Jermaine O'Neal Did All He Could To Return

Jermaine O'Neal with some heartfelt thoughts on (perhaps) the end of his career. You can tell he hears the criticisms - shoot, he might even read this blog (and other fan sites). That can't be easy.

BostonHerald.com - Blogs: Celtics Insider" Blog Archive " O’Neal says he tried everything to come back to C’s

"Without that ligament there, the bones are moving around like bag of marbles. I was past the cortisone stage. You do all you can do, and sometimes that bell doesn’t ring. "I don’t believe there’s anybody in our league that’s played 16 years who has fought harder over the last two years to be healthy than me. I think fans sometimes don’t understand the human nature of us. They look at the money, but for us, we live real lives. We bleed the same way. "I just want people to know that I really wanted to come back and help the Celtics, but it just didn’t work."

I'm kind of a broken record on this subject, but I'll say it again. I think Jermaine O'Neal gets a little too much criticism on this team. I don't think he signed up thinking he was "stealing our money." The Celtics thought he was worth the money and he was worth the risk. What's he going to do, turn it down?