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Celtics Sign Jermaine O’Neal

According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the Boston Celtics signed Jermaine O’Neal to a two-year $12 million dollar deal.

O’Neal, 31, averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds per game for Miami in 2009 in his first full season with the Heat.

With 14 years of experience in the NBA after coming out of Eau Claire High School in Wisconsin, O’Neal was once considered one of the NBA’s premier big men. O’Neal saw the peak of his success in Indiana as he averaged 19 and 9 during his eight seasons there.

The signing adds much needed size to the Celtics front-court and it gives coach Doc Rivers a scoring threat in the post. With Kendrick Perkins appearing to miss significant time early in the 2010 season, the Celtics can play O’Neal alongside Kevin Garnett.

This signing eliminates the need of Brad Miller, who the Celtics previously showed interest in. With O’Neal being a stronger defender than Miller, the Celtics felt O’Neal was the better fit for them.

More analysis to come.

About Matthew Marcantonio - My Twitter

Matthew Marcantonio is the Patriots and college football editor at Sports of Boston. Marcantonio has contributed for two newspapers; the Sentinel & Enterprise (Leominster, Mass) and The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La) and held internships with The Bleacher Report and Sports Illustrated.

Tags: Brad Miller, Celtics, Jermaine O'Neal, Kendrick Perkins