Written by It has been quite an exciting off-season for the NBA, and it just started. The NBA draft just recently occurred, major players are being traded, and contracts are being negotiated. But one of the most surprising and groundbreaking developments deal with coaching. Out of the eight open head coaching positions this off-season, seven of them were filled with African-American candidates: Jamahl Mosley (Orlando Magic), Willie Green (New Orleans Pelicans), Jason Kidd (Dallas Mavericks), Wes Unseld Jr. (Washington Wizards), Nate McMillan (Atlanta Hawks), Chauncey Billups (Portland Trailblazers), and Ime Udoka (Boston Celtics). This is a massive breakthrough for the NBA and professional sports as a whole. Approximately 74.2% of the players in the NBA are African American, and with the seven new hires, the number of African American head coaches raised from 23% to 43%. This is a massive step in the right direction in terms of equality and representation amongst the league.
A saying goes, “you can’t be what you can’t see,” basically expressing how representation matters. People aspire to be in certain positions and know that it is possible to obtain those positions when people who look or act like them are in those positions. This new surge of Black head coaching hires raising the NBA’s Black head coach count to nearly 50% offers positive representation for both players and fans of the league. Out of the seven new coaching hires, six have either played in the NBA or professionally overseas, and one (Unseld Jr.) is the son of a former Hall of Fame player, coach, and executive for the team he now coaches. Culture-wise, this is a beneficial improvement for the African-American players they’re coaching. These players have a black coach, just like they are, and have gone through the ups and downs of being a black professional athlete and just being famous in general. We see progression every day in terms of athletes dealing with their mental health. Once in the same position as these black athletes, their coaches can offer mentorship and advice on navigating life on and off the court. The effects of this increased representation don’t just stop at the players. Seeing more coaches that look like them or go through the same or similar experiences as them offers young minority children the chance to physically see that there are multiple ways to “make it to the league” and that your dreams don’t have to stop just because you aren’t playing on the court.
Perhaps one of the most inspiring outcomes of this recent hiring of so many Black head coaches is the continued creation of more opportunities for young black coaches to one day be in the same position. The NBA and National Basketball Coaches Association, led by Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle, created the NBA Coaches Equality Initiative. This initiative developed a coaches database with the profiles of around 275 coaches listing their accomplishments and who’s available. Hopefully, this database will help teams lengthen and make the interview process more thorough instead of just picking a guy. Phoenix Sun’s head coach Monty Williams was quoted telling USAToday how he thinks it’s so important for every team to have a lengthy interview process so that all coaches, especially young African American ones, can get the experience of going through the process and be able to pinpoint their strengths, weaknesses, and what they need to do to get better. By just having the opportunity to go through the process and learn from it, even if they don’t get the job, helps even the playing field for these young African American coaches and gives them a fair opportunity to better themselves and make themselves more suitable for the next head coaching position that opens.
With new Black head coaching hires and initiatives being put in place for equal opportunities at the interview process, doors are being opened for more African American head coaches to emerge in the NBA. No one, especially athletes or those involved in athletics, wants a handout; believing that African Americans should be given a head coaching position just because the majority of NBA players are African American isn’t helping anybody. But what does help and move the league in the right direction is opening opportunities, allowing black and minority candidates a chance to be represented, and genuinely picking the right candidate. Many black candidates who recently were hired have credentials and accomplishments that speak for themselves and validate why they were the right choice for the job; they just needed a chance to have a seat at the table.
Hopefully, this recent off-season hire for the NBA will inspire other professional leagues and institutions to follow suit. By making the interview process thorough and unbiased, this opens opportunities for black and other minority candidates. Giving them a fair chance and letting their credentials speak for them, rather than their race, allows more trailblazers to open the door for those coming after them and affords the best candidate the best opportunity to obtain the job.