Жермейн О'Нил: Американдық баскетболшының өмірбаяны

American basketball player (born 1978)

Jermaine Lee O'Neal Sr. (born October 13, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player. A center/power forward, he had a successful high school career and declared his eligibility for the 1996 NBA draft straight out of high school. O'Neal, at just 17 years of age, was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 17th overall pick, and played his first professional game at 18. At the time, he was the youngest player to ever play an NBA game. O'Neal was unable to break into the first team in Portland and was traded to the Indiana Pacers in 2000. In his eight seasons with the team, he was voted an NBA All Star six times, made the All NBA teams three times, and was voted the NBA Most Improved Player in the 2001–02 season. O'Neal also helped Indiana reach the NBA playoffs six times, including the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2003–04 season. O'Neal was traded to the Toronto Raptors before the 2008–09 season began, and later played for the Miami Heat, the Boston Celtics and the Phoenix Suns. O'Neal's final NBA season was the 2013–14 season, which he spent with the Golden State Warriors.

O'Neal was born in Columbia, South Carolina. Ocean worked hard to support her sons and left her children largely to their own devices. O'Neal found his love for athletics at a young age. Tall and quick, he enjoyed both American football and basketball, but basketball was his favorite sport. Two of his basketball heroes are Hakeem Olajuwon and Bill Russell; O'Neal often marveled at Olajuwon's approach to the game, while he loved watching Russell's video highlights of his duels with Wilt Chamberlain.

Each summer, O'Neal would play for an AAU team and impressed onlookers with his athleticism and his ability to handle the ball with both hands. By the time he turned 14, the O'Neal—now a confident guard who could drain three pointers—entered Eau Claire High School of the Arts as a freshman in 1992. In his first meeting with basketball coach George Glymph, he made the bold promise to become the best player in the school's history. things changed when he grew five inches over the next year and a half, and he was inspired to develop into a defensive powerhouse like his idol, Bill Russell. Glymph built his team's defense around O'Neal, and Eau Claire featured one of the most imposing frontcourts around. With O'Neal averaging 18 points, 12 rebounds and 9 blocks a game, Eau Claire captured its third straight 3A state title in 1995. The rookie was surrounded by veterans and emerging stars who could show him the ropes in Portland; forming the frontcourt with him were Arvydas Sabonis, Rasheed Wallace and Cliff Robinson. After missing the first 17 games with a bone contusion in his knee, O'Neal made his debut against the Denver Nuggets in December. At 18 years, one month and 22 days, he became the youngest player to play in an NBA game (a mark that was later eclipsed by Andrew Bynum). O'Neal also became the youngest player at 18 years, three months and eleven days to score 20 points in a game on January 22, 1997, against the Seattle SuperSonics.

Portland was mediocre in the first half of the campaign, but came to form as the playoffs approached and managed to finish third in the Pacific Division with a 49–33 win–loss record. While fans at the Rose Garden harbored thoughts of an upset against the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs, For the most part, however, he came off the bench and only averaged 10.2 minutes a game. In the playoffs, Dunleavy opted to go with a more youthful lineup: before the trade deadline, he had acquired point guard Damon Stoudamire, as well as forwards Carlos Rogers and Walt Williams. The move was designed to bolster the team's chances in the playoffs against teams that were bigger and more physical. the Trail Blazers chalked up an impressive 35–15 record and topped the division. Dunleavy—who would later be named NBA Coach of the Year—led his club into the playoffs aiming to capture the franchise's first NBA title since 1977. After sweeping the Phoenix Suns 3–0 in the first round, Portland defeated the Utah Jazz 4–2 to set up a showdown with the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. and propelled San Antonio to win the series (the Spurs went on to win the NBA championship). O'Neal's disappointment at losing in the Conference Finals was compounded by the fact that his regular season minutes had dropped to fewer than 10 a game for the first time, However, the new deal did not translate into more playing time for the power forward in the 1999–2000 season. Portland acquired Detlef Schrempf, Scottie Pippen, and Steve Smith during the 1999 offseason, which meant that O'Neal was once again consigned to the bench. His statistics remained unimpressive, averaging 3.9 points and 3.3 rebounds per game during the regular season. Up against recent perennial rivals the Los Angeles Lakers, the team relinquished a 15 point lead in the fourth quarter of the pivotal game 7, and lost 89–84. O'Neal was not heavily involved in any of this action, however. With back to back Conference Finals disappointments coupled with a lack of playing time, he soon announced his intention to be traded.

