Monday May 28, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

BASKETBALL

Japan's 1st female pro basketball coach looking for more than wins

Sports Feb. 22, 2012 - 07:00AM JST ( 10 )

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10 Comments

-5

NetNinjaFeb. 22, 2012 - 09:36AM JST

Oh snap. She looks good too. She gets to come in the locker room?

Anyway, her praise of Jeremy Lin is a bit misplaced. That boy is a "Flash in the Pan" The next question is how long Nakase will last.
0

ironchefFeb. 22, 2012 - 10:32AM JST

Linsanity baby! Haters go away!
2

AliasisFeb. 22, 2012 - 11:22AM JST

Awesome! Rock on, Ms. Nakase!
0

GurukunFeb. 22, 2012 - 11:26AM JST

“Not necessarily as a head coach but as part of a coaching team. I think everyone wants to reach the highest level of their sport and, for me, that would be the NBA.”

Isn't that statement sort of an oxymoron?
-3

my2senseFeb. 22, 2012 - 12:49PM JST

5ft2... I'm lost.
1

Tel PorterFeb. 22, 2012 - 07:10PM JST

All that matters is that she can coach, and coach to a level required at the top of the professional game in Japan. She's proving that it doesn't matter what your gender is as long as you've got the ability.
1

WilliBFeb. 23, 2012 - 12:30AM JST

Wow, very cool. I love petite and spunky women, and she definitely fits both. Go Natalie!
-1

David StellsFeb. 23, 2012 - 01:43AM JST

@Gurukun Yes, that statement is paradoxical, because if her statement is true if must necessarily be false. But she may be alluding to something more implicit. Perhaps she feels that the NBA wouldn't ever promote a woman to a head coach position. It could be because men wouldn't respect her or whatever else, there's no real way to know why from her statement. This is just a possibility, but maybe she takes things one step at a time, and thinks being a woman coach in the NBA would be breaking a barrier and then could focus on the head coach thing later.

@Tel Porter, she isn't really proving that she can coach at the top level of pro basketball in Japan. 9 wins, 23 losses, and being 2nd to last in the league is hardly proving you are a competent coach. If a lawyer had that kind of record you would probably call him a bad lawyer, and if he told you he lost almost 3 times as many cases as he won, in one of the world's least competitive venues (Japan is not a competitive basketball league on the world level), you certainly wouldn't hire him. If an engineer built bridges (like she is metaphorically trying to do) and 23 of them collapsed, you wouldn't call him a good engineer, you would probably put him in prison. If a roofer built a roof that was 14 inches off (23-9=14), you wouldn't call him a good roofer. If anything, her record tends to lend itself to the idea that she isn't competent. There may be other circumstances that make wins hard to get, but in the sports world, coaches are typically judged on their record. I agree that your gender doesn't matter as long as you have the ability/drive/skill/determination/whatever, but her record tends to prove that she doesn't. But at least she doesn't seem unrealistic about her team, and that will help her know where they can improve, so maybe she will improve her players, improve as a coach and get that NBA spot!
-2

Badge213Feb. 23, 2012 - 07:14AM JST

Wait wait...Japan has professional basketball?
0

Tel PorterFeb. 23, 2012 - 09:25AM JST

David, the real sports world is not like sports movies. A new coach doesn't just walk in and take their ragtag bunch of loveable misfits all the way to the Championship game. Looking up the history of the Saitama Broncos suggests they are not the team they were back 6 or 7 years ago. It isn't necessarily the coach's fault if the team or the players are not the best.