The statement isn't meant to be an apologist as much as it is a realization that it's not necessarily a simple fix.

In one sense it's a pipeline issue because unlike on the player side, there aren't overwhelming numbers of black coaches with high-regard like there are for players. If most college and pro teams were white despite premiere high-school teams being made up of non-Whites there would be an obvious issue.

Without a large number of 'ready', talented coaches, it's less of a sell to go to owners with a valid complaint that there is an uneven course to a head coach position relative to White coaches in similar situations.

But we all know here that there are complications with that.

Whether the actions are overt or just ingrained, White coaches tend to get more high-profile assistant jobs sooner than Blacks. That's just a reality that very basic research and analysis can unearth.

Maybe the reason is that former White players feel that their days in basketball are over sooner than their Black counterparts and make a conscious effort to immerse themselves in coaching culture before their career is over in college to get a 'head start'. Maybe the reason is simply White head coaches preferring to work with a coach that looks and thinks like they do and mentoring a Black coaching prospect is an endeavor that would eat up bandwidth that they feel is unnecessary.

I can't say for sure. Neither way is explicitly wrong in a moral sense, but obviously the end result is negligibly different from the state the league was in decades ago and ought to change.

There is also a hiring issue. I think Howard Beck mentioned that Black coaches tend to be hired on teams with poorer prospects than White head coaches. Fizdale was kind of an anomaly in that he was hired to coach a playoff team as his first job. Especially without being a high-profile player.

It seems in order to be Black and get a good job, the coach has to have yield some influence and power and maybe earn the good graces of executives by being viewed as 'intelligent' like Doc, Kidd, and Derek Fisher were.

While Doc ended up with a good job in Boston, he had to coach the hell out of those Orlando teams, and if memory serves me right, he got pushed out right at the time they got Dwight, right? Kidd and D. Fish got good jobs but they had solid reputations as heady players before they took on their coaching jobs.

There's also the culture of corporate America which these coaches must navigate and that culture has proven to be extremely difficult to survive unless a man of color tempers his demonstration of intense emotions. Doc and Pop yell, yes. But I can't even imagine Doc being able to rip into players like the first coaches mentioned, much less be rude to the press like they can be at times.

But maybe the issue is that the problem is less odious as it has been.

With NBA fans generally being more liberal than fans of other sports, there still might not be the motivation within the larger culture to activate the owners towards making overt actions towards inclusivity and welcome more men of color, women of color, and white women into positions of power on the executive and management level.

Plus, with the culture still showing overt signs of racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and sexism there's a definite cross-section of the public that thinks all groups should be happy that they can vote and / or get married and get over everything else.

If there were only one or two coaches who are people of color (haven't forgotten about you, Spo) then there's an obvious perception issue and the league might put pressure on teams behind the doors to advocate for Black head coaches.

But with the numbers not riling up either fans or players, for that matter to speak out, there just isn't the political currency for anything to get done with respect to Black head coaches.

As far as solutions, it might take an owner or GM to begin to rock the apple cart and begin to talk about the coaching ranks and the limitations of the current 'system' to allow for equity. It also might help if some White activist can frame civil rights in terms that doesn't always equate 'equality' with Whites handing over power rather than instead investing in partners who in time will help themselves and also be able to fully support Whites and be viewed with the respect that Whites offer themselves at times.

I hoped to end this on a rosier note, but yeah. It's a bad situation that for whatever reason may not improve in the near future.