Will be interesting to see what Billups can do with that team, if he can get anything more out of them, even making the playoffs will be tough. Can't really see anybody out West ahead of them losing ground, maybe Dallas if they have a really dysfunctional year, and then you have Lakers/Warriors/Grizzlies which I think can reasonable be foreseen overtaking them with good health.
Also wonder what this means for Hammon, have only been hearing she was in the running for this spot, haven't really heard she's being considered anywhere else (though haven't really been paying attention either). Interesting take by Amick a few days ago, on how she might not become the first female head coach if she doesn't get the Portland job:
Sam Amick, NBA senior writer: So here's a counter-intuitive take on the Hammon front: I actually still wonder if she'll be the first woman to be named an NBA head coach.
Let's say, for the sake of the discussion, that she doesn't get this job. There are several other women — former Celtics assistant and current Duke women's coach Kara Lawson chief among them, from this perspective — who inspire all kinds of reverence and regard from NBA people when they are discussed.
This is a very good chance for Hammon, but I could see someone else making that head-coaching history if this isn't the job for her.
Reminds me of that international coach that everyone expected to be the first. He didn't get the gig. David Blatt did instead.
He worked for Pop too. Can't think of his name.
Update: Ettore Messina
Still hasn't gotten a head coaching NBA gig by the way. I don't think he is even mentioned anymore as a candidate. Just an option as an assistant.
I doubt Hammon (or any woman) will get a NBA head coaching job for quite a while. While racism gets almost all of the focus, I think sexism is much more prevalent and accepted especially in male dominated areas like sports. Heck, I'd say LGBTQ issues gets more focus than women's issues nowadays.
The first NBA team that hires a woman head coach is almost certainly going to be the first team that fires a woman head coach. If a team does select a woman as head coach better to make it a black woman. That way you get to check off two identity politics checkboxes. Hire a white woman and you'll still get criticized for not hiring a black coach. You're better off hiring a black man as head coach than a white woman.
Currently as in most years there are more men WNBA head coaches than women WNBA head coaches. So men are trusted more to coach women professional athletes.
Overall, women are 4.2% of the head coaches are at the men's college level and only 41% at the women's college level. In basketball specifically, women are the head coach of 62% of the women's teams. However as far as I can tell, the only woman head coach of a college men's basketball team is Tamara Moore who coaches that powerhouse of a program, Mesabi Range College. She's apparently only the 2nd woman head coach of a men's college basketball team ever. If Kara Lawson is a serious candidate for a NBA head coaching job, she ought to be given strong consideration for the Duke men's job when coach K leaves next year but I doubt she will be.
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/30956744/2020-college-racial-gender-report-card-shows-insignificant-progress
It is interesting to note that before Title IX that women were 90% of the head coaches for women's college teams. But now they constitute only 41% of the head coaches.
Nice shot at “identity politics” there.
People should know there place amiright?
https://thesportjournal.org/article/a-history-of-women-in-sport-prior-to-title-ix/ It is interesting to note that before Title IX that women were 90% of the head coaches for women's college teams. But now they constitute only 41% of the head coaches. It should be interesting to note that before Title IX there were very few coaching opportunities for men OR women in college sports, because college sports for women wasn’t emphasized and in many cases, didn’t exist. A good amount of those 90% women coaches were coaching at all women’s schools, because they had sports programs for women prior to 1972, and Title IX forcing schools to offer women’s competitive sports programs, and not just intramurals.
The fact that men are just as eligible to coach women’s sports as women should seen as an equal opportunity benefit. There are more men in coaching, just like there are more men in sports management in college. There is a bigger pool of experienced options to choose from. Now that women have a professional league, the WNBA, there are more women with professional playing experience that are available for professional coaching opportunities if they have the interest.
Hammon has NBA coaching experience. Why do you think she needs NCAA head coaching experience before she’s “eligible” for a head NBA coaching position. Very few men take that route. Very few men make the move from NCAA to NBA successfully. Witness the difference between Rick Pitino and Brad Stevens. Chauncey Billups didn’t have to coach in the NCAA. Neither did Jason Kidd. Juwan Howard might eventually make that move, or he might spend 30 years at Michigan and Duke.
NCAA coaching hasn’t been and shouldn’t be a prerequisite for coaching in the NBA.
Topic: Shams: Billups New Head Coach of Blazers (Read 15771 times)