IN THE LANE

UNEASY ELDER: With 43-year-old Vince

Carter formally announcing his retirement, it leaves 40-year-old Udonis Haslem as the NBA’s oldest active player. It is a crown the Heat captain would prefer not to wear at the moment. “I was hoping Vince was going to change his mind,” Haslem said on ESPN’s “The Jump.” “I’m going give him a call. It’s not over yet.” In this case, Mr. 305 would prefer the Daytona Beach native play on as the state’s senior statesman. “He’s a Florida legend,” Haslem said. “He’s got to come back. I’m going to reach out to him, man. I got to.” Carter’s season with the Atlanta Hawks, and career, ended with the NBA’s decision not to bring lottery teams to Disney World to complete the season.

BOSH PROJECT: The latest project for former Heat championship center Chris

Bosh is a newsletter, called “The Last Chip,” chronicling the Heat’s 2012-13 championship season. Of Ray Allen’s game-tying 3-pointer in Game 6 opening the door for the Heat to win the 2013 NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs, Bosh wrote, “If we didn’t win, we would have been the laughingstock of the sports world. We would have been one of the most underachieving teams in the history of the NBA. Some of us might even have been traded.” Instead, the Heat kept the team together through the 2014 finals loss to the Spurs before LeBron James left for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Bosh succumbed to blood clots and Dwyane Wade departed to the Chicago Bulls in 2016 before returning. Of the newsletter, Bosh said, “More than anything else, I’m writing this because I really miss watching basketball.” Bosh said the first month’s proceeds from the paid subscription will go to Color of Change, which lists itself as “the nation’s largest online racial justice organization.”

THE RILEY VIEW: Continuing to make the media rounds, former Heat forward Caron Butler conducted a Bleacher Report Q&A, one that touched on his two-year tenure with the Heat from 2002 to 2004. One of the questions was: “Any good Pat Riley stories you can share from being drafted by Miami?” Butler’s reply was, “Pat Riley used to sit me in his office after a career-high night and break down everything. Just when I thought I was on my way, he would tear me down. He would always show me what’s next and there are more areas to learn and improve. Pat taught me that and Kobe [Bryant] showed me that.”

FAMILIAR FACE: While the Heat’s mantra under Riley has been victory above all, there was a time when that wasn’t exactly a priority. That was in 2007-08, when, debilitated by injury to Wade and others, and with the lottery allure of Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley (their eventual selection at No. 2), Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love, the Heat loaded up with journeymen and careened to a 15-67 finish. Among the vagabonds on that team was Dakota Wizards guard Blake Ahearn, who appeared in 12 games. Persistent almost to a fault, Ahearn stayed with the game as a player in the G League, Spain, China, Ukraine and Puerto Rico before going on to work as a coach on the high school level and in the G League. This past week, that persistence paid off when Ahearn, now 36, was named an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies. Ahearn had led the G League Austin Spurs to a 24-18 record before the cancellation of that season. The Grizzlies staff is in the midst of a reshuffle with the departure of assistant Niele Ivey to become women’s coach at Notre Dame. As for that 2007-08 Heat team, among Ahearn’s teammates were Kasib Powell, Stephane Lasme and Alexander Johnson.

NUMBER: 17.8. Vince Carter’s scoring average in 57 regular-season games against the Heat over his 22-season career. Carter announced his retirement, at 43, this past week. He scored 21 points in four appearances with the Hawks against the Heat this season.