He went to the NBA straight out of high school right after Kevin Garnett and alongside Kobe Bryant; but Jermaine O’Neal’s path to stardom wouldn’t be as instant as the Garnett or Bryant. O’Neal would spend the first 4 years of his career buried on the bench of some great Portland Trailblazers teams with guys like Rasheed Wallace, Arvydas Sabonis, Scottie Pippen, Steve Smith, Damon Stoudamire and more. So, O’Neal would taste team and playoff success early in his career, but would often do so sitting down. And once the Blazers infamously blew a 15 point 4th quarter lead to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, he was traded to the Indiana Pacers where he would transition into the team’s star as they transitioned from the Reggie Miller Era, and O’Neal would really fit the bill as he earned 6 straight All star selections and 3 All-NBA teams during his 7 seasons with Indiana, which would end up being a franchise record, surpassing Reggie Miller. O’Neal along with Ron Artest would anchor an elite defense for most of those years, but after the Malice at the Palace, things fell apart in Indiana and while they would eventually draft Danny Granger, O’Neal’s best years were past him as Granger started to excel. So, O’Neal would bounce around the league the rest of his career as he would go on to spend half a season in Toronto with Chris Bosh, then a year and a half on the Miami Heat with Dwyane Wade, followed by a couple seasons in Boston alongside guys like Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo and Shaquille O’Neal, before ending his career with a year in Phoenix then a final season on a budding Golden State Warriors with a young trio of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
O’Neal’s career would end after 18 seasons, but his career was filled with adversity and heartbreak, but he would never complain and always come back strong which is why he was such a respected player both on and off the court, but one that gets overlooked as his prime occurred at the same time as the all time greats at his position like Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki. So, Today we’re going to give some shine to the career of a forgotten great power forward of the 2000s, Jermaine O’Neal.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/o/onealje01.html
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27 Comments
Where does Jermaine O'Neal rank on the all-time Pacers list?
I always thought he would become the Tim Duncan of the East. He was unstoppable around 03-04
Nobody forgot about Jermaine O’Neal
Those Pacers teams should have at least made one Finals appearance
One of the most underrated and underappreciated stars ever
Keep grinding bro can you do a Ben Gordon video ? Or Boris diaw plzz
Have been very on point with the channel, Jermaine was the great since early on I remember when he got traded to the Pacers I was pretty excited for him cause I knew he was gonna have a opportunity to shine. Would be great if you could talk about other Pacers great such as: Danny Granger, Jamaal Tinsley, Rik Smits
If Ron Artest doesn’t jump into the stands, O’Neal might have a ring
Thank you
One of the best pfs in the 2000s
I had a cool Jermaine action figure in the mid-00's. Really solid player. It's too bad those Pacers teams never got a chip.
Damnnnn he should've stayed in GS one more season 😮
Man I wish we (Heat) got Jermaine in his prime. Him and Wade would’ve been a nice duo
Do Al Jefferson next!!! he was a scoring machine averaging 24 & 12 per game.
Tim Thomas next
uh oh
Glad you did this one! Keep up the good work bud like these videos!
derek fisher, rick fox,
Indiana should've already retired his #7 Jersey. My favorite big man in rhe early 00s. So glad a video was done on him. Very very much forgotten especially playing against KG, Duncan, Webber, and Nowitzki.
Artest too big to have such a weak punch. He should've dropped that Pistons fan
One of my all-time favorite players.
Wow just from the jump 6’2 6’3 guard at junior year then going to 6’10 to 6’11 I would have never compared them before but when u see that it’s the biggest comparison to A.D. of course there’s differences but wow! That’s crazy. To Note so far obviously J’Oneal is much more of a grinder
Your title is disingenuous so I'll point out two things, first Reggie Miller's prime and all-star selections are linked to the fact that guards who were demonstrably better basketball players than him were active in the Eastern Conference: Jordan, who was always going to be an all star starter and then take your pick depending on the year. Reggie came into the league in '87 and played until '05, so you have Dumars, Penny, Mark Price, Smitty, A.I., Drazen, Houston, Stackhouse, Shuttlesworth, Vince, and McGrady. Which one of them was he going to edge out for a bench spot? Second, O'Neal played in the Eastern Conference when all the best power forwards were in the West. So he was going to be an automatic All star selection because the only players he had to contend with were Sheed, Vin Baker, and Kenyon Martin….not exactly comparatively steep competition.
Rik Smits baby!!!!
Oh how about Rick fox.
Imagine how his career goes if he signs with San Antonio instead of staying in Indiana
Thank you for the information on the Heat not having players with a lot of body fat.