IN THE LANE
THE STAN PLAN: As he deliberates his next step, former Heat coach Stan Van Gundy sat down with former Heat guard Rex Walters to discuss his future on “Real Talk Basketball With Rex Walters” on the Pros Club Podcast Network. “I’m sort of as lost as I’ve been,” said Van Gundy, who was dismissed as Pistons coach and lead personnel executive on May 7. “I mean, every other time, I’ve known or had a pretty good idea that I was still going to try to coach. And the last time I was out, after Orlando, I mean I did some college games on TV, I did some radio stuff. If I could get a job, I had planned to coach. Now I really don’t know. So I’m really, really lost right now. I don’t really have an idea. My wife wants me to retire. I have people looking into some media things. I’m looking into some teaching opportunities in college, sports management programs, things like that. I really don’t … I want to do something, but if I’m not coaching, I don’t want to work too hard. I mean, I want to work, but if I’m going to grind — it’ll be grinding — then I want to coach. If I’m not going to be coaching, then I want to be semi-retired, at the least. So I really don’t know.”
BEASLEY BOOSTER: Count Lakers assistant coach Jesse Mermuys as an advocate of the team’s addition of former Heat first-round pick Michael Beasley. “Michael Beasley is one of the hardest guys to guard in the NBA. That’s just fact. He’s one of the best one-on-one players in the league,” Mermuys told the Lakers’ website. “With his size and his scoring ability, he’s tough. Having a guy like that on your roster is always beneficial. You always need a bucket getter. There are times guys just don’t have it going — there’s fatigue, there’s travel, there are schedule games that are a monster, there are back-to-backs. There are so many things in the NBA where having a bucket getter is really valuable. So having Michael Beasley on your roster is a nice asset.”
DIFFERENT, TOO: For his part, Beasley said this reunion with LeBron James will be different than when the two were Heat teammates in 2013-14. “I played with LeBron the first time when I was 24 years old,” he told Bleacher Report. “I was at a different point in my career. The only thing that mattered to me was minutes. Now I know what I do, what I bring to the table, and LeBron does, too. I’m coming to help the team potentially make the playoffs, coming to play basketball the right way. Whatever happens after that, I can live with.” GOING GREEN: Former Heat forward Gerald Green said if a championship-minded team like the Houston Rockets were able to fit him into their mix last season, he has no doubt they will be able to do the same with Carmelo Anthony. “He’s a basketball player that’s proven,” Green told Houston’s Fox 26. “I think, in all of the destinations he’s been to over the years, he’s been kind of … not unwanted, but trying to go somewhere that people accept him. I think the Rockets are going to accept him with open arms. If they accepted me — and I haven’t done … anything — believe me, we’re gonna accept ‘Melo.”