San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has congratulated and praised Becky Hammon after she guided the organisation to a Summer League triumph.

Hammon served as an assistant to the team last season, but Popovich was delighted with their expertise and insight more recently.

"It became huge when we hired her, and now it's even bigger because of the summer league situation," he told Bay Area's KNBR.

"She's got opinions and solid notions about basketball. As a [former] point guard, she's a leader, she's fiery, she's got intelligence, and our guys just respected the heck out of her, so she's coaching with us, she's running drills. That's why we made her a full-time coach and gave her the opportunity to coach at summer league."

Popovich added that he was never fazed about the idea of bringing in a female coach to his staff, and never considered it in making his decision.

Written by
Sumeet Paul