by liberal japonicus
A strange title, considering all the crap that is coming down, but this, from an interview with Nancy Lieberman, who is being hired as the second female NBA assistant coach, had me thinking about that:
You’ve been an instructor at Grgurich’s camp in the past. You had the Texas Legends job. You visited with Mike Tomlin. What are some of the other things you have done to prepare yourself for this job?
I can give you the list of coaches I’ve called. Alvin Gentry let me come in with thePhoenix Suns before I started to coach (the Legends). Vinny Del Negro let me come in with the Clippers. I asked every question I could. I wanted to know what his playbook looked like. How did he delegate responsibilities? (New Orleans Pelicans assistant) Bryan Gates, who won D-League championship, I ended up calling him and his wife and saying if your wife will allow you to come to my house, I will cook dinner, but I need you to go through Xs and Os with me. Bob Hill, Del Harris, (Raptors coach) Dwane Casey, (Blazers coach) Terry Stotts, (Mavericks coach) Rick Carlise, Larry Brown. Anybody who would take my call. I know it sounds crazy. I picked up the phone and I asked and I asked and I asked and not one guy said no. Not one guy said no. I would just go and go over Xs and Os and ask why do you call it this, why do you call it that. They were generous with their time. My D-League brothers – Nick Nurse, with the Raptors, is a dear friend, like a brother. Chris Finch, he’s with Kevin McHale in Houston. Darvin Ham in Atlanta, Eric Musselman at Nevada – I can do down the list. (Jazz assistant) Brad Jones. (Blazers assistant) Nate Tibbetts – all these guys who are in the NBA, they were so good to me. I couldn’t have done it without them caring enough to want to help me. They have choices too. They can say scram. Or they can open their hearts, minds and wisdom and say, ‘Here’s what we’re doing.’
That happened when I was coaching the WNBA team in Detroit. I can’t tell you how many Doug Collins called me and said, ‘We have Chinese food and we’re breaking down film.’ All these coaches would include me. I can’t do this without them. Becky cannot do this without Gregg Popovich respecting her basketball acumen.
a few more points and a video below the fold