Former Celtics Player Has Bold Prediction For Next Coach

The Boston Celtics will undergo some momentous changes this offseason.

After 18 years as president of basketball operations, longtime executive Danny Ainge announced his retirement on Wednesday morning. In conjunction with that news, Brad Stevens also left his post as head coach to take over Ainge’s vacated role.

As his first order of business, Stevens will hire his successor.

A slew of former Celtics players have already released their favorites to land the newly-opened head coaching job. Retired Boston fan-favorite Brian Scalabrine was the most recent to do so.

During an appearance with NBC Sports Boston on Wednesday, “The White Mamba” explained why Duke women’s coach/former Celtics assistant Kara Lawson is the perfect fit for the organization.

“I think they are going to hire Kara Lawson,” Scalabrine said. “I know the organization thinks she is unbelievable. I know the players respect her, which she went down to Duke to coach the women’s team there. I am just putting A + B = C. To me, I think they hire Kara Lawson.”

If the Celtics were to make this hire, Lawson would become the first woman in NBA history to take over a full-time head coaching job (Spurs assistant Becky Hammon served as acting head coach for one game after Gregg Popovich was ejected).

According to Scalabrine, she is more than cut out for the job.

“She’s insanely good,” the 2008 NBA champion said. “It’s not one of those things where, ‘Well, she’s good for a female.’ No, no, no. She walked into practice and she commanded practice right from the jump… She’s elite at what she does.”

“I started asking the other coaches about her and it was authentically like she is on a completely different level as a basketball coach. I am glad she went out there and took the Duke job because she was like, ‘I want to be a head coach. I want head-coaching experience.’

After 13 years as a star in the WNBA (2003-15), Lawson joined Stevens’ Celtics staff for the 2019-20 season. With the respect of current players and the team’s new president, Scalabrine believes she’s the best woman for the job:

“When you think about these players and who they already know and you’re bringing in someone the players respect and Brad [Stevens] respects, to me it makes the most sense.”

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