New Orleans is hiring Teresa Weatherspoon to its coaching staff, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 26, 2019
The Woj tweet says it all.
Teresa Weatherspoon played 8 years in the WNBA, and was a 5x WNBA All Star.
She posted career averaged of 5 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists per game. In her first three seasons, she posted averages of 3, 3.3, and 2.4 steals per game. Debuting as a rookie at age 31, her career began on the decline in terms of physical capacity, which explains some of the lacklustre counting stats, but her advanced stats are all fairly strong for the first few years of her career, including some brilliant defensive numbers: she didn't post a Defensive Rating above 95 until 5 years into her career, and spent several years with a steals percentage above 3%, which is pretty impressive. This includes two years where it was above 5%, even more impressive.
She finished her career 4th all time in WNBA steals percentage, 4th all time in assists per game, 21st all time in total steals, 6th all time in steals per game, and was a 2 Time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year.
In 2016, Weatherspoon was selected to the WNBA Top 20@20 list, ranking her as one of the 20 best WNBA players of all
time.
She attended Louisiana Tech back in the 80s, and coached from 2008 to 2014 at Louisiana Tech as well.
Welcome to the team, Teresa Weatherspoon!
New Orleans Pelicans Hire Teresa Weatherspoon
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09-26-2019, 01:49 PMPelicanidaeNew Orleans Pelicans Hire Teresa Weatherspoon
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09-26-2019, 02:24 PMPelicanidae
Can confirm @wojespn's report about Teresa Weatherspoon joining the Pels' coaching stadfy.
— Will Guillory (@WillGuillory) September 26, 2019
Griff gets another WNBA legend in the building.
Love how much the Pels are embracing this kind of thing. Lots of teams out there have very little in the way of female staff. Pels out here hiring qualified, experienced women of colour to the FO and the coaching staff. Great to see. -
09-26-2019, 02:28 PMPelicanidae
https://www.nola.com/article_7293baf...ign=user-share
So she's been hired to a Player Development role. That makes a lot of sense, given that a prominent Player Dev, Kevin Hanson, left us this offseason to go to the T-Wolves. -
09-26-2019, 03:48 PMbahmamambaSame the only way I'd have a problem with this is, is if they were hiring them just bc they were women. I mean they could hire a monkey as long as it had actual experience I wouldn't care lolQuote:
Originally Posted by Pelicanidae
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09-26-2019, 03:53 PMPelicanidaeIf they were just hiring random women off the street and holding them out and saying ''LOOK, A WOMAN'', then sure, it would be dumb.Quote:
Originally Posted by bahmamamba
But they aren't. They're doing what every team should do, and that is this: hiring the right person for the job, without requiring them to be men first. Unfortunately, a lot of teams in many sports operate on that logic, where they pick the right candidate, as long as they're a guy.
It's a good thing that the Pels are opening the door and letting people in. I'm gonna celebrate that as a positive, for sure.
I get that you weren't even disagreeing, but imo the whole ''they could hire a monkey!'' line of argument always struck me as kind of insulting. Like hiring a woman would be in some way absurd, in the same way that hiring a chimp would. -
09-26-2019, 04:00 PMbahmamambaI meant it more in a way that any one who's mad about them hiring anyone with experience period would be absurdQuote:
Originally Posted by Pelicanidae
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09-26-2019, 04:31 PMPelicanidaeNah, I getcha. I wasn't accusing you personally of anything. Just thought it was worth making clear for anyone else :)Quote:
Originally Posted by bahmamamba
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09-26-2019, 04:32 PMbahmamambathey also hired aj something already forgot his last name lolQuote:
Originally Posted by Pelicanidae
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09-26-2019, 04:34 PMPelicanidae
https://www.nba.com/pelicans/news/pe...coaching-staff
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The New Orleans Pelicans announced today that the team has added AJ Diggs and Teresa Weatherspoon to Head Coach Alvin Gentry’s coaching staff as two-way player development coaches. Diggs and Weatherspoon will work closely with the team’s two-way players and will accompany them to and from their transfers to the Pelicans’ G League affiliate, the Erie BayHawks.
“I am thrilled to welcome and AJ and Teresa to our coaching staff here in New Orleans,” said Pelicans Head Coach Alvin Gentry. “As we continue to put an increased emphasis on player development, AJ and Teresa will play an integral role with our younger players and will be a huge asset to our players and staff both here in New Orleans and Erie.”
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Prior to landing in New Orleans, Diggs had coaching stints in the NBA G League with the Maine Red Claws, Austin Spurs and most recently, Raptors 905, where he was a member of Jerry Stackhouse’s staff that captured the NBA G League Championship in 2017.
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Most recently, Weatherspoon served as the Director of Player and Franchise Development with the WNBA’s New York Liberty for the previous four seasons. Prior to her time in the Liberty front office, Weatherspoon was the head coach at her alma mater, Louisiana Tech University, from 2009-14, leading the Lady Techsters to a 99-71 (.582) record over six seasons, making consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament in 2010 and 2011, and winning the WAC tournament in 2010.
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09-26-2019, 10:17 PMsmcgull
This could only make the Pelicans better.
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09-27-2019, 12:57 AMpelicanchamp
2 time defensive player of the year? This is awesome. We already have very good defenders and may have a top 5 defense this season. Lonzo, Jrue, Favors, Zion are all very good on defense. I also like Hayes and NAW’s potential as elite defenders. Frank Jackson is a pretty good defender too.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we lead the league in steals.
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09-27-2019, 07:59 AMPelicanidaeWhat really excites me the most about our defense is the potential for switchability. In the past, we've had difficulties being as switchable as we might have liked because we've been forced to play guys that don't really have that ability. We've had times where we've been playing Omer Asik or Alexis Ajinca, neither of whom can switch at all. We've had times where we've been playing E'twaun Moore at the 3 for long stretches, and asking him to defend 1 through 3, which he can't do. He's too small and not strong enough.Quote:
Originally Posted by pelicanchamp
This year, we're going to be starting Jrue, Lonzo, Ingram, Zion, and Favors, I'm pretty sure. All 5 of those guys can defend at least 3 positions. Zion can defend all 5 (or at least, has that potential. We'll see how fast he adapts to the league), and Jrue can defend 1 through 4. Even Favors can hold his own against guards for a little while, even if you don't want him to have to do that too often. Jrue is the shortest member of that lineup, and we already know he can be trusted to defend guys as tall as Kevin Durant and do a good job.
I don't imagine Frank Jackson will get many minutes by the end of this season. He's actually a pretty poor defender. He's too small to defend most SGs (he's only 6'3) and doesn't do well handling switches, defending the PnR, and he dies on screens. That's why he ranked as 99th out of 105 PGs in the NBA in defensive RPM last year, and posted a -3.6 PIPM, including -1.9 in defensive PIPM, which is 101st out of 105 PGs in the NBA. For me, this year is going to be a big challenge for him. He needs to show serious improvement, or his future on this team may be limited. -
09-27-2019, 10:35 AMPilot172000
As a Tech alumni who got to meet her a few times. She is a great lady. She has extensive basketball knowledge and will be an asset to the Pelican's organization.