While, I suppose it’s possible for Hammon to put in her years and some day become a top assistant to Pop, or some other coach, perhaps giving her the opportunity to ultimately become a HC in the NBA, that’s a remote scenario imo.
Unfortunately, I believe many NBA owners and GM’s are reluctant to hire a woman as there HC, no matter how qualified she may be. For the most part, NBA coaches are a fraternity of ex-players and longtime assistants who look out for each other.
The path I have in mind for Hammon would be similar to the Celtics fantastic HC Brad Stevens. Stevens played basketball for a small college, then worked for a pharmaceutical company, became a volunteer assistant at mid-major Butler, ultimately became their HC, where he lead them on an improbable run to the National Championship game.
The Celtics Danny Ainge noticed and eventually hired Stevens as his HC, which generated considerable skepticism among NBA pundits. Despite losing his two top players this year, Stevens has his team on the verge of playing for the NBA championship. Despite his tremendous success this season, Stevens did not receive a single vote from his fellow NBA coaches for Coach of the year.
The NBA is an old boy network to some degree. They don’t want to be embarrassed by someone like Hammon proving to be a better coach then they are. For someone like Hammon to break into the club sooner, rather than later, she needs to do something incredible, preferably as a HC, so that someone like Danny Ainge takes notice.
