Southeast Notes: Beasley, Dragic, Cole, Magic

Former Heat forward Michael Beasley could be an option to replace Chris Bosh, reports Ira Winderman of The Sun SentinelBosh was diagnosed with blood clots in his lungs this morning and will miss the rest of the season. Winderman notes that Beasley recently finished his season in China and has been holding workouts at Miami’s AmericanAirlines Arena. Another possibility is free agent center Andray Blatche, whom the team considered earlier this season. Miami has a $2.65 MM disabled-player exception from the knee injury suffered by Josh McRoberts.

There’s more news from the Southeast Division:

  • Newly acquired Goran Dragic isn’t committing to staying with the Heat yet, but he’s offering hints that he would like to see it happen, Winderman tweets. Dragic adds that his focus for now is helping Miami for the rest of the season (Twitter link), and he hopes that he has “a lot more years” with the Heat, but the business side of basketball is unpredictable (Twitter link).
  • Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told Winderman in a separate story that parting with Norris Cole was the most difficult part of the three-team trade that brought Dragic to Miami. Cole won two NBA titles in his three full seasons in Miami. When you send a player like Norris Cole,” Spoelstra said, “to another team, a two-time champion, somebody that came up through our ranks — we developed him, we spent a lot of time when we drafted him — that’s always tough in this business.” For the record, the Bulls drafted Cole in 2011 and shipped him the next day to the Wolves, who flipped him to the Heat that same day. 
  • The Magic aren’t planning any buyouts before the end of the season, reports Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. At age 33, Willie Green had been considered a possible candidate, but he flatly stated that he has no interest. “‘Buyout’ is not really in my language,” Green said. “I get paid to come in here to be professional and play hard and go out and try to help the team win. As far as I’m concerned, I’m with Orlando for the rest of the year.”
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