May 9, 2023 By: Mark Knudson

It’s time for the NBA to give Becky Hammon her shot

How much do resumes matter? Not at all if you’re a politician…but typically they do matter for NBA coaching candidates.

As the Denver Nuggets work their way through a tough second round matchup with the Phoenix Suns, Nuggets assistant David Adelman – the son of former NBA and Hall of Fame Head Coach Rick Adelman – has begun getting attention as a potential head coach from teams with openings, like the Toronto Raptors.

That’s how it works in the NBA. Either someone who’s been around a long time (and yes, it’s fair to call it recycling) gets brought back or teams looking for a new face turn towards assistant coaches from successful teams.

If a team reached out to Rick Adelman, it would be the former. David Adelman qualifies as the latter.

The younger Adelman has been in the NBA as an assistant coach in some fashion since 2011 when he began working for Minnesota in player development. He got his first assistant gig with Orlando in 2016 and moved to Denver the following year where he’s been part of Michael Malone’s staff ever since.

That’s the complete resume.

Let’s add that to a couple of “blind resumes” for NBA coaches.

Coach A also broke in in 2011 as a college assistant after playing at West Virginia. He worked at Glenville State, Maine and Fairmont State (both as an assistant and later the head coach) until he got his first opportunity in the NBA in 2022. He was elevated to the head coaching position this season.

Coach B had a distinguished playing career in both college and professionally. Six-time All-Star as a player. Spent nine seasons as an NBA assistant (that’s more than Adelman or Coach A) and last season, as a first time professional head coach, won the league championship and Coach of the Year honors.

Which of these three coaches is the most qualified to be an NBA Head Coach in 2023-24?

Adelman has a lineage that’s impressive and his future prospects are very good. Coach A – that would be Boston’s Joe Mazzulla – fell into his gig when the Celtics benched Ime Udoka for off the court reasons. Mazzulla has done very well, keeping the talented Celtics on the path toward a second consecutive Eastern Conference title. But did his resume alone warrant the promotion? Would he have been a candidate for another job based on his experience?

Coach B is Becky Hammon, the former Colorado State All-American who went on to superstardom in the WNBA (and abroad) before becoming Gregg Popovich’s assistant in San Antonio in 2014. She coached the Spurs summer league team, and won the championship. She was the first female to be part of an All-Star game coaching staff. She even got interviewed for Milwaukee’s GM position.

When Popovich was ejected during the first half of a game in December of 2020, she became the first female to be an acting head coach in league history.

A year later, she accepted the head coaching job for the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA. The Aces won the league title and Hammon was the CoY.

So as resume’s go, isn’t this sort of a no-brainer? Becky Hammon has a better resume than anyone else being considered for an NBA head coaching gig right now, including Adelman.

There are currently openings in Toronto, Detroit, Houston and Milwaukee. Names being tossed around include Udoka (despite is off the court transgressions), Golden State assistant Kenny Atkinson, Adrian Griffin and Charles Lee, a couple of long time assistants with mundane resumes. Of course there are retreads like Mike D’Antoni, Terry Stotts and Frank Vogel out there too.

None deserve an NBA head coaching gig more than Becky Hammon. While’s she’s been mentioned before, there’s never been an organization with the nerve to make it happen. When one finally does – and if you’re the betting type, you might want to put your money on the Spurs job when Popovich retires – they will reap the benefits.