San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon recently gained praises when she successfully led the Texan team to the Summer League championship, which eventually raised questions about the possibility of a woman becoming an NBA head coach. Current situations off the court like the coming out of gay players was also discussed by Popovich.
On the controversial hiring of Becky Hammon
"It became huge when we hired her. And now it's even bigger, because of the Summer League situation. But we didn't even think about that stuff. I hired her because she was in my coaches' meetings for a whole year because she was injured. And she's got opinions and solid notions about basketball.
"Obviously she was a great player. As a point guard, she's a leader, she's fiery, she's got high intelligence. Our guys just respect the heck out of her and so she's out on the court coaching with us, she's running drills. So that's why we made her a full-time person and that's why we gave her the opportunity to coach in the Summer League.
"I don't even look at it as 'she's the first female that and the other.' She's a coach. And she's good at it. Some people thought this was some sort of gimmick, 'they are just trying to be cool' or whatever. I'm glad she's there. I respect her opinion. I enjoy the give-and-take with her."
On the likelihood of a woman coaching an NBA team
"It's a societal sort of thing. In America, we are great at sticking our heads in the sand and being behind the rest of the world in a whole lot of areas. We think we are this big democratic, fair place. But you look at our world now, whether it's gender-wise or racially or religiously, there's all kinds of stuff that is not the way it's supposed to be.
"I think a female coaching a team these days has a lot to do with the people on the teams maturing as individuals, as members of a society understanding that it's not about any of those things. It's about talent. It's about respect. People like Becky over time will gain respect and people will understand that this is possible. It can happen. It's like women getting the vote. Think about how long that took before change was made.
"But I think since 2000 changes have been pretty damn lacking in a lot of ways. I think people are fed up with it, injustice, and people not respecting other people's space and who they are. I think it's a step in the right direction."
On openly gay players
"It's going to happen, and when it does it's going to be like a two-way street. One, the education will have to continue. You'll have to educate your other players because some of them might not be as societal-wise mature and maybe haven't grown enough. So you've got to continue to educate.
"The other half of it is, on leadership's part you gotta say 'figure it out, Jack.' I mean, you guys, figure it out. You are going to have to handle it. This is the way it is. It's a dual approach I think. Some of it's got to be -- not forced, but matter-of-factly stated that this is the world. Grow up, mature, widen your horizons. And secondly, be loving enough to continue to educate some of those that maybe never had an opportunity to change their mindset."
What can you say about the longest tenured active coach's perspective? Do you agree?
0 comments:
Post a Comment