En marzo de 2020, Vince Carter tomó (e hizo) su última oportunidad como jugador de la NBA, concluyendo la carrera más larga en la historia de la liga en un récord de 22 temporadas. El jugador de 43 años conocido como «Mitad hombre, mitad asombroso» había pasado más de la mitad de su vida como jugador de baloncesto profesional.
Si bien Carter tuvo la suerte de jugar durante más de dos décadas, la mayoría de las carreras en la NBA son mucho más cortas, con un promedio de cinco a siete años, lo que significa más «vida después del baloncesto» para prepararse que para jugar. Para Carter, tomó la ruta de los medios, firmando un contrato de varios años con ESPN para servir como analista de baloncesto universitario y de la NBA.
Otro camino que los ex jugadores podrían considerar es buscar oportunidades de entrenamiento, ya sea a nivel de escuela secundaria, universitaria o profesional, para compartir su conocimiento del juego con la próxima generación de jugadores.
Para ayudar a los ex jugadores que buscan hacer la transición a las filas de los entrenadores, la NBA lanzó el Programa de entrenadores asistentes en 1988. El objetivo del programa es desarrollar candidatos calificados para entrenar al proporcionar a los jugadores actuales y retirados de la NBA, la G League y la WNBA experiencias prácticas de entrenamiento, capacitación en software de exploración, desarrollo profesional y oportunidades de networking basadas en eventos.
Los candidatos también tienen la oportunidad de recibir orientación y aprender del mentor del programa y ex entrenador en jefe de la NBA, Butch Carter, quien ha sido parte del programa desde 2016.
Desde su inicio, el programa ha expuesto a casi 200 candidatos a gerentes generales, entrenadores y personal del equipo de la NBA y la G League a través de experiencias en la cancha. Los exalumnos notables de la ACP incluyen al actual entrenador en jefe de los Phoenix Suns, Monty Williams, el ex entrenador del año de la G League (2017) y el actual entrenador en jefe de la Universidad de Vanderbilt, Jerry Stackhouse, y el entrenador asistente del equipo de baloncesto masculino de la Universidad de Maine, Edniesha Curry.
Cinco candidatos a entrenadores del programa 2019 solo eran miembros del cuerpo técnico de la NBA y la G League 2019-20 y la clase de siete miembros de este año busca continuar esa tendencia, incluidos los veteranos de la NBA Mike Bibby y Chris Duhon, así como el alumno de la D-League, Ronald Allen.
Los tres exjugadores tenían experiencia como entrenadores antes de unirse al Programa de entrenadores asistentes a fines de 2019, pero llevaron su conocimiento del oficio a nuevas alturas gracias a su participación en el campo de entrenamiento de entrenadores. «Creo que este es un programa que es muy beneficioso para que los exjugadores comprendan realmente lo que se necesita para ser un entrenador y lo que los entrenadores atraviesan cada noche», dijo Duhon. “La preparación tanto para los entrenamientos como para los partidos, tus responsabilidades como entrenador asistente, aprender diferentes partes del juego que como jugador quizás no entiendas tanto, y solo te da la oportunidad de poder hacer múltiples cosas. “Por lo general, los ex jugadores se dedican a entrenar, lo único que hacen es el desarrollo de jugadores. Aprendimos cómo hacer eso, pero también aprendimos las habilidades tecnológicas de entrenar, armar presentaciones, poder hablar frente a un grupo, cómo hacer informes de exploración y muchas más cosas «.
El Programa de Asistentes de Entrenadores busca brindar a sus candidatos todas las herramientas que necesitarán para convertirse en un exitoso entrenador a nivel profesional. Esto incluye una amplia capacitación técnica en software de edición de video y exploración, análisis y tecnologías con acceso a Synergy, Fast Draw, Fast Scout, SportsCode y JustPlay software de aprendizaje de baloncesto.
A través del programa Analytics 4 Coaches del mentor Butch Carter, los candidatos pueden aprender las diversas plataformas de software y cómo combinar su conocimiento del juego como jugadores con análisis para mejorar su perfil general de entrenamiento. Los jugadores de la NBA están acostumbrados a leer los informes de los ojeadores mientras se preparan para enfrentarse a un oponente. Sin embargo, la mayoría no comprende las herramientas que se utilizan para desarrollar ese informe y la cantidad de tiempo y esfuerzo que se necesita para armarlo.
