in FG% and he seems like he'll continue floating out to the perimeter for his offense a la Chris Webber as he ages. For the past 3.5 seasons Jermaine has failed to notch double digit boards, but he's still a very capable rebounder. Pair him up with Biedrins and the Warriors should actually be able to win the battle of the boards more often than not.

Jermaine could get the Warriors to the next level, but it's a very risky gamble. I'm all for rolling the dice and trying to go for it now, but this one really makes you ponder. It's probably going to take a big money package revolving around Al Harrington to get something like this done. Unlike trading for Ron Artest, going for Jermaine is a pretty costly high risk move and the gauranteed rewards seem a lot fuzzier, at least to me.

But I will add that I do enjoy making deals with Larry Bird and Donnie Walsh:

2006-2007 Report Cards:

Sarunas Jasikevicius (D+)
Troy Murphy (D+)
Mike Dunleavy Jr. (D-)
Josh Powell (C)
Ike Diogu and Keith "Who?" Mcleod (Double D+)
Al Harrington (B)
Stephen Jackson (A-)

2005-2006 Report Cards:

Should the Warriors trade for Jermaine O'Neal? Are the Golden State Pacers (O'Neal or Artest) worth bringing back and reuniting like Jodeci?

99% of rumors never happen, but 99% of them are fun to talk about!

0 recs | Comment 17 comments

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Comments

Yay First Post!

I dunno if this would help us out, if you all look at the big trades, in the FUTURE it will bite these teams in the ass. If the warriors get O'neal for those players, we still retain are draft picks and keep Wright and Marco.

by aznwarrior44 on Feb 20, 2008 1:42 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Oops

When i mean those player, I mean POB, Pietrus, Al, and the TPE.

by aznwarrior44 on Feb 20, 2008 1:44 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

yerp?

What's the point in going all in this year, if everyone else is all in? I don't care what we do, we won't beat LA, SA, PHX, UTA, or DAL. Maybe dallas, but with the recent acquisition of JKidd i doubt it.

I'd rather punish them all 2-3 years from now than hemorrhage our future. We could be what Detroit is to the east, if we play our cards with the future in mind.

by xcoma on Feb 20, 2008 1:54 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I wouldn't exactly call...

giving up POB, Pietrus, and Al mortgaging the future. POB and Pietrus are gone after the year anyway and despite Al's efforts recently, I don't see him masquerading as our center any longer. If Cohen dips into his pockets for a season or two and dishes out the extension to Bullet and Biedrins, all while paying J.O. and Baron for another year or two to see if we can do more than just make the playoffs, then I'm for it.

With that said, trading J.O. is still extremely risky with his knee injury and even Tim K's proposed trade for Brand would be wayyyyy to much in my opinion.

Al, Pietrus, POB, and Wright??! All while using our TPE to take back Mobley or Tim Thomas' contract ugly contract? Those contracts are disgusting.

I'd much rather trade for Artest or Kurt Thomas and stay put.

Honestly, this team right now isn't built for another first round upset unless we draw Phoenix or New Orleans. I think we're a 1st round exit against San Antonio, Utah, Dallas and the Lakers.

Either way, we're in a very sticky situation.

Only if Foyle had 1 year left on his deal, we would be taking about Foyle for Gasol. =/ hehe

by phiLthyphiL on Feb 20, 2008 2:06 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

cool dude.

That deal isn't happening. So it was pointless to talk about it like it is.

by xcoma on Feb 20, 2008 9:33 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

How about

Chris Wilcox. He has a few years on his contract, is a good rebounder, is only 25, and Seattle wnts to trade him. Petrus and POB for him. He could really improve us down low. He would be a great addition to the bench, and would judt make or team better. It would be a move for now and the future.

by montasmob69 on Feb 20, 2008 6:11 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

HOW THE HELL

is trading for someone whos injured going to help us right now?
He has not played in over a month.
Lets just deal with what we have this year and start fresh next year!

Proud Sponsor Of: The San Jose Giants Baseball Team 2008 is gonna be big! http://www.greenlightjerky.com

by GreenLightJerky on Feb 20, 2008 7:01 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

guys

this is an excellent decision. Baron and Stephen Jackson are two of our most valuable players, and I don't see them playing with our team in the long term. They're both near 30, we have 5 guys with a promising future in bellinelli, wright, ellis, kelenna and biedrins. With our best warrior since rick barry in baron davis, we try our best to try and win the championship now, and a couple of years down the line if baron is breaking down or we don't work out an agreement to keep him for longer, we have Jermaine Oneal's EXPIRING contract! by that time monta and biedrins will be closer to their prime, wright hopefully woul dhave developed into something, and we have a tremendous trade asset to get at least a very good player or good draft picks. it's the perfect trade for our team, because we're stuck in a situation where we realize we're gonna be our best for the next couple of years, yet we still have players who will help us in the future. this trade helps us short term and long term.

