See Ya, Jermaine; v. 2.0

So, friends. The plot thickens.

JO popped on The Drive with JMV yesterday backpedaling all over what he said that I blogged about yesterday.

Let me just say that JMV did an excellent job covering all the bases, laying it all out and giving JO a platform to talk. Hell, don’t take my word for it, listen to it yourself. Go to JMV’s page there, scroll down a bit, and hit the link.

JO says that he wants to go to a contender. He doesn’t want to go to to a team that’s not a winner.

Guess what, bud: it doesn’t matter what you want. To my (limited) knowledge, you don’t have a No Trade Clause in your contract. You’ll go to whatever team Larry Bird wants to ship you. If your ass is going to garner a better trade going to Atlanta; that’s where you should go. You haven’t done anything here, so why should we worry about you wanting to win a title now?

You’re not doing anything to help the team sitting on the bench “hurt”. And if you really are legit hurt every time you miss games, then you’re not helping the team being broken down on the side of the court every week. JO in a suit looks great, but he’s the only thing more worthless than JO in a uniform on the court.

Larry. Trade him. Get what you can. I’d trade him – and while we’re on the subject, can we package JO with the waste of space that is Jamaal Tinsley? Please? – for some cotton candy and a wad of pre-chewed chewing gum. The man is taking up such a large chunk of salary cap, and he needs to go.

But Tinsley…don’t even get me started…

See Ya, Jermaine

So I had to come back from my blogging hiatus to share the Jermaine O’Neal saga with you all.

So it seems that yesterday, our good friend Jermaine went on to a reporter from Sports Illustrated about how he’d just LOVE to party with Kobe in LA. You can hear that here.

Well, I say, see ya later. Jermaine, you’ve done nothing for this team. You are a good player, but the only title you’ve brought home since coming from Portland is the Most Overrated Player award that you’ve been defending successfully since 2002.

This team will be better without you. The Pacers are better when you’re “injured”. When you’re not “injured”, every play goes like this:

1. Inbound the ball.
2. Dribble down the floor.
3. Pass to JO on the block.
4. JO poses 10 seconds for those with the benefit of flash photography.
5. JO passes it out.
6. Pass goes back to JO.
7. The crowd dies of boredom.
8. JO throws up brick as shot clock expires.

So, at the very least we’ll be more entertaining to watch without JO on the floor. We can’t get any worse, really.

But I’d like to go ahead and start the rumor that JO was told by either Kobe or the Lakers to come public with his desire to be traded to lower his trade value (a la Ron Ron) so the Lakers could keep Andrew Bynum. It makes perfect sense. Tell all your friends that you read it here first.

Indiana Pacers Rumors

So this is getting ridiculous. The Pacers do nothing to try and trade into the draft to get someone that could help the team. Oh wait. No, they traded for 7′2″ project Stanko Barac from Europe. Woo. Dude has “Zan Tabac” stamped on his forehead. Why not make the trade with Portland and get Carl Landry from Purdue? The kid is a beast, and will be one of the best players to come out of this year’s 2nd round. Not only that, but you’ll put asses in the seats to watch the local kid play. He betters the team on the floor and helps anemic attendance gates that challenge the Indiana Fever for Top Draw numbers.

But no. The Pacers stood around while he was dealt to Houston, where he could be starting next season. And I’m not even liking him because we’re both 04 graduates of Vincennes University. The guy played his ass off and has worked hard over the spring to get better. He was one of the best performers in Orlando at the Nike camp. He’s going to be awesome.

But who the hell needs a guy of Landry’s talent when you can bring in Kareem Rush, whose highlight reel of his four year career is about as long as mine is? The guy got cut from flippin’ CHARLOTTE for crying out loud. Are you kidding me? That’s like having to have the piece of cake that not even the fat kid wanted to eat.

Oh, but wait, there’s former University of Kentucky star Tony Delk! Another guy who has more letters in his last name than great moments in the league. How are these people making your team better?

Unless Larry Bird is trying to get a head start in the Eric Gordon/OJ Mayo race, he’s moving the team in the wrong direction.