She didn't tell many people, but new Duke women's coach Kara Lawson had the Blue Devils on her short list of college teams she'd leave the Celtics to coach.
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00:00 I can't say I had it planned out.
00:04 Most of the time I plan things out in life,
00:07 they end up not happening exactly how you think it's going to happen, right?
00:11 I mean, that's certainly been my journey.
00:12 I'm sure that's consistent with some of your journeys as well.
00:17 Yeah, I mean, Brad referenced this yesterday.
00:19 We went for a walk a few months ago.
00:25 Brad Stevens, our Celtics head coach, and his wife, Tracy.
00:28 And just had an honest conversation about the future
00:33 and what were some of my goals.
00:36 And I won't share them all with you,
00:40 but what I will say is one of the places
00:46 that I would have loved at that time,
00:51 would have loved to have an opportunity to coach was Duke.
00:54 And I didn't share that with, I don't know, very many people.
00:58 Probably just my family and Brad.
01:01 There wasn't too many people that knew that.
01:03 But I knew that if it ever came open,
01:08 that I was going to try and put my best foot forward
01:11 and try and see if I could secure the position.
01:15 That's how highly I thought of the institution.
01:17 That's how highly I thought of the job.
01:19 And certainly had no idea that it would happen a year
01:23 after I went to Boston.
01:26 So to answer your question, it was not in the plans,
01:28 so to speak.
01:30 But when the right opportunity comes along,
01:34 you have to take it.
01:36 And that's the same process that I used to join the Celtics
01:40 a year ago was a similar process that I used this year.
01:45 I think when you find a place that their values
01:49 align with yours and they have a high standard
01:53 that they hold themselves to, if that fits,
01:56 and you can feel that, if that fits,
01:58 then it's probably the right place for you.
02:02 And that's what I felt about the Celtics
02:05 when I first talked with Brad Stevens and Danny