La ACP brinda a sus candidatos una comprensión profunda de los análisis del baloncesto, las evaluaciones de los jugadores y la capacidad de desarrollar informes de exploración detallados. Allen no solo fue miembro de la clase ACP 2019-20, sino que también participó en 2014 junto a Stackhouse.
Allen continuaría trabajando con jugadores jóvenes y ayudó a preparar a algunos futuros jugadores de la NBA durante sus entrenamientos previos al draft. Eventualmente aprovechó la oportunidad para convertirse en el entrenador en jefe de Inglewood High School, pero decidió regresar al programa para ayudar a dar los siguientes pasos en su trayectoria profesional. “La segunda vez, lo que me llevó al programa fue que tuve varias entrevistas para ser entrenador asistente en varios equipos de la G League, y seguí encontrándome con obstáculos, ya sea que no tenía suficiente experiencia como entrenador en jefe, No tenía suficiente experiencia en coaching o no tenía la capacidad de operar y navegar con el software y la tecnología ”, dijo Allen. “Esa era la última casilla que necesitaba marcar para convertirme en un candidato totalmente calificado para un puesto de entrenador asistente en el nivel de la G League
In March 2020, Vince Carter took (and made) his last shot as an NBA player, concluding the longest career in league history at a record 22 seasons. The 43-year-old known as “Half Man, Half Amazing” had spent more than half of his life as a professional basketball player.
While Carter was fortunate enough to play for more than two decades, most NBA careers are much shorter, with an average hovering around five-to-seven years, which means more “life after basketball” to prepare for than basketball to be played. For Carter, he took the media route, signing a multi-year contract with ESPN to serve as an NBA and college basketball analyst.
Another path that former players might consider is pursuing coaching opportunities, whether they be at the high school, collegiate or professional level, to share their knowledge of the game with the next generation of players. To assist former players who are looking to transition into the coaching ranks, the NBA launched the Assistant Coaches Program in 1988.
The goal of the program is to develop qualified coaching candidates by providing current and retired NBA, G League and WNBA players with hands-on-coaching experiences, scouting software training, professional development and event-based networking opportunities. Candidates also have the opportunity to receive guidance and learn from program mentor and former NBA head coach Butch Carter, who’s been a part of the program since 2016.
Since its inception, the program has exposed nearly 200 candidates to NBA and G League general managers, coaches and team personnel through on-court experiences. Notable ACP alums include current Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams, former G League Coach of the Year (2017) and current Vanderbilt University head coach Jerry Stackhouse and assistant coach for the University of Maine men’s basketball team Edniesha Curry.
Five coaching candidates from the 2019 program alone were members of 2019-20 NBA and G League coaching staffs and this year’s seven-member class is looking to continue that trend, including NBA veterans Mike Bibby and Chris Duhon as well as D-League alum Ronald Allen. All three former players had coaching experience before joining the Assistant Coaches Program in late 2019, but took their knowledge of the craft to new heights thanks to participation in the coaching boot camp.
“I think this is a program that’s very beneficial for former players to really understand what it takes to be a coach and what coaches go through on a night-in, night-out basis,” Duhon said. “The preparation for both practices and games, your responsibilities as an assistant coach, learning different parts of the game that as a player you may not understand as much, and it just gives you an opportunity to be able to do multiple things.
“Usually former players get into coaching, the only thing that they do is player development. We learned how to do that, but we also learned the technology skills of coaching, putting together presentations, being able to speak in front of a group, how to do scouting reports and many more things.”
The Assistant Coaches Program looks to give its candidates all of the tools that will be needed to become a successful coach at the professional level. This includes extensive technical training in scouting and video editing software, analytics and technologies with access to Synergy, Fast Draw, Fast Scout, SportsCode and JustPlay basketball-learning software. Through mentor Butch Carter’s Analytics 4 Coaches program, candidates are able to learn the various software platforms and how to pair their knowledge of the game as players with analytics to improve their overall coaching profile.
