Today’s look at the Southeast Division..
- In today’s mailbag, a reader asks Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel if offseason pickup Michael Beasley might bump Shane Battier in the Heat rotation. While many fans see it going in that direction, Winderman writes that Beasley won’t see the lion’s share of those minutes until he’s up to speed on the team’s defense. Offensively, however, the former No. 2 overall pick brings a lot to the table.
- As the Magic get set to do battle with Dwight Howard on Sunday, Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel ranked the best and worst trades in the franchise’s 25-year history. The best deal in club history was Orlando pawning Steve Francis and the $49MM he was owed over three years on the Knicks back in 2006. The worst deal, by Schmitz’s measure, was the acquisition of Gilbert Arenas from the Wizards. Orlando is still on the hook for Arenas through 2016 after using the amnesty clause on him. The Howard deal, meanwhile, ranks as the third-best swap in club history.
- Even after moving on to the Grizzlies, Mike Miller says that he’s still keeping up with everything the Heat do. “I have a lot of friends over there. We went through a lot together,” he told Sam Amick of USA Today. “People don’t understand how much we went through together. We were ridiculed, had a lot of pressure on us the whole time. They’ll be fine. That’s what they do. They’ve had three long seasons over there. But they’ve got so much talent over there, and with the best player in the world, they’ll be fine.”