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Pacers Ship O'Neal To Toronto; Add Jack And Rush From Portland

Indianapolis, IN (Sports Network) - The Toronto Raptors officially acquired six-time All-Star forward Jermaine O'Neal from the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.

The deal, which was first reported on June 25, sends point guard T.J. Ford, center Rasho Nesterovic, forward Maceo Baston and the draft rights to center Roy Hibbert to Indiana. The Raptors also gain the draft rights to forward Nathan Jawai, who was the 41st pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.

"We're very excited about the trades we made," said Pacers president of basketball Larry Bird. "We know we got some good character guys and good players. I just want to help the franchise move forward and we feel with the draft, we know we picked up two good guys that our fans are going to be very supportive of and excited about."

O'Neal played in just 42 games last season due to an injury to his left knee and averaged 13.6 points and 6.7 rebounds. A first-round draft pick by Portland in 1996, he has career averages of 14.4 points and 7.7 boards. O'Neal spent the first four seasons of his career playing for the Trail Blazers.

Ford played in just 51 games this past season, mostly due to a spinal cord contusion, and averaged 12.1 points and 6.1 assists. He became expendable due to the solid play of Jose Calderon. Ford has career averages of 11.6 points and 6.9 assists in four seasons, including two with Milwaukee.

"I'm excited about this trade and excited to be going to a team that really wanted me," said Ford.

Nesterovic averaged 7.8 points and 4.8 boards over 71 contests last season, his second for the Raptors. He played his first five seasons for Minnesota before heading to San Antonio from 2004-06.

Baston, who has six years of playing overseas on his resume, has averaged 2.8 points and 1.6 rebounds in 78 games.

Also on Wednesday, the Pacers received guard Jarrett Jack, forward Josh McRoberts and the Brandon Rush, selected 13th overall in this year's draft, from Portland for Ike Diogu and Jerryd Bayless, the 11th choice in the draft.

"I think Larry (Bird) and (General Manager) David Morway did an outstanding job in changing around our basketball team, both with the trades and the picks," said Pacers head coach Jim O'Brien. "Our team will have a completely different look next year. Overall, the seven new players we have give us a completely different look than we had last year and we have maintained the guys that got the majority of playing time at the end of last season."

The Blazers later signed Bayless, who posted averages of 19.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists while shooting 83.9 percent from the free throw line and 40.7 percent from three-point range in his lone collegiate season at the University of Arizona.

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Portland Trailblazers
More than a year after being selected first overall in the NBA draft, Greg Oden had a smashing debut with the Portland Trail Blazers, scoring 13 points, pulling down five rebounds and blocking a pair of shots in a 110-81 preseason rout of Sacramento.

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Tue, Oct. 7FINAL
Sacramento (0-0) 81
Portland (0-0) 110

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