Becky Hammon Has The Aces at WNBA-Best 13-3 — How Long Until She Leads NBA Team?

[robbie84]

Going to be hard to convince alot of owners and players that a woman can get respect from her male NBA players the same way a man can.
Not sure how players would react to signing with a certain team as free agents if their coach was female. It's a huge and risky decision for an NBA team owner to make.

I think she'd be a great NBA coach, I just don't know if the NBA and world are ready for that yet.

Maybe a div 1 men's program coach for a while.
The Aces were a great team before she got there too so people will discredit her with that.

You'd have to get her in charge of a rebuilding situation like OKC where you have the core locked up for 4 or 5 years and she can build a relationship with them.

Takes a certain kind of humble/open minded NBA superstar to choose a free agency destination with a female head coach. Not too many of those around.

[Jadoogar]

Lets cut out the Politically Correct BS.....do you really think an extreme alpha male who through sheer hard work and dedication has made himself into being one of the 500 best basketball players in the World is going to have the same level of fear or respect for a woman than he would over Greg Popovich, Pat Riley or Jason Kidd?

Why is this hypothetical alpha male respect Nick Nurse (never played in the NBA), Eric Spolestra (never played in the NBA) or Derek Fisher (career role player, rolled out of bed and got handed a head coaching job)?

That is a pretty horrible strawman. All of those guys have penises.....Becky Hammon does not.

Im sorry to not be Politically Correct but I do not see a grown man respecting a woman coach as much as he would another man.

alright it's time to block

[KrAzY3]

I also felt that Pat Summit -may she RIP- should've switched over and coached the men's program at Tennessee after she won so many titles for the women's program. That would've been the starting point right there.

I've heard rumors she was offered the job and refused.

Think about it though, she was the best women's college basketball coach there was. What if she had failed coaching a men's team? No need to take that risk.

Didn't know that. But she should've taken the risk, successful or not, and knocked the barrier down for female coaches. She played it safe and that's fine but here we are today.

Here's a quote from an article:
"With each crash-and-burn it became more obvious that men couldn’t handle this particular job and that Summitt would be the safest hire available. She considered it but kept turning it down.

“I think women should help women,” she said.

A good reason, but there was a better one.

“I wouldn’t want people to think I looked at the men’s game as a step up.”"

So, there's your explanation. Having said that, her chance of success wasn't necessarily high at all. I can use Nick Saban as an example. Best college football coach ever in my opinion, but his time in the NFL wasn't nearly as stellar. It doesn't necessarily translate because there are all sorts of other factors. She was clearly an amazing coach and for instance if she was coaching high school men's basketball it is hard to imagine her not being extremely successful. But dealing with the one and done, transfer portal, AAU, extremely athletic (she had like one player who ever dunked in a game), shoe company crowd? I can see why she stayed put, she had a good thing going and she was the best at it.

It is easy to think people can make the leap, a good high school coach can be a good college coach, good college coach can be a good NBA coach, etc... it often doesn't go that way. If she'd coached the men's team and failed miserably what would people be saying about Beck Hammon right now? They might be saying that the best women's coach ever couldn't succeed, how could Becky...

[Lou_23]

It may take a minute. Bill Laimbeer coached the Detroit Shock to multiple titles (shout out Katie Smith, Tweety Nolan & Cheryl Ford), but he was only able to land an assistant coach with T-Wolves in 2009 (one of the worst teams in the league). Becky Hammon was already one of Pop's favorites, but couldn't land a head coaching in the NBA.

Maybe she could try doing NCAA men's basketball and prove her worth there?

Laimbeer still have a lot of enemies in the NBA.

[MrGoat]

So if it’s crazy to think that players wouldn’t respect a female HC and she’s the most qualified then the obvious question is why is she coaching in the WNBA?

