Heat president Pat Riley says that he made a play for Caron Butler but ultimately things didn’t work out. “We reached out to him. But he was very definitive with what he wanted. I don’t think it’s something we could have promised…We’re pretty deep. When you got James Jones and Udonis Haslem, Rashard Lewis in those positions, they’re waiting,” said Riley, according to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel (Twitter links). More out of the East..
- Within today’s article, Winderman has more from his talk with Riley, including a chat about the future of the Big Three and Dwyane Wade‘s recent emergence.
- Brett Brown knew that this would be a rough season, but the rookie 76ers coach admits that he really didn’t realize how difficult things would be, writes Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “To say I knew it was going to be like this is false,” said Brown. Philly is 15-44 and has lost 13 consecutive games after Saturday night’s home loss to the Wizards.
- Coach Mike Woodson says the Knicks didn’t consider guard Jimmer Fredette before he hooked on with the Bulls, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post.
- Sam Smith of Bulls.com gives his early impressions of new Bulls guard Jimmer Fredette. The guard spoke to the media about his time in Sacramento and what he hoped to do now that he’s in Chicago.
- Thanks to the state of the Celtics roster, new callup Chris Babb could see even more burn than he could have possibly envisioned, writes Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. Babb, who came up from the Maine Red Claws, says he was caught off-guard by his promotion.
Something is telling me that the team has more faith in Michael Beasley than they’ve let on at times this season when his playing time diminishes. His defense has shown improvement in every area, especially protecting the rim. He is still a bit slow on rotations, and has had a tendency to foul at times, but his improvement is noticeable and on offense, he is free points and just gives other teams matchup issues. When our shooters arent knocking down shots, like what happened in the ECF last year, he can provide the scoring we need as an extra playmaker or in isolation situations…I also personally believe that DeAndre Liggins fits the description of the exact type of player we’ve been looking for, providing length and athleticism on the wings. He has shown that he is an elite defender, which is all we really need, but he also has shown great improvement this year in all aspects of his offensive game, including shooting the 3 and his passing ability…As long as this team stays healthy, I like our chances, but Shane Battier is going to be HUGE in a possible matchup with OKC, and we NEED him to knock down shots. We cant match the Thunder’s athleticism, but we can take advantage of their turnover issue