IN THE LANE
CHALMERS ON KYRIE-LEBRON: Former Heat point guard Mario Chalmers offered unique perspective on the Kyrie Irving situation this past week on Sirius XM NBA Radio when it came to what it is like being a
LeBron James teammate. “It can be tough sometimes, just because he’s such a dominant player. He’s the best player in the NBA,” said Chalmers, who spent four seasons alongside James with the Heat. “So it boils down to the coach. Is the coach going to get everybody else involved? Or he’s going to let ‘Bron decide when he wants to get everybody else involved. So that’s the little things that were going back and forth with Miami. But as a teammate? He’s a great teammate. I’ve never had any problems. Even when we had that one argument on the court, it’s just that at the end of the day we’re still brothers. We were over that after it already happened. And the media made it more than what it was. So, I can’t say he’s a bad teammate. He’s a great teammate, a great dude. And when you’re a guy like Kyrie, and you’re young and you’re the man, I could see him wanting to be traded, to be on his own team. But I don’t think it’s as personal as what everybody’s trying to make it seem.” After missing all of last season due to the torn Achilles suffered the previous season, Chalmers recently signed a minimally guaranteed contract to return to the Memphis Grizzlies.
FEEL THE BURN: While holding his basketball camp in Canada, recent Heat acquisition Kelly Olynyk told Kamloops This Week he will make a point of feeling the burn this season in South Florida. “I’m going to have to work on my tan a little bit before I get out there,” he said. “It’s going to be nice. Coming from here and moving to Gonzaga [in Spokane, Wash.] and Boston, the winters have not been warm.” Olynyk said this season is about growth, after finishing on top of the Eastern Conference regular-season standings last season with the Boston Celtics. “Hopefully I get a great opportunity down in Miami to keep growing and keep improving,” he said, “and maybe a little more opportunity to play a little more and keep growing, rather than looking at plateauing.”
THE OTHER SIDE: Willie Reed is approaching his free-agency shift from the Heat to the Los Angeles Clippers as a move to a parallel universe, comparing Clippers coach Doc Rivers to Erik Spoelstra and Clippers center DeAndre Jordan to Hassan Whiteside. “Doc specifically told me that he just really loves the energy that I bring and then what I bring on the defensive end,” Reed told Basketball Insiders. “It was kind of similar to the Heat and what coach Spoelstra wanted. He was telling me that he wanted to be able to have 48 minutes of a DeAndre-type of player out there, which was kind of what coach Spoelstra wanted for 48 minutes of Hassan out there. I felt like it was a comfortable position and it was kind of similar to the role that I played in Miami, so it wouldn’t be difficult for me to adjust.” BLAST FROM PAST: Something you likely did not expect to see in 2017: Rasual Butler was dealt this past week in exchange for Moochie Norris. Yes, the same Rasual drafted by the Heat in 2002. Butler, 38, is playing in the halfcourt Big 3 league. Then again, we’re talking about a league where former Heat forward Rashard Lewis is the leading scorer and former Heat guard Mike Bibby leads in assists. Oh, and Bibby also leads the league in 4-pointers, with five.