In her time as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics, Kara Lawson kept her focus on the players, even if it meant depriving the media of a first-person account of her own story as an NBA trailblazer. With few women in the coaching ranks of the league and none with Boston – as in, ever before – her hiring by the team was a story unto itself. But Lawson was determined to keep her job itself the focal point, at least while she was with the Celtics, as she related in an interviewwith the "Coach 2 Coach" podcast. "My approach in my time in Boston was, number one, I wanted to be a contributor," said Lawson. "I wanted to make sure that I was bringing something to the table every day."
"And that something didn't have to be loud," she continued.
"That something didn't have to be apparent to those on the outside. I wanted the guys in the locker room to believe in what I was bringing and believe that I added to the group. And in order to do that, you have to, as a coach, work your butt off. That's what it is. It's the competency that you bring, your knowledge of the scheme, your knowledge of the terminology, your knowledge of the opponent, of your players that you're entrusted in working with."
"Make sure that I was always prepared, because there's nothing worse for a player having been a professional player for 13 years, there's nothing worse than an unprepared coach," Lawson added. "And so that's what I put my focus on was just being that every day for the players that I worked with, and then for also the team and the staff that I worked with. I knew if I did that and I threw myself into that, that I would grow and develop."
"And I knew I was in a great organization, and in my opinion, the best in the NBA and such a storied organization," said the Duke Women's Basketball head coach. "And there's so many great things about it."
"And I was working with a great coach and with great staff, great players. And those young men that I got a chance to coach, I mean, they're amazing and (I was) really, really happy that I had that opportunity to be with them for that season. So that was really the focus. I wasn't thinking about more than that, just focusing on the job. And I remember that year, because I was a female, it was a story. I was the first female coach in Boston Celtics history. I turned down every interview – I had to do one in the summer, I think. And then after that, I just, I just said to the organization, like, And unless you guys want me to do, obviously I would do anything for the organization, unless you want me to do them, are you okay with me just saying no to all of them?"
"And so I think that made some people mad, but I was uninterested in talking about whatever impact I had," said Lawson. "I was most interested in improving my worth to the group in the building."
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Why Kara Lawson didn't want to be a story with the Boston Celtics
