Boston Celtics centre Jermaine O’Neal says he’ll retire after 2011-12 season: NBA Update
Boston Celtics centre Jermaine O’Neal, who is on the cusp of his 16th professional year, has revealed that the next NBA season will be his last.
This might be an unexpected decision for many, but for O’Neal it was not the kind of decision that he took over night. He gave the decision a long thought and it was only after that, that he decided to part his ways with the game
he loves so much.
"I'm going into my16th year, so I know my time is near.” O'Neal said, “I know someday the ball is going to go flat; you have to plan for life after basketball and that's what I have been doing."
O’Neal has spent time during this summer on planning his life after NBA. He has several businesses both abroad and within the States, which is going to be his source income after the bidding adieu to his basketball career.
Jermaine’s approach towards his business is exactly as varied as it remained towards National Basketball Association in his 15 seasons. He said, "There are some similarities. You have to be able to do different things and not just
get locked into being one type of player or one type of businessman, if you want to be around."
If O’ Neal did what exactly he has planned then it will be for the third consecutive season that the C’s would be saying goodbye to a key player at the end of the season (if it takes place).
First it was Rasheed Wallace, who declared his retirement after the C’s lost game seven against Los Angeles Lakers in the 2010 National Basketball Association Finals. Then, Big Man Shaquille O’ Neal announced his retirement after
missing almost the entire 2010-11 season because of knee injury.
Jermaine had also said that if the lockout wipes out the entire next season, even then he wouldn’t consider playing overseas. O’ Neal told the reason behind not going abroad is that,
"I have a five-year old son and a 12-year-old girl. They want to spend a lot of time with daddy. At this point in my career, it doesn't make sense to go overseas and play for half a season. "
Apart from this he also wants to be fully fit both mentally and physically for what could be his last season in NBA. However, O’ Neal didn’t completely close the door on playing after the next season, because the 255 pound player
so far hadn’t won a championship ring in his pro career and is still keen to have it. O’ Neal told that in the quest of lifting the NBA title, he landed in Boston, as he believes that this was the best option for him to win the championship.
O’ Neal had a splendid career in NBA during which he scored with an average of 14 points, clutched 7.4 rebounds per game. The Big Guy is now looking to finish off in style by tallying some impressive numbers in the next season, when he’ll return to the hard
wood.
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