Sixers coaching candidate: Becky Hammon
A name that has circulated around the coaching rumor mill for some time now, Becky Hammon may finally get a shot next season. And while that shot may not come in Philadelphia, she’s someone the Sixers should actively look into and consider.
Hammon is one of the greatest basketball players of all-time. She even earned the same top-15 honor as the aforementioned Dawn Staley, cementing her place in the annals of WNBA history. Some would call this a players’ league, and Hammon is a player. She will get no disrespect on that front.
The WNBA assists leader in 2007, Hammon would join a long list of former point guards who went on to head coaching gigs. The most obvious and recent example being Steve Nash in Brooklyn. Unlike Nash, Hammon has spent time on a NBA bench, and under the tutelage of Gregg Popovich, no less.
Hammon joined the Spurs as an assistant in 2014, and has since coached the Summer League team and moved to the front of Popovich’s bench, right alongside Tim Duncan. The Spurs coaching tree is a real phenomenon, and Hammon seems increasingly likely to become the next branch. She has the resume, the collective respect, and the basketball I.Q. to succeed.
If the Sixers are to have a true and honest coaching search — if the Sixers are to genuinely consider all the best candidates — you cannot ignore 50 percent of the population. Hammon and Staley are two of many qualified women who should, at the very least, garner a cursory glance from the front office. Hammon and Staley, of course, should garner more than a cursory glance.