Rebecca
"Becky" Lynn Hammon, born March 11, 1977, is a
professional basketball player currently under
contract with the San Antonio Silver Stars of
the WNBA and CSKA of the Russian SuperLeague.
Hammon grew up as the youngest of three children
and played high school basketball at Stevens
High School in her hometown of Rapid City, South
Dakota. As a junior, she was South Dakota Miss
Basketball. As a senior, she was voted the South
Dakota Player of the Year after averaging 26
points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists per game.
Hammon had a distinguished career at Colorado
State. Her prolific scoring made her an
All-American as well as Colorado Sportswoman of
the Year. She led her team to a 33-3 record in
the 1998-1999 season and helped them advance to
the NCAA Tournament's Sweet Sixteen. She was the
WAC Mountain Division player of the year for the
1998-1999 season and surpassed University of
Utah player Keith Van Horn as the WAC's all-time
leading scorer.
Hammon set many Colorado State all-time records,
including points (2,740), points per game
(21.92), field goals made (918), free throws
made (539), three-point field goals made (365),
assists (538) and steals (315).
On November 12, 2004, Hammon was inducted into
the Colorado State University Sports Hall of
Fame. On January 22, 2005, her #25 Colorado
State jersey was retired at the Moby Arena.
Un-drafted during her rookie season, Hammon was
signed to the WNBA on May 12, 1999 and joined
the New York Liberty. She had a surprisingly
solid rookie season statistically, backing up
starting point guard Teresa Weatherspoon. Her
aggressive play at both ends of the court made
her a favorite among Liberty fans. After the
2003 season, Hammon took over for Teresa
Weatherspoon as the Liberty's starting point
guard and along with Vickie Johnson and Crystal
Robinson, became one of the team's co-captains
in 2004.
In her first season in 2003 with the Tennessee
Fury of the NWBL (National Women's Basketball
League), Hammon led the league in scoring,
averaging 20.6 points per game. In 2004, Hammon
signed with the Colorado Chill, a new team to
the NWBL, but played in only 2 games because of
a knee injury she sustained in the 2003 season
when playing for the New York Liberty.
On August 16, 2005, Hammon scored her 2000th
WNBA career point. At the end of the 2005
season, she was named to the All-WNBA Second
Team.
On April 4, 2007, during the WNBA Draft, Hammon
was traded to the Silver Stars along with a
second round draft pick in the 2008 draft for
Jessica Davenport, the draft’s second overall
pick.
Hammon's impact in San Antonio was immediate as
she had the best season of her career, posting
career high averages of 18.8 ppg and 5.0 apg
(first in WNBA). Hammon's incredible season
didn't go unnoticed and she finished second in
MVP voting, earned WNBA First Team honors as
well as WNBA Peak Performer honors for leading
the league in assists. She became only the
second player in WNBA history to be voted to the
All-Star Game for both the East and West.
While in San Antonio, Hammon earned the
nickname, "Big Shot Becky" because of her
ability to hit shots in clutch moments. It comes
from the nickname "Big Shot Rob" given to
then-San Antonio Spurs forward, Robert Horry.
In her second year with the Silver Stars, Hammon
averaged 17.6 ppg, and 4.9 apg as she helped
lead the Silver Stars to a WNBA best record
24-10 and their first WNBA Finals. In the
conference semifinals, Hammon scored 30 pts in a
Game 1 win against the Sacramento Monarchs. San
Antonio went on to win the series and advance to
the conference finals. After losing game one of
the Western Conference Finals to Los Angeles,
San Antonio managed to stave off elimination on
a prayer with Sophia Young hitting a buzzer beat
for the 67-66 Stars win. In game 3 of the series
Hammon scored 35 points, tying Lisa Leslie of
the Los Angles Sparks for the second most points
scored in a WNBA playoff game.
Hammon also became a member of the elite
3000/800 club in 2008, as one of a handful of
WNBA players to score 3,000 career points and
dish 800 career assists.
Hammon also became a Naturalized Russian citizen
in March of 2008. The Russian passport opened up
many new basketball opportunities for the
veteran guard. With Hammon’s CSKA sports
director also serving as coach of the Russian
National Team, she received an invite to play
for Russia in the upcoming 2008 Olympics. After
much agonizing over the decision, plenty of
prayers and conversations with close friends and
family, Hammon announced join the Russian
national team, fulfilling her own lifelong dream
to compete in an Olympics.
That August Hammon joined the Russian squad in
Beijing and helped her adopted country to a
bronze medal, scoring 22 points against China in
the medal round.
In 2009 Becky
Hammon was named to the EuroLeague All-Star Game
and was named MVP. Hammon also competed in the
Three-Point Shoot Out at halftime and won that
competition.
During the 2009
WNBA season, Hammon was the 2nd in overall
voting for the 2009 WNBA All-Star Game. Hammon
once again participated in the Three-Point Shoot
Out and won again. We could easily say that
Hammon was the worlds best three point shooter
in 2009.
After the 2009
WNBA season, Becky signed with Spain's Ros
Casares basketball team to play during the WNBA
offseason. She helped them win the Queens Cup.
In 2010 Becky
kicked off with an appearance at the 2010 NBA
All-Star Weekend by participating in the NBA
All-Star Celebrity Game. Becky's and her Western
Conference team won 41-37. Becky also competed
in the NBA Haier Shooting Stars Competition and
teamed with Dirk Nowitzki and
Steve Smith to form Team Texas and won the 2010
Haier Shooting Stars Competition at the NBA All-Star
Weekend.
In March of
2010 Becky was inducted into the South Dakota
High School Basketball Hall of Fame |
