Getting advice from a championship-winning coach is always a good idea
That is what new Golden State Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase did as a report by WNBA writer Noe Dalzell revealed she’s elicited advice from Boston Celtics’ Joe Joe Mazzulla
@NoaDalzellJoe Mazzulla and Natalie Nakase spent time on the court together[/caption]
The Golden State Valkyries are the WNBA‘s latest expansion team and will make their long anticipated debut in the league this season.
Picking a head coach is always a difficult job but for the Valkyries there was a clear front runner in Nakase.
As the WNBA season opener gets closer, Nakase had a desire to learn from coaches and Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla stood out to her.
Mazzulla like Nakase are both relatively young, the Celtics coach became the youngest head coach in the NBA to win a championship since Bill Russell did so in 1968 at age 34.
Although for Nakase, seeking the advice of Mazzulla was born out of the desire to learn from coaches who win quick.
“My biggest thing was: how can I pick the brains of head coaches that win quickly?” Nakase told SB Nation in an exclusive interview.
Mazulla won the NBA championship in his second season with the Boston Celtics, after making the Eastern Conference finals the year before.
Once Nakase got into contact with Mazzulla, he was happy to help her and was incredibly generous she told SB.
“He was like, ‘What do you want to know? What questions do you have for me?’” Nakase recalled. “I’m like, ‘Are you for real? Like, aren’t you in-season?’ And he was like, ‘I got time.’
“[He was] like, ‘this is me, this is who I am, and take it however you want,’” Nakase said. “And I think it’s kind of his mentality, right? Like, win-or-die.”
Mazzulla’s decision to help Nakase was an easy one.
“One of the things that I like to give back to coaching is really being there for young coaches who are getting a great opportunity, who haven’t done it before,” Mazzulla told SB Nation.
“[I’m] just trying to give the perspective of what comes with that, the good and the bad.”
Nakase has made no secret she wants to win at Golden State and win quickly, just like Mazzula did.
Nakase joins Golden State with 16 years of professional coaching experience.
The past three seasons she was an assistant coach with the 2022 and 2023 WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces, where she also served as their top scout for college and international athletes.
Before her stint in Las Vegas, she spent 10 seasons with the NBA‘s LA Clippers.
Nakase stood out as a candidate, according to general manager Ohemaa Nyanin, because of her “extremely driven” and inquisitive nature, her work ethic and role as a “unifier.”
Nakase even revealed that during her first lunch with team owner Joe Lacob, he told her “within the first ten minutes” of their meeting: “‘You’re going to have to win in five years.’”
“And I’m like, ‘Alright, let’s go,’” says Nakase, who was impressed with Lacob’s work ethic.
“He told me a lot about his background too, of how he became successful and how he just works really, really hard and he just focuses on the goal.”
However, the WNBA is full of contenders, so Nakase has her work cut out for her.
