Jermaine Oneal: Not Happy with Firing of Isiah Thomas...

[PLANT]

Here's what Jermaine Oneal had to say about the firing of Thomas:
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Jermaine O'Neal would not have re-signed with the Indiana Pacers if he had known they were going to fire Isiah Thomas.

"I don't know who I would have signed with, but I would not have signed back there. Bottom line," O'Neal said early Thursday at the Tournament of the Americas, where he is competing for the United States in qualifying for the 2004 Olympics.


 
Visibly angered and upset by the move to fire Indiana's coach, O'Neal said he'll address the situation with the Pacers' front office next week. He would not answer when asked if he would demand a trade.

"Am I disappointed? Hell, yeah. I'm extremely disappointed for multiple reasons," O'Neal said. "I was told he would be here before I re-signed."

"If your boss told you your ace is going to be there for you if you come back, and once you come back not even a month later he's not there, that hurts. That hurts a lot. He was more than a coach to me. He was like a father."

O'Neal joined the Pacers three years ago after Larry Bird resigned and was replaced by Thomas. Indiana made the playoffs for three straight years but was eliminated in the first round each time.

Bird, who returned to the Pacers last month as their president of basketball operations, fired Thomas on Wednesday and said the team plans to hire Rick Carlisle as its new coach.

O'Neal got the news in a phone call from Thomas.

"It was extremely strange. I was taking a nap and got the phone call and was like, let me sit up for a second, you're kidding me," O'Neal said. "I was extremely excited about coming back into the situation. We have a crew that's been together for a while and is really ready to focus in on trying to get to the NBA Finals. I don't know exactly where my organization is trying to go. I'm kind of dumbfounded right now."

O'Neal said he telephoned Bird and team president Donnie Walsh asking for an explanation, giving no details except to say it was a brief discussion.

He said it was Walsh who assured him during contract negotiations that Thomas would return. O'Neal signed a seven-year, $126 million deal.

"To me, it's mind-blowing that we would do this, and do it 4-5 weeks before the season," O'Neal said. "I'm more hurt than anything."

O'Neal had spoken with Thomas earlier this week in Puerto Rico, where Thomas was attending the Tournament of the Americas.

Thomas checked out of his hotel unexpectedly Tuesday after being summoned back to Indianapolis.

"He didn't really sound upset. I think he's more hurt than anything. He's been trying to scrap up new plays, new ways to get his players motivated," O'Neal said.

O'Neal spoke on the phone with teammates Al Harrington, Jonathan Bender and Jamison Brewer after learning of the firing.

"Everybody's just extremely surprised. We were geared up to go at this real strong. Now we've got to retool, look at a new system," O'Neal said. "I mean, I don't know if we're really trying to win the championship this year."

Bird said he didn't feel comfortable with the Pacers' direction after a second-half swoon that knocked them out of first place in the Eastern Conference. Bird also said there were other problems with Thomas, including a lack of communication this summer.

O'Neal defended Thomas, saying the public never knew that he occasionally slept in his office at Conseco Fieldhouse after staying late to draw up game plans.

"The slump at the end of the season, we were still 16 games over .500. What else do you want?" O'Neal said. "I thought in this league you're determined on what you do, wins and losses. He's 16 games better than he was the year before, and he's taking one of the youngest teams in the league and making them contenders and giving us confidence to say that we feel we can come out of the East and get to the finals.

"That was our goal, but all of a sudden now we're not really trying to get to the finals. We're trying to get guys together and compete. I didn't come back to Indiana just to compete. I want to win the finals." O'Neal had a poor game for the U.S. team Wednesday night in a 96-69 victory over Mexico, fouling out in just 12 minutes after scoring 11 points and grabbing seven rebounds.

"I'm continuing to figure it out every single year: Life is a challenge, and the ones that succeed in life are the tough-minded ones that are not willing to accept failure," O'Neal said. "And no matter what, at the end of the day whether it's with the Pacers or somewhere else, I'm going to continue to succeed."

[T.J.]

why the fuck did they fire him for??

[The Big Bad Ass]

Cause he can't coach worth shit.

[Black_Smoke]

damn thats sucks for oneal

[PLANT]

damn thats sucks for oneal

No doubt.

[.:DayGoStyLz:.]

Cause he can't coach worth shit.

i dont think hes done THAT much worse of a job then many other coaches that go through Indiana tho. I mean, organizations seem to think sometimes..that u just hop into a coaching spot...and immediately win the championship lol. its VERY few people out there that can even come close to that.

