Posted on 05/04/2018 7:30:51 PM PDT by EdnaMode
Sources confirmed to The Washington Post that San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon will interview for the head coaching job with the Milwaukee Bucks.
The news of Hammon’s interview was first reported by ESPN on Friday night.
Hammon, 41, has spent the past four seasons working as an assistant under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio. When she was hired in 2014, she was the first full-time female assistant coach in any of the four major American pro sports, and she coached San Antonio’s Las Vegas summer league entry to the league title the following summer.
Hammon spent 16 years in the WNBA – eight each with the New York Liberty and San Antonio Stars – in addition to playing several seasons for teams in Spain and Russia. She also won a bronze medal playing for the Russian national team in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
All four of Popovich’s assistants – Hammon, James Borrego, Ettore Messina and Ime Udoka – have garnered interview requests for various head coaching openings. San Antonio has long been regarded as an incubator for coaching talent under Popovich, and all four have been regarded as potential head coaching candidates, either this offseason or in the future.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Rapid City, SD native.
Does it really matter who the coach is on a NBA team? They seem to play the finest junk basketball on the planet regardless of who the coaches are.
I don’t know if she can or can’t do the job.
I think NBA players aren’t ready for a woman head coach.
I hope she gets the job, only so the Bucks don’t become a factor.
Gotta hand it to her — 5’6” undrafted guard, made it big in pro ball in the U.S. and internationally, already coached a men’s summer league to a championship. If she’s a fit for an NBA team, give her a shot. Definitely not a PC quota hire; she’d get the job on merit.
“Does it really matter who the coach is on a NBA team?”
It might to the players. I just doubt the average b-ball player will respect a female coach.
She’s trying to play with the big boys.
I think it’s cute.
By the way, this is the same woman who became a Russian citizen just so she could play in the Olympics. She has no Russian ancestry and did not speak the language although she played for a Russian professional team.
http://www.espn.com/olympics/summer08/columns/story?id=3530332
Fine, if she can win.
She’s legit and the players respect her. ‘Nuff said.
If NBA fans won’t watch the WNBA then the NBA will bring the wimmins to you.
I smell Russian collusion.
She has not spent the time coaching at any level and should not be considered for an NBA post due to her lack of experience and resume. She was hired by San Antonio as an assistant in 2014, so she has only 3 to 4 years as a pro assistant. She may have played a number of years with a talent for scoring in the WAC conference. but that doesn’t make for a head coach in the NBA where the game is far different with its physicality and mental demand than almost any basketball league like it in the world.
Winning a championship in a summer league is like NFL pre-season games. They don’t mean anything and the teams are working with players on certain parts of their game to develop them. Winning in that league is not part of the plan. Getting players prepared for the NBA roster by teaching them new thoughts and player actions and conditioning are. She was there to teach, not to win.
So being a player in a sport does not necessarily make someone a coach. Learning how to spot players mistakes, mental problems, and their ability to conform to the team play aspects required takes years of practice and instruction at the NBA level. This is why so few successful coaches come out of the players ranks in the NBA. The two teams that have produced successful coaches most in the NBA are Boston and Los Angeles. Coaches from those two teams are taught about thinking the game and not just playing it, And that’s at the highest level.
I wish her well. But if she enters the coaching ranks with her gender being forefront in the hiring process and fails, she will put back the option of hiring qualified women as head coaches in the NBA for years. And there are many out there that would be qualified with a couple of years in the NBA as an assistant. But they are coming out of high profile college programs and most wouldn’t want it as they are well taken care of in their position. And most of those have been coaching at their position for over 30 years or are retired. Why would they want the headache?
rwood
Yup.
Thats just it. Lack of experience and working her way up the chain, like any man has to do. And be better than others to make it up the chain.
If she is gifted this job I will only call them the Milwaukee Cucks.
As an official at NCAA level, and I”ve called some of the summer camp NBA games in northern California, I’ve worked with NCAA women’s teams female coaches and a number of them are highly qualified to handle the NCAA level of play and that gender which in many ways is more difficult than the men. But when you consider the failed coaches, some just for the failure at the psychological aspect of the game with the players, most notable Magic Johnson with his very brief stint as skipper of the Lakers, it takes years of practice and learning to handle these temper mental overgrown children let alone figure out the plays to run and post game interviews so important to the league’s public relations.
So to put it in prospective, assistant coaching, coming from the WNBA players ranks, for less than four years is not a ticket to head coaching with the requirements needed, way too many not in the actual playing part of the game. You’re not in Kansas anymore Dorothy.
rwood
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