By Patrick Hayes

Andrew Beaton of The Chronicle, Duke University’s student newspaper, has a great feature on former Country Day and Duke star Shane Battier, touching on the fact that the son of Miami Heat owner Mickey Arison went to Duke and was a team manager when Battier played for the Blue Devils. That familiarity may have led Battier to sign with the Heat in the offseason, but it was a more familiar voice who also helped sell him:

While Arison sold Miami to Battier in free agency, he was also encouraged to go to South Beach by another Blue Devil. Battier said he received a call of congratulations from Duke basketball head coach Krzyzewski, who has seen just him and Danny Ferry leave Durham to become NBA champions during his tenure.

“[Krzyzewski] was the one who wanted me to go to Miami more than anyone else,” Battier said. “In the end, like always, he was right.”

Battier also recently came up in the player evaluations Aaron McGuire is doing at Gothic Ginobili:

I’ll admit — in his prime, he was a defensive force, and a genuinely talented all-defensive type that changed the game (in the regular season only) for numerous teams. His run this year with the Miami Heat has redefined his legacy, a tad. Some have taken to calling Battier one of the keys to the Heat’s run, and point to his incredible work ethic and genuinely excellent ability to play the press. They also point to a downright excellent NBA finals, where Battier sunk seemingly every open three he got and played “gritty” defense for the team that won. But a single series doesn’t make the man, and a single (excellent) New York Times profile shouldn’t make us unable to register several evident facts about Battier’s current game. While he scouts with the best of them, Battier’s lost the versatile lateral mobility that made him a notably tough defensive player back when he was younger.