Jermaine O'Neal News

Josh Smith had 22 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 6 blocked shots in Atlanta's win over Denver on Saturday night.

Last season as the Raptors were sliding out of playoff contention, our enthusiastic Raptors TV announcer Matt Devlin turned the phrase "The Killer Bs." The phrase was referencing the emergence of Andrea Bargnani as a legitimate 20-point per game player alongside of the other "B" scoring 20 ppg, CB4.

The black ink on Jermaine O'Neal 's right arm, just below the shoulder, displays a menacing superhero type of character, crouched and springing forward.

Even minus the services of two key players - Tayshaun Prince and Rip Hamilton - the shorthanded Pistons put up a gutsy fight before succumbing to the home-standing Raptors.

Up in Milwaukee the other night, it seemed the small group of reporters gathered for coach Scott Skiles' postgame press conference was pretty much ready to put rookie point guard Brandon Jennings into the Hall of Fame.

Heat center Jermaine O'Neal on Wednesday night rekindled memories of his days as an All-Star six times while with the Indiana Pacers.

Erik Spoelstra's argument was mostly halfhearted as he challenged the second-quarter technical foul Jermaine O'Neal was assessed Friday night for following a dunk with a chin-up on the rim.

Jermaine O'Neal had 22 points and 12 rebounds against his former team, and the Miami Heat beat the Indiana Pacers 96-83 on Friday night.

TORONTO 101, CLEVELAND 91: Andrea Bargnani, right, scored 28 points, Chris Bosh had 21 points and 16 rebounds, and the Raptors overcame LeBron James' 25th career triple-double to beat the visiting Cavaliers on Wednesday night.

In case you haven't noticed, things aren't exactly going swimmingly for Toronto sports teams lately.

Joey Graham posted 24 points and Jermaine O'Neal added 22 points and eight rebounds, as the Toronto Raptors snapped a six-game losing streak with a 110-102 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have acquired forward Nathan Jawai from the Dallas Mavericks.

Jermaine O'Neal and Lamesha O'Neal have listed for sale a six-bedroom, seven-bath home at 4 Moss Spring Court in Henderson for $3.55 million.

Heat center Jermaine O'Neal sat patiently as a trainer wrapped both knees in ice following an 87-83 loss to the Pistons Monday.

Rasho Nesterovic gave a lot of thought to moving closer to home this year. His family increased to four with the birth of his daughter Teodora, his second child after son Nikola.

If all this pre-season optimism is starting to sound a little familiar, one need only think back a year ago at this time when the arrival of Jermaine O'Neal to pair with Chris Bosh had the words Twin Towers on the tips of tongues throughout Toronto.

Having stars on light duties 'perfect' Toronto Raptors forward Hedo Turkoglu, left, and Chris Bosh pose during the NBA team's media day before the start of training camp in Toronto September 28, 2009.

Can you smell it? I can, it's training camp and it's just around the corner. It's the time when wins and losses are seen as meaningless with much more weight given to team cohesion, practices, conditioning and such.

With the 2009-2010 NBA season only a short time away, many NBA fans are getting excited.

Tom is an Equity Research Analyst by day and a long-time Raptors supporter at night.