Is she the most qualified though? She only has 8 years of NBA assistant coaching experience. For an non former NBA player that is below average. Stephen Silas was an assistant for 20 years and one of the most respected assistants in the league before he could finally land the Houston job. Steve Clifford? 13 as an assistant in the NBA before he got his first head coaching job. Spoelstra? 11 years as an NBA assistant before getting the Heat job. Chris Finch? 10 years as an NBA assistant. Budenholzer? 18 years as a Spurs assistant. Mike Malone? 13 years as an NBA assistant coach. Bickerstaff? 12 years as an NBA assistant before he was made Houston interim. Dwane Casey? 12 years as an NBA assistant before landing the T Wolves job. Thibs? 12 years, including 3 as an associate head coach. Jamahl Mosley? 17 years as an NBA assistant. Nick Nurse had only 6 years as an NBA assistant but 24 years of prior coaching experience prior to getting his first NBA assistant job. Pop himself? Only 6 years as an NBA assistant, but had another 15 years of coaching experience prior. The biggest outlier would be Mark Daigneault who only had one year as an NBA assistant before he was promoted but even he had 13 years prior non NBA coaching experience. The one with the least total previous coaching experience would be Taylor Jenkins who was an NBA assistant for 6 years and with the Austin Toros for 5 years before that.

Except for a few former NBA players she has less total coaching experience than all of them. It's not like there aren't a lot of long time NBA assistants out there to compete for those coveted head coaching roles. Maybe she should just be patient. And I don't think the WNBA role hurts her prospects

[Jonny Blaze]

So if it’s crazy to think that players wouldn’t respect a female HC and she’s the most qualified then the obvious question is why is she coaching in the WNBA?

Is she the most qualified though? She only has 8 years of NBA assistant coaching experience. For an non former NBA player that is below average. Stephen Silas was an assistant for 20 years and one of the most respected assistants in the league before he could finally land the Houston job. Steve Clifford? 13 as an assistant in the NBA before he got his first head coaching job. Spoelstra? 11 years as an NBA assistant before getting the Heat job. Chris Finch? 10 years as an NBA assistant. Budenholzer? 18 years as a Spurs assistant. Mike Malone? 13 years as an NBA assistant coach. Bickerstaff? 12 years as an NBA assistant before he was made Houston interim. Dwane Casey? 12 years as an NBA assistant before landing the T Wolves job. Thibs? 12 years, including 3 as an associate head coach. Jamahl Mosley? 17 years as an NBA assistant. Nick Nurse had only 6 years as an NBA assistant but 24 years of prior coaching experience prior to getting his first NBA assistant job. Pop himself? Only 6 years as an NBA assistant, but had another 15 years of coaching experience prior. The biggest outlier would be Mark Daigneault who only had one year as an NBA assistant before he was promoted but even he had 13 years prior non NBA coaching experience. The one with the least total previous coaching experience would be Taylor Jenkins who was an NBA assistant for 6 years and with the Austin Toros for 5 years before that.

Except for a few former NBA players she has less total coaching experience than all of them. It's not like there aren't a lot of long time NBA assistants out there to compete for those coveted head coaching roles. Maybe she should just be patient. And I don't think the WNBA role hurts her prospects

but she a woman....so that automatically means she's more qualified.

The sports league that is 90% black male obviously needs a female to oversee them.

[Wolveswin]

I think the Celtics have an immediate opening. And could use the good will within community.

[Johnny Bball]

It's all on the players. I'm sure management in many places would like to hire Becky Hammon but until players can prove they are ready for it, it won't happen. And imo, they aren't. And I'm not sure that majority across such a large young overly hypermasculine group will ever change in my lifetime. Just look at the posts in here, there's your proof of regression.

[Purch]

I'm always confused about threads like this.

There's so many qualified assistants, college coaches, heck we've even seen Euroleague coaches come in the NBA. The coaching pool Is extremely large. Every year since she was Hired by the Spurs people have been acting like she should automatically be a head coach. That's really not how that tends to work.

This isn't me saying she's not qualified. I'm just not sure why people are acting like she's the stand out candidate.

[Johnny Bball]

Lets cut out the Politically Correct BS.....do you really think an extreme alpha male who through sheer hard work and dedication has made himself into being one of the 500 best basketball players in the World is going to have the same level of fear or respect for a woman than he would over Greg Popovich, Pat Riley or Jason Kidd?

