is Jermaine O'Neal healthy now?

[Birdbrain]

As long as he continues to improve remains healthy and get more comfortable out there I am sure he will make some play we will all remember on the way to Banner 18.

But if he doesn't he will easily surpass Baby/Nate/Quisy as the most hated on current Celtic by the Celtic community.

Agreed which is ironic since none of those 3 deserve any hate either. 

[bigjohnson34st]

I disagree. I have liked what I've seen out of JO lately. Who cares about his box scores. His is playing hard. He had some real big plays ( a block shot, two BIG rebounds) late in the fourth against the Spurs. More importantly, each game he is getting stronger and developing more confidence. Plus, it takes a while to fit in to your role as a Celtic player. Take Marquis for example. After his play last year I thought Danny was on drugs for bringing him back to the Green. However he has been the unsong hero of the team this year.

Remember, box scores don't matter for the Celt's. Only mastering you role. JO's role is to guard the hole. Keep in mind who's role he is filling in. Perks! Perk will never blow you away with a box score but I cringed at watching one of the early season games against NJ when Lopez scored close to 30. NEVER would of happened if Perk was there or JO is playing at the level that he is at now.

[pearljammer10]

I have loved what JO has been doing. The first couple games he seemed a little rusty, but he has met my expectations so far which is great. His defense really has been outstanding. He isnt going to give us 15 and 7 a night, but if he can keep coming in provided a few buckets and playing defense like he has been it will be great in the depth department. He gets a lot of grief from the fan base and I couldnt be happier to see him play the way he has.

[JHTruth]

I really like JO lately. Better defense and rebounding then Shaq, Semih, and Baby combined. Sure he was rusty at first but he looks better every time out. I hate how the fan base rags on this guy. He's filling his role. Were you expecting 20-10? He plays like 15-20 mins a game and is not at all featured as Baby puts up everything when they are on the floor together.

[mmbaby]

Just don't agree that JO is better defensively than BBD, Shaq or Erdin. I wonder really how you can say that!

He is tall and can block shots and rebound which, hopefully, he'll do even more of in the future. He showed tonight that he is a valuable celtics player, but I certainly would never put him ahead of baby or shaq.

[Fafnir]

Just don't agree that JO is better defensively than BBD, Shaq or Erdin. I wonder really how you can say that!

He is tall and can block shots and rebound which, hopefully, he'll do even more of in the future. He showed tonight that he is a valuable celtics player, but I certainly would never put him ahead of baby or shaq.

He's a much better pick and roll defender, and overall help defender than Shaq.

The Spurs abused Shaq and got clean look after clean look by attacking him. Without KG to cover for him Shaq is a bigger liability than he was early in the season.

[Snakehead]

Just don't agree that JO is better defensively than BBD, Shaq or Erdin. I wonder really how you can say that!

He is tall and can block shots and rebound which, hopefully, he'll do even more of in the future. He showed tonight that he is a valuable celtics player, but I certainly would never put him ahead of baby or shaq.

Wow, you are throwing out three pretty poor defenders and saying they are better than one of the better post defenders of his era.

I mean Shaq has the occasional block but he is notorious screen and roll liability, hardly shows outside of the paint on shooters, and is most often slow on the rotation.  And BBD does great taking charges and can do a good job rooting bigger players out of the block but otherwise he is not a very good defender and due to his lack of height and length rarely presents a good shot challenge.  He plays good D in a number of ways but has a few major defeciencies that Jermaine has never had. And Semih?  That's not even remotely close.

Jermaine may be slower and aged but he still plays great D.  If you didn't think he played good D last night idk what to tell you.  He was holding down the paint as our only big for a long stretch. And he will only get better as he gets more comfortable.

[BballTim]

One thing I wondered is if he's somehow getting lost as the 4th or 5th option on the floor after being a 2nd or 3rd option for most of his career (even last year when the Heat had little else beyond Wade).  Maybe he's just going to need some time to adjust to his reduced role.

  Part of it is he needs to get used to playing with Rondo. There were one or two plays I saw (I missed parts of the game, bummer!) where Rondo had set things up for JO to peel away from his guy to the hoop for an easy basket and JO didn't recognize it in time.

[GranTur]

He just doesn't know where to go on offense yet with our guards.

Shaq and KG get so many dunks/layups (Shaq) or wide-open jumpers (KG) from Rondo and Pierce because they know where to be. JO does not know where to go for that yet.

He'll learn it. It's gonna take time for him to get in a rhythm.

[mmbaby]

Curious if you would have JO out there playing 35 min. every game and how you think that would turn out.

I grant that he is an awesome ball player and has had a great career. I still think he's good just not as good as he was. Which is fine and normal and ok.

[Fafnir]

Curious if you would have JO out there playing 35 min. every game and how you think that would turn out.

I grant that he is an awesome ball player and has had a great career. I still think he's good just not as good as he was. Which is fine and normal and ok.

He already played 23 really good minutes last night, and would have had more had he not fouled out.

I think around 28 would probably be the most he can manage at 100% effectiveness, he's just not fit enough for more than that. Not when we have effective alternates in BBD/Shaq.

KG 32 minutes, Shaq 20, Jermaine 24, 20 Davis?

[Snakehead]

Curious if you would have JO out there playing 35 min. every game and how you think that would turn out.

I grant that he is an awesome ball player and has had a great career. I still think he's good just not as good as he was. Which is fine and normal and ok.

The fact is there really is not any situation where he plays 35 minutes.  I agree it doesn't work out well with that many minutes but neither does it with Shaq for example.  Hell KG doesn't play 35.

Jermaine played about as many minutes last night as he will in any game this season (barring big foul trouble or injury).  And he'll get in better shape and be feeling better physically so there is nothing to worry about.

[mmbaby]

I wasn't asking whether he was fit, but whether you'd REALLY want him out there playing starter minutes.

[Snakehead]

I wasn't asking whether he was fit, but whether you'd REALLY want him out there playing starter minutes.

No I wouldn't but again, not something that needs to happen and not what anyone expects of him.

He is a 6 million dollar back up Center.  He is the about the 4th man on our big depth chart (5th when Perk returns) and probably the best in the league at that position.  He will come in and play his 20 minutes or so and play extremely hard and quality defense.

Remember PJ Brown?  He is our PJ Brown.  And he will be better in that role than PJ was.

[youcanthandlethetruth113]

I tried watching him at times last night but was distracted by the Rondo/Ray show

he seemed to move a little better and was comfortable taking midrange jumpers and had one good block, but I can't help but think that he's still underperforming expectations

here's his game log - his best game was against the Hornets (in a loss unfortunately)

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3120/gamelog;_ylt=ArM9WxxI9ka6cRf3jpUtxdkfPKB4

One thing I wondered is if he's somehow getting lost as the 4th or 5th option on the floor after being a 2nd or 3rd option for most of his career (even last year when the Heat had little else beyond Wade).  Maybe he's just going to need some time to adjust to his reduced role.

any thoughts on what we can expect from JON from now on?

He looks like a shell of himself, but that's what we knew when we signed him.

He still brings it hard on the defensive end, which is all we should really care about, but he can also swoosh in a 3-12 footer with relative ease (depending on his confidence level).

His confidence is being killed by the refs, who are calling a moving screen on him (it's happened once in each of the last 2 games) when he is STANDING STILL.