With the arrival of Darvin Ham on the Los Angeles Lakers bench, today exactly 50% of NBA head coaches are black: a fact that in itself is useful to attest to the greater attention that the teams have paid in recent years to theme of inclusiveness and equal opportunities also for top positions.
And of course a given that comes greeted with pleasurefor what it means, from the black NBA community. Mike Brownformer head coach at the Lakers and Cavs, will be the new head coach of the Sacramento Kings e Ham will inherit, as mentioned by coach Frank Vogel, the leadership of the Lakers, the last two names that have served to reach the parityalso arithmetic.
“It’s something that means a lot“, Brown tells the Associated Press”When my son has children himself, they will be able to see on TV people exactly like him, who are at the head of an NBA team from the sidelines, something that can be a source of great inspiration (…) I often think about my role as the one who bears a witness and has the responsibility to pass it on to the new generations“.
In recent months, the latest “arrivals” in the group of NBA head coaches like Jamahl Mosley (Magic), the same Darvin Ham e Ime Udoka, today at the NBA Finals with Boston, they talked about how many empty talks they had to go through before they had their chance. “For so many years, skilled people like them and so many others have never had a real opportunity to truly become NBA head coach.“, Like this Rick Carlisle who coaches the Pacers and is the president of the NBA coaching association “In the last couple of years, everything has changed, the NBA has done a great job promoting the work and journey of these young and talented coaches. A greater awareness that has led coaches from different backgrounds to have more opportunities, and better (…) and the numbers speak for themselves“.
Il commissioner NBA Adam Silver for his part he has always tried to make inclusiveness a cornerstone of his mandate as head of the league. In the pre-Game 1 press conference of the NBA Finals, Silver stated how “by now issues such as diversity and inclusiveness are on the agenda in every work environment, we must always talk about it, it has become an important battle (…) there is still a lot of work to do“.
Between 2021 and 2022, 8 black coaches were hired as head coaches for an NBA franchise, including Udoka (Celtics), Chauncey Billups (Blazers), Wes Unseld Jr (Wizards) and Willie Green (Pelicans).
