The defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs are counting on the addition of a player with 16 years' experience in professional basketball to their coaching staff as making a positive impact.
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And if it breaks down some barriers along the way, so be it.
Multiple media outlets reported Tuesday that the Spurs will add 16-year WNBA veteran Becky Hammon to their staff for the 2014-15 season. Hammon currently is playing for the Spurs' WNBA counterpart, the San Antonio Stars.
"I very much look forward to the addition of Becky Hammon to our staff," said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich in a statement, as reported by the New York Daily News. "Having observed her working with our team this past season, I'm confident her basketball IQ, work ethic and interpersonal skills will be a great benefit to the Spurs."
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According to the San Antonio News-Express, Hammon joined the Spurs in an informal role with the team during last season's training camp.
"I'm kind of just there, a fly on the wall soaking up how they run things over there in the film sessions," Hammon told the News-Express in February. "I get a lot out of their film sessions, just listening to the coaches go back and forth on what they think is happening on certain plays.
"Really, I'm just a sponge and building relationships with those guys on a different level. I get to see a side of them that not many get to see. That's pretty cool."
At the time, Popovich told the News-Express he was proud of the way Hammon ingratiated herself in the Spurs organization.
"We really respect her as an individual and as a player, and she wanted to participate so we put her in all our coaches' meetings and at our practices just to see how she reacts to it all," Popovich said. "It's been great having her around. Becky's a lifer. She wants to keep playing. She wants to see how she likes coaching. We love her to death."
The 37-year-old Hammon now will be one of 38-year-old Tim Duncan's coaches.
"She's willing to learn," team captain Tim Duncan said to the News-Express. "Pop is willing to have anyone who has that perspective. She wants to come out here and work with us and learn as much as she can.
"She's welcome to be here."
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