Clippers assistant Chauncey Billups and Spurs assistant Becky Hammon are among the candidates for the Trail Blazers‘ head coaching position who will interview with the team this week for a second time, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Billups and Hammon first interviewed with the Blazers last week, along with Mike D’Antoni, who also remains in the mix for the Portland job, per Wojnarowski.
According to Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley and Spurs VP of basketball operations Brent Barry are among the others who have interviewed for the vacancy. It’s unclear whether Staley and/or Barry will receive second interviews.
Billups has frequently been cited as a frontrunner for the Blazers’ job, so it’s no surprise that he’s among the finalists. He also received an endorsement from point guard Damian Lillard following Terry Stotts‘ exit earlier this month.
The fact that Hammon remains in the running is notable — according to Charania and Amick, it’s the first time that a woman has remained under consideration in the final stages of an NBA head coaching search.
Jeff Van Gundy and Juwan Howard were among the other possible candidates who were mentioned early in the Blazers’ search process, but we haven’t heard anything about them lately. Still, president of basketball operations Neil Olshey stated that Portland’s search would be extensive, with 20-to-25 candidates receiving consideration, so there are likely many names that haven’t been reported yet — it’s possible some of them have advanced to the second stage of the club’s interview process.
I think its wrong to get Becky in for every HC vacancy just to be PC, without ever really considering her for the job
i dunno. i think it speaks to legitimacy that they are asking her in specific. if it was just a PR thing you dont need to speak to Becky in specific to say you interviewed a woman. i think the universal intesrest shows that teams do believe she has the credentials.
Yet no one hires her, until someone does the optics are that she just gets mentioned to appease the PC brigade.
No it shows they want PC cred too.
Two things:
1. Bringing in one of Popp’s top assistants for an interview is never “PC” – she’s working for one of the best coaches ever. She gets any interview as a result.
2. Historically, the first women to do anything – the first women to go to space, the first women to make partner at a major law firm, etc – have always been incredible. The sad reality is, to be the first woman to do something, you have to be twice as good as a man to even get considered.
If I was in charge in Portland, I’d be more worried about selling her on coaching my team (Portland is maybe one more disappointing season away from a tear down) than seeing if she’s good enough. You can just about guarantee she’s good enough.
@Jason – strongly agreed on this, especially when Kim Ng turned down a few jobs from middling teams for the same reason and only went with the Marlins because it was a teardown situation there. Blazers are all-in right now and don’t look to have enough – they are indeed a pretty hard sell for someone who would instantly be under the microscope and pressure to win immediately. Problem is: all GM’s worth their salt would rather start from scratch, including Hammon, that’s why she might not get a GM gig this year.
That’s what I expect
Mike Dantoni is not better than Stotts for average playoffs teams
Someone tell Meathead Marty that Hammon is not going for GM.
EDIT: I was responding to a stupid poster who said that Hammon was only getting interviews because of political correctness, and that hard working men weren’t getting the same opportunities. Evidently the comment was deleted.
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Which experienced male assistant coaches never sniff an interview? Will Hardy is an assistant in San Antonio too, and he interviewed for the Knicks, Pacers, and Thunder just last year.
Here’s a list of all the assistants that got interviewed last year – can you tell me who was left off this list because of their gender?
link to hoopsrumors.com
Drives me crazy when people abuse the term PC.
Yes, there are some instances of actual PC where good folks who make rather harmless or taken out of context remarks are villified. But fools like the person you’re describing think calling out actual racists/sexists or, in this case, claiming one of those most qualified assistant coaches in the league is only being considered due to her gender is just racist/sexist.
Wow, I see you guys know everything. I’ll bite my tongue when Becky gets a HC job. Until then your theory is as good as mine.
P.S. calling someone stupid because you dont agree with him is very american
Do you seriously not remember her name showing up on nearly every HC “long list” for six years now? And the result? The NBA GM-men and scribes get credit for considering her, while her job stays mostly the same. It’s BS, it’s the news, it’s junk-food for the woke.
It does not matter what her qualifications are or are not, her name is getting put out there for a reason, and it’s about personal power through virtue signaling, not finding the coach they want. Olshey said 20 or 25, and he’s already to the second round?
x_x note Jason addressed a deleted post.
