Hewitt’s coaching staff with Agua Caliente will include assistants Natalie Nakase, Chris Holguin, Darryl LaBarrie and Doug Martin, according to a person with knowledge of the hirings not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Natalie Nakase Rumors
Andrew Greif: Another member of Ty Lue’s staff, per source: Natalie Nakase. Nakase has been with the Clippers since 2012, when the former UCLA player was an intern. Most recently she has been one of team’s player development assistants.
The Clippers’ summer league team finished 3-1 yet was ranked ninth, one spot out of the tournament. Coach Brian Adams gave ample credit to Natalie Nakase’s offensive prowess, which Clippers head coach Doc Rivers had identified. “Doc gave me a list of people he would like to help me with [summer league] and Nat was one of them,” Adams said. “I’ve known her for going on six years. I asked Nat if she wanted to be my offensive coordinator. She embraced it.”
Women are a becoming a bigger part of the league now than ever before. The hires of Toliver and Melvin were not overlooked; it just no longer seems like such an unusual thing to bring a woman into the fray of an NBA club, probably because the likes of San Antonio assistant Becky Hammon, former Sacramento assistant Nancy Lieberman, Dallas assistant Jenny Boucek, Clippers G League assistant Natalie Nakase and Memphis analyst Nicki Gross took care of the first wave of trailblazing. “I think it’s great and I think it’s great for the NBA,” said Charlotte’s James Borrego, the league’s first Hispanic full-time coach. “It speaks to our league, the diversity, the openness, the inclusion and I’m proud to be part of that, part of a league that’s open to that. I’ve been around Becky Hammon for a number of years now. These are bright women that belong in our league.”
Natalie Nakase, a six-year contributor to a high-performance culture with both L.A. and Agua Caliente, has been promoted to the L.A. Clippers’ player development team. Brian Adams, a longtime member of Rivers’ video, player development and coaching staff, has been promoted to head coach of the Agua Caliente Clippers.
