On June 15th, the San Antonio Spurs clinched the NBA Title, defeating the Miami Heat, and in effect, ending the LeBron James era in South Beach. On July 11th, LeBron announced he would take his considerable talents back to Cleveland, likely ending the string of consecutive trips by the Heat to the NBA Finals at four.
That was then.
What could Coach Popovich and the Spurs do for an encore? Coach Pop and Tim Duncan have
collaborated in 5 NBA Titles. It appears
as though Timmy is set to return next year and engage Kobe Bryant in a race to see
if one of them can be the first (between the two of them) to capture number 6.
But that’s a tale that will not be told until next spring. Apparently, the Spurs wanted to make a
statement now, and that they did.
Yesterday, they announced the hiring of Rebecca (Becky) Hammon as an Assistant
Coach. In doing so, they made her the
first female to become a full-time Regular Season Assistant Coach in the
League. This year, Natalie Nakase, an
assistant video coordinator for the Clippers, was hired to help run the Summer
League. Also, during the 2001-02 Season,
when John Lucas coached the Cleveland Cavaliers, Lisa Boyer served as a
Volunteer Assistant with the Cavs.
However, Ms. Boyer did not travel with the team. In contrast, Hammon will operate in the
capacity of a full-time Assistant, and will travel with the team.
Hammon, a veteran WNBA player had already
announced her retirement, slated for the end of the WNBA Season. As a member of the San Antonio Stars, she and
the Spurs were already familiar with each other. In fact, she had previously worked with the
Spurs; a key factor in Coach Popovich’s comfort level with her. CNN reported that Popovich, in speaking of
Hammon said:
"I very much look forward
to the addition of Becky Hammon to our staff." Having observed her working with our team
this past season, I'm confident her basketball IQ, work ethic and interpersonal
skills will be a great benefit to the Spurs."
Hammon is a 6-time WNBA
All-Star. She has played the last 8
seasons with the San Antonio Stars. In
describing her feelings on the historically significant occasion, she said:
"I'm just incredibly
grateful, obviously, to the Spurs organization and Coach Pop and (Spurs General
Manager R.C. Buford). “The whole staff
really just from day one has been so great to me. I'm a little overwhelmed
right now, to be perfectly honest."
Coach Pop found out from Dan Hughes, Hammon’s Coach
with the Stars, that she was interested in pursuing coaching. That in turn led to Popovich creating an
opportunity for her to spend time working with the Spurs, and to a feature on
NBA Inside Stuff. In that feature, Coach
Popovich called her a natural. Danny
Green, a former Tar Heel, and naturally my favorite Spur, spoke complimentary
about her as well:
“Everybody here respects her. She’s a really good player and also a good
person to have around. She understands
the game.”
Hammon spent the second half of her
sixteen-year WNBA career in San Antonio, after spending the first 8 years with
the New York Liberty. Like many WNBA
players, Hammon played overseas during the off-season. In 2008, she became a naturalized Russian
citizen. After feeling she was not
getting sufficiently noticed by Team USA, she opted to play for the Russian
Olympic Team in 2008, and again in 2012.
She should fit right in with the Spurs, who are considered the NBA’s
International Team, and for good reason.
See below:
Tim Duncan – Virgin Islands (American, though
not Continental US, or 1 of the 50 States)
Tony Parker – Belgium (French Nationality)
Manu Ginobili – Argentina
Patrick Mills – Australia
Boris Diaw – France
Tiago Splitter – Brazil
Marco Belinelli – Italy
Aron Baynes – New Zealand
Cory Joseph – Canada
Livio Jean-Charles – French Guiana
Nemanja Dangubic – Yugoslavia
Lest you draw the mistaken conclusion that the
Spurs have no players who hale from the 50 States, they do:
Kawhi Leonard – California (NBA Finals MVP, by
the way)
Danny Green – New York (A couple of jump shots
away from having been last year’s NBA Finals MVP)
Kyle Anderson – New York
Jeff (Pendergraph) Ayres – California (Ontario
though…;-))
Matt Bonner – New Hampshire
A quick overview reveals that of
the 16 players currently on the Spur’s roster, 10 of them are from countries other than
the U.S., 1 is from an unincorporated U.S. Territory, and 5 are from the
Continental U.S (2 from California, 2 from New York, and 1 from New Hampshire,
all from the East or the West Coast).
Welcome to the NBA Ms. Hammon. “First The Spurs Won The Title: Now They Are Making History!” I’m done; holla back!”
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