Any idea on JO's return? Rough educated guesses?

[Finkelskyhook]

LOL...Just keep signing those paychecks, Jermaine.

He'll be our starting center opening night in the 2011-2012 season.

[Chris]

LOL...Just keep signing those paychecks, Jermaine.

He'll be our starting center opening night in the 2011-2012 season.

He knows that the contract run starts in the playoffs this year...

[Eddie20]

With JO and Shaq back, hopefully soon, it would give Doc an opportunity to give KG the occasional day off, as Shaq, JO, and Murphy need minutes to shake off rust.

[Tai]

The original plan was the middle of March to early April. I don't see why that can't still happen, even if it means early April. Obviously the Celtics are in absolutely NO rush to bring him back early, and they probably shouldn't be.

[SHAQATTACK]

I figure we'll loose probally half of the games left. And that maybe the only way to prepare /have a shot at the title. Just totally try and get the big guys healed up. Playoffs..  Put em in and see what happens.  Together the O'neals ,if they BOTH do return , should equal stats wise what a one legged Perk could bring in "O" and "D"  for a game.  Bunch of fouls on opponents bigs , maybe 10 rebounds , and 10 points between them ( I don't think KP would average more these days )..... and a HUGE wall to clog the lane. 

Getting Rhondo back on track is going to be just as important .  If that means reasting him as well

[xmuscularghandix]

2011 

But on a serious note he'll probably come back with about a week left in the year, then get his bearings in practice and 1st Round garbage time. (Maybe against the Pacers!)

[KobeShesNotConsenting!]

Jermaine Oneal the decent basketball player is never coming back. But his return? maybe a couple more weeks

[makaveli]

What about Marquise Daniels,eversince he was traded, no updates...

[csfansince60s]

Jermaine Oneal the decent basketball player is never coming back. But his return? maybe a couple more weeks

I don't think we know which JO will come back...not yet.

There have been 3 JOs within the past year.

The first JO played 70 regular season games with the Heat last year, averaging 28 minutes,14 pts (in a Wade-centric offense)and 7 rebounds with good post D.

The second JO surfaced very late in the year and in our playoff series with them. At that time JO had both ankle and knee issues, and was a shell of his regular season self. That playoff lack of performance is the one we all seem to remember the most, but it wasn't representative of the major body of his work last year.

The 3rd JO played somewhat effectively for us this year when he was on the court, but, still hampered with injury, didn't give us many games...yet.

I think JO #3 comes back to us and either becomes #1 or #2. Only time will tell, and all our opinions are only that...opinions.

[ducksawce]

If JO circa February-March 2010 makes a return, then we are all in for smiles.  JO's low post defense and shot blocking could be huge for this team during the playoffs.

I feel that against the Magic and especially the Lakers, his defense and rebounding will be crucial.  Though I'm certain that Shaq will play his heart out when the playoffs roll around, I'm not convinced he'll be able to do so for much more than 20 min per game.  Equally, though Kristic has been a major contributor on the offensive end, I don't trust him in heavy minutes against the Lakers bigs (let me say however, that in earlier rounds, he'll be indispensable and will likely log higher minutes).

JO will be needed to guard Bynum.  If he comes back relatively healthy, and works his way into peak form over the first few rounds, he may prove to be the key against LA's height.

[CelticSooner]

Here's a article on both the O'Neals. I agree with Doc's approach on JO. I liked KG's movie reference. 

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4681855/optimism-the-oneals

[mgent]

It's already been 6 weeks since JO's surgery and the timetable was 6-8.  He hasn't actually played in a game for about 10 weeks, if he wasn't stupid and had the surgery right away he'd probably be back by now working himself into shape.

It's been 6 weeks since Shaq was sidelined with originally a day to day injury.

If they don't play another game that means we got 43% of a season from Shaq and 20% from JO.

[vinnie]

Actually, shaq has been out 7 weeks and has missed 18 games.