by bigbenny11 on Feb 20, 2008 8:31 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

yep

i'm with you. i dont think baron has much time left. and nellie certainly doesnt. we've been in "play for the future" mode for so long, we've forgotten the point is to win championships.

passes it to the man...and boom goes the dynamite!

by sam23 on Feb 20, 2008 9:42 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

only one team

can make it to the nba finals. all these elite teams are thinking short term and are trying to win a ring now, so they're going "all in" and risking it all. if we are trying to do the same, is trading for an expensive/injury prone player really worth it? it's a gamble no matter what, but if we roll the dice right, JO could possible help us get deep into the playoffs and solve our rebounding/defending the paint problems. if we roll the dice wrong, he's just a waste of money sitting on the bench because of his knee problems. it's a tough call, but if he can definitely play for us in these last 29+ games, i would probably do it.

"If somebody come in your gym and score 72 points, you goin' to stop playin too." - Friend on Monta Ellis' 72 point highschool game

by SAV IT OUT on Feb 20, 2008 8:55 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Going all in...

I'm no poker expert, but when you are the last one to bet sitting on a mediocre hand and everyone ahead of you has gone all in, isn't the appropriate move to fold?

Analogies aside, I don't like this move at all. It's not like we're giving up a lot of talent here, but I don't think making a big long term investment in JO is a wise move.

As JAE has pointed out to me numerous times he is too injury prone and inefficient to be a "franchise" big-man, and he is making "franchise" big-man money. He would also have hard time keeping up with our guys. I have a hard enough time with $550k lagging behind the play (Webber) but $20mil lagging behind the play would drive me nuts.

JO is a fun player to watch, he has had some nice years in this league, but lately even when healthy he is not living up to his contract or his hype.

by olympicmike on Feb 20, 2008 8:55 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Why don't we just

get the entire old Pacers?

If we can somehow get O'Neal without giving up Harrington and then get Artest....we could have a lineup of:

C-O'Neal
PF-Harrington
SF-Artest
SG-Jackson
PG-Davis

And then we have Croshere to back up! We'll rename ourselves the Millerless Pacers West.

Tony.psd = Da Man

http://adonalobsessed.blogspot.com/

by Zorgon on Feb 20, 2008 9:03 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

nope.

i don't envision this lineup if we can get both artest AND o'neal. that's a lot of wishful thinking.

but IF we did i would tweak your proposed lineup like this.

C-O'Neal
PF-Artest
SF-Jackson
SG-Ellis
PG-Davis

doesn't seem like many people respect ellis' high level of play as of late. why bench a hot player? honestly? wtf is everyone smoking?

the one thing i see out of getting both would be an instant trip to the bench for harrington, which isn't exactly a bad thing. a quick 12 points off the bench is a nice spark.

by jchao204 on Feb 20, 2008 12:20 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

um...

I'm pretty sure the whole point of that line-up was that is was exactly the Pacers line-up of a couple years ago plus Baron.

by olympicmike on Feb 20, 2008 1:47 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

oops.

was in a rush to get to the gym at school so didn't read over it clearly. sorry?

by jchao204 on Feb 20, 2008 3:14 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Reality Check: IF we make the playoffs

We gotta remember that just MAKING the playoffs is going to be tough this year. Look at who we're fighting with. I'm willing to concede that Portland might tail off, but that still leaves at least a 3 team dogfight for two spots.

If Denver lands Artest, we're in trouble. And say what you will about the Rockets, but they have underperformed all year and everyone else has been worried that they'd finally hit their groove. EVERYONE picked them as one of the strongest rosters heading into the year, and they are finally starting to line it up -- NINE road wins in a row, 18-4 in 2008 with their only losses to Boston, New Orleans, Utah, and Minnesota. More importantly, they look better built to win in a Western Conference suddenly full of big men.

For me, there are only 2 possible deals that make sense:
- Kurt Thomas, the more conservative move, gives us an expiring contract with some muscle. Might help us make the playoffs, possibly stun someone and get out of the first round.
- Ron Artest gives us dynamic power defense that was so obviously missing last night against Utah. He costs more, and he's a chemistry gamble. But he's also a potentially expiring contract (opt out), and he could have a tangible impact on every game. Plus, we could keep him out of the hands of the Nuggets.

These have all been discussed before. I'm just trying to be realistic.

Consider this: if the Nuggets get Ron Ron, they suddenly have two of the top defensive, AND two of the top offensive players in the league all on one team.

It would be us vs. Houston for that last spot, and Houston is starting to peak...

by djbizyb on Feb 20, 2008 9:18 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I think this will help our squad

a lot. With JO he can post up and kick it out for open 3's. Jermaine will also give us a real superior big 3 - Baron, Jack, & O'neal. That sounds impressive to me. Go w's pull the trigger. The time is to believe now, not the future.

Ballin