NBA players are used to reading scouting reports as they prepare to take on an opponent. However, most do not understand the tools used to develop that report and the amount of time and effort it takes to put it together. The ACP gives its candidates a deep understanding of basketball analytics, player evaluations and the ability to develop detailed scouting reports.
Allen was not only a member of the 2019-20 ACP class, he also participated back in 2014 alongside Stackhouse. Allen would go on to work with young players and helped prepare some future NBA players during their pre-draft workouts. He eventually took an opportunity to become the head coach at Inglewood High School but decided to return to the program to help take the next steps in his career trajectory.
“The second time around, what drove me to the program was I had several interviews to be an assistant coach on multiple G League staffs, and I continued to run into roadblocks, whether it was, I didn’t have enough head coaching experience, I didn’t have enough coaching experience altogether, or I didn’t have the ability to operate and navigate with the software and technology,” Allen said. “That was the last box that I needed to check to become a fully qualified candidate for an assistant coaching position at the G League level.”
When Allen learned that the technological and software skills he was missing were now being offered in the ACP, he asked if he could return to the program to continue his development and was welcomed back.
The technical knowledge was the key focus for Bibby as well, who entered the program as a novice when it came to technology. He went from someone who “couldn’t tell you how to do anything on a computer” to breaking down video, cutting highlights together and developing scouting reports for the players that he trains.
“It helped me out tremendously because back in the day, if you were an NBA player then you had a good chance to be a coach just off of that. But now there are so many things that you need to know, especially when it comes to using computers and that’s what I was missing.”
The 2019-20 program began in December 2019 with the first meeting being at the MGM Resorts NBA G League Winter Showcase in Las Vegas. The Showcase is the G League’s annual in-season scouting event, when all the teams in the league travel to one city and play in front of NBA general managers and player personnel executives from all 30 NBA organizations.
The Showcase ended up being the only in-person event of the 2019-20 program as the coronavirus pandemic forced the ACP to transition to a full virtual experience. But for Bibby, that one in-person event in Las Vegas led to a future opportunity and highlighted a key aspect of the program – networking.
Bibby, who spent six-and-a-half seasons of his playing career with the Sacramento Kings, met Ty Ellis, the coach of the Kings’ G League affiliate – the Stockton Kings – while in Las Vegas. After Ellis spoke to the larger group, Bibby asked Ellis if he would mind if Bibby sat in on some of Stockton’s practices, games and meetings. Ellis obliged and Bibby took part in film sessions, workouts and meetings over a four-game span before the G League season was halted due to the pandemic.
Now Ellis and Bibby and working together again to assist the NBA G League Ignite program. The team of top prospects coming out of high school is beginning to scrimmage together and Ellis and Bibby are coaching the free agent team that the Ignite squad is competing against. That initial meeting in Las Vegas launched a relationship that as Bibby puts it “has opened a lot of doors for me already.”
This type of networking and collaboration with current and former NBA and G League coaches is core to the program to help the candidates grow. And while the pandemic halted the in-person interactions, it continued in a virtual setting with two calls per week with the program participants focused on coaching and development; homework assignments; and a guest speaker series of professionals from across the industry focused on professional development opportunities, and mock interviews with current and former professional and collegiate basketball decision-makers.
“With us going virtual, we were able to get more guest speakers, with G League coaches or GMs, which is something that might not have been able to happen if the season was a normal season,” said Duhon. “So for us to be able to pick their brains, network, and to be able to talk with them and them give us advice, I think that was very beneficial as well during this tough time.”
The program ultimately concluded in September with the candidates looking for future opportunities as hiring gets back into full swing.
“The next step, definitely short term, is looking to be an assistant with a G League team,” said Allen. “And long term is working my way up into the next level, through the G League and through the NBA to put myself in a position to one day become a head coach.”
Whichever opportunities come next, all three candidates feel more prepared for them after being part of the 2019-20 ACP class. “I recommend this program to anybody that’s looking to coach, it helped me tremendously,” said Bibby.
“The Assistant Coaches Program is an investment in the potential of our former players. It builds on their invaluable insights and unique experience as pros while teaching them the technical skills demanded in the professional coaching space,” said NBA Player Development Vice President Jamila Wideman. “We are thrilled about the success of this year’s program, which is a true testament to the talent of the candidates and the ability to shift the robust curriculum virtually.”
- nba.com