The trade was greeted with surprise by the Indiana fans as the Pacers had just come off an appearance in the 2000 NBA Finals, and the trade involved losing a quality player for an unproven commodity in O'Neal. At that time, Indiana was rebuilding and still revolved around veteran All Star Reggie Miller. O'Neal turned out to be a revelation for his new club and it was not long before he established himself as a key player for his new team. Starting in 80 of the 81 regular season games he played in for the 2000–01 season, his statistics improved significantly as he averaged 12.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. he also led the league in total blocks (228, a franchise record), where they faced one of the hottest teams in the league at that time, the New Jersey Nets. The Pacers lost the series in 5 games, despite forcing overtime twice. and had the best record in the East by the time the All Star break arrived. who could only finish the season 48–34. When the season ended, O'Neal tried to keep his focus on basketball and considered the possibility of joining another team since he was now a free agent. The San Antonio Spurs, led by two time NBA champion Tim Duncan, looked an interesting proposition as perennial All Star David Robinson had just retired. Much as it was tempting for O'Neal to make the switch, he opted not to uproot his family and signed a seven year, $126 million contract with the Pacers. Even so, the offseason produced a few surprises for O'Neal when Isiah Thomas was replaced by Rick Carlisle, and Brad Miller left for the Sacramento Kings. He remained a constant double double threat, averaging 20.1 points and 10.0 rebounds a game in the regular season.

The Pacers looked to build on their previous campaign in the 2004–05 season, but all their plans came apart on November 19. In a game against the Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills, a brawl named "The Malice at the Palace" broke out that spilled into the stands, after a fan threw a drink on Indiana Pacer Ron Artest. O'Neal was one of the Pacers who fought with two fans who came onto the court; he ran to defend teammate Ron Artest and punched one of the fans in the head so hard that teammate Scot Pollard and sportscaster Jim Gray feared that O'Neal would kill the fan. As he and his Pacer teammates left the court, many enraged fans threw snacks, drinks, and even a folding chair at O'Neal. In response to O'Neal's actions during the brawl, NBA Commissioner David Stern suspended him for 25 games; teammates Artest and Stephen Jackson were suspended for the rest of the season and 30 games, respectively. O'Neal appeared in only 44 games, his lowest total ever with Indiana. Although his scoring average improved to 24.3 points per game, his rebounding dropped and he was no longer the same intimidating presence on defense. Things worsened when he sprained his right shoulder in March and played sparingly for the remainder of the regular season, while hoping to recover in time for the playoffs. The Pacers entered the playoffs as the sixth seed. They eventually lost to the New Jersey Nets in six games. O'Neal missed 13 more games in the 2006–07 season as the Pacers missed the playoffs altogether. O'Neal continued to miss huge amounts of time, especially towards the end of the season, as the Pacers struggled to compete. O'Neal's production and stats declined as well. He had two years and $44 million left on his deal. The Pacers were looking to move the huge contract. On June 25, 2008, it was reported that O'Neal and the 41st pick in the 2008 NBA draft, Nathan Jawai would be sent to Toronto for T. J. Ford, Rasho Nesterovič, Maceo Baston and the 17th pick in the 2008 NBA draft (Roy Hibbert). The trade was finalized on July 9, 2008.

