The new Golden State Valkyries head coach — known for her obsessive work ethic — has spent significant time shadowing the Celtics’ head coach behind the scenes as she prepares for her first season in the lead chair.
BOSTON — Natalie Nakase knew she had the opportunity of a lifetime. After years of serving as an assistant coach — in the G League, NBA, and ultimately the WNBA — she had finally achieved a longtime dream of leading her own team. At last, the 44-year-old former UCLA point guard would be a head coach, selected to lead the WNBA’s incoming expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries.
Nakase, who was previously an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers (2018-2020) and Las Vegas Aces (2022-24), has no shortage of experience on the bench. Under Clippers coach Ty Lue, she earned the respect of dozens of NBA players.
Under the leadership of Becky Hammon, she won two WNBA championships alongside some of the best players in the sport. To this day, she credits Hammon for helping shape the WNBA into the league it is today — and for giving her a career-altering opportunity.
Still, in the wake of her hiring in Golden State, there was someone else in the coaching world Nakase was eager to get to know: Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, who just a few months earlier had become the youngest head coach in the NBA to win a championship since Bill Russell did so in 1968 at age 34.
“My biggest thing was: how can I pick the brains of head coaches that win quickly?” Nakase told SB Nation in an exclusive interview.
Nakase and Mazzulla had never met. But, the two shared a common background; both were undersized, tenacious guards on elite college basketball teams, Mazzulla at West Virginia (2006-2011) and Nakase at UCLA (1998-2003). Both later rose through the ranks in the G League.
A close mutual friend also bound the two coaches: Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell, who previously worked alongside Nakase on the Clippers.
Cassell was happy to facilitate.
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On its face, the mentorship is an unlikely pairing. Mazzulla is based in Boston, across the country from Nakase’s home base. The two have never worked together, and only share one common connection in Cassell.
But Nakase was sure she wanted to learn from Mazzulla because she saw a bit of herself in him, at least from afar.
The rest was history.
Joe Mazzulla was happy to take Natalie Nakase under his wing
From the moment Nakase met the Celtics’ head coach, his generosity struck her.
“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.’”
She was also struck by what she described as his “radical honesty” — whatever questions she had for him in those first few hours, he answered candidly, irrespective of how his answers might come off.
“[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 provided blunt, honest answers to all of Nakase’s inquiries. As such, when she asked him about his playing career, he answered plainly: “I sucked.”
For Mazzulla, the decision to welcome the Valkyries coach to Boston was a no-brainer.
“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.”
That might surprise those who have read the headlines regarding the intentional distance Mazzulla keeps from his coaching peers.
“It’s very important not to give away psychological tells,” he said back in November, elaborating on his reluctance to spend time with other NBA coaches.
But Nakase isn’t an NBA coach, and Mazzulla knows first-hand just how impactful cross-league mentorship can be. He’s famously credited Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola for taking him under his wing a few years back, when he assumed the Celtics head coach role.
“The biggest thing I wanted to take from him was: What’s it like before you win? What are the challenges that come with winning the first one? And what are you like now that you’ve won?” Mazzulla said on the “Men In Blazers” podcast earlier this month.
Manchester City X
Nakase had already seen that up close with the Aces, and it’s hard for her to put into words just how much she learned from Hammon.
“When I met her and started to work with her, I [was] like, ‘God, you’re just, like, the nicest person.’ She has a big heart,” Nakase said. “Her X’s and O’s are elite, but she just opens her heart right away. And when you do that, you get the real, authentic feel of players, and they poured right back into her. It was instant buy-in.
Still, while Nakase had no shortage of mentors — and thanks to Hammon, she was already intimately familiar with what a quick ascent to championship head coaching looked like — she still wanted to get another perspective regarding the process of leading a team to victory, from someone else who has done so resoundingly and quickly.
The Celtics’ head coach was happy to provide one.
“Regardless of the level or the league, I always have a heart for first-time head coaches,” Mazzula said. “Because I’ve been there.”
What Nakase learned from observing Mazzulla and the Celtics
She first traveled from San Francisco to Boston in the fall for a couple of days of shadowing the Celtics. Right away, she was blown away by Mazzulla’s attention to detail in the film room, and how in-sync his coaching staff was.
“His preparation was immaculate — how much time he put in, and just the way he has a very cohesive staff,” Nakase said. “It was really impressive. Everyone [on the coaching staff] was very efficient and thorough with what they brought to the table. And, at the end of the day, they always leave with a unified front.”
After the visit to Boston, she returned to the Bay to prepare for the Valkyries’ upcoming expansion draft, the mechanism through which she and the front office were able to build the Valkyries’ inaugural roster. The draft allowed Nakase to select up to one unprotected player from each of the WNBA’s 12 teams (each team was able to protect six players).
Figuring out who to select from the pool required countless hours of watching film and endless discussions with the Valkyries’ front office. But, once the draft occurred and Nakase’s accompanying media obligations were finally in the rearview, she mulled over how to spend her next few weeks.
The answer quickly became apparent.
She called Joe Mazzulla.
“Instead of going on vacation, I was like, ‘Hey, can I come back?’” Nakase said.
This time, the visit was longer — it spanned nearly a week of shadowing Mazzulla and the team in Boston. She observed film sessions, spoke with the Celtics’ players and assistants, and studied the head coach’s every move.
One game day, after she spectated on a morning shootaround, Mazzulla invited her to spend the day with him. But, his gameday routine wasn’t what she expected; between the 10 am shootaround and the evening game, the Celtics head coach doesn’t take a break.
Instead, he heads right from the Auerbach Center in Brighton to TD Garden in downtown Boston, where he spends his entire day.
Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images
“He was like, ‘Okay, we’re going straight to the arena.’ And I’m like, ‘Wait, what? Like, I thought I was gonna get a little break, go get lunch, and then meet him,” Nakase recalled, laughing.
Cassell made clear she didn’t have to go, but Nakase was eager to observe Mazzulla’s every move, from what he does when he first gets to the Auerbach Center in the morning, until the moment the game tips off.
“He has it pretty much scripted every hour,” Nakase said.
Part of Mazzulla’s pregame ritual is walking around TD Garden, a process that helps give him clarity. But what stood out most to Nakase from the time together was the human side — how he made sure to greet every person at TD Garden, and how much he truly valued each relationship.
“He cares about every single person in that arena,” she said. “He talked to every single employee. And I was like, ‘Wow. My job as a head coach is not just to coach basketball. It’s to really put an imprint on this community, on this arena, on everyone that works here — and everyone that sacrifices to make the game its best.’”
The result is a culture that Celtics players, assistant coaches, and staff were eager to gush to Nakase about.
“They’re just like, ‘This is the best organization that [we’ve] ever been a part of, whether it’s to play for him, or to work with him,’” she said. “They just said his ability to lead with a tough mindset, but also be thoughtful, was key. That’s something I kind of carry on my shoulders.”
Natalie Nakase sees a bit of herself in Joe Mazzulla
When Nakase first accepted the Valkyries job, Ty Lue raved about the relentless spirit of his former assistant coach.
“She’s just a hard worker — just dedicated to work, asks a lot of questions,” he told reporters. “You ask her a question she don’t know the answer to, she’s going to go get it. She’s kind of like my little protégé… I’m just happy she finally got an opportunity.”
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The opportunity was a long time coming.
Nakase began her NBA coaching career as an intern under the Clippers’ video coordinator in 2012. In 2014, she made history, becoming the first woman to sit on the bench as an NBA assistant while serving on the staff of the Clippers’ Summer League team. (Nakase narrowly beat out Hammon for this distinction — Hammon became the first full-time female assistant NBA coach just a few months later).
The two ended up linking up in Las Vegas, and Nakase loved coaching under Hammon so much that she was reluctant to leave the Aces for a different opportunity.
“But Becky was like, ‘Go interview!’” Nakase recalled. Later conversations with Joe Lacob, the owner of the Valkyries and Warriors, cemented in her mind that taking the job was the right move.
Since accepting the role, it’s been go, go, go for Nakase.
But she still prioritized spending time in Boston and studying Joe Mazzulla and the defending NBA champions.
“He has, of course, the crazy mindset, the ultra-competitive, win-or-die, play-like-your-life-depends-on-it mindset,” Nakase said with a smile.
“That’s why I wanted to come back and learn more.”
Mazzulla recognizes their similarities, too.
“The competitiveness is there, but also the way [she] thinks about the game from an analytical standpoint, how you build a roster,” he said of Nakase. “So, [we’re] taking from each other’s perspective.”
That’s not to say that the incoming Valkyries head coach is going to be the women’s basketball version of Mazzulla; for one, Nakase presents a much more jovial demeanor to the media. And, while she’s comfortable in her own skin, she’d be the first to admit that the Celtics’ head coach takes it to another level.
“He’s real, he’s honest, he’s authentic, he’s not afraid to be himself,” Nakase said. “And I think I carry that, but he does it to an extreme. It’s really showing me to just be yourself — just be your true self.”
Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald via Getty Images
But, at their core, though both are obsessed with the sport itself, both talk openly about the importance of prioritizing personal relationships and elevating the people around them.
“At the end of the day, I want to make sure that everyone in my circle — and every one of my staff and my family — they’re getting taken care of,” Nakase said.
Nakase and the Valkyries are set to embark on their first adventure, and Mazzulla is there to support
The Valkyries season will tip off in just a few short months, with their first game slated for May 16 against the Los Angeles Sparks. Their roster includes Veronica Burton, Monique Billings, Julie Vanloo, Kate Martin, and Kayla Thornton, among others — all players who Nakase says were selected for their competitive nature.
She feels lucky to have been in the position to help hand-pick who would make up the first roster she ever leads in the WNBA.
“If you study the 11 players that I already chose, they fit all those characteristics that we really want, that are really important, in order to have a championship culture in the future,” she said.
The Valkyries weren’t able to land any major free-agency acquisitions. In fact, they’re slated to be the only team in the WNBA that won’t have a former All-Star on the roster next season.
But Burton, who was a backup point guard for the Connecticut Sun last year, told SB Nation she thinks the group assembled will surprise people.
“We all have a chip on our shoulder, and we’re all ready to compete,” Burton said. “Everyone kind of assumes, you know, ‘first year, we’ll see what they can do. Just make the most of what you have.’ But when you have just kind of the mindset that you’re hungry and the underdog mindset — at least for me, I don’t know, I have really high expectations for this year. The grittiness will come out, and just the passion and excitement to play.”
Nakase’s expectations are sky-high, too.
“I want to work really, really hard — that’s just kind of how I’m built,” she said. “I’m very competitive. I hate losing.”
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Mazzulla plans to continue supporting the Valkyries’ head coach as she embarks on the adventure.
“She’s got a great opportunity. She’s a young head coach,” Mazzulla says, adding that he asks himself, “How can we be there [for her] as a staff?”
Nakase reiterated just how unusual it is for a head coach to allow another coach to shadow them this extensively in the middle of the season.
And, as she gets closer to tip-off, the gratitude is setting in.
“Joe and the Celtics — they didn’t have to do that, but they let me in their space,” Nakase said. “And I’m going to be forever grateful.”
