Nancy's Night: Lieberman 'Changing The Culture' As D-League Coaching Pioneer

   Once the Thursday press conference was over, once the DJ stopped playing, once the hands were pumped and the babies were kissed, once the mayor’s proclamation was proclaimed, once the open bar was about to close, once I shot the bull with Del Harris (at left), I cornered the person who’d just been hired to become the first woman to coach men in an NBA-affiliated league and asked her … the question.

   “So,’’ I said to Hall-of-Famer Nancy Lieberman of her new job as the Mavericks' affiliate in the NBA Development League, “a woman coaching men. … you know … um, how’s that going to work?’’

   Fortunately, Nancy’s answer – and the rest of the historic event in Frisco  – was smoother than my question.

   “I’ve never really considered that before in my life, not when I played with men and not when I’m now prepared to coach them,’’ said Lieberman, who will do that for co-owner Donnie Nelson when the new franchise begins play for the 2010-11 season. “I didn’t want them to look at me like I was ‘the girl.’ I wanted them to just look at me like I was a player. So I won’t look at them like anything but players.

   “And they will look at me as the coach.’’

 

 

   Assorted notes (and totally sober photos) from a fascinating basketball evening at the Dr Pepper StarCenter:

 

 

   *The D-League team is co-owned businessman Evan Wyly and by Nelson, who is of course also the Mavericks GM. He will be fully occupied running the Mavs with Mark Cuban, which is why he’s assembled a superstar team of executives to oversee his minor-league franchise.

    Said Lieberman: “Donnie is a visionary. Del Harris (the Frisco team’s GM) should be in Springfield (home of the Basketball Hall of Fame). Spud Webb (the team’s president of basketball operations) learned some of the same things I learned coming up: That is wasn’t enough to be good enough.

    “We had to be better.’’

      Lieberman was called “Lady Magic’’ starting right about when she made the U.S. Olympic team at age 17, when she starred at Old Dominion, when she played with men in United States Basketball League and got a pair of NBA Summer League tryouts, and was still playing in the WNBA in 2008 at age 50.

     “This goes for all the people involved in this franchise,’’ she said. “Teaching basketball, innovation, taking on challenges. … We work to change the culture. It’s in our DNA.’’

 

 

    *Both Lieberman and Nelson cited Barack Obama’s presidency when noting that traditional barriers are now falling on a regular basis.

    “It’s time for this,’’ Nelson said. “It is truly an historic moment.’’

    Added Lieberman: "I kind of look at President Obama. Everybody knows it's historical because he's a man of color. But at the end of the day, regardless of his race, creed, color or gender, he has to be president. Everybody knows I'm a woman, but at the end of the day, regardless of my race, creed, color or gender, I have to win basketball games.’’

 

 

     *The party was held in coordination with the D-League’s Draft. Of course, the Frisco team – which will be holding a contest to name the squad and will be known as the “Texas _______’’ – won’t be picking until next season. I do not believe Nelson, Del, Spud or Nancy was obsessing over other teams' acquisitions.

    These dudes, however, did obsess.

  

 

    *In the crowd at the party were an assortment of sports and business names, from media types like Mark Followill and Ben & Skin to Michael Thurman of TorchCreative and Shawn Prendergast of VIB to former NFL standout Marco Rivera to, naturally, an assortment of Mavs folks. That group included Mavs staffers Terry Stott, Dwane Casey, Tom Sterner and Amadou Gallo Fall. … and Mavs prized rookie Roddy Beaubois, with whom I shared a few moments. (I’ll cobble those notes together in the coming days. Tease: It involves card tricks).

 

 

     *Lieberman’s hiring earned a reaction from NBA commissioner David Stern.

    "This is wonderful for the NBA D-League," Stern said. "A basketball pioneer and Hall-of-Famer continues her journey."

  

 

      *Nelson, Lieberman, Harris and Webb will be on hand to greet fans and sign autographs on November 7 and 8 from noon to 3 at the Dr Pepper Star Center in Frisco where the team will be holding its first select-a-seat open house. For more information call (214) 469- 0822 or visit the NBA/DLeague website.

   

 

    *The Associated Press coverage of the press conference includes this line:

    While the hiring is the most notable in D-League history, it's no publicity stunt.

    But that is not completely true.

    While she is an international icon, Lieberman’s stature in Dallas is arguably greater than it is in any other city in the world; she’s been a DFW resident for almost 30 years and presently lives within three miles of the team’s Frisco headquarters. She is extremely active in the community as a supervisor of kids’ basketball camps. She is a personality on ESPN. Nelson believes her presence alone will sell tickets.

      That’s not a “stunt,’’ but it is about “publicity.’’

  

 

      *So it is too with Spud and Del. Harris is a 50-year coaching veteran who has been an NBA head coach with the Rockets, Bucks and Lakers. He was an assistant with the Bulls last year after spending most of this decade as a Mavs staffer. Spud is a Dallas native who is yet another world-wide favorite thanks to having won the NBA Slam-Dunk Contest despite his small stature.

      Basketball has taken them around the world. But they are DFW guys, and again, that’s no stunt but it is about publicity. Nelson openly says that Nancy, Del and Spud will be asked to use their celebrity to sell tickets, and to give kids “a chance to meet and feel like celebrities themselves.’’

 

 

     *Frisco is serving as the home to professional hockey, professional basketball, this D-League team (and, it is whispered to me, possibly a future Arena League football team). But it also helps that it’s the home of Del Harris, who at age 70 has a home just a mile from the headquarters.

     “I could almost walk to work,’’ Del told me, laughing. “But I probably won’t.’’

 

 

      *There will of course be a close working relationship between the Frisco team and the big club. That not only includes the development of players for the Mavs, but also the playbook utilized. Team execs said they would institute with the D-League team the same system being used by Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle.

 

 

    *”My goal,’’ Donnie told me, “is to make this just like the ABA experience. Fun. Crazy. Anything goes!’’

 

 

    *What does somebody like future Hall-of-Famer Jason Kidd think of the Lieberman hire?

    “"I think it’s awesome,"  Kidd said. "She’s very knowledgeable about the game, for sure. You know, change can be a little weird at the beginning, but I think everybody will adjust fine.’’

    

    

     *Dallas is a big city but a small town. We’ve all said that, right? Little wonder then, that Cuban would reveal that he used to play pickup basketball with none other than Nancy Lieberman.

     

 

     *Lieberman has served as a role model to many, but she wants to make sure her own son is on that list, too.

     Her son, T.J., is 15. She wants to watch him play basketball. And she wants him to be able to watch her coach basketball.

    "When I told him I was going to do this, he was so excited," she said. "That was so different from when I came back (to play one last time in the NBA) last summer. He was like, 'Ma, come on.' But then the night I played, kids were blowing up his cell phone and he's like, 'Dude! I'm here with her! We're making history!' "

     And now she’s making more history.

     Again.

 

 

 

 

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