"Harmon is a natural coach, she only needs to look at the tactics and she knows all the combinations," Kate continued, "She is able to analyze the situation on the pitch in a very short period of time, find and solve problems, the tactics are like her blood, she can hardly make mistakes." ”

Delicacy is also reflected in the communication with players, a team executive once admitted that many players in the NBA come from single-parent families, and their mothers, aunts and sisters play an important role in their lives, and they communicate with women even more easily than with men. During Lieberman's tenure as an assistant coach to the Kings, there were many players with more personality on the team, such as Cousins and Rondo, who were both coach killers and had many conflicts with coaches in their NBA careers, but Lieberman had no problems with these two stars during his time.

Lieberman is very sincere in communicating with the players, gaining their trust and support, and in Lieberman's eyes, these stars who often contradict the coach are actually good boys. "The first day I went to the arena as an assistant coach for the Kings, Rondo gave me a hug," Lieberman said, "and the first time I met Cousins, he gave me a big hug and he said to me, 'We're glad you're here,' and he's the best lad I've ever met." ”

Delicacy will also be reflected in coaching patience, and this time the Kings hired Boucek as an assistant coach, whose main job is to be responsible for the technical development of young players. The Kings are a youth army, the average age of the players is 5 years old, and the young players are uneven in terms of technical standards, which requires the coach in charge of technical development to have a high level of professionalism, patience and meticulousness, and this is the advantage of female coaches.

"I know Jenny very well, she's a talented coach who knows a lot about the game," said Kings head coach Jorge, "and she's been a great help to us in terms of fine-tuning the fundamentals and helping the players improve their skills." ”

In Boucek's view, there is no significant difference between women's basketball and men's basketball in terms of technology, and if she can be a good technical development coach when she coaches the women's basketball team, she can also be a men's basketball team. "There's no big difference between the NBA and the WNBA in terms of teaching skills," Boucek said, "The biggest difference in the NBA is the logistics, it's the same in terms of coaching, and the NBA players are very receptive." ”

"Over the past decade, we've seen tremendous changes in society, barriers being broken down, and I believe there will be a female head coach in the NBA one day," NBA Chairman Shaw said.

Involving women in the league is something the NBA has been working on and has been working towards, but there is no timetable for the emergence of female head coaches. In fact, not only does the NBA have no female head coaches, but the other three major sports leagues in the United States (NFL, MBL, and NHL) still have no female head coaches. There is a consensus in the American professional sports community that the head coach is a ceiling, the ultimate obstacle to completely breaking down the gender barrier.

In the traditional concept of the NBA, if you want to become the head coach of an NBA team, you must have at least worked in an NBA assistant coach position for many years and have a lot of experience. Thibodeau, for example, worked in the league as an assistant coach for 0 years before he got the opportunity to become a coach.

While there has been a clear improvement in the NBA's mindset, with owners and management long since they moved away from the rules, with Kerr taking the Warriors coaching the Warriors without any experience as an assistant coach and Stevens and Donovan being promoted from the NCAA to NBA coaches, the problem is that the number of NBA teams is limited, and many coaches with outstanding resumes have not yet been given the opportunity. A case in point is Ewing. Ewing is one of the top 50 superstars in NBA history when it comes to player qualifications. In terms of assistant coaching experience, Ewing has been an assistant coach since 00 and has been an assistant coach for 14 years, but he has been unsuccessful for years in his search for opportunities to be the head coach of an NBA team. The competition for head coaching positions in the NBA is too cutthroat, leaving few opportunities for female coaches.

Female coaches have their own competitive advantages, but they also have disadvantages. "How do you convince a female coach who hasn't played in a men's league to lead an NBA team as a head coach?" An NBA scout admitted, "For example, if you tell a player how to defend James, the player may think, 'You haven't played against a male athlete of James' level, how do you know how to defend him?'" ’”

Among female coaches, Harmon is the most promising to one day become the head coach of an NBA team, and Spurs head coach Popovich has repeatedly praised Harmon for his high basketball IQ, serious and responsible work, outstanding leadership, energy and confidence.

However, even with Hamon, NBA teams are just taking a wait-and-see attitude, and the general mindset is that if Popovich is so bullish on Hamon, why don't the Spurs take this step first? "Why don't we first see if Popovich has enough faith in her to dare to let her coach the Spurs?" An executive from a Western Conference team confessed.

Waiting for the Spurs to become the forerunner in terms of female coaches, this is not because other NBA teams have the mentality of watching the excitement, but the Spurs' team culture is different, the players are united, and they have great respect for the coach.

"Harmon has a chance, but it's not very ripe right now," said a well-known NBA agent, "You know, it takes a long time to go from assistant coach to head coach, and she still has a long way to go." The environment at Spurs is very special, other teams don't have the same team culture as Spurs, and if she goes to coach at other teams, her job will change dramatically, but it won't be as easy as being a coach at Spurs. ”

2k

Founded in NBA1946, the first full-time female assistant coach did not appear until 014, with a time span of 68 years, which shows how difficult it is to break through barriers, the improvement of female coaches' own abilities, the progress of NBA coaching concepts, and the team's courage to try, these conditions are indispensable. However, despite the difficulties, the NBA has achieved a breakthrough in female assistant coaching, and it is a man-made thing, and the head coach is not an unattainable dream.

Looking at the history of the NBA, we find that there are many teams whose coaches are players, and even some players take the reins as soon as they retire, most coaches choose to enter the coaching industry because they did not have the opportunity to play when they were players, but there are also some great gods in the player period.

5. Jeff Hornacek, born in Elmhurst, Illinois, USA, is a former American professional basketball player, coach, and shooting guard, nicknamed "Dead Light Gun", and is currently the head coach of the New York Knicks. Jeff Hornacek began his playing career with the Phoenix Suns and has been known for his shooting prowess, known as the "Death Gun". Hornacek's physical fitness is very average, but with his acquired superhuman diligence and deep understanding of basketball, he has become one of the most consistent and efficient shooters in the NBA, constantly creating brilliant statistics. And his accurate shooting skills, excellent off-ball running, good passing coordination and quick and agile defensive steals are also recognized by the league as a model of traditional SG. (To be continued)