Becky Hammon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Becky Hammon shooting a basketball during her visit to Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, February 2002.
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| Position | Guard |
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| Nickname | Big Shot Becky Hammontime |
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) |
| Weight | 136 pounds (61.7 kg) |
| Team | San Antonio Silver Stars CSKA Moscow |
| Nationality |  United States Russia |
| Born | March 11, 1977 Rapid City, South Dakota |
| High school | Stevens High School |
| College | Colorado State |
| Draft | Undrafted |
| Pro career | 1999 – present |
| Former teams | NWBL's Tennessee Fury (2003), NWBL's Colorado Chill (2004-2006), WNBA's New York Liberty (1999-2006) |
Rebecca Lynn "Becky" Hammon (born March 11, 1977) is a WNBA player who plays for the San Antonio Silver Stars.
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[edit] Early life
Hammon grew up as the youngest of three children. [1]Hammon played high school basketball at Stevens High School in her hometown of Rapid City, South Dakota. As a junior, she was South Dakota Miss Basketball. As a senior, she was voted the South Dakota Player of the Year after averaging 26 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists per game.
[edit] College career
Hammon had a distinguished career at Colorado State. Her prolific scoring made her an All-American as well as Colorado Sportswoman of the Year. She led her team to a 33-3 record in the 1998-1999 season and helped them advance to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet Sixteen. She was the WAC Mountain Division player of the year for the 1998-1999 season and surpassed University of Utah player Keith Van Horn as the WAC's all-time leading scorer.
Hammon set many Colorado State all-time records, including points (2740), points per game (21.92), field goals made (918), free throws made (539), three-point field goals made (365), assists (538) and steals (315).
On November 12, 2004, Becky Hammon was inducted into the Colorado State University Sports Hall of Fame. On January 22, 2005, her #25 Colorado State jersey was retired at the Moby Arena.
[edit] Professional career
Undrafted during her rookie season, Hammon was signed to the WNBA on May 12, 1999 and joined the New York Liberty. She had a surprisingly solid rookie season statistically, backing up starting point guard Teresa Weatherspoon. Her aggressive play at both ends of the court quickly impressed the coaching staff and made her a favorite among Liberty fans. After the 2003 season, Hammon took over for Teresa Weatherspoon as the Liberty's starting point guard and along with Vickie Johnson and Crystal Robinson, became one of the team's co-captains in 2004.
In her first season in 2003 with the Tennessee Fury of the NWBL (National Women's Basketball League), Hammon led the league in scoring, averaging 20.6 points per game. In 2004, Hammon signed with the Colorado Chill, a new team to the NWBL, but played in only 2 games because of a knee injury she sustained in the 2003 season when playing for the New York Liberty.
Primarily used to provide instant points off the bench, Hammon finally had a breakout season in 2003, providing much-needed offense for the Liberty. However, her season was cut short by a knee injury.
When aging star Teresa Weatherspoon was not re-signed by the team that year, Hammon was thrust into the starting point guard role. She would help guide the Liberty to a playoff berth in 2004 amongst very close competition in the Eastern Conference.
On August 5, 2004 Hammon represented the WNBA All-Stars in the WNBA vs. USA basketball game that pitted the 2004 USA Women's Basketball team against WNBA players at Radio City Music Hall. On August 16, 2005, Hammon scored her 2000th WNBA career point. At the end of the 2005 season, she was named to the All-WNBA Second Team.
In 2005, in a rematch of the previous year's championship game, Hammon and the Chill defeated her old team and won their first NWBL title. Hammon received the game's Most Valuable Player award with 31 points, 6 assists and 3 steals.
In 2006, Hammon was named Most Valuable Player of the NWBL, leading the Chill to a second straight Pro Cup title.
In the 2006-07 WNBA offseason, Hammon finally made New York her offseason home.
In January '07 she moved to Spanish League and played for Rivas Futura.
On April 4, 2007 during the WNBA Draft, Becky Hammon was traded to the Silver Stars along with a second round draft pick in the 2008 draft for the second overall first round pick in the 2007 WNBA Draft, center Jessica Davenport.
Hammon had her best season of her career in 2007 posting career high averages of 18.8 ppg (fourth best) and 5.0 apg (first in WNBA). She is also an MVP candidate after leading the Silver Stars to a 20-14 record and the second seed in the Western Conference. While in San Antonio, Hammon earned the nickname, "Big Shot Becky" because of her ability to hit shots in clutch moments. It comes from the nickname "Big Shot Bob" given to San Antonio Spurs forward, Robert Horry.[2]
After getting the impression that she would once again fail to make the U.S. Women's National Basketball Team, Hammon announced she would try to claim a roster slot on the Russian basketball team in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China[3]. Hammon became a Russian citizen earlier in 2008. The coach of Russia's team, Igor Grudin, is also the sports director of the CSKA team that Hammon plays for in Moscow during the WNBA off-season. The announcement that she would participate in camps for the Russian national team came the same day that it was also announced that national team player (and CSKA teammate of Hammon's) Olga Arteshina had become pregnant. Hammon also signed a three-year extension with the CSKA team at around the same time she was named as a prospect for the national team.
[edit] Broadcasting
In 2006, Hammon began working during the WNBA offseason as a sideline reporter for ESPN telecasts of NBA basketball games. Her first broadcast was a Spurs-Cavs game in San Antonio on November 3, 2006.[4][5]
[edit] References
- ^ Manhattan Living. August 2005. 15.
- ^ Gillette, Felix (2005-06-16). Sideshow Bob. slate.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-15.
- ^ Drehs, Wayne (2008-04-08). Hammon's Olympic dream puts her in Russian uniform. ESPN.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-27.
- ^ Hammon Taking on the NBA. WNBA.com (2006-10-31). Retrieved on 2008-05-27.
- ^ Swin Cash .... WNBA.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-27.
