People have been talking about this precise moment for years: a woman is about to become the first head coach in the NBA. Becky hammonAn assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs for the past seven years, she is one of the last candidates standing to take the Portland Trail Blazers bench.
His name has been around for a long time in all pools, but this time Hammon has already passed several filters, including a first interview with the Oregon franchise.
The topic is far from closed, since among the rest of the finalist candidates are, according to Adrian Wojnarowski, from the ESPN, a veteran like Mike D’Antoni, current assistant to the Brooklyn Nets, and Chauncey billups, former player and current assistant for the Los Angeles Clippers.
Nobody is aware that there are more conservative options and others that are more innovative. The historical option, which is not radical, is the one proposed by Hammon– Becoming the first female coach in a universe dominated from top to bottom by men.
Hammon has much more experience than the Billups option, who has just started his career on the bench and is immersed in the Conference Finals with the Clippers. The NBA MVP in 2004 would be the Brooklyn-Steve Nash option for Portland.
The Hammon option would be to hit the table: something new, unpublished, but at the same time something solid. Seven years of learning from Gregg Popovich can only yield one result: experience, security and a project with a unique ticket to success. The coach, in addition, has already trained in several NBA games, especially in the Summer League.
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The third way is the most conservative. The 71-year-old D’Antoni can bring all his ultra-offensive vision that dominates the league scene today. He is an expert, one of the founders of the current ruling line, but his age and his lack of titles in the United States after more than three decades on the bench indicate a perhaps exhausted cycle.
In 2018, when he played for the San Antonio Spurs, Pau Gasol wanted to publicly defend the figure of Hammon before the prejudices generated as a result of his candidacy to various benches:
“I have been in the NBA for 17 years, I have won two championships, I have played with the best players of this generation and I’ve played under two of the greatest minds in the sport, Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich. And I tell you that Becky Hammon can train in the NBA “.
Pau knows what he’s talking about, and it is time to break this glass ceiling. The maneuver, in addition to sportingly productive and interesting, it would probably be also a whole media bombshell: a win-win if Hammon’s style fits the Oregon franchise plans.
Hammon’s situation, who has been about to make history for years, or making it with a dropper – the first full-time assistant in 2014 and the first to coach a match in 2020 – waiting for the big opportunity, it’s curious.
The New Orleans PelicansThey are currently seeking replacements for Stan Van Gundy, and two women from his coaching staff are being considered for the position: Teresa Weatherspoon and Fred Vinson They could be the first if the Blazers don’t pick it up.
It would also be great news if any of them achieve what was unthinkable just seven years ago.