One of the best basketball people youll ever meet. Congrats to Kara
Duke Women’s Basketball Hiring Celtics’ Kara Lawson as HC
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One of the best basketball people youll ever meet. Congrats to Kara
dope af
Why don't womens teams have all women's coaches anyway?
daboywonder2002
Superstar
Nothing wrong with men coaching women's sports if they choose that route. I just don't want men coaches taking ALL the women sporting gigs.
congrats to her...i remember i saw her a few years ago and she was much tallwr than i thought she was going to be lol
Captain Crunch
Veteran
Clap for her
mastermind
Rest In Power Kobe
I remember her at West Springfield, here in the DC area.Congrats to her, damn I remember her balling for Pat Summit like it was yesterday .
Very happy for her. She is really damn knowledgeable about the game! I didn’t know she was with Celtics. Very interesting to see if she can coach men. Seems like?
Cel 510 kid ados forever
Veteran
Kara got a great basketball mind
Duke a good program
Wish her the best
Duke a good program
Wish her the best
Teaching and schooling, Kara Lawson is a true coach with the...I remember her at West Springfield, here in the DC area.
Very happy for her. She is really damn knowledgeable about the game! I didn’t know she was with Celtics. Very interesting to see if she can coach men. Seems like?
Teaching and schooling, Kara Lawson is a true coach with the Celtics
By Fred Katz
Nov 14, 2019
BOSTON — No one is talking about the real irony from Wednesday.
Sure, Isaiah Thomas’ first return to Boston as a starter since leaving in 2017 stole the headlines leading up to the Wizards’ game at TD Garden. Memories of the 2017 playoff series between the Wiz and Celtics picked up the scraps. But both of those histories are starting to fade with each season that passes. It’s been almost three years since Thomas was battling John Wall and just as long since Thomas has been donning green. And besides, Wednesday’s 140-133 Celtics victory included one subtler hello from a former Wizards fan favorite.
Wave back at Carsen Edwards.
Each of the four 3s Edwards sank against the Wizards helped create, in their own ways, the most contorted revenge game possible — and it wasn’t “revenge” for Edwards, who has played a grand total of nine NBA games after the Celtics drafted him in the second round of this past June’s draft. Instead, it was for his coach. Because the Boston developmental assistant who has worked most with the rookie is none other than former Wizards in-game broadcast analyst Kara Lawson.
“Coming in, we knew she played and she really knows the game,” Celtics guard Marcus Smart said. “A lot of people probably don’t really understand how well she knows the game and understands it. It’s just been a blast. She has different ways of looking at things and she really, really puts things into perspective for you. And it’s just a different feel.”
Lawson, who played for 12 years in the WNBA and has worked as a studio analyst for Kings games as well as a broadcaster for ESPN, left NBC Sports Washington this summer when the Celtics offered her a position on Brad Stevens’ bench. Coaching is hardly new to her. She will lead Team U.S.A. three-on-three in the 2020 Olympics. Joining the Celtics, however, makes for her first NBA gig.
Kara Lawson teamed with Steve Buckhantz to call Wizards games before joining the Celtics’ coaching staff. (Rocky Widner / NBAE via Getty Images)
She has spent more time instructing Edwards and Smart than any other players. But she’s known Kemba Walker ever since she called the All-Star’s games when he was just a student at the University of Connecticut. She’s known rookie forward Grant Williams, a former collegiate teammate of Wizards forward Admiral Schofield, for years because the two share the same alma mater, the University of Tennessee.
“When I heard she was coming to Boston, I was excited because I was stealing from Admiral, and that’s always good when I can take something from Admiral,” Williams joked. “But it was just a super exciting moment because I was like, I have someone I actually know up there. I get to go through the process with someone who’s going through the same thing as me. Brand new environment. Brand new position. It was just good to have a familiar face around.”
Different assistants get assigned different development projects. But it’s not like Lawson is limited just to Edwards and Smart, even if tagging her to the two is no coincidence. She was a heady guard, herself, and can still shoot like few others.
She’ll scout other teams’ defenses and help during film sessions. She’ll teach strategy. All the while, she’s tried to stay out of the spotlight as much as she can.
“Her communication is off the charts. I mean, it’s as high a level as anybody’s,” Stevens said. “She’s able to communicate a lot in very concise thoughts. I don’t know if it’s all that training at ESPN. I have heard her talk about (former Tennessee coach Pat Summit’s) influence on her in that regard. She’s a special communicator.”
She’s teaching but also schooling players in the process.
“She actually used a couple of moves when I was playing defense. Like, a shimmy dribble and she head faked and then drove by. I was like, ‘Ooooh, she has something to her game. No wonder she was a bucket,’” Williams said. “But definitely made me laugh … And she kept laughing because she had me, like, three times at practice. And I was like, ‘Oh, I need to be better on defense.’”
Lawson declined a request to interview for this story, which is hardly out of character.
Because of her broadcasting career, she’s not just one of the most well-known assistants amongst casual fans on the Celtics’ roster. She’s also one of the most recognizable in the NBA. And she’s made a point to steer away from that.
She laid out some of the reasons she chose Boston while speaking to a group of reporters back in July, shortly after she joined the team.
“For me, this was a good fit,” she said. “I wanted to go somewhere where I’d be challenged. I wanted to go somewhere where I would be allowed to coach. And I wanted an organization that was going to be playing in big games.”
When Edwards drained nine 3s in a preseason game last month, reporters wanted to speak with Lawson about his development. She would do it only under the condition that questions were strictly about Edwards and not about his coach.
Now, Edwards is opening up his jumper. With Smart, Lawson has focused on shot selection and playmaking. If it involves seeing the floor, she is there to help. That’s what coaches do.
“When you’re going on a hot streak, she makes sure she keeps you down as humble but also praises you at the same time,” Smart said. “She’s very insightful. She does her homework. She really studies the game. When you’re talking to her, you really talk to her about anything and different situations and she could tell you exactly what you need to know.
“It’s ridiculous. It is. She’s unbelievable, man. She’s a big key add to this organization.”