Why is this hypothetical alpha male respect Nick Nurse (never played in the NBA), Eric Spolestra (never played in the NBA) or Derek Fisher (career role player, rolled out of bed and got handed a head coaching job)?

That is a pretty horrible strawman. All of those guys have penises.....Becky Hammon does not.

Im sorry to not be Politically Correct but I do not see a grown man respecting a woman coach as much as he would another man.

Why is your criteria a penis? Is there any size or girth criteria you need to this. or will just any old penis do?

[Mr Puddles]

Why is this hypothetical alpha male respect Nick Nurse (never played in the NBA), Eric Spolestra (never played in the NBA) or Derek Fisher (career role player, rolled out of bed and got handed a head coaching job)?

That is a pretty horrible strawman. All of those guys have penises.....Becky Hammon does not.

Im sorry to not be Politically Correct but I do not see a grown man respecting a woman coach as much as he would another man.

I honestly don't see why not. There are plenty of female bosses in both the public and private sector, if I had to take a guess I'd say most posters on this board have probably had a woman boss at least one point in their careers.

If anything, I think NBA players will be more likely to accept it due to the amount of social media backlash they'd receive if a story is leaked about a player disrespecting a female coach, or if the team simply quits. E.g. if the Knicks quit on Thomas, the narrative will be about how his coaching methods don't resonate with today's youth etc. Now let's say a team quits on Rebecca, these players will at a minimum be questioned about being misogynistic - not a narrative players will want to have surrounding themselves in today's social media age.

Overall, I still expect Becky to be Pop's successor - it just makes too much sense.

[Mr Puddles]

Double post, please delete.

[_qubik]

Why its so important for a woman to coach in the NBA? I mean, we dont even remember half of the coaches, there are legends, and we talk about them, no big deal, its because they are great.

In the end of the day, they, he or she is coach, and will be the reason the team failed and a afterthought if they win lol

[D.Brasco]

Why its so important for a woman to coach in the NBA? I mean, we dont even remember half of the coaches, there are legends, and we talk about them, no big deal, its because they are great.

In the end of the day, they, he or she is coach, and will be the reason the team failed and a afterthought if they win lol

Not saying it should be. However it's recently been a major deal that the NFL doesn't apparently hire many black coaches and the NBA was in that position maybe a decade or two ago.

[Pointgod]

How many mens coaches do we think could go to the WNBA and win a title in their first year? I wonder if the Aces go back to back the drum beat will get louder?

[Jonny Blaze]

Why is this hypothetical alpha male respect Nick Nurse (never played in the NBA), Eric Spolestra (never played in the NBA) or Derek Fisher (career role player, rolled out of bed and got handed a head coaching job)?

That is a pretty horrible strawman. All of those guys have penises.....Becky Hammon does not.

Im sorry to not be Politically Correct but I do not see a grown man respecting a woman coach as much as he would another man.

Why is your criteria a penis? Is there any size or girth criteria you need to this. or will just any old penis do?

Im assuming you are a liberal based on your posts on this thread.....I state this as a staunch democrat.....Bullchit ass feminism pushed down people's throat is what got us Donald Trump.

If the Democrats had pushed the best candidate for POTUS instead of deciding that it was just "time for a woman to be POTUS" then Trump would have never won in 2016.
The Democrats tried the same thing in 2007 and 2008, but Obama turned out to be immensely more popular than Hillary.

Yall are doing the same thing. What makes Hammon so qualified to be the head coach of an NBA team?
What makes her more qualified than the dozens of career assistants in the college and NBA game?

Its black men that are going to get passed over in the name of affirmative action so that some team can say they hired a woman...regardless if she is the best coach or best fit for a team.

[Jonny Blaze]

Why its so important for a woman to coach in the NBA? I mean, we dont even remember half of the coaches, there are legends, and we talk about them, no big deal, its because they are great.

In the end of the day, they, he or she is coach, and will be the reason the team failed and a afterthought if they win lol

Not saying it should be. However it's recently been a major deal that the NFL doesn't apparently hire many black coaches and the NBA was in that position maybe a decade or two ago.

