Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon recently led San Antonio’s entry in the Las Vegas Summer League to the Summer Championship title. Hammon has drawn rave reviews from players and coaches alike for her basketball knowledge, as well as ability to relate to players. The Spurs had made Hammon an unofficial coaching intern in 2013/14 when she accepted their invitation for her to shadow the coaching staff during games, practices and meetings, and she’s since become a regular member of San Antonio’s staff under coach Gregg Popovich. While she’s not the first woman to coach in the NBA — Lisa Boyer was on the Cavs’ bench back in 2001/02, and Natalie Nakase served as an assistant coach in the summer league with the Clippers last year, she may have the best shot to date of any female to land an NBA head coaching gig.
So here’s our question of the day for you: What are Becky Hammon’s chances of landing a head coaching position in the NBA?
The Spurs’ organization, in addition to being simply one of the best in all of sports, is also one of the more forward thinking franchises in all of basketball. If Hammon indeed has the chops to run a team full-time, she could potentially become the coach in waiting for when Popovich finally decides to retire from the game, as well as stymieing inquisitive reporters with his incredibly succinct responses. But is the league ready to accept a female coach? How far is the NBA actually away from adding a woman to its head coaching ranks? Do you see Hammon becoming Pops’ eventual successor? Sound off in the comments section below with your thoughts and opinions. We look forward to what you have to say.
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Very high.
Assistants need to find a way to differentiate themselves from the many other talented assistants in the league. She has the intelligence, and she’s working her way up the right way, and now, with Summer League, she’s staked her claim as an assistant to watch. The fact that she has a great story (and would be a positive PR move for any team) only helps keep the spotlight on her and and her qualifications.
The reason she’ll go from name-assistant to head coach though is the fact that she’s an assistant to one of the best coaches of all time, whose philosophies have now propelled the Warriors to a championship, and raised the Hawks from a group of role players to a top flight team. Unlike Phil Jackson, for example, whose system has only worked while he was the coach, Popovich has proven that his system travels, only furthering Hammon’s chances of someone taking a shot on her.
Very well said. Do you think she’ll likely get a chance with the Spurs, or with a different organization?
I have to assume that within the next 4 years of Pop’s reign (and who knows how much longer), she’ll get a job offer. That said, I don’t think she will take the first thing that comes along.
I get the sense that she understands that to be the first female NBA coach, she has to be better than any other assistant and produce wins immediately. Anything other than excellence will immediately turn into a discussion about how women aren’t capable of coaching at that level (which is absurd, but that’s how the media tends to sensationalize these things). So she’ll choose her opportunities wisely, and in the meantime, learn from the best.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she waited it out and became the Spurs coach after Pop retires. She’ll thus be in an organization that supports her fully, and will have continuity with some of the players.
well you got to love the way the spurs work. the spurs are one of the classy teams and one of the few teams and maybe only team to be able to get to keep their 3 top guys for their whole career. now to add having a women as a assistant only show how how great they are run from top to bottom. as a laker fan i always hated the spurs but respect how the team was run. wish more teams were like the spurs the nba might have more then 4 or 5 good teams every year and maybe the east wouldnt be so bad
only time will tell the NBA always had male head coaches.so i dont know if that will change any time soon. but in the future it could. but hey if kids in summer league will listen to her maybe the drama queens in the NBA will. i think it be fun to see if she can handle coaching in the NBA and if she does get a HC job wouldn’t be surprise if it with the spurs.
100% chance she’s a head coach someday. Might happen in the next 5 years.
really hope she gets a chance to take over the head coaching reins from Pop once he decides to hang em’ up
Same with me.
There’s no better coach to learn from. I think he would enjoy training the NBA’s first female head coach.
The Popovich coaching tree is as fruitful a producer of NBA head coaches these days as any, so that alone would suggest she’ll get a shot. I do think she’ll have to put in more time, since she’s only served one season as a full-time assistant, but if she can keep it up, it shouldn’t be a shock. The NBA as a whole has a relatively progressive track record when it comes to equal opportunity.