Becky Hammon is a damn smart basketball mind.
I have followed her career since she was in high school and kicked the crap out of my HS and every other high school in the state of South Dakota. Her brothers were good basketball players, and she grew up honing her craft against their height and speed.
Watching girls high school basketball is generally about as exciting as watching grass grow. Becky was the exception. I saw her score 51 of her team's 55 points one time in a playoff game. It looked like Spud Webb was playing 5 on one basketball with traffic cones for teammates and turnstiles for opponents.
I caught a couple of games when she went to the WNBA. One featured what for the WNBA was a playoff brawl. Hammon got into it and got teed up for tossing an opponent on the ground, then standing over her and taunting her. A player she gave up half a foot and probably 50 pounds to.
I don't think the Spurs hired her because she is a she. I think they hired her because she played basketball just the way they teach it, tough, physical, and fundamental, even a little dirty, just the way Popovich likes it. If there is a woman who could coach in the NBA, it is Hammond.