Thought they come across as such, many of these reported interviews aren’t all for the HC position. Some are simply looking at potential assistant coaching staff. Imo, it makes more sense that Becky Hammon goes to another team as a lead asst coach and gains more experience before Pop retires after another year or two and THEN gives her the SA job. Its better to know and learn the league from more than one perspective and safety net of that “world class organization”. At that point, she truly would be ready for any job, rather than being earmarked for just the Spurs.
Jmho
I thought that Becky Hammon was the lead assistant in San Antonio. She took over when Pops got ejected in a December game against the Lakers.
IIRC the Spurs don’t really have that type of hierarchy with respect to their assistant coaches. It’s basically a team effort where each assistant is tasked with fully handling specific responsibilities such as gameplaning against certain squads. In other words, each assistant is trusted to handle those responsibilities without oversight and to operate mostly autonomously.
That being said, I think Becky would be the closest thing to a lead assistant coach based on her experience and list of responsibilities.
Why are you saying this? Source please? Spurs very much had AC levels; maybe no more. This is not Hammon’s first go-round, (https://www.hoopsrumors.com),
and it was said several years ago that Hammon was not lead assistant. Ime Udoka was also affected (and he should get a promotion too, I bet Wizards or Celtics). It could be looked up in HR archives— who it was and title name. Bas.Ref. lists ACs by team in order, kind of by name recognition, but it makes no claim. People like titles and seniority, but there may have been backlash against the Spur’s list in ’19 or so for holding her back.
Agree with jump shot— the Blazers may carve out a prestigious role not a HC. She has turned down major colleges.
PC is a bad word for it, but “it” does need a word bC people do it and something should describe what it was they did. “Virtue signaling” is better but if you don’t like PC being said out loud, you probably won’t like that either. A bit long too.
Sorry that link was supposed to go to a 2015 community shootaround on Hammon. It is a Hammon article list.
I think we’re actually on the same page here regarding PC lol. I 100% agree a lot of Becky’s interviews/HC considerations were nothing more than virtue signaling. I take issue only with those folks who think that she isn’t even qualified to be garnering legitimate consideration and that, instead, it’s all been based on PC. That is just downright sexist. Her body of work speaks for itself.
As for a source, I don’t remember where I read this—I know I read it a couple of months ago, though. I think it was an article in response to her becoming the first female to coach an NBA game, albeit only due to Pop getting ejected. And I believe the article talked about how some of her general responsibilities as an assistant on the Spurs staff made her taking the reigns a rather seamless transition and more than it might be for assistant coaches on other teams thrust into the same situation. I definitely don’t know much about the Spurs coaching hierarchy before the last couple of years seeing as I’m a relatively new fan, so you’re probably right beyond the recent past.
Anyway, I’ll try to find the source for ya if I can.
She took over but I hear on Pop’s staff, similar to what Phil Jackson did, there was no lead asst, 2nd asst, etc… they were simply his “coaching staff”. Pop getting tossed a month later very well woulda had a different assistant taking over that game.
Again, my point was to view the league from a different lens other than SA’s. And, you may even be a true “lead assistant”, for what that’s worth.
Someone just have to give Becky a shot. Once one woman gets a job it will become much easier for other teams to hire other women. Hammon couldn’t do any worse than some of these hack coaches around
I’m all for Billups and Hammon getting a shot, but the Blazers? These guys are in win yesterday mode. Wouldn’t you rather have someone with some experience? (Dantoni doesn’t count…personally don’t see that working).
Then again, Doc Rivers has championship experience. So what do I know?
Portland would be good bC of Dame. The critical thing for a new leader is to establish a good working relationship with the star (or straw boss or bell-cow, whatever the job is) and the team will follow. Dame likes virtue and legacy, and with the team perhaps peaked, could gain in this way. He might work at it and not be fatalistic. Getting Lillard to care like he can is an Olshey priority.
Boylen says Christ if yer gonna hire a girl, just give me a chance already, I am the genius of innovative time out usage. I will work for a bar tab at the stadium.