Slimmer O’Neal expecting big things from Raptors

TORONTO (AP)—Jermaine O’Neal sweated through endless hours of workouts this summer, but those sessions were a breeze compared to breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Told to drop a few pounds to take some weight off his surgically repaired left knee, O’Neal cut sugar, bread and dairy products out of his diet for eight weeks. The Toronto Raptors center called it “the biggest challenge” of his offseason.
“They felt that it would be important for me, because I was really top-heavy the last two years, to trim down and take some of the pressure off my knees,” O’Neal said Monday at Raptors media day. “They told me 10-12 pounds would be the ideal weight for my knee to stay healthy, to be able to actually elevate and get my explosion back. I did that, and I feel exactly what they were talking about.”
Still, the steady diet of broccoli, carrots and green beans grew a little tiresome, leaving O’Neal longing for his favorite treats.
“When you wake up in the morning, you don’t want to eat oatmeal with no sugar everyday,” O’Neal said. “You want the French toast, you want the pancakes, you want that stuff. I struggled through that but I got through it.”
O’Neal, acquired from Indiana in a July trade that sent point guard T.J. Ford, center Rasho Nesterovic and draft pick Roy Hibbert to the Pacers, missed 40 games last season because of lingering pain from a torn ligament in his left knee that was surgically repaired the previous summer.
The dietary regimen and the hours in the gym were part of O’Neal’s desire to pay back Toronto general manager Bryan Colangelo for providing him with a fresh start.
“Bryan really stuck his neck out for me,” O’Neal said. “I’m willing to do what I need to do to make him look good about the trade.”
Colangelo said O’Neal’s rebounding ability “changes the entire dynamic of what we’ve got,” making this the best squad he’s had since joining the Raptors in February, 2006 “In terms of core talent, yes, I’d have to think that this is the best,” Colangelo said. “At every position, we’ve got the talent that we feel we can compete.”
Having reached his target weight, the slimmed-down O’Neal allowed himself a reward.
“I had two cupcakes,” he said. “Very good. Two Red Devil cupcakes. I enjoyed it.”
His sweet tooth satisfied and his body in shape, O’Neal will open his first training camp with the Raptors on Tuesday. At the top of the agenda is figuring out how best to team up with U.S. Olympian Chris Bosh in the Toronto frontcourt.
“I think we’re all excited, just in the potential that he brings to this team,” Bosh said of O’Neal, a six-time All-Star. “If we get on the same page, I think we can do a lot of big things.”
Bosh has only played against O’Neal during informal scrimmages this week, but that will change when training camp begins in Ottawa on Tuesday.