There are no women that play in the NFL. The NFL is 70% Black men.

Race and Gender are not the same thing. Feminist and Gay Rights people always try to link their struggles with black people...and its very disingenuous.

[Jonny Blaze]

Why is this hypothetical alpha male respect Nick Nurse (never played in the NBA), Eric Spolestra (never played in the NBA) or Derek Fisher (career role player, rolled out of bed and got handed a head coaching job)?

That is a pretty horrible strawman. All of those guys have penises.....Becky Hammon does not.

Im sorry to not be Politically Correct but I do not see a grown man respecting a woman coach as much as he would another man.

I honestly don't see why not. There are plenty of female bosses in both the public and private sector, if I had to take a guess I'd say most posters on this board have probably had a woman boss at least one point in their careers.

If anything, I think NBA players will be more likely to accept it due to the amount of social media backlash they'd receive if a story is leaked about a player disrespecting a female coach, or if the team simply quits. E.g. if the Knicks quit on Thomas, the narrative will be about how his coaching methods don't resonate with today's youth etc. Now let's say a team quits on Rebecca, these players will at a minimum be questioned about being misogynistic - not a narrative players will want to have surrounding themselves in today's social media age.

Overall, I still expect Becky to be Pop's successor - it just makes too much sense.

is Becky Hammon going to give whatever team that hires her an advantage over a team with an elite head coach?

If not....what is the point of hiring her?

Is the the job of an NBA team to fill a quota....or is it to hire the best person for the job?

Democrats did this in 2016 and ended up with Trump and a 6-3 Conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

[Lalouie]

not in our lifetime. too many QUALIFIED men who are waiting for a female to move past them, and such a move will be seen as biased and woke.

so starting off there's already a double whammy. 1 - against the female because she will have to be BETTER, not average,,,,BETTER. 2 - against the org that hires her because they won't be able to fire her

what usually happens is the"first" just tests the waters and feels the temperature, but never gets the chance. that happens later if there's someone available.

in this era of wokeness, this sounds superwoke and forced. it shouldn't happen because someone in the back seat is saying "are we there yet?" over and over and over and over again

[Mr Puddles]

That is a pretty horrible strawman. All of those guys have penises.....Becky Hammon does not.

Im sorry to not be Politically Correct but I do not see a grown man respecting a woman coach as much as he would another man.

I honestly don't see why not. There are plenty of female bosses in both the public and private sector, if I had to take a guess I'd say most posters on this board have probably had a woman boss at least one point in their careers.

If anything, I think NBA players will be more likely to accept it due to the amount of social media backlash they'd receive if a story is leaked about a player disrespecting a female coach, or if the team simply quits. E.g. if the Knicks quit on Thomas, the narrative will be about how his coaching methods don't resonate with today's youth etc. Now let's say a team quits on Rebecca, these players will at a minimum be questioned about being misogynistic - not a narrative players will want to have surrounding themselves in today's social media age.

Overall, I still expect Becky to be Pop's successor - it just makes too much sense.

is Becky Hammon going to give whatever team that hires her an advantage over a team with an elite head coach?

If not....what is the point of hiring her?

Is the the job of an NBA team to fill a quota....or is it to hire the best person for the job?

Democrats did this in 2016 and ended up with Trump and a 6-3 Conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

You're arguing two different things:

1. first you argued that "do not see a grown man respecting a woman coach as much as he would another man."
2. now you're essentially asking if Becky should be hired just because she's a woman: "Is the the job of an NBA team to fill a quota."

Point 1, I addressed, I don't see why a woman would not be able to command the same amount of respect and authority - just like many women are doing in the corporate world.

For point 2. No, she should not be hired because she's a woman. If she gets hired, it's probably because she has a strong track record as an assistant coach in the NBA and as a head coach in the WNBA, and has been under the tutelage of one of the most venerated head coaches of all time - whose proteges have a pretty strong record as NBA head coaches. It's not like people are arguing for a member of the cheerleading squad to be promoted or something, she's clearly paid her dues.