Last August, I wrote a post entitled, “First
The Spurs Won The Title: Now They Are Making History!” (http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2014/08/first-spurs-won-title-now-they-are.html) It heralded the introduction of Ms. Becky
Hammon to the NBA, after her hiring by the then World Champion San Antonio
Spurs.
Coach Gregg Popovich and the Spurts made Ms.
Hammon the NBA’s first full-time Regular Season female Assistant Coach on
August 5, 2014. It was clear at that
time she had cultivated a history with the Spurs, and that she had established
a relationship with both Coach Popovich and a number of Spurs’ players. Other women had served in support roles, one
as an Assistant during the Summer League, and another as a Volunteer Assistant
during the Regular Season. Hammon, however,
assumed full coaching responsibilities, and traveled with the team.
The NBA Summer League is a series of off-season
competitions designed to bring National
Basketball Association teams together to try out different
summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups. Usually, participants include a mix of rookies, second year players,
and unsigned free agents. The current
summer league consists of three separate leagues: the Las Vegas Summer
League, the Utah Jazz Summer
League, and the Orlando Pro
Summer League.
Summer
leagues have existed for decades. Historically, there was not an organized
structure, with leagues sometimes overlapping and not officially coordinated. In 2004, the league
held the Las Vegas Summer League for the first time; it is by far the largest
league, with 23 NBA teams plus an NBA Development
League all-star team participating as of 2015.
The Orlando
Pro Summer League has been held since 2001. The Utah Jazz Summer League began
play in 2015, replacing the Rocky Mountain Revue, an event held from 1984–2008
before going on a lengthy hiatus due to declining participation.
On Monday
evening, Ms. Hammon led the Spurs to the Championship of the Vegas Summer
League, as the Spurs beat the Phoenix Suns 93-90. By doing so, she became the feature
attraction in yet another chapter in the annals of history, after having added
one just two weeks ago, when she became the first woman to serve as Head Coach
of an NBA Summer League Team. The Spurs
lost their first Summer League game to the NY Knicks, but rallied from that
point, winning the rest of their games, including in the end, persevering in a
hotly contested Title Game.
In
describing the experience, Hammon said:
"It was a grind. They've been together
about 17 days. They really
started to kind of gel here these last two or three games. They listened, and they played really hard
for me. So I'm just really [appreciative
of] their attentiveness and alertness and their desire to win."
Along the way, Becky
Hammon has diffused a number of the lingering concerns about whether her
instincts and experience connected effectively with the rigors of the men’s game. The end result of her performance in this
highly competitive environment, in which all the actors recognized her unique
role, with no place to hide, should silence some of those concerns. It probably won’t, but it should.
A number of Hammon’s players
recognize the value of her voice on the bench.
Former Tar Heel Danny Green lauded Hammon when the Spurs hired her. At that time he said:
“Everybody
here respects her. She’s a really good
player and also a good person to have around.
She understands the game.”
He had this to say in an
interview with NBA TV during Monday’s game:
"She gives
another perspective on the sidelines for us. She sees some things that we don't
see. She’s obviously a player, everybody
respects her, she's well respected. She
knows the game. She understands the
game. She sees it from a point guard
perspective, but a female perspective [too], which is very different for us.
She's one of my
favorites ... She's doing very well. I'm
happy for her."
Jonathon Simmons won the Championship’s
MVP honors. As he described it, it was
“amazing” to have Hammon on the sidelines.
He said:
“She’s a real cool
coach and she's a player coach and that's what guys like my age -- we like
that. She's experienced, you can't take
that away from her."
Simmons later addressed the
importance of Hammon's trailblazing role in the league, when he told Sports
Illustrated (SI):
"It’s always good
to be a part of history. This day will go down in the books for
years to come … I love her. I barely know her and I love her already."
Hammon, in turn, acknowledged the
relationship she's forged with her players, when she noted,
also to SI:
"I’m just
thankful that [Popovich] trusted me with the guys in that locker room, and that
those guys trusted me back."
One writer at YAHOO Sports,
Kelly Dwyer, (Editor Ball Don’t Lie Blog), has already opined that Ms. Hammon
is “ready” to become an NBA Head Coach.
Admittedly, I don’t write or follow sports for a living, but I think Mr.
Dwyer is wrong about that. Yes, her
accomplishments are impressive. She has
played the game in college, in Europe, in the WNBA, and in the Olympics. She has the background, skills, and
experience that ensure she could be ready in the not too distant future. In fact, I would not be surprised if she
becomes the NBA’s first female coach, though not likely in the coming year.
Yesterday, Mr. Dwyer
wrote:
“These basketball reasons are why the NBA needs to get the
novelty of the first hiring of a female head coach out of the damn way. Becky
Hammon can coach your favorite team, and she can coach it well. And when she is
hired and when she does coach it well, we can move on to more important things.
Like gender equality in jobs that actually matter.”
In his blog,
he suggested if Jason Kidd
can be trusted
running a $100-plus million dollar payroll weeks after retiring (Milwaukee
Bucks), or Derek Fisher
can survive a 17-win season, Hammon deserves a shot. Dwyer noted Steve Kerr is a Gregg Popovich
protégé, as is Ms. Hammon. Moreover,
absent coaching experience on any level, he led the Warriors to a Title in his
first year.
While all of
that is true, their disparate records demonstrate wildly different
outcomes. At the every least, those
results suggest that which team a coach goes to, any coach, plays a key role in
the outcome of their coaching efforts.
And, as we know, and Mr. Dwyer conceded, Ms. Hammon won’t be coaching
the Spurs in the near future.
Let me frame
it this way. The Spurs have long since
established themselves as a savvy franchise.
They have assembled a mixture of veterans, free agents and young skilled
players from around the world, all with an abiding willingness to accept
“winning” as the preeminent mission.
When they hired Becky Hammon, it was fair to presume she was or would
become adept at coaching. By all
accounts, she is doing just that. After
Monday night’s Summer League Title, that factoid is in clearer focus than ever
before.
No, she’s not
ready to assume the reins of a Franchise when the NBA Season begins in
November. But don’t sleep on her; she
will be in the foreseeable future. I
wrote last August, “Welcome to the NBA
Ms. Hammon. “First The Spurs Won The
Title: Now They Are Making History!”
Today, “TheSpurs and Becky Hammon: Another Chapter Added!”
I’m done; holla back!
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anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com or http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.
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Consult the links below for more detailed
information on a variety of aspects relating to this post:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Antonio_Spurs
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/becky-hammon-summer-league-championship_55ae3a1ee4b0a9b948526cd8
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