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Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach

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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#61 » by LLJ » Wed Sep 11, 2019 7:35 pm

Retro_Junkball wrote:Apparently, Canadian reporters are incompetent. I had to go through about five articles, until I found one from a US publication, indicating that Brittini played for four years at the college level. Important much? WTF are the local reporters just reposting Raptors' press releases?


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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#62 » by RaptorsNorth » Thu Sep 12, 2019 1:53 am

Does she actually go into the locker room lol I would find it strange having a woman in the locker room. If you've been on any team you know what kind of conversations goes on in the locker room, and dudes walking around in their underwear, not to mention the smell of sweat.
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#63 » by Retro_Junkball » Tue Sep 17, 2019 12:08 am

Reporters should be banned from locker rooms, in general. There should be an exit interview room that everyone has to sit in for 5-10 minutes, depending on their status. That should be it. Everyone would probably be good with it if the exit room had drinks (and a bible for Jeremy Lin).
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#64 » by ash_k » Tue Sep 17, 2019 12:49 am

RaptorsNorth wrote:Does she actually go into the locker room lol I would find it strange having a woman in the locker room. If you've been on any team you know what kind of conversations goes on in the locker room, and dudes walking around in their underwear, not to mention the smell of sweat.

plus it is never a good idea to let a young woman around -young, tall and handsome- MILLIONAIRES :lol:
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#65 » by Retro_Junkball » Tue Sep 17, 2019 1:13 am

ash_k wrote:
RaptorsNorth wrote:Does she actually go into the locker room lol I would find it strange having a woman in the locker room. If you've been on any team you know what kind of conversations goes on in the locker room, and dudes walking around in their underwear, not to mention the smell of sweat.

plus it is never a good idea to let a young woman around -young, tall and handsome- MILLIONAIRES :lol:


Valid point if she's single and hetero. She's certainly attractive. Assume Raptors have considered this.
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#66 » by OakleyDokely » Tue Sep 17, 2019 6:33 pm

Matt Galloway: You went from crunching stats for the team to assistant coach. Tell me a little bit about how you're feeling when it comes to this move?

Brittni Donaldson: I'm surprisingly feeling very comfortable and very excited with it … I haven't not been on the court or not been around the coaching staff for the past two years, I've been pretty integrated already. So it's going to be more than a comfortable transition and I'm really excited.

MG: That's a big move to become an assistant coach in the NBA. How did Nick Nurse the head coach break the news to you?

BD: It's definitely a big move. There was a spot open on the staff and they presented me with the opportunity and it was something that I couldn't pass up.

MG: Masai Ujiri told ESPN she, being you, has coaching in her DNA. Tell me about that and what he saw in you?

BD: That would be a better question for him. But I was fortunate enough to go over to Africa with Masai for a couple of his Giants of Africa camps this summer. I think that's where he probably saw me in my element, coaching those kids. I've been fortunate enough to get a little time on the court with the Raptors players over the past two years. Nothing crazy, just helping put them through workouts … Basketball is in my DNA and it probably shows when I'm out coaching.

MG: What do you love about the game?

BD: So many things. It's been such a huge part of my life since a very young age. It's taught me a lot of life lessons. A lot of my greatest moments of my life and some of the hardest moments of my life were connected to basketball.

MG: What's an example of both? What's a greatest moment?

BD: There's a bunch that stand out, but in a general sense it's brought me to a lot of insane places that I'd never go to otherwise and all of my best friends, closest people in my life, I've met through the sport. So it's a really essential part of who I am.

MG: What was one of the toughest?

BD: In college when I was playing I underwent four knee surgeries, and the last two were pretty traumatic. I had to spend a lot of time on crutches, non-weight-bearing, a lot of time re-learning how to walk. So being taken away from a sport I love so much and that I did every single day and not only that but just day-to-day re-learning how to do basic daily activities. That was a really tough time at the age of 20, 21. I would never wish injury upon anybody. Those times, they really, really taught me a lot and shaped me into who I am today and helped me handle adversity.

MG: What do you love about coaching?

BD: I'm obviously still learning, but I really love how I can take everything I've learned as a player, as a data analyst, you know I've seen the game through a lot of different lenses now even at this point in my life. So being able to give that wisdom or that knowledge back is really fulfilling to me. And I work with a great group of people that I learn from every day. It's just a constant learning process and that's something that I really love. I feel like I'm being pushed, which is ironic because I feel like I'm the one who's supposed to be pushing somebody. But it's a very give and take job. You're giving a lot but you're also getting your cup filled.

MG: We heard that when Marc Gasol came here, you were entrusted with running him through the paces and getting him up to speed. How did you gain the trust of a player like Gasol?

BD: That's a good question. I think it begins with just finding a common ground. For me, I'm out there on the court with the players but I try to get to know them on a personal level, as well. So just asking them about what's going on back home or their families or whatever. That's somewhere very basic that I can start. But on a basketball level, you can kind of tell if somebody has played before or has coached before or has been around the game a long time and I think that general understanding that 'okay she's been through this, she knows what I'm going through to a certain extent,' that helps kind of gain that trust.

MG: The parade wasn't that long ago and on Instagram there's a great photo of you on the bus with a cigar, having a great time in the midst of that celebration. What's the mood like on this team? Are people still floating given what the team accomplished?

BD: We haven't really had any downtime, which sounds crazy. But straight from the parade, a few days later we had the draft and then we were into summer league and we were all over the place for the summer for summer workouts. So for me personally I haven't had much downtime to kind of digest anything or to reflect on anything. But I think come opening night when they have the ring ceremony and hang the banner, that's when it will really, really set in. But we have another season ahead of us so we have to get ready to change gears, as well.

MG: You know a lot of young girls will look at you and see them in you. You're the tenth female NBA assistant coach and that means a lot to people. What do you take away from that?

BD: It means a lot to me, to be honest. I'm really excited to take on that responsibility. I think representation is so important, especially for younger girls and boys. You don't really get an idea planted in your head unless you see it or hear it first. And so for me at a young age, I didn't even know that this would be a possibility. And so for me to be somebody for young people to look at and they can say, 'I look like her or I empathize with her in some way and I can do what she's doing,' that means a lot to me and I'm not going to take it lightly.


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/new-raptors-coach-brittni-donaldson-1.5286401

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