Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/news/story?id=4623545
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Lieberman to coach in D-League
Updated: November 5, 2009, 1:18 AM ET
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The incoming NBA Development League franchise in suburban Dallas, co-owned by
Dallas Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson and
scheduled to begin play in the 2010-11 season, has made a bold choice for its
first head coach: Nancy Lieberman.
Lieberman, an ESPN television analyst, is poised to become the first woman to
be a head coach the D-League, which sent 20 players to the NBA last season
and is widely regarded as the most scouted league in the world outside of the
NBA.
Nelson's ownership group has secured approval from the NBA to hire Lieberman
to coach the yet-to-be-named team based in Frisco, Texas, which will serve as
the Mavericks' D-League affiliate next season.
A news conference is scheduled Thursday to introduce Lieberman as the first
coach of the team that will begin play during the 2010-11 season in Frisco, a
suburb about a half-hour north of downtown Dallas.
All coaching hires in the D-League have to be approved by the NBA, which owns
and operates the 16-team league.
Charlotte Bobcats sideline reporter Stephanie Ready worked in the D-League as
an assistant with the now-defunct Greenville Groove in South Carolina from
2001 to 2003. But Lieberman will become the first woman in the sport's
history to serve as a head coach working with NBA players. According to
league rules, NBA players in their first or second season are eligible for
assignment to a D-League affiliate, which means prized Mavericks rookie
Rodrigue Beaubois could spend time playing for Lieberman next season
depending on his development.
Neither Nelson nor Lieberman could be immediately reached for comment.
After a Hall of Fame playing career during which she became the first woman
to play in a men's professional league (United States Basketball League) and
also played summer-league ball for both Pat Riley with the Los Angeles Lakers
and Frank Layden with the Utah Jazz, Lieberman began her coaching career in
1998 with the WNBA's Detroit Shock.
Lieberman also played as a 39-year-old for the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA's
inaugural 1997 season and then made a brief comeback with the Shock as a
player in 2008 at the age of 50. Signed by Detroit to a seven-day contract,
Lieberman appeared in one game and had two assists and two turnovers in a
79-61 loss to the Houston Comets.
Her stint as a player in the USBL in the mid-1980s came after the short-lived
league sent both 7-foot-7 center Manute Bol and 5-foot-7 guard Spud Webb to
the NBA.
Sources said former Mavericks assistant coach and longtime NBA coach Del
Harris will serve as a general manager for the Frisco franchise. That will
give Lieberman a sounding board with more than 1,000 games of head coaching
experience and the 1995 NBA Coach of the Year award on his resume. And Webb,
who's a Dallas native, will also have a front-office role with the team.
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