In the lane
BATTIER BACK: Shane Battier is kicking the NBA tires, just not the ones that would take him back to the court. The former Heat forward was a Thursday guest of the Philadelphia 76ers, who are rethinking their operation with the recent hiring of Jerry Colangelo to guide the franchise. Although Battier met with 76ers coach Brett Brown, it was not for a mentorship role in uniform, similar to the one recently extended to fellow Duke product Elton Brand. “That ship has sailed,” Battier told the media in Philadelphia. “The playing ship has left the port.” Battier, 37, last played in the NBA with the Heat in 2013-14, moving on to an ESPN broadcasting role last season. “Any time you can get somebody that’s played that amount of NBA games and handled himself with that professionalism and class and intellect,” Brown told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “you always want to say, ‘What do you think?’ And we learn. What that means down the road as far as a further relationship, who knows? But he is here for that reason.”
IT IS TIME: In the wake of Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum being ruled ineligible against the Los Angeles Clippers because of a clerical error, expect a renewed call to have all available players game-eligible, instead of the current 13-player limit. ’’There should be no ’Active List,’ ’’ Clippers coach Doc Rivers said after Wednesday’s incident. ’’I’ve been fighting this for three years. If someone can explain to me why there is an active list, I’d love to hear it. We can’t get it changed, and as coaches it’s tough.’’ The argument had been that some teams, for financial or tax reasons, keep fewer than the maximum of 15 players, perhaps creating a somewhat uneven playing field. But when is the last time a team utilized a 14th or 15th player in meaningful minutes? As it is, many 14th and 15th men are away from their teams on game nights, anyway, getting seasoning in the D-League. The only downside would be that a team playing a “hack-a-player” intentional-fouling style would have more available fouls from less-significant players.
BIG BREAK: We’ve already seen him step in for Jarrett Jack during the Brooklyn Nets’ second-half rally against the Heat two weeks ago, and now former University of Miami point guard Shane Larkin is getting an even greater opportunity, with Jack lost for the season with a knee injury. The irony is that with Jack’s season-ending injury and the knee injury that has sidelined Eric Bledsoe for the season in Phoenix, the Heat could possibly have maximized their luxury-tax savings by waiting on dealing Mario Chalmers, with that move the Memphis Grizzlies made on Nov. 10. To reiterate, the luxury tax is not computed until season’s end.
SIMILIAR STATE: Like the Heat, the Indiana Pacers are in the midst of a road-centric January. Like the Heat’s Erik Spoelstra, Pacers coach Frank Vogel told his team to be braced for what follows. “It’s like being on a roller coaster,” Vogel said before Monday’s game against the Heat. “We’re at the very top and we’re about to go down a big drop, because that’s what January looks like. Nine of the next 11 on the road. Brace yourself and know you’re going to get to the bottom safely.”