Eastern Rumors: Butler, Sixers, Jimmer

Heat president Pat Riley says that he made a play for Caron Butler but ultimately things didn’t work out.  “We reached out to him. But he was very definitive with what he wanted. I don’t think it’s something we could have promised…We’re pretty deep. When you got James Jones and Udonis Haslem, Rashard Lewis in those positions, they’re waiting,” said Riley, according to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel (Twitter links).  More out of the East..

  • Within today’s article, Winderman has more from his talk with Riley, including a chat about the future of the Big Three and Dwyane Wade‘s recent emergence.
  • Brett Brown knew that this would be a rough season, but the rookie 76ers coach admits that he really didn’t realize how difficult things would be, writes Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “To say I knew it was going to be like this is false,” said Brown.  Philly is 15-44 and has lost 13 consecutive games after Saturday night’s home loss to the Wizards.
  • Coach Mike Woodson says the Knicks didn’t consider guard Jimmer Fredette before he hooked on with the Bulls, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post.
  • Sam Smith of Bulls.com gives his early impressions of new Bulls guard Jimmer Fredette.  The guard spoke to the media about his time in Sacramento and what he hoped to do now that he’s in Chicago.
  • Thanks to the state of the Celtics roster, new callup Chris Babb could see even more burn than he could have possibly envisioned, writes Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. Babb, who came up from the Maine Red Claws, says he was caught off-guard by his promotion.
View Comments (1)