Le Basketbawl

An NBA team makes a ”good trade” when it helps them for one season. An NBA team makes a “great trade” when that move helps them for multiple seasons. The Miami Heat picked up center Jermaine O’Neal last season from the Toronto Raptors and the deal started to pay dividends almost immediately as O’Neal combined with Dwyane Wade made the Heat a force during the home stretch of the regular season. However according to the “Miami Herald” that trade could be even more impactful for the team this season. The reason is for the first time in three years O’Neal is able to run up and down the court pain free.

The talented big man has been plagued by knee pain in both knees for the last three years. Chronic pain in the right knee and an entire litany of issues in the left. O’Neal dedicated this summer to getting his knees into shape which was very painful process. However he says that if his activities this summer do not get rid of the pain then he knows at least he put everything he could into the rehab process. O’Neal told reporters “I pray to God to help me deliver that message of what I took my body through this summer to finally get right. It’s all or nothing. If I (put) myself through the things I did this summer and I break down this season, then I have a beautiful 9-year-old daughter, a wonderful 3-year-old son and a great wife I will happily go be with if I can’t do it.”

The Heat center realizes he may have made some not so wise choices during the last couple of seasons. O’Neal told reporters “I needed to play to get to where I was at the end of the year. I don’t think I should have played the year before, though, because I was playing and rehabbing at the same time. My knee was damaged, and I played to the detriment of my health to be out there. But I made those choices. I have to live with it.”

Last season was a busy one for the man who went right from high school into the NBA. After being a fixture in the Indiana Pacers lineup for years he was traded in the Summer of 2008 to the Toronto Raptors in a deal that sent guard T.J. Ford to the Pacers. For what ever the reason the fit was not right in Toronto and before the NBA trade deadline hit Jermaine was heading to Miami along with Jamario Moon for forward Shawn Marion.

O’Neal was a force last season for the Heat even playing in constant pain. He is looking forward to taking on the dominant big men in the East this season as he will match up against D-Howard, Shaq, and Tyson Chandler among others. The center said “Those battles are going to be good battles again,” O’Neal said. “Am I as athletic as I was in Indiana? Absolutely not. But my body is catching up again with what I know mentally about the game. So am I a better overall player? I’d say yes.”

As far as New York Vinnie is concerned it will be good to see O’Neal playing close to the peak of his powers once again. There are far too few quality big men in the NBA today; a league that used to be ruled by Giants. So any time that you can add one to the mix, it just improves the overall quality of the NBA.