OT: San Antonio Hires Russian As Assistant Coach
Yes, the San Antonio Spurs have done a most un-Texas thing in hiring Russian Becky Hammon as an assistant coach. The fact that she is most likely a dirty communist, which I can only assume is true based on her citizenship, is probably the most imporant and significant part of this story. Probably.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11312366/becky-hammon-hired-san-antonio-spurs
IIRC, Hammon felt she should have been picked for the Olympics and loopholed the 'Russian" citizenship so she could play. It's sorta sour grapes to refer to her as "Russian" when she is from SDak.
It's spelled SoDak.
It IS sour grapes...and the title, while it may be witty/funny, completely takes away from what is actually a pretty nice story.
As for her playing for Russia. So what? She didn't make the U.S. team and found a way to play in the Olympics. Why is that so bad? NBA guys do it.
If Jordan Morgan is playing for Italy in the 2020 Olympics because he doesn't have a shot in hell of making the U.S. squad, is that really THAT bad? Does that mean he doesn't love America?
No. He's just not good enough just like Hammond wasn't.
You realize she is American, grew up in America and only got Russian citizenship because she wanted to play for them after getting cut from the US olympic team, right?
And what he's trying to say with this post. Re-read.
I suppose you're being sarcastic, but the bigger story is that she is a woman, I believe only the second one to be hired as an NBA coach.
It's just too perfect. A golden moment. Just too perfect. Your post is perfect. Thank you.
I'll go out on a limb and suggest that she's the cutest NBA coach.
9/10 would take drill instructions from.
10/10 would drill instructor
Well played.
IN RUSSIA
INSTRUCTOR DRILLS YOU
August 5th, 2014 at 10:16 PM ^
she wouldnt have to ask twice, thatsforsure
Well, I guess I should have expected nothing less than overt misogyny.
Where in his post did he indicate hatred of women?
People will always comment on the way other people look. I don't get why some consider it misogyny when there's no context outside of pure observation.
Never change.
I swear. However, this will never work. I really doubt that NBA players are going to give the same respect to a, uhm, Russian coach that they would a, er, uh, American coach...
Here's hoping that I'm wrong.
USA! USA! USA!
In the locker room with a Russian! The players will be in the shower, and the Russian will just be staring at them, confused as to why water comes out of wall and not stream.
I would not be comfortable showering in front of this particular Russian, especially when considering the ~Cold War~.
Problem solved.
One of the things that I've always admired about the Spurs' organization is that they are not afraid to do these sorts of things and are very open to finding good players and personnel in corners of basketball that other teams won't even touch typically. The great thing is that the Spurs' find exactly what they wanted more often than not, and bringing in a player with a nice resume like Hammon's definitely doesn't hurt in the least. This is a team that is very much about keeping the goal in mind and they look good doing it too, which is a bonus.
Here's Gregg Popovich working with Hammon earlier in the year:
A Spurs Jersey...I would like to support the Spurs for this move.
but I've been wishing there was a way to get something Tampa Bay + Yzerman; it just doesn't seem like it would work for a coach/front office type, though.
About the story in general, there was a great article with a former Maple Leafs GM around the time of the Olympics, he was quite confident that most professional organizations had made a lot of the steps they needed to take to get women into positions like event promotions, ticket sales, arena management, ect. and that the next step would be scouting and coaching. I think it's great that such an established organization was the first to make this step but it does seem like this could signal the beginning of a new era for women on the "sports" side of big time sports.
keep the commies out of our locker rooms
Ball shoot you!
If another team had done this, I'd roll my eyes and say, "yeah, nice publicity stunt." Since this is the Spurs, I fully expect Coach Hammon to contribute to a successful season, and then go on to do great things.
So what if she's Russian?
To anyone who thinks this "can't work," I think you're totally wrong. A coach is a coach and a great coach is a great coach. Nobody says anything about men coaching women and the reverse can certainly be done.
There's a ton of great stuff on FIBA's YouTube account for basketball coaches - one is a half-hour session by the Australian Women's National team coach that is really interesting. My point in posting it is that you can tell that Carrie Graf is an excellent coach, it doesn't matter that she's a woman.
August 6th, 2014 at 12:15 AM ^
Went to my high school with me + my brother. Fantastic girl, great ballplayer, incredible work ethic. Couldn't be more proud.