IN THE LANE

EMOTIONAL PERSPECTIVE: From the moment the Milwaukee Bucks offered him the first of two 10-day contracts, to his latest guarantee for the balance of the season, former Heat center Meyers Leonard has been effusive in his appreciation of this opportunity for an NBA second chance, after his career was derailed for two years following the anti-Semitic slur he uttered while video gaming in 2021. “They changed my life,” Leonard told the Journal Sentinel. “They really did. This is going to be hard for me not to get emotional right now. It’s honestly hard to describe what this feeling feels like.” It has been, Leonard, 31, said, a long, reflective, contrite road. “One day, I’ll be able to tell my son, ‘Hey, these are the people who believed in me, gave me a second chance. That changed, literally, my life.’ I love basketball, I do, but they changed my life. And it helped me in some way put the incident behind me.”

VETERAN PERSPECTIVE: Then there is Jae Crowder, Leonard’s former Heat teammate during the run to the 2020 NBA Finals, who also is experiencing a revival with the Bucks. Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said the veteran power forward has proven to be a quick study since he was added at the Feb. 9 NBA trading deadline.“Sometimes he’s doing what we’re supposed to be doing [that] guys who have been here for five years aren’t doing. I don’t get it,” Budenholzer told The Arizona Republic. “He’s on point. He’s sharp. The attention to detail is very much there and very much appreciated and that’s coming into a team midseason at trade deadline.”

P.J. PERSPECTIVE: The voice of reason last season with the Heat, P.J. Tucker is attempting to offer the same for the Philadelphia 76ers. Having lost in the Eastern Conference finals as the No. 1 seed with the Heat last season, the veteran power forward said there is no reason to get too caught up with seeding, having won an NBA title as a No. 3 seed with the Bucks in 2021.“Now it’s funny, because of all the jockeying for position for the playoffs, and everybody trying to figure out the seeding,”Tucker told the Philadelphia Inquirer.“For me, I’ve said this countless times: I don’t care about the seedings. I’m more about how my team is feeling.”The Heat and 76ers have one game remaining, on April 6 in Philadelphia, with a firstround matchup possible between the teams.

NCAA PERSPECTIVE: With Reggie Miller opting out of NCAA Tournament broadcast work, former Heat coach Stan Van Gundy has been added to the television mix. That had him reflecting to the Orlando Sentinel on his one-and-done season as coach at Wisconsin, which had him landing the following year, in 1995-96, as a Heat assistant to Pat Riley. “We didn’t have as good a year as we should have in that first season so you’ve got to own that as a coach,”Van Gundy said of his Badgers tenure. “Getting fired certainly hurt at the time, but I got really lucky because I got fired just months before Pat Riley left to go to the Miami Heat, and it gave me the chance to get my foot in the door in the NBA. So, no, I’m not still bitter, because I think the NBA fit me better as a coach than college did.”

PERSONALITY PERSPECTIVE: Considering his stops since his Heat tenure have been with the Houston Rockets, Detroit Pistons and, now, the sub-.500 Utah Jazz, former Heat big man Kelly Olynyk has continued to earn respect as a steadfast teammate no matter the situation.“Kelly is connective tissue. He definitely doesn’t get talked about enough,”Jazz coach Will Hardy told the Deseret News.“But he is a huge luxury for our staff.” Houston Rockets coach Stephen Silas agreed, “When we were really down as a group, he was a breath of fresh air coming in here and showing his professionalism.” Olynyk, 31, likely will hit the free-agent market in the offseason, with only $3 million of his $12.2 million 2023-24 salary guaranteed if waived by June 28.