Jermaine O’Neal could easily be an authoritarian presence to his basketball star son Jermaine O’Neal Jr.
The elder O’Neal has the bona fides, playing in the NBA for 18 seasons, making six-straight All-Star teams for the Indiana Pacers from 2001-07, and now serving as the head coach for his son’s high school team Dynamic Prep in Texas. At 6-foot-11, he’s not just a looming figure physically, but he is still revered by NBA fans who know how much he transformed how a power forward plays the game.
But that’s not the type of father he wants to be. He’s walking a tightrope between father, coach, and NBA legend, and has to remind himself of the different dynamics because he didn’t have what his son has at the same age.
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O’Neal Sr. didn’t meet his father until he was 30 years old, who then passed away just 13 months after reuniting.
“We’ve had our times where we had to take a little bit of a break and say ‘Hey, let’s take a couple days and cool out,'” O’Neal said. “And rightfully so. And the thing that I hadn’t really respected as much as I should’ve and he was mature enough to tell me this about a month and half ago, he said ‘Dad, look. I don’t get a chance to be off. When you’re on the sideline, I’m always compared to you.'”
“… I thought he did a really good job of verbalizing that, and I have to try and balance that because I didn’t have this when I was coming through school. I spent my entire life without this, so I’m always tight. I want him to be successful, but I want him to work for everything. So sometimes he has to tell me to turn the volume down a little bit.”
The juggling act is working for both and Dynamic Prep, which won the City of Palms Classic Signature Series Championship on Sunday. O’Neal Jr. averaged 19 points on 52% shooting, along with 3.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.5 steals.
The 6-foot-5 forward is ranked as a four-star and consensus top-15 senior in Texas. He committed to SMU in September over Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, and others. He signed just under a month later.
Shining in the country’s biggest tournament is always a bonus, but finding the right college to commit to was the first step for O’Neal Jr. to forge his trail. He wanted to be in a program that saw him as an important piece of its future and not be associated with it because of his last name.
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The Mustangs have bounced around four different conferences in the last two decades, but are finding their footing in their first year in the ACC under new head coach Andy Enfield with a 10-2 record.
“The biggest thing for me was always making my own name and getting out of a shadow,” O’Neal Jr. said. “Committing kind of lifted a weight off my shoulders, then just being able to have my own name and for people to look at SMU and then think of me was really big to me. Instead of going to another big school and I’m just another name in a jar that they look off and next year another big name, then another big name. I just wanted to start something of my own.”
O’Neal Sr. was involved in his son’s recruitment, but not how most parents are. Instead of dictating which schools would be the best fit, the elder O’Neal wanted to make sure his son was looking for the right things.
“I was really involved from a ‘check the box’ type of thing,” O’Neal Sr. said. “We wanted to make sure his list was as efficient as he needed it to be… For me, I value what this is because I sat in this position before. I don’t have anymore time in my legs and I’m not going to the classes, I’m going to the campus. So he needed to make sure that on the court, his boxes were checked, and off the court his boxes were checked.”
Not only SMU’s potential on the court but going to school in Dallas impressed O’Neal Sr.
“One of the biggest things that I really appreciated that we talked about is that I didn’t attend a college or university, so whoever he’s choosing, he’s choosing for life,” O’Neal Sr. said. “And obviously SMU checks a lot of boxes. In the ACC, big conference, makes sense. Andy (Enfield) was recruiting him two years before he got the job, that checked the box because we knew what type of coach he was and how he’s able to develop players. And away from it, we talk about the business of basketball and what that does beyond the court.”
“You know, Dallas is one of the top 5 wealthiest cities in America and then every level of business is connected to SMU. So when he said that he was thinking about going there I said ‘Look, SMU doesn’t have a rich history of winning. They haven’t won an NCAA (Tournament) game since ’88.’ But what makes this important for him is that instead of looking at history, you’re on the other side of making history. Be on that side. That’s what creates legacy, when you help a university do things that they haven’t done before.”
While O’Neal Jr. wants to set off on his own path, he knows how valuable his father’s experiences are. It’s already paying dividends, and O’Neal Jr. processes the game at a high level. You can see this in his defensive decision-making and how he helps jumpstart Dynamic Prep’s offense when they hit a slump.
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“Just from the basketball perspective, I’m going to go into college and I’m going to know a lot of things that my peers don’t know just from having a dad that played in the NBA,” he said. “And then a dad that coached me through it, too. So being able to have that little edge is really big for me.”
“It’s probably tougher for him, because I am dad,” O’Neal Sr. said. “But when I’m coaching him, I’m only thinking, ‘OK, what does he need to be successful? What gives him the best chance of going to a college campus and having the opportunity to play?’ And his development is one thing that we talk about every single day. That’s one thing I love about Coach Andy (and the staff at SMU), the development part was amazing.”
Instilling an unwavering work ethic is a top priority in the O’Neal household. O’Neal Sr. and his wife, Mesha, got one elite athlete to college after their daughter Asjia was one of the most sought-after volleyball recruits in the country. Despite being a highly ranked prospect, she had to redshirt her freshman year. Instead of transferring, she stayed put and honed her craft.
“We don’t have conversations with coaches, we just go look at the work and the performance,” O’Neal Sr. said.
The approach worked, and Asjia earned All-Big 12 First Team honors in three straight seasons before being drafted first overall in the Pro Volleyball Federation.
As it was for Asjia before, so it is for O’Neal Jr. now. His parents are behind him all the way.
“We will support Jermaine for the rest of his life, but we will not support non-effort and non-work,” O’Neal Sr. said. “…The thing that a lot of young people need to understand, but most importantly my son, is that the work never fails when it’s unconditional. These kids have too many conditions to work. And in our house, we’re never going to go to a game, we’re never going to support any of that stuff if they’re not working. And (O’Neal Jr.) has done a really good job, even through all the volume and the noise with me, to get up every day and do it. I don’t have to push him, I don’t have to tell him, and I think he’s starting to see that work pay itself off now during our season.”
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