[The Big Bad Ass]

Unless you are a pacer fan, and watched every game the last 3 seasons, it's hard to understand how much Zeke hurt the team. His rotations destroyed players rhythms, like Ron Mercer, and Austin Croshere just to name a couple. His offense also completly made reggie a non factor too. The Pacers are talented enough to win 42 games with a kindergardener coaching them. The fact they didn't get out of the first round in 3 years, and no consistant lineup, plus the burying of specific players like Travis Best, Croshere, Jeff Foster, and Mercer last season have the people of indiana in an uproar. Zeke did a good job of developing JO, and Harrington, but he's destroyed others careers, and set reggie way back in his last few years. This change was badly needed, and I'm extrememly glad it happened. I just hope JO wakes up and realizes that he has millions of fans, and 126,000,000 reasons to play for the Pacers the next few years.

Reg has been our franchise for over a decade. In that time 6 Pacer coaches have come and gone. I'm sure he had great relationships with some of those coaches, but not once have I heard him express anger, or threaten to demand a trade over a coaching movement... because he is a professional, here to do a job. It's time for JO to grow up and be a man. He has every right to be angry. But to demand a trade will black ball him in this league for the rest of his career.

[.:DayGoStyLz:.]

Unless you are a pacer fan, and watched every game the last 3 seasons, it's hard to understand how much Zeke hurt the team. His rotations destroyed players rhythms, like Ron Mercer, and Austin Croshere just to name a couple. His offense also completly made reggie a non factor too. The Pacers are talented enough to win 42 games with a kindergardener coaching them. The fact they didn't get out of the first round in 3 years, and no consistant lineup, plus the burying of specific players like Travis Best, Croshere, Jeff Foster, and Mercer last season have the people of indiana in an uproar. Zeke did a good job of developing JO, and Harrington, but he's destroyed others careers, and set reggie way back in his last few years. This change was badly needed, and I'm extrememly glad it happened. I just hope JO wakes up and realizes that he has millions of fans, and 126,000,000 reasons to play for the Pacers the next few years.

Reg has been our franchise for over a decade. In that time 6 Pacer coaches have come and gone. I'm sure he had great relationships with some of those coaches, but not once have I heard him express anger, or threaten to demand a trade over a coaching movement... because he is a professional, here to do a job. It's time for JO to grow up and be a man. He has every right to be angry. But to demand a trade will black ball him in this league for the rest of his career.

well, maybe he just knows he will NEVER win a championship with the Pacers...and it took a minute to kick in.  

Maybe yur right about Isiah, but all im sayin is...it kills me when organizations jump from coach to coach, and never give them more then 3 yrs or so to win a championship. I mean, that shit is jus crazy to me. How many coaches in the league can walk into a situation, and create a champion immediately? None...

[The Big Bad Ass]

Yeah bro I agree with you. 3 years is a short ass time to give someone to win a championship. The issue was they weren't improving. They were hovering on the 500 mark all 3 years, and no playoff wins. I was just trying to say there was more to it than meets the eye. I.T. just didn't have a good style of coaching in my opinion, and in the opinion of about 75 percent of the Pacers fans mind. There was a poll up at indystar.com (Indianapolis Newspapers website) asking if it was the right decision. Out of 6000 votes, it was 98% yes, 2% no. Just hope he doesn't come out there and take over Popavichs job

[Perfection]

O'Neal should just shut up because Isiah can't coach, his teams have fallen apart the second half of the last three years & he had no idea what he was doing when it came to the rotations. This is just another thing that Thomas has failed at since he retired. 1st he failed in the management of the Raptors, and casued Glen Gronweold to takae the mic at Maple Leaf Gardens & say he's sorry for the way the team was ran but things won't be the same after the year.
2nd Thomas failed as a NBC basketball guy
3rd Thmoas failed as a coach

[The Big Bad Ass]

^^ You forgot the collapse of the CBA under his watch. If we are gonna blast Isiah, lets do it in full  

[PLANT]

^^ You forgot the collapse of the CBA under his watch. If we are gonna blast Isiah, lets do it in full  

And dont forget the Raptors too....

[Perfection]

^^ You forgot the collapse of the CBA under his watch. If we are gonna blast Isiah, lets do it in full  

And dont forget the Raptors too....

I did say that he failed with the Raptors. It's the first negative thing that I said about Thomas on my post.