The Miami Heat could be moving towards signing free agent point guard Shaun Livingston as their options at the position dwindle.

"At this point, he is leaning toward Miami, but he has not signed anything," agent Henry Thomas said Monday.

Livingston had interest from Portland and Minnesota, as well, but the Blazers have since dropped out of the race.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has reported that the Timberwolves believe the Heat will soon sign Livingston.

"According to Kevin McHale and Jim Stack, their efforts to sign the former Los Angeles Clippers' guard are over, and they said he is headed for Miami," the newspaper's Web site reported.

The Miami Heat announced today that General Manager Randy Pfund has resigned from his duties with the Heat to pursue other business opportunities.

?Randy Pfund has done a tremendous job for the Heat, helping to build this team into a champion,? said Riley. ?His work ethic and contributions to the organization have been invaluable. I?ve known Randy for over 20 years, and in addition to our great working relationship, he has been a wonderful friend to both Chris and me and our family. On behalf of the Arison family and my family, I would like to wish him continued success and happiness in everything he does.?

Sources have told Local 10 in Miami that Pfund was forced out of Miami.

Heat rookie forward Michael Beasley missed a majority of Monday's practice session after suffering a groin strain.

"Just a little sore," Coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Really precautionary. He started practice, did dummy offense, and moved around a little."

Monday was the first day that Miami ran offensive drills after focusing on defense over the weekend.

"From what I noticed he's got a pretty good basketball IQ," Udonis Haslem said. "Most of the stuff they went over today he's already done in summer league. He should know that stuff."

Shawn Marion won't ask for a trade from the Heat despite the fact that the team did not meet his request for a contract extension.

"I like being a Heat player," Marion said. "I'm a wanted player."

A number of league executives claim that trade talks have been put on hold because of agent Dan Fegan's desire for a "maximum-level extension" or something close to it.

Heat guard Dwyane Wade has refuted a report that he is interested in playing for the Knicks in the summer of 2010 when he can opt out of his contract.

The story "was reported wrong," Wade said Friday.

"When they asked me about [Knicks coach] Mike D'Antoni, I said when I played with him in the Olympics, if it was between him and Nate McMillan, I love being on the court with him. Miami is where I want to be," he added. "If I say I like a city, people will say I want to be playing in that city. And that doesn't mean that at all."

Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra wants to focus on defense heading into both training camp and the new season.

It also appears as though he's working his players hard right off the bat this fall.

"We did a lot of defensive drills," Shawn Marion said, "and then we did some more defensive drills, then we did some more defensive drills, then we did some more defensive drills."

"It wasn't easy," Michael Beasley added. "I'll tell you that much. I had nightmares last night. I didn't know what to expect. I need to go to sleep right now."

"Two hours and 15 minutes of straight defense," Spoelstra said of their first session. "They didn't get into any shots, any kind of offensive thing, except to get shots at the end."

The Miami Heat announced Saturday that they have mutually agreed with forward Kasib Powell to withdraw the qualifying offer that was extended to Powell, immediately making him an unrestricted free agent.

Powell was originally signed by the HEAT to a 10-day contract on Mar. 22, 2008. He was re-signed for the remainder of the season on Apr. 8. In 11 games with Miami (four starts) last season he averaged 7.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 0.82 steals and 27.6 minutes.

Dwyane Wade isn't worried about the transgressions of Mario Chalmers and Michael Beasley at the NBA's rookie symposium, according to Associated Press.

"I'm not worried about it," Wade said. "I think it could carry over, but from being around them the last few nights, I can see that they're not going to be a problem. Mario knows he has an opportunity to compete for a starting spot. Beasley knows the same thing. They have an unbelievable opportunity in this league, and they need to understand the culture of the Heat and how we do things. They didn't have that this summer."

Chalmers was sent home from the event and fined $20,000, after security found him in a room with two women and detected the scent of marijuana.

Later, it was learned that Beasley was also in the room, and he originally tried to hide it from officials. For not being forthcoming, he was fined $50,000.

"It's a situation that's over and done with," Chalmers said recently. "We put it behind us."

"I would say that's where my immaturity played a factor," Beasley said. "I'm 19, so I kind of tried to be a kid and get away with it. ... But it was kind of eating away at me, just to watch my teammate go through so much and be basically hiding behind the lights. I just felt it was the right thing for my team and just to stand by my teammate."

Heat forward Shawn Marion understands that he'll likely enter training camp later this week without a contract extension, according to Miami Herald.

"My focus is playing ball right now, I can't even worry about that right now," Marion said Monday. "We're still talking and negotiating. It is what it is right now. I'm focused on playing and that's what it's about right now."

After being traded from Phoenix in part of the Shaquille O'Neal trade in February, Marion said he hoped to reach a long-term deal with Miami.

Dwyane Wade, who will be an interesting free agent in 2010, has said that he wouldn't mind playing for Mike D'Antoni, according to Miami Herald.

"I mean, I love offense. Why wouldn't I? I love him," Wade told Newsday while in New York. "We're in practice; I love [Portland Trailblazers' coach] Nate McMillan, but I want to be on Mike D'Antoni's team because Nate is preaching all defense, and Mike is preaching all offense."

Wade also touched on the saga surrounding Stephon Marbury in New York, drawing a parallel to how Shaquille O'Neal was perceived when was he traded from Los Angeles to Miami.

"You can never judge a guy by what you've heard because if that was the case, then Shaq wouldn't have been the ideal teammate for me, as well," Wade said. "He came to Miami and everything I heard about him, none of it showed. You can't ever judge a guy by what he's done in his past or what you've heard about him."

There have been rumors that the Heat could look to land Marbury to help fill the void at point guard.