Former head coach Byron Scott has gone on record as supporting San Antonio Spurs assistant Becky Hammon as a candidate to break the mold in the NBA and become the first female head coach in the biggest pro basketball league in the entire world.
Yesterday (December 30th), TMZ Sports caught up with Scott, who is a three-time NBA champion himself and has been the head coach of four different teams. This man knows a winning mentality when he sees one and, in his mind, gender shouldn't be an issue. "Why not? I mean, she deserves a shot at it," he said. "It shouldn't matter about gender, so we'll see. I think she would be a good coach."
Hammon played 16 seasons of pro ball herself in the WNBA, suiting up with both the New York Liberty and San Antonio Stars. She retired in 2014 after a career that included six WNBA All-Star selections and a ton of respect in the hoops world. Gregg Popovich has even praised her coaching ability at the highest level, potentially setting the stage for a future head coaching job coming her way down the road. For now, she's just happy to be in the spot that she is.
Hammon told Robin Roberts in a one-on-one interview that she didn't see too much of a gap in terms of the applicability of her experience to the men's game when she was hired back in 2014. "A pick-and-roll in the men's game is the same as a pick-and-roll in the women's game," she explained. Only time will tell if Hammon can take that next step and become an NBA head coach one day.
