South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)

IN THE LANE

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THE REASON WHY: Chris Paul revealed on JJ Redick’s podcast that he was among the leading proponents of the Phoenix Suns signing former Heat forward Jae Crowder in free agency, noting a moment with Crowder when the Heat played Paul’s Oklahoma City Thunder in the Disney bubble. “After getting to Phoenix, I talked to James Jones,” Paul said of a conversati­on with the former Heat forward and current Suns general manager, “and he said we might have a shot at Jae Crowder. So I called him, I called Jae, and I just respect him because he [is] a dog; you know what I mean, he [is] gonna guard, he don’t care who the guy is. And remember when I got into it with Duncan Robinson?

. . . Nobody said nothing to me, the only person who said something to me was Jae Crowder. Crowder was on the bench, and he was like ‘Yo, CP, what’s up with that?’ and I respect that.”

REUNION TIME: Added in the offseason by the Detroit Pistons, Rodney McGruder and Wayne Ellington liken the reunion to the time they spent with the Heat. “Reminds me of the team I played on my rookie year in Miami, maybe only four or five returning guys, a lot of young guys,” said McGruder, part of an offseason trade with the Los Angeles Clippers. Said Ellington, who signed as a free agent after being waived by the New York Knicks, “We both had a lot of fun and a lot of success on that Heat team. We continued to work and grind, never giving up, never making excuses. It paid off for us.” CONTRASTIN­G VIEW: For his part, veteran Detroit guard Derrick Rose equates this season’s Pistons to last season’s Heat. “They have a bunch of young guys on their team, and they had Jimmy [Butler], and he played a big role in pushing everybody,” Rose said. “Pat Riley set a standard and Jimmy carried on that standard, and everybody else fell in line. I look at that and when I look at our team, I think the same thing, where we have [young] guys, but me and Blake [Griffin] have been through a lot.”

ANOTHER FAN: And then there is Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins, who appears to have come around to the tough-love approach of Butler while the two were Minnesota Timberwolv­es teammates. “He’s a great leader,” Wiggins said during Warriors camp. “He’s someone who holds you accountabl­e, someone who is going to make you play harder, and it speaks for itself. You’re seeing what he’s doing out there in Miami. He’s going to lead you on and off the court in the right direction.”

NEW ROLE: At 33, former Heat forward James Johnson finds himself one of only two players 30 or older on the Dallas Mavericks roster (Boban Marjanovic, at 32, is the other). That has Johnson appreciati­ng his place and his role. “My job is really coming in here and doing what is asked of me: being a vet, being an older player, and just working hard,” said Johnson, who is on his fourth team in 11 months, traded from the Minnesota Timberwolv­es to Dallas on draft night, after going from the Heat to the Memphis Grizzlies to the Timberwolv­es at February’s NBA trading deadline. “Taking a year off with this COVID, this pandemic, happening, I haven’t gotten to play basketball in nine or 10 months. It kind of puts things in perspectiv­e.”

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