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JERMAINE O’NEAL SPEAKS OUT ON NBA NATION; ESPN NBA ANALYSTS MAKE MVP SELECTIONS

During Tuesday night’s NBA Nation on ESPN2, guest Jermaine O’Neal elaborated on his comments made earlier in the week regarding the possibility of a minimum age for NBA players. NBA Nation, with host Matt Winer, analysts Greg Anthony and Tim Legler, ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher and ESPN.com’s Marc Stein, also featured discussion on who should win the league’s MVP award and which Los Angeles team (Clippers or Lakers) will be more successful next season.

NBA Nation, the unique two-hour show featuring NBA highlights and analysis along with live cut-ins to games, is televised Tuesday nights throughout the season on ESPN2 and will conclude next week at 10 p.m. ET.

Excerpts from Tuesday night’s NBA Nation:

On the possibility of an NBA minimum age and elaborating on his recent comments:

Jermaine O’Neal – “The product and the economic reasoning isn’t the reason why we should have an age limit…we talk about different sports, and I don’t want people to misunderstand what I am saying...I’m not saying David Stern or whoever else is racist, because I’m not racist. I don’t think those guys are racist. But...it’s a double standard because this has been going on in many of other leagues, with the exception of football, for years. You have a 14-year-old soccer player…just get a multi-million dollar contract. So why is it such an issue with basketball players, which is predominately, 80 percent black athletes. I’m an equal opportunity guy and I truthfully believe if something is not broken, then why try to fix it?

“I’m not playing the race card. I’m talking about the facts. I’m talking about these kids having an opportunity to excel at life. You can choose to go do all sorts of things, like I said about the war, these kids are going to the war at 18…we’re talking about basketball, people trying to live a dream, first of all, and also take care of their families. It’s easy for people to analyze stuff sitting up on a panel, but they don’t know where these kids are coming from. I’m speaking from experience and half the people that are speaking about it haven’t lived that life. So for people to understand what I’m talking about, they got to really look into it. We’re talking about something that is really happening in a good way. The NBA is doing very well and the prime faces for the NBA are high school players…

“I view David Stern as a great commissioner. I think he has been great for our league.”

On the comments made by O’Neal on the show:

Anthony – “It affects him personally, because he was a high schooler who came in, didn’t necessarily play a whole lot in the beginning, but he had the opportunity to learn what it took to be a professional and he took advantage of it being out in Portland with some of those great players on that team. All he’s saying is, who is anybody to take away an opportunity from a young man who has a proven skill and ability and a desire to come out and play at the highest level? (Especially) when someone has already made a decision and chose him in the draft and feels they have that same type of ability to come out and help them. He just wanted to make sure that part of his argument was made.”

On who should be league MVP:

Shaquille O’Neal (Anthony and Legler):

Anthony – “When you’re talking about an MVP, I just believe it has to be somebody that can dominate both ends of the floor…the MVP award is not for the most valuable player on a team, it is for the most valuable player in the league and I don’t think there is any question that Shaquille O’Neal has been that. Look at the impact he has had on any team he has been on. He makes you a legitimate title contender.”

Steve Nash (Stein and Bucher):

Stein – “We’re not debating dominance. Shaquille O’Neal calls himself the most dominant ever and it’s a claim he can actually make and have a decent argument there, but the MVP rewards the best individual season. The Suns have been the team of the season, they’ve had the turnaround of the season and Nash has changed the lives for all the guys on this team. Their composite age without him is about 12 years old. He’s taken Amare Stoudemire and other guys to all new levels.”

On the better team in Los Angeles next season – the Clippers or Lakers:

Anthony – “The Clippers have more collective talent. I think they are going to have more flexibility in terms of being able to maneuver with the salary cap and they have all those things going for them, but I’d still say the L.A. Lakers have the brighter future because of Kobe Bryant and the fact that the culture of winning is all that they are going to accept in Los Angeles.”

Legler – “The Clippers. They have to re-sign Bobby Simmons to make that happen. This year, he might be the most underpaid player in the entire league with his production and what he’s making. I like their young talent when you look at Shaun Livingston, Marko Jaric, Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, Chris Kaman. That’s not a bad top six, when you throw Bobby Simmons into the mix. The thing about Kobe Bryant, he hasn’t proven he can play with other guys. Can you bring in other guys that are top level players to play along side him that he will actually incorporate and trust that will enable them to climb? The Lakers could be in last place next year in their division.”