The Miami Herald reports: Pat Riley has a different plan this free agency period. He’s recruiting with a reluctance to offer anything more than a two-year contract as the Heat looks to save up for the sweepstakes of 2010, when D. Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire and LeBron James could be on the open market. Taking such a frugal approach into free agency could lead to another long summer as the Heat waits for the market to set itself and the trickle-down process to take affect. Would Chris Duhon be willing to take a two-year, $12 million deal from the Heat when New York or Phoenix might double that offer?

The Palm Beach Post reports: Dorell
Wright said he has been in frequent contact with his new agent, Arn Tellem, and expects other teams to show interest. “I love Miami. I’ve already been in the system,” said Wright, a part-time starter the past two seasons. “But if I have a chance to go elsewhere, I understand it’s a business.” … The Heat likely will pursue a point guard aggressively for the second consecutive off-season.

The Los Angeles Times (Jonathan Abrams) reports: Kobe Bryant’s response to former teammate Shaquille O’Neal’s lambasting him in an obscenity-laced rap freestyle at a New York nightclub? No response. “I didn’t take it any kind of way whatsoever,” Bryant said Saturday, before declining to take any more questions on the topic. Bryant, however, was more than willing to discuss several other subjects as the U.S. men’s basketball team held a one-day mini-camp in preparation for the Beijing Olympics. He has had a bit more time to reflect on the NBA Finals, labeling Boston as “champions until somebody proves otherwise.”

Shaquille O’Neal’s freestyle rap in NYC the other day which mocked Kobe Bryant and included various profanities, resulted in one police badge being taken away the other day, and now it’s happened again.
The AP reports: Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown said Wednesday that he has asked the Phoenix Suns center to return a badge he was given for his work with the southwest Virginia county’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force… The decision comes one day after a sheriff in Arizona asked O’Neal to return a special deputy’s badge because of language he used in the rap.

The Miami Heat announced today they have made qualifying offers to Dorell Wright, Chris Quinn and Kasib Powell, making them restricted free agents.
Wright, a 6′9”, 210-pound forward, who was originally drafted by the HEAT in the first round with the 19th overall selection of the 2004 NBA Draft, becoming the first high school player to ever be drafted by Miami, appeared in 44 games (34 starts) for the HEAT last season averaging 7.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 25.1 minutes of action. He recorded single-season career highs in starts, field goal percentage (.488) and offensive rebounds (48). He finished third on the team in blocks (41), fourth in defensive rebounds (172) and fifth in total rebounds (220). He also became the first player in HEAT history to be perfect from both the field and foul line in a game with a minimum of five attempts from each category when he was 5-of-5 from the field and 7-of-7 from the foul line on Feb. 4 against Toronto.
Quinn, a 6′2”, 175-pound guard, appeared in 60 games (25 starts) for the HEAT last season averaging 7.8 points, 3.0 assists and 2.0 rebounds in 22.3 minutes of action. He finished the season tied for 27th in the NBA in three-point field goal percentage (.403) while finishing second on the team in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.24). Quinn also increased his numbers in many statistical categories from the previous season including points (3.4 in 2006-07), assists (1.5 in 2006-07), rebounds (0.7 in 2006-07), minutes (9.7 in 2006-07) and starts (one in 2006-07) while shooting 42.4 percent (36.6 in 2006-07) from the field, 40.3 percent (35.1 in 2006-07) from three-point range and 86.7 percent (67.6 in 2006-07) from the foul line.
Powell, a 6′7”, 215-pound forward, appeared in 11 games (four starts) for the HEAT last season averaging 7.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 27.6 minutes of action. He scored a career-high 18 points vs. Chicago on Apr. 8 and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds at Toronto on Apr. 14. Additionally, in his three starts with the HEAT, Powell, the 2007-08 NBA Development League MVP, averaged 8.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.00 steals in 35.8 minutes of action.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports: Former Heat forward Rasual Butler was charged Monday with waving a loaded gun at passers-by at about 5 a.m. on Washington Avenue, according to a Miami Beach police report. Butler, 29, who has been with the New Orleans Hornets since being dealt by the Heat in 2005, faces charges of carrying a concealed firearm and improperly displaying a firearm. He was released on $6,000 bond.
InsideHoops.com says: Hey Rasual, that’s a brilliant move! Stand on the street waving a gun around like a crazy idiot! Weeeeeeeeeee!

The East Valley Tribune reports: Shaquille O’Neal will lose his special deputy’s badge in Maricopa County because of language he used in a rap video that mocks former teammate Kobe Bryant. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said the Phoenix Suns center’s use of a racially derogatory word and other foul language left him no choice. Arpaio made Shaq a special deputy in January and promoted him to colonel of his largely ceremonial posse earlier this month. “I want his two badges back,” Arpaio told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “Because if any one of my deputies did something like this, they’re fired. I don’t condone this type of racial conduct.”
InsideHoops.com says: Looks like Shaq, without any help from Kobe, can bring dishonor to police department badges.

The Miami Heat announced today that they have requested waivers on forward Alexander Johnson.
Johnson signed with the HEAT as a free agent on August 24, 2007, and appeared in 43 games (six starts) for Miami during the 2007-08 season. He averaged 4.2 points and 2.2 rebounds in 12.8 minutes per game.
Jeff of InsideHoops.com says: On paper, Johnson is one of those guys that could easily fall out of the league, but I’ve seen him enough to think that he honestly belongs on an NBA roster and can help a squad off the bench. He’s worth signing.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Ira Winderman) reports: Pat Riley, you see, was leaning toward selecting Central Michigan center Chris Kaman with the No. 5 pick that night. “I looked at him as a little bigger Dave Cowens. And I thought he would develop into a real good interior scorer, rebounder, which he has,” Riley said in a reflective moment recently. “That particular draft, we definitely were in need of a post-up presence, of an inside presence.” While Riley was looking out for a power rotation rocked by the kidney illness of center Alonzo Mourning, his staff was looking out for its leader. The Riley cabinet, which included General Manager Randy Pfund, wanted Wade. Revisionist history offers the tale of Riley, on a treadmill in Milwaukee months earlier, being smitten by the performance of Marquette’s Wade during the NCAA Tournament. But at the 11th hour, there still was need for convincing.

The Miami Herald reports (via their Heat blog): Memphis point guard Derrick Rose finished his workout Thursday with the Bulls and all signs point toward the hometown kid being taken by Chicago No. 1. It’s no secret that Rose had been projected to be taken first but now there seems to be a stronger indication that it could happen in a week. Rose said he did not expect to work out for the Heat, which holds the No. 2 pick.