The Santa Cruz Warriors revealed second-year Head Coach Nicholas Kerr’s coaching staff for the 2024-25 NBA G League season on Tuesday. Hilton Armstrong and Ben Stelzer have both been named assistant coaches.
Zach Harris has been hired as assistant general manager. The Golden State and Santa Cruz Warriors also announced other promotions and additions within their basketball operations and scouting departments ahead of the 2024-25 season.
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Armstrong enters his fourth season within the Warriors organization. He served as a player development coach for Golden State the past two seasons. In his first year with the Warriors, Armstrong acted as an assistant video coordinator on the 2021-22 championship team.
Santa Cruz Warriors coach Nicholas Kerr, middle, gestures during the NBA G League team’s basketball practice last season in Santa Cruz. (Jeff Chiu – The Associated Press file)
Armstrong, who was selected by the New Orleans Pelicans with the 12th overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, appeared in 292 games over six seasons with the Pelicans, Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets, Washington Wizards, Atlanta Hawks, and Golden State Warriors. He also played two seasons for Santa Cruz and earned All-NBA G League Second Team and NBA G League All-Defensive Second Team honors during the 2013-14 season.
Stelzer enters his second season with the team, his first as assistant coach. Last season, Stelzer served as a coaching associate/basketball operations coordinator for the Sea Dubs. Prior to joining the Warriors organization, Stelzer served as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Michigan Technological University, his alma mater, for two years. Stelzer also worked for the Dallas Mavericks as a player development intern from 2019-2021.
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Harris, who has four years of NBA G League experience, begins his first season with Santa Cruz. He worked for the Grand Rapids Gold as a basketball strategy coordinator for the 2022-23 season, the Capital City Go-Go from 2018-20 as a basketball operations assistant, and interned for the Iowa Wolves in 2017. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Kentucky in 2017, where he also worked as a manager for the men’s basketball team.
Additionally, Cody Hamane has been named head performance coach for the Sea Dubs. Santa Cruz has also hired Jordan Brooks, Mark Tollefsen, and Alec Vucinich as basketball operations/coaching associates. Noah Robotham has been promoted to manager of basketball operations after spending last season as a coaching associate/basketball operations coordinator in Santa Cruz.
The Golden State Warriors also announced the promotion of four former Santa Cruz employees. Noel Hightower, who has been with the Warriors for the past two seasons and spent last year as an assistant coach in Santa Cruz, has been promoted to player development coach. Former Santa Cruz Associate General Manager Jonnie West has been promoted to senior director of pro personnel in his 13th season with the Warriors. Maclean Osborne and Michael Salame have both been named scouts for Golden State. Osborne, who is entering his sixth season with the Warriors, spent his first three years within the organization in Santa Cruz, serving as a basketball operations associate and later as the manager of basketball operations & player development from 2019-2022. Salame, also entering his sixth season with the Warriors, served as director of basketball operations & player personnel in Santa Cruz for the past two seasons.