Becky Hammon is the new head coach of the Las Vegas Aces and here's everything you need to know about the former WNBA Superstar
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The
Las Vegas Aces announced
Becky Hammon as their new head coach, and while many were excited about the decision, others wondered what is so special about this individual. To answer that question, we need to rewind all the way back to 1999 when she played for the
New York Liberty as a point guard. She even went undrafted before landing with the Liberty, meaning she had a lot to prove if she wanted any hope of sticking around.
Hammon is a lot of things, but the best description seems to be an underdog. Not only was that evident by her going undrafted due to how small and slow scouts perceived her to be, but also how she overcame that. She also didn't get many offers from colleges either, deciding to attend Colorado State after impressing a coach. Needless to say, she had to start from the bottom.
Fortunately for Hammon, she improved from 2.6 PPG in her first season to 12 in her sophomore season and had an 80% free throw percentage. She is also around .300 from behind the arc, making her a dangerous scoring threat. Her best season however happened in 2009, when she was playing for the
San Antonio Stars and averaged 19 points and five assists per game.
Despite many years of hard work and sacrifices, Hammon would never win a championship during her WNBA career. She retired from the league in 2014 after suffering an injury against the Sparks and spent her spare time sitting in on San Antonio Spurs practices. It got to the point where coaches and assistants would ask her opinions.
This eventually lead to her getting hired as an assistant coach for the Spurs, making her the second woman in the history of the NBA to earn the position. Hammon looked so impressive to the Spurs that even head coach, Greg Popovich, stated he was looking forward to seeing what her Basketball IQ could do for the team.
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While many in the NBA were singing Hammon s praises, the experience she accumulated throughout her time with the Spurs wasn t enough to earn her a head coaching job in the NBA. It's said that she interviewed with several different teams and they all balked at her lack of experience. This would actually turn out to be a godsend though, as she was eventually recruited by the Las Vegas Aces in 2021.
"Being the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces is a step forward and a step in the right direction for myself and for women's basketball," Hammon said when asked about her new role. "I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this opportunity that I have. There's something to being a head coach.
This is a woman that has spent years learning things from a different perspective and has the basketball IQ to translate her experience for the Aces. She might have the winning strategy to take this all-star team to the championships.