A little more than a year ago, Jared Dudley tweeted that he played with Jermaine O’Neal and O’Neal looked good. O’Neal, sadly, followed that tweet with a season that was disappointing, albeit one that included a resurgence of sorts in the playoffs.

Yesterday, Dudley took his Twitter praise to a new level and showed considerably more excitement about Jermaine’s play. How Jermaine follows that praise next season, quite obviously, remains to be seen.

In other Jermaine O’Neal news, WEEI’s Ben Rohrbach discussed how Jermaine compares to Hall of Fame big men. While being sure to point out that he is not campaigning for Jermaine ‘s induction into the Hall (thank God), Rohrbach uses a tale of the tape to show that Jermaine actually isn’t as far from the Hall of Fame as you might think.

My personal thoughts: if Jermaine O’Neal ever gets inducted into the Hall of Fame, the induction committee might as well spit on every other plaque in the building. With all due respect to Jermaine, who put together a very impressive career that included a number of All-Star appearances, and Rohrbach, whose work I respect, O’Neal does not deserve to have his name mentioned in the same sentence as the term “Hall of Fame” — even if he once made six consecutive All-Star teams and his career defensive rating is better than Scottie Pippen’s.

Dudley.

Jared Dudley will not be traded from the Phoenix Suns, according to David Aldridge. (NBA.com)

A team source tells TNT’s David Aldridge that the Phoenix Suns will not trade forward Jared Dudley before today’s deadline. Several teams gave been trying to get Dudley, including the Celtics and Rockets.

I guess that leaves Boston out of the running, eh?

But, hey! The Celtics would be interested in signing Jason Kapono if (and when?) he receives a buyout. Even though Kapono can’t even crack the rotation in Philly, shooters will always draw interest.

The Celtics have “dangled Nate Robinson and a first-round pick” in hopes of luring Jared Dudley to Boston, reports Adrian Wojnarowski. But, in Wojnarowski’s words, it “isn’t the most appealing package on market to get a talented perimeter player.”

What, you mean Phoenix isn’t intrigued by the combination of a 5’9 player who’s been mostly awful this season and one of the last first-round picks in a weak draft?

Boston, Chicago and several more would love to pry Jared Dudley out of Phoenix, sources say. Suns can’t dump Childress deal, need money off.

Dudley is a popular player in Phoenix, beloved by organization. Several GM’s are dubious Suns would part with him. Need an excellent offer.

Celtics have dangled Nate Robinson and 1st round pick, which isn’t the most appealing package on market to get a talented perimeter player.

To be clear on Celts, I’m told they haven’t checked on Dudley very recently. No sense Suns will move him, but he has great value to teams.

Would Dudley fit well in Boston? Let’s go to the check list.

Good shooter? Check.

Consistent player? Check.

Tough defender? Check.

Selfless team player? Check.

Natural small forward? Check.

There’s only one problem trading for Dudley would present — his contract extends until 2014-’15, with a player option for 2015-’16. Other than that, he’s almost perfect. Except for the simple fact that, well, it’s unlikely the Celtics have enough to entice the Suns to let Dudley go. The Arizona Republic’s Paul Coro even reported the Suns “went into Wednesday night thinking there was no chance they would make a deal.”

Do you know what this means? Besides that Jermaine O’Neal is looking good, which is obviously a good thing? That he, unlike Sheed, actually works out during the offseason.

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The Phoenix Suns bench, led by Slovenian point guard Goran Dragic, secured a Game 4 victory for the Suns, evening the series at 2-2. The Suns bench combined to score 54 points, culminating with this spin move on–who else–Derek Fisher by Dragic, who scored the lay-up to give the Suns their biggest lead of the night, 103-90, with four minutes left in the game. Phoenix won 115-106.