Udoka to Boston. Billups to Portland. Kidd to Dallas. Penny possibly to Orlando. Cassell and Unseld Jr in contention for the Washington job. Vaughn rumored to be favorite in New Orleans. Besides Rick Carlisle getting the Pacers job, NBA teams are seeing value in hiring Black coaches, after the trend of hiring white, no NBA experience, started as a video coordinator coaches.
Eight seasons ago, there were 14 Black head coaches. This season there were only seven, with four going to at least the second round to the playoffs, and three in the conference finals. Of the three non playoff coaches, two are cons of NBA coaches, and all three had many years of experience as an NBA assistant.
The director of the NBPA has often criticized the dearth of Black coaches in a league where three fourths of the players are Black, as have many players. In a league where a player choosing to move on from a franchise can have a serious impact on the bottom line, owners seem to be getting the message.
We will know that there is true equity in coach hiring when a couple of 35 year old Black assistant coaches get head jobs, after spending college in the computer lab or as a student trainer instead of a D-1 player before signing on to a job as a video coordinator and puts in a decade as an assistant.