The job is one of the lower ancillary jobs in the hierarchy of clubs in the NBA and is therefore modestly paid. Rarely does he open up a career perspective like the one Erik Spoelstra capitalized on with the Miami Heat. He is the only one so far who started as a so-called video coordinator, where he fed coaches and scouts with images of the strengths and weaknesses of opponents and potential aspirants on a daily basis, and eventually advanced step by step up the career ladder to head coach. And that’s not all: a few years later, the man who had played basketball at TuS Herten in the Ruhr area won two championships with the team.
Even the best representatives of this category rarely make headlines. Unless what happened to Ikechukwu “Ike” Azotam just a few days ago happens to them. He did video work with the New York Knicks for three years, left in mid-August, joined the Toronto Raptors, and just a week later became a central figure in a damages lawsuit brought by his old employer in Manhattan federal district court.
