Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Willie Reed heads to NBA Finals — as a player’s guest.
After a broadcasting internship, center hangs out with former teammate
MIAMI — After a breakout season with the Miami Heat, Willie Reed is going to the NBA Finals — as a guest of a former Heat teammate.
Having completed this weekend’s Sportscaster U. broadcasting internship at Syracuse University, Reed moved on to Cleveland. There, he is spending time with Derrick Williams, who has gone from his February release by the Heat to playing time in the Finals against the Golden State Warriors.
“I’m going to watch Derrick play a little bit in the Finals,” Reed said, “and then I’m doing yoga and working out down there in Miami.”
Reed said even when Williams wasn’t seeing action with the Heat, he still was an active pregame workout partner. Williams was waived when the Heat had to open a roster spot for Okaro White.
“Derrick was definitely one of the guys that I spoke to a lot when he was with the Heat,” Reed said. “We sat next to each other on the plane. We were always speaking, always talking. We played two-on-two together. He was my teammate before games.
“I’m going to watch Derrick play a little bit in the Finals.” Willie Reed ,on visiting his former teammate Derrick Williams at the NBA Finals
So we spent a lot of times talking, and we’ve been speaking ever since he left.”
Reed declined to discuss his impending free agency, having informed the Heat he is opting out of the second year of the two-year contract he signed last July. He plans to work out with Heat players and staffers when he returns to South Florida in advance of the July 1 start of the freeagency negotiating period. Williams also will be a free agent this summer.
While cashing in on his breakthrough this past season is the current focus, the time spent with other current and former NBA players at the Newhouse School opened Reed’s eyes to what might follow his playing career.
“The experience was great. It took me in the right direction to what I wanted to do once I finished playing basketball. This gave me a hands-on experience,” with former Heat players Earl Barron and Loren Woods among the 10 participants.
“To be honest, I really thought that broadcasting was going to be kind of simple as far as like what Shaq does or Reggie Miller does, and it was nothing like that. I mean, it was a tough job, but preparing for it and actually doing it was really fun and helped me step outside my comfort zone.”
Included in the handson training arranged through the National Basketball Players Association was a simulated pregame show for the start of the NBA Finals. That had Reed commenting on the Warriors’ play at the start of the series.
“That definitely opens your eyes,” he said. “I mean, they’re a tremendous offensive team. Kevin Durant brings a different element.”
There to stay
In the wake of the Heat announcing assuming control of their developmental franchise, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, management at a news conference in South Dakota vowed that the team will remain in place there.
“Miami could have bought an expansion team, put it somewhere close to them, had their team there and we would have had to find a new partner,” Skyforce President Mike Heineman said. “Miami believed in us. We showed them enough results to prove that we are a good fit for them. And we couldn’t be more excited that they took that risk on us.
“As you see, teams moving an hour away from their NBA affiliate, to have the Heat trust us enough to be -- I looked this up on Google maps today -- 1,826 miles away from us, it’s a bold move. It’s unprecedented. And we’re really proud that we’re part of that. We’re not doing things like everybody else.” Heat General Manager
Andy Elisburg spoke at the session of the Heat’s ongoing commitment at a time that division rivals Orlando, Charlotte and Atlanta all have moved their developmental affiliates to their home state.
“We had this incredible working relationship together,” Elisburg said. “I think everybody agreed we should try to keep doing what we’re doing.”