The style it espouses Gregg Popovich for years in the Spurs, opting for an association basketball more typical of Europe than of the United States, has broken many schemes in the NBA and has led the coach to be the architect of up to five titles (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014) in all his years leading the team.
Beside R.C. Buford, the man who succeeded him as general manager in 2002 so that the coach could focus only on the bench duties, have created a structure that has only been somewhat weakened over the years.
Among his qualities has always been a fluency with the different, adapting the international style in many aspects. It is what has made his quarry, because the number of players and coaches he has trained in this way can be considered, so rich. Because he has drunk from many sources, that simple.
One of his most exciting projects is called Becky Hammon. It has become, 43 years old in the first woman to lead an NBA bench. Just for a few minutes, but it will count on the books. Her path was started by herself, no one called her. In 2013 she asked for invitations to attend Spurs training sessions, meetings and games when the franchise was at the top, with two consecutive appearances in the Finals, and in 2014 she was hired after surprising Popovich and the other managers for her abilities. It has remained there until today, the day it has made history. Other highly prestigious technicians have passed by and have not overshadowed it.
She is the woman with the most possibilities of taking the reins of a bench. Who knows if, with Pop’s duties as the United States national coach and with the length of his stay at the Spurs, it may be in San Antonio, the place that has so much mysticism, where they give him the great opportunity as head coach.
Without discounting to Nancy Lieberman and the other women currently serving on NBA benches, who are Kristi Tolliver (Wizards), Jenny Boucek (Mavericks), Teresa Weatherspoon (Pelicans), Lindsay Gottlieb (Cavaliers), Lindsey Harding (Kings), Brittni Donaldson (Raptors), Niele Ivey (Grizzlies), Sonia Raman (Grizzlies) y Natalie Nakase (Clippers), it is Hammon who, having already been interviewed by Pacers, Knicks y Bucks in the past, she’s in the lead position to break another glass ceiling in the NBA: a woman being the head coach of a team in the men’s league.
“Obviously it is something important, a substantial moment. It has been a lot of time invested, especially in developing myself and being better”, ha declarado Becky Hammon.
Is born in Rapid City, in the state of Dakota del sur, but with Russian nationality for the years she spent there as a player, she supposes a new social challenge in the NBA. But of the positive ones, of those that put this competition in the absolute vanguard of society (not necessarily sports).
Published in AS on 11/11/2020
By Mike Maestre:
Popovich’s coaching tree (Mike Budenholzer, James Borrego, Quin Snyder, Mike Brown …) is one of the most branched in the entire NBA. Those who have been raised and grown up under his mantle already have precisely that on their curriculum, to have the experience of having been the now coach of the US And for this the talent that he has drawn from European basketball is important because it is the game who has always wanted to incorporate Pop into the NBA: Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Marco Belinelli, Boris Diaw … And those who were once players in European basketball, especially passing the screening of the famous Spanish ACB , and then embarked on a path in the direction also have a plus.
The Spurs have not only had Ettore Messina on their payroll, a legend of the benches with CSKA who hit it with Real Madrid before the Pablo Laso stage began, but also prominent ex-players turned into good group managers . And with a past in the now called Endesa League. Ime Udoka, who passed through Las Palmas and Murcia, is one of those who is close to being the main coach and previously helped a coaching staff that included Becky Hammon, who played in the Women’s League with Rivas Ecópolis and Ros Casares. The last to be promoted to assistant was Darius Songaila, who came to play in Valladolid in 2012. The G-League affiliate team has replaced Blake Ahearn, ex-Estudiantes, by Matt Nielsen, ex-Valencia. They are not isolated examples, there are many more coaches who, by playing the Spanish league competition, have acquired enough knowledge to be called by the NBA to act as assistants: Jim Moran (Blazers), legend of Gran Canaria; Vitaly Potapenko (Grizzlies) and Marlon Garnett (Hawks), one with worse memories than the other of Estudiantes; Ty Ellis (Suns), prominent in cities like Seville or Alicante; Jay Larrañaga (Celtics), who passed through Real Madrid; Michael Ruffin (Pelicans), ex from Lleida and Obradoiro; Chris Quinn (Heat), who was in Valencia; Jerome Allen (Celtics) and Tiago Splitter (Nets), with mixed success at Saski Baskonia; Pablo Prigioni (Timberwolves), joined the aforementioned Messina and Splitter in two cycles …
Popovich is elite and has always wanted to associate with the best. With the plethora of exACB that are on NBA benches, too.
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