The 2014-15 NBA season will begin on Tuesday, October 28. On that day, San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon will make her regular season debut as her team will host the Dallas Mavericks at 8 p.m. ET which you can watch on TNT. The former San Antonio Stars guard's debut will be notable because she is the first full-time NBA assistant coach who is female.
CBS Sports Network's/New York Liberty forward Swin Cash had a chance to interview Hammon last week, and the video is embedded above. Hammon gave a tour of the Spurs' practice facility and her "ultimate goal," where she did not rule out a desire to be an NBA team head coach one day.
Hammon was also asked whether she had pushback about being a female NBA coach. She said that most of the reaction has been positive. However, there was a European reporter who asked her a question about whether she was thinking of her players as players first or if they were good looking men who can play basketball. Another reporter asked her whether Spurs players would take her seriously and went so far as to ask about whether they would be asking her about baking tips.
Wow. Just wow.
There are also a couple more articles on Hammon as she gets ready for the NBA season and have talked about the possibility of more women coaching in the league in the years to come, which we talked about earlier this month.
Liz Varoli of The College Voice has a feature which praised Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich for hiring her for her basketball acumen and not her gender.
Trevor Brookins of EurWeb.com also has a feature praising the Spurs for being a progressive-thinking basketball organization, which goes beyond Hammon's hiring. They also have been among the first teams in the NBA to embrace analytics, international scouting, and playing time limits.