O’Neal Finally Healthy, Looks Forward To Season

By DeAndré Phillips 

Jermaine O’Neal doesn’t want to live with regret… again. 

He regrets playing on a torn meniscus two years ago – hastily returning to the court after seeing his then-Indiana Pacers team struggle without the presence of their six-time All-Star.  

The 29 minutes per game and 42 contests he played during the 2007-08 season, he says, “set him back” from rehabilitating his left knee. The pain and swelling consequently lingered through the end of last year’s playoffs with the HEAT, where the 14–year pro said he was “basically playing on one leg.” 

Following Miami’s post-season exit, O’Neal reflected on his past and thought long and hard about his basketball future. He came to the conclusion that he could do more to get back to the form that made him one of the best big men of the decade.  

“I’ve been to a lot of All-Star games. I’ve met a lot of great people,” he said. “You have to ask yourself if you can do whatever is necessary to get back to the level you were. If not, then you have to ask yourself: Is enough enough?” 

“If I had any summer to get back,” he said, “this was my summer.” 

O’Neal, who was acquired from the Raptors in a mid-season trade, underwent two rigorous off-season workout programs – a  seven-week session with HEAT trainers who laid the foundation for an eight-week session with noted trainer Tim Grover, the person who helped Dwyane Wade regain his health and play in a career-high 79 games last season. 

“It’s hard to explain what I took my body through this summer,” he said. “I prayed and asked God to help me deliver that message of what I took my body through.”  

One way he gets his message across is by the transformation of his body. O’Neal entered training camp at 255 pounds. He hopes to be at 253 pounds – his playing weight during his All-Star years with the Pacers – by the start of the season. O’Neal says he feels good and wants to play “four or five” more years. 

“I'm 100 percent (healthy),” he said. “The knee isn’t giving me any problems.”

The 6-11 center/forward feels he is poised for a breakout season, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s expecting to put up the type of numbers that made him a perennial All-Star with Indiana. Instead, he’s looking to get a psychological edge over his opponents by wearing them down on both sides of the ball. 

“I’m looking forward to this year,” he said. “It’s not about the All-Star game, it’s not about the numbers, it’s not about the contract; it’s not about any of that. It’s about my opponent and knowing that they are fearful to play me. I want to get that feeling. It’s about basketball.” 

O’Neal, who turns 31 on October 13, says he’s still the same player he was before the injury. And in many ways – now that his left knee is healthy again – he’s gained a step.

“Offensively, I haven’t lost any skills,” he said. “I had to settle for jump shots because I couldn’t get to the cup anymore because of the knee. So now I’ve re-defined my jump hook, I’ve re-defined my first step, I’ve re-defined my ability to jump, I’ve re-defined a lot of things.” 

And if his knee can’t hold up, O’Neal will have no regrets walking away from the game he loves to be with his family. 

“It’s all or nothing with me,” he said. “If I take myself through what I took myself through this summer and still can’t be healthy…. I have a beautiful nine-year old daughter, a wonderful three-year old baby boy, and a beautiful wife who I will happily go and be with. I can sleep a lot easier at night when I know I gave it my best shot.”