Big Picture Shows Up In The Unlikeliest Of Places
LAS VEGAS — In a place where very little has a large, long lasting impact, Saturday July 11 at Thomas & Mack Center showed us significant things can happen in the places you least expect them to. San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon made history by becoming the first woman to ever serve as head coach of a summer league team. It was the start of something being about much more than things Las Vegas Summer League is normally about: player development, finding that diamond in the rough or even basketball as a whole.
Summer League has had a different feel than year’s past. Last year, everyone’s focus was still on free agency because LeBron James hadn’t made up his mind on returning home. This held up the bulk of the rest of the free agent deals and thus kept everyone’s focus off of the games early on. Before that Summer League felt like a smaller affair. It wasn’t as well attended, not quite as many media members and the basketball was (and remains) not the best. The biggest interview was Metta World Peace deciding to sign with the New York Knicks and he just happened to be at Cox Pavilion. But that was all part of the charm, it was this out of the way journey where teams could figure out what their rookies are or are not good at, who else could fill out their roster, etc.
This year, the first two days the concourses and gyms felt as crowded as San Diego’s Comic-Con. First there’s the Los Angeles Lakers and their second home town of Las Vegas, NV. Turns out the Lakers being bad might be bad for the NBA, but it’s great for NBA Summer League. This year’s initial Friday set a Summer League single day attendance record of 12,422, largely because Laker fans have been starved for good basketball for about three years now and want to see what their future of D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson look like (Saturday’s attendance was nearly 12,000 as well). They were louder and more supportive (bordering on the ridiculous many times a game) than anything Las Vegas Summer League has ever seen. During their second game against the Philadelphia 76ers, a “Larry, Larry, Larry” chant even broke out for late first round pick Larry Nance, Jr. who right now is known to everyone else as the guy who had to delete that Kobe Bryant tweet from three years ago.
Laker madness helped contribute to a larger crowd than what’s we’ve come to expect for a Spurs Summer League game as they took on the New York Knicks and rookie Kristaps Porzingis. The curiosity around the fourth pick in the draft from Latvia was high in the stands and along the media rows behind each basket. So it was just a little buzzier than a typical game.
In the end however, everything on the court was actually pretty typical of a Summer League game. Pretty much inconsistent everything but at the end of the game Coach Hammon got her first chance at a high pressure situation. Down three, Hammon called timeout to draw up a final play. Hammer, a play head coach Gregg Popovich loves to run to get an open look for a 3-point shooter in the corner. Of course it’s Hammer and of course the Spurs got the open look. Jarrell Eddie received the pass from a driving Kyle Anderson, he just couldn’t knock down the shot. Just like that, Hammon was a first time coach just like every other first time coach that loses at the last minute. After the game, Hammon talked about how much different everything is in the head coach’s chair.
“You’re just thinking about so many different things at the same time. A lot of times you know, I just would say ‘Ok, stop and let me collect my thoughts for a second,’” Hammon said. “The timeouts are certainly super quick so just trying to anticipate that I don’t have too much time to communicate and we haven’t been together a long time, you know?”
Functionally, what Hammon did and experienced was no different than her male counterparts and yet it felt like this completely new thing. She got a louder ovation than any of her players during introductions. In four years of covering Summer League, this was easily the largest press contingent for a Spurs game (though nothing compared to the Knicks side). Make no mistake, Hammon would rather talk basketball but she understands the societal impact and embraces what she’s doing.
“To me it’s always about bigger picture. We want to make sure that when your wife or your daughter goes in for an interview she gets the same opportunity that a guy gets,” Hammon said. “You know and I think that’s the bigger picture, that’s the bigger goal so whether it’s basketball or in the army or in CEO’s or in operating rooms, we want women there and statistics will tell you it does pay off to have women in the mix.”
My time in Las Vegas was cut short by real world obligations, but before leaving the Spurs did pick up their first Vegas win. Near the end of the game a small “Go Spurs Go” chant broke out in Thomas & Mack and that was quickly replaced with “Becky! Becky! Becky!” from not just the Spurs faithful, but other supporters in the crowd. That’s not a thing that happens very often. Coaches aren’t the subject of good chants. A pretty cool thing to experience in person. That was the start of a four game winning streak that has the Spurs in Sunday’s semi-finals against the Hawks. Again, it’s an insignificant tournament invented a couple years ago to attempt to keep interest in the second weekend of Summer League. But the more the Spurs win, the more what Hammon is doing is showcased.
“I just think it’s important for society that women be rewarded for their brains just as much as any guy,” Hammon said after the opening game.
She’s right and whether the Spurs win another game in Vegas, Hammon’s point has been proven. In the end, it is just basketball as Gregg Popovich likes to say, but when you sit back and absorb everything, it’s more than hoops, it might be a movement and at the very least the 2015 Summer Spurs were an experience that shouldn’t be forgotten.
