The five worst free agent signings in Boston Celtics history

1. Jermaine O’Neal

Fresh off losing to the Los Angles Lakers in the NBA Finals, the Celtics were nearly equipped to make another run. With Kendrick Perkins out for the season with an ACL tear, Rasheed Wallace retiring, and Glen Davis as their best option at center, Danny Ainge attempted to fill the gap with a 6′ 11″ 255 lbs center named Jermaine O’Neal.

O’ Neal, at 32 years of age, was known for his leadership and winning attitude, although still titleless 15 years into his career.

After scoring a disappointing 4.2 points per game, shooting 9 for 44, in the first round of the playoffs a season prior, ironically against the Celtics, both Ainge and Doc Rivers oddly took an interest. The two noticed that O’ Neal played defense harder than anyone else on the court, blocking shot after shot throughout the series.

Almost immediately after joining the Celtics, O’ Neal experienced a number of injuries. In the preseason, O’Neal experienced a sore hamstring, back pain, a hurt wrist, and leg swelling. The leg pain continued into the season.

Yet because of an injury to another recently signed O’Neal, named Shaquille, Jermaine was encouraged to keep playing with a left knee injury. However, the mishandling of the injury kept O’Neal for over a month, until he finally returned on limited minutes.

Nine games in, O’Neal began to feel pain once again, indicating a possibility for surgery. As others caught the injury bug, Semih Erden was playing backup center for Boston, who reportedly could not breathe after playing 33 minutes.

Fast forward 36 games, to March 31, O’Neal had returned from surgery and was rushed back on the court, finding himself in the lineup once again. The Celtics were amidst an ugly slump dragging them down in the playoff race, in need of some help. In his first game back, the center logged 11 minutes and five points on a two-for-two night from the floor.

Although blindsided by the pace, O’Neal’s minutes were very important for the struggling Celtics. O’Neal only ended up playing seven out of the last nine, bringing his season total up to 24, playing over 30 minutes just twice.  That year, O’Neal had a negative value above replacement, -4.2 box score plus/minus, actually making the team worse in the few instances where he was actually not hurt.

O’Neal was able to stay healthy in the playoffs, but Celtics, who were facing the Miami Heat in the second round, were quickly eliminated. O’Neal finished the series with 5.8 points a game without substantial minutes. Nearly $6 million into his contract, O’Neal was yet to provide any valuable contributions to the Celtics.

The following year was a difficult one for O’Neal. His longest stretch of games played that season was nine, going in and out of the trainer’s room as often as he could. With several zero-point performances and a plethora of poor ones, O’Neal seemed useless.

Rumors spread that maybe players preferred him tucked away in the trainer’s room. While O’Neal was negatively impacting the team on the court, he was having issues off the court as well, unhappy and disliked. The once a Most Valuable Player candidate, and top scorer, was having trouble in his new role.

25 games into his second season, O’Neal had left wrist surgery ending his tenure with the Celtics at the age of 34. O’Neal was supposed to be a ‘missing piece’ on a team bound for a title, but ostensibly became in an obstacle.