O'Neal was given jersey #6 for the Raptors since his number with the Pacers (#7) was already owned by Andrea Bargnani. While he was expected to combine with Toronto's three time All Star Chris Bosh to form a strong frontcourt and provide greater rebounding and interior defense for the Raptors, O'Neal's arrival was dwarfed by the Elton Brand signing pulled off by division rivals Philadelphia. O'Neal wasted no time in imposing his style on his new team: in the season opener at Philadelphia, he pointed to hecklers in the home crowd after making a dunk; in the team's second game, Toronto's center blocked a dunk from Golden State's Brandan Wright and thereafter waved a finger in disapproval. Even so, it took O'Neal some time to find his offensive game: he reached the 20 point mark just twice in his first 23 games, before notching three straight thereafter. By the All Star break, injuries had ruled the big man out for almost a quarter of Toronto's games, while Bargnani regained his starting spot with a streak of solid performances. This, coupled with the Raptors entering the break placed 14th in the conference and 13 games under .500, Toronto General Manager Bryan Colangelo looked to move O'Neal to bring in a wing player and free up salary space. On February 13, 2009, O'Neal and Jamario Moon were traded to Miami for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks; the latter two had been traded to Miami a year earlier for Shaquille O'Neal. In his 41 games as a Raptor, O'Neal averaged 13.5 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks per game. In the first round of the playoffs, the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Heat in seven games. He had a difficult season with his new team, missing 58 regular season games with left knee and left wrist injuries, playing only 24 games and started in 10 of them, averaging 5.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 18.0 minutes per game. O'Neal came back in the starting line up for the 2011 NBA playoffs. Boston (third seed) faced the New York Knicks in the first round. O'Neal had a good series, especially in game 1 with 12 points and 5 blocks. Boston swept the Knicks, but lost to the eventual Eastern Conference champions, the Miami Heat, in the second round in five games. On April 20, 2012, he was waived by the Celtics following season ending wrist surgery. In 25 games, he averaged 5.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.

On August 15, 2012, O'Neal signed a one year contract with the Phoenix Suns. O'Neal cited the Suns' training staff as a major factor in his decision to sign with the team. He has been considered the leader around the locker room to replace the likes of Steve Nash and Grant Hill. As a result, O'Neal became a new captain of the team along with Jared Dudley. On November 21, 2012, O'Neal scored 17 points off of 7 of 9 shooting off the bench to help defeat the Portland Trail Blazers 114–87. Two days later, O'Neal would record his first double double with the Suns by scoring 13 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in a close 111–108 overtime victory over the New Orleans Hornets. On January 23, 2013, O'Neal was sidelined by an irregular heartbeat. O'Neal would return on February 5, 2013, against the Memphis Grizzlies before the All Star break. On February 27, 2013, O'Neal scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in a 105–101 overtime victory against the San Antonio Spurs. In March 2013, O'Neal took time off from the team to be with his daughter, Asjia, who underwent surgery to repair a leaky heart valve.

On July 23, 2013, O'Neal signed with the Golden State Warriors. On December 13, 2013, O'Neal underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right wrist. He returned to action on February 4, 2014. Feeling exhausted, O'Neal decided to sit out the 2014–15 NBA season. Despite receiving interest from several teams during the season, O'Neal remained out of action and instead decided to focus on his family. In February 2016, O'Neal noted that he had not yet officially retired from the NBA.

Following his breakout season in 2000–01, O'Neal earned a spot on Team USA for the 2001 Goodwill Games. The Americans won all of their five games and the gold medal, and O'Neal led the team in blocks and shooting percentage, while finishing second in points and rebounds. O'Neal averaged 7.3 points and 4.5 rebounds over eight games. O'Neal featured in every game in that tournament, averaging 11.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per contest. He also owned a recording studio named Bogota Entertainment in Atlanta. O'Neal is a Christian. He also frequently tweets about his faith. O'Neal was credited as an executive producer on Netflix film Untold: Malice at the Palace in 2021. He is currently the head basketball coach of Dynamic Prep Academy out of Irving, Texas.