DeMar DeRozan had excessive reward for coach Becky Hammon after successful her second straight WNBA championship with the Las Vegas Aces.
The pair labored collectively for 3 years when Hammon was an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs below Gregg Popovich. DeRozan reached out to Hammon to congratulate her after the Aces defeated the New York Liberty on Wednesday, clinching a 3-1 sequence victory regardless of the lack of star level guard Chelsea Gray.
The Aces have been the primary workforce to win consecutive WNBA titles because the Los Angeles Sparks received in 2001 and 2002.
“She’s an amazing person,” DeRozan stated Thursday after the Bulls‘ 114-105 preseason loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on the United Center. “Hell of a competitor, knows the game in and out. My time when I was in San Antonio with her being an assistant coach was amazing.”
Hammon served as an assistant coach in San Antonio for eight seasons, the place she rapidly grew to prominence as top-of-the-line candidates for a future head coach place. She made historical past in December 2020 when she grew to become the primary lady to function a head coach in an NBA sport after Popovich was ejected. The following yr, the Aces employed Hammon and he or she instantly led the workforce to their first championship.
During his time with the Spurs, DeRozan described Hammon as a “big sister” determine who provided an unlimited wealth of basketball information — whereas additionally by no means backing down from difficult gamers.
“She felt like one of us, from the IQ of the game, from an ex-player, one of the best players to play in the W,” DeRozan stated. “I had no doubt whenever she went into coaching, anywhere she went into coaching, she was going to try to dominate. It’s not surprising for me at all and I’m definitely happy to see it.”
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com