Ranking all of Steph’s teammates: #43 — Jermaine O’Neal
An All-Star, but long before his Warriors days.
During his time with the Golden State Warriors, Steph Curry has had 106 teammates who have appeared in at least one game. Some played in exactly one game, while others played in hundreds. Some never actually played in a game that Curry was active for, while others formed historically great partnerships with him.
And I’m ranking all 106 of them before a new season starts and he adds to the tally. Better get a move on.
Players are ranked — and stats are shown — based only on their time as Curry’s teammate. How good/bad they were in other organizations doesn’t matter. How good/bad they were on pre-2009-10 Warriors teams doesn’t matter.
#43 — Jermaine O’Neal
Games: 44 (T-58th out of 106)
Points per game: 7.9 (T-35th out of 106)
Rebounds per game: 5.5 (13th out of 106)
Assists per game: 0.6 (T-78th out of 106)
When Jermaine O’Neal signed with the Warriors prior to the 2013-14 NBA season, he was a long ways removed from the player who had been selected to six straight All-Star Games and been awarded All-NBA on three occasions.
But he was still a pretty decent player.
O’Neal played his 18th and final NBA season in the Bay Area, and provided some strong veteran presence for an up-and-coming team that was on the verge of breaking through.
He missed a few months in the middle of the season after a wrist injury required surgery, but he was steady both before and after that hiatus. He wasn’t the defensive force he had been early in his career, but still was strong defender who helped control the paint and blocked shots.
O’Neal shot 50.4% from the field, and had a 57.0% true-shooting percentage, but his offensive game was limited enough that he was probably more of a liability than an asset on that end of the court. He was certainly very far removed from his days as a 20+ points per game scorer, though he still turned back the clock on occasion, and showed some glimpses of the star he used to be with some entertaining post moves.
Ultimately, he probably provided more value off the court than on it. The advanced metrics pointed to a player who should be thinking about hanging up his sneakers soon — which he did — but he was still a defensive-minded former star on a young and inexperienced team that needed some veteran guidance.
And he still had some damn good plays.