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Dealing O'Neal could prevent Raptor implosion
Among the scarce evidence of Jermaine O'Neal's presence at the Air Canada Centre yesterday, other than a club report that he was receiving treatment for his sore right knee and probable for today's game in Atlanta, was the [url=http://www.xantrex.cc]Louis Vuitton[/url] satchel beside his locker. The bag was packed.
On a day when the headlines suggested that O'Neal's days in Toronto could soon be at their end that a deal to send O'Neal to Miami for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks is the Raptors' wish, pending Miami president Pat Riley's command it was a fitting image.
The proposed trade, if it happens as reported, would be more patchwork than masterwork. Then again,[url=http://www.xantrex.cc]louis vuitton australia[/url], Bryan Colangelo, the Raptors president and GM, has essentially changed jobs in the months since last season's firstround playoff decimation against the Orlando Magic. Once an architect with a compelling vision, he's now a repairman with an unenviable todo list. And the roof, to paraphrase a classic leantimes utterance by former Raptor Tracy McGrady, be leakin'! Yesterday's 117113 loss to the Suns put the Raptors, losers of five in a row, 10 games under .500. They haven't looked more ramshackle since Rob Babcock was happily slapping mud on his straw hut of a roster back in 200506. Ford, Rasho Nesterovic and a firstround draft pick, panned in this corner as it happened, is a failure. Colangelo spoke before the season of his belief that O'Neal would fill a hole in the club's defence and rebounding corps but they're as bad as they've ever been in both categories. Colangelo figured O'Neal would complement Chris Bosh, the resident allstar, but O'Neal, when healthy, has largely been an older, slower duplicate to Bosh.
And though O'Neal is a publicrelations genius who unfurls a yarn with the skill of 100 spin doctors, you can't help but think that his unwillingness to play through pain and his divaesque demeanour have been at least partly responsible for the palpable lack of chemistry on this season's squad.
Moving O'Neal, whose mammoth contract doesn't expire until 2010, moves up the timeline for a major shakeup.
Nothing's done, of course. Miami is reportedly talking with other suitors for Marion, Dallas among them. And there are those who'd suggest Colangelo should keep shopping for better. Taking back the barely serviceable Banks likely means there'll be a $4plus million player at the end of the bench next season. But such is the price, sometimes, of patching holes in a hurry.
What's certain is that, while Colangelo would surely frame the trade as a talent injection for a playoffbound stretch run, this season is going nowhere. Sneaking into the postseason would not amount to success for a club that's lost in the first round two times running. And if next season does not bring a breakthrough, there's a chance Bosh will be weighing the merits of leaving some $30 million on the table to exercise his free agency somewhere else.