No beef between Jermaine O’Neal & Udonis Haslem

It wasn’t long ago that Jermaine O’Neal, playing for Indiana, called Heat forward Udonis Haslem a “fake tough guy.” Well, now that they’re teammates the two have no problem with each other.

“Those years are gone,” Haslem said after Tuesday’s practice. “It was in a different place in my career on a different team. And like I said, we’re on the same team now so we’ll fight for each other against somebody else.”

O’Neal said Haslem is “one of those players you hate to play against and love to play with.” He later added, “I really feel he doesn’t get the credit he deserves.”

—Heat president Pat Riley said he’s still talking to teams about deals that could be made before Thursday’s trade deadline. Riley said acquiring a point guard is “not a necessity.” He also said, “There’s a lot of guys out there we like, but I don’t want to give up too much right now.”

Riley strongly denied the rumor the Heat is offering guard Daequan Cook for either Memphis Kyle Lowry or Charlotte’s Raymond Felton.

“That’s b.s.,” Riley said. “We’re not doing any talking about Daequan, but there are a lot of teams asking about him.”

As for making a move Riley said “I can’t see anything major.”

—Speaking of Cook, I told him since winning the three-point contest he really, really needs a nickname. I told him I liked the “Trey-quan” suggestion we got here a while back. He laughed. I told him I was serious. He laughed again and suggested “Dynamite.”

—Spoelstra said don’t expect any changes with O’Neal and/or Moon in the lineup.

“I don’t think much will change in terms of style of play or pace,” he said.

—Jermaine O’Neal on the trade: “It’s almost a perfect fit.”

—Pat Riley on the trade: “This is all about winning. That’s why we made the transaction.”

—Coach Erik Spoelstra on the trade: “It’s all about right now.” Source: The Palm Beach Post