Becky Hammon already staked her claim as one of the top coaches in the WNBA when she led the Aces to back-to-back titles in her first two seasons as the team\u2019s head coach\u2014her first two seasons as a head coach period. Few coaches win championships in their first season with a new team. Even fewer do it as a rookie head coach.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s eventful Aces run further highlighted Hammon\u2019s brilliance. She led the Aces to one of the most impressive turnarounds of the season. The team went from sitting at the bottom of the playoff standings to the second seed and a third championship. Hammon is now one of only a handful of WNBA coaches who have won at least three titles. The others are Bill Laimbeer, who led the Detroit Shock to three titles in the early 2000s, the Lynx\u2019s Cheryl Reeve, and Van Chancellor, who coached the Houston Comets.<\/p>\n
Hammon is also beloved and respected by her players. In her exit interview, NaLyssa Smith spoke about what makes Hammon such a great coach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe [Becky Hammon] just has a great balance of knowing how to push her players and then just always motivating you and always telling you all the positive things,\u201d Smith told reporters.<\/a> \u201cI think, sometimes, a lot of coaches, they forget that you have to have that balance, or you\u2019ll lose your players. Becky does a tremendous job always just building everybody up regardless of the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n Hammon was clearly the Aces\u2019 X-Factor in the finals<\/p>\n The Aces faced some challenges in the first two playoff rounds. The Storm had a lot more size in the frontcourt than most other teams, and the Fever just refused to give up despite a plethora of injuries. In the finals, the Aces clearly had the upper hand, winning four straight games. Hammon and her coaching were a big reason for that.\u00a0<\/p>\n Her ability to make adjustments in games and between matchups made all the difference for the Aces. In Game 1, switching to a zone defense completely threw off the Mercury\u2019s offense and secured an important first win<\/a>. In Game 3, Hammon pulled out a box-and-one on Phoenix star Kahleah Copper\u2014a surprising but genius move given how rare that coverage is in the WNBA. It worked well to throw off the Mercury and to have the Aces play engaged early on and avoid the kind of slow start they got off to in the first two games.\u00a0<\/p>\n