Jim O?Brien believes in Jamaal Tinsley.

?I know this, there are a lot of naysayers out there about Jamaal and whether he can be the guy (who) I put the ball in his hands and lead our team and do the type of things I want him to do,? O?Brien said. ?I?m going to emphatically say, yes, he is. I said that to him the first time we talked.?

After four years in Rick Carlisle?s restrictive, set-play offensive system, Tinsley will operate under a coach who wants to push the tempo, which plays into Tinsley?s favor.

?Jamaal has never really been given a chance to lead the offense,? forward Jermaine O?Neal said. ?We ran a system over the last four years that has been very complicated. We didn?t make any of the calls. Rick made all the calls, and it takes away from a player like Jamaal.?