Longtime Miami Heat Announcer Endorses Billy Donovan For Hall Of Fame

Donovan has been a coach for almost three decades. He started his coaching career as an assistant under Pitino at Kentucky before getting the head coaching nod at Marshall in 1994. After two seasons, he left Marshall to become the head coach at Florida, where he would lead the team to two NCAA championships along with two other Final Four appearances.

He left college basketball to join the NBA in 2015. He joined the Oklahoma City Thunder to coach Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook before parting ways with the franchise in 2020. Since 2020, Donovan has been the head coach of the Chicago Bulls.

Donovan's storied career is an important one and Reid can say he has been following his career since the very beginning.

ARISON NAMED FINALIST FOR 2025 HALL OF FAME CLASS

Miami Heat managing general partner Micky Arison has been named a finalist for induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2025. Arison has continued to serve as one of the driving forces behind one of the NBA's most winningest franchises.

Arison took majority control of the franchise in 1995. Since then, the Heat have won three titles in 2006, 2012 and 2013. One of Arison's first moves with the organization was bringing in Hall of Famer Pat Riley to become the team's head coach. Riley was one of the best coaches in basketball at the time, helping lead the Los Angeles Lakers to four championships prior to joining the Heat.

After Riley led the Heat to a championship in 2006, he converted to a role in the front office. He and Arison have been the leading executives for the organization since. One of their first moves in collaboration was promoting then-assistant coach Erik Spoelstra to the head coaching role. Since Spoelstra's promotion, the Heat have been one of the winningest teams in basketball. They have won two championships along with another four Eastern Conference titles under his reign.

Arison's influence over the franchise has earned him a spot along the likes of Heat icons. There are nine members of the Hall of Fame with Miami Heat ties. Listed below are the members and the year they were inducted:

Bob McAdoo (2000)

Pat Riley (2008)

Gary Payton (2013)

Alonzo Mourning (2014)

Shaquille O'Neal (2016)

Ray Allen (2018)

Chris Bosh (2021)

Tim Hardaway (2022)

Dwyane Wade (2023)

The unveiling of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2025 is set for April 5.

SPOELSTRA SHARES OPTIMISM AMID HEAT STRUGGLES

The Miami Heat had a tough few weeks.

The Jimmy Butler trade saga finally concluded after months of dispute between the disgruntled star and the front office. The Heat are 2-5 in February. As we reach the All-Star break, the struggles have reached a tipping point with fans.

After Thursday night's loss to the Dallas Mavericks, coach Erik Spoelstra shared his optimism regarding getting back on track.

"We're going to correct that," Spoelstra said. "We're going to get better. We have enough experience with it now. Our guys are fully aware of it. Everybody wants to be better in the situations, you know, when we're up. Now, we'll take a few days off. I’ll get to work, the staff will get to work, we’ll do what we need to do. I promise we’re going to correct this."

The Heat are three games below .500 with a 25-28 record. They entered this week as the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference. Now, the Heat find themselves just outside the playoff picture at the No. 9 seed. That is still good for a play-in spot but the Heat's potential sixth consecutive playoff appearance could be in jeopardy if the team doesn't turn it around.

One bright spot for the Heat has been the breakout of Tyler Herro. He was named an All-Star reserve for his performance this season. He will be participating in the Starry Three-Point Contest on Saturday night before suiting up for Kenny's Young Stars in the NBA's revamped All-Star Game format on Sunday night.

The Heat's first game back from the All-Star break is set for next Friday. They face the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena.

Sean Jordan is a contributor to Miami Heat On Sports Illustrated. He can be reached at sjorda06@syr.edu.

Follow our coverage on Facebook

X: @SeanKJordan