Just curious. I remember BP and I were down at the beach for our annual eat, burp, fart-fest at the beach. I was on bbf and saw the news. I was ecstatic and I mean ECSTATIC! Of course, in hindsight, I was wrong. Very wrong. Little did I know that trade was the beginning of the end of that great team.....that's taken nearly 8 or so years to re-build.
Against it. I wasn't a big fan of Dale Davis. On the other hand, I remember there was a rumour that Portland might trade O'Neal to Chicago for rookies Jamal Crawford and Marcus Fizer, and I liked Crawford a lot as a prospect so that rumour interested me a lot. Guess that wouldn't have worked out so well, either. I think you mean FanHome.
I had some people tell me that J.O. was KILLING Sheed, Brian Grant and Sabonis in practice on the regular! He just wasn't getting the playing time. I was excited to see him blossom with us.
I actually don't remember how I felt about it at the time, but I don't see it as a great disaster anymore. Keeping him wouldn't have made any real difference in the end. In fact we might now be debating, how can we get rid of crippled old Jerm and his huge contract? barfo
I was big time against it. I remember a friend that was so negative about JO and I would point out what he did well on the floor and he couldn't see it. Got to the point he called JO my boy, just because I defended him. I loved how he played against Shaq that one game. I was really hoping we would keep him.
I was very much against it. Sheed and Grant used to say all the time how Jermaine would destroy them and everyone else in practice. Just like Roy did with Bayless at the beginning of the year. Sergio, Travis, Webster, Bale, Rudy maybe even. Those players you already know what they are about.
OK, I'll admit it - at the time, I was in favor. The story was going around that JO was a great practice player - but that he also whined like a little bitch every time he was asked to move to center. He was obviously capable of doing it, but was unwilling to do so on a regular basis, because he hated getting roughed up. Based on that story, I was happy to be rid of him.
I was doubtful about it but I assumed that if executives and scouts who had seen more of Jermaine than me had decided he didn't have much potential, then it must be a good thing. Since then i haven't been so trusting of "experts".
I was dead set against it. I remember other fan bases calling him garbage because of his stat line. But Jermaine did show he could score when given the opportunity and had very good athletic ability. Yet, at the time non-Blazer fans called him a scrub as they just looked at the stat line and totally disregarded his situation. Jermaine along with Bonzi were almost traded to NY for a broken down Patrick Ewing. The NY media liked Bonzi but didn't like Jermaine because he was a "bust" and lacked "upside". The same EXACT way I feel about Bayless. Kirk Hinrich = Dale Davis; a marginal upgrade, at best, over what we currently have/had. Trading Jermaine for Dale was a huge mistake. Trading Bayless for Hinrich would be a huge mistake.
You think Bayless is a bust and lacks upside? Isn't that a little premature? Let's give him until the trading deadline this year. barfo
Sorry, my placement of my points were a little off. It's been a long day! I've been on the go since 5am I like Bayless and think he has a lot of upside. Other fans can call Bayless a bust and doesn't have "it" but I think he'll be a very good guard when given the opportunity. The same way I viewed Jermaine.
yeah I recall him stating emphatically that he was a 4 not a 5 following WCF 2000, which I took to mean that the 2nd biggest guy on the club didn't want any part of Shaq. When it went down I was pretty torn over that trade so I voted indifferent. STOMP
I voted "other". I really don't remember. I believe that I thought it, coupled with the Kemp deal, was a pretty good move. JO'Neal was NOT going to be a center and we needed a center. I had faith that Jermaine might turn out to be very good, but hoped that Davis and Kemp would give us the push we needed to win it all. If Kemp hadn't been so far gone by that point it might have worked. Ed O.
Yeah, I do remember thinking the two moves in tandem made Portland much stronger. My reasoning was thus: "Dale Davis replaces Brian Grant, basically, and Shawn Kemp can still score and get to the line and thus will be a big upgrade on Jermaine O'Neal." Oh well.
I was for it in context of us also getting Kemp. Getting Kemp and Dale Davis for JO and BG seemed like a GREAT deal at the time. Kemp had played in the Finals (and was possibly the best player in the series) only 4 years prior and Davis had just played in the Finals that year. I thought the two of them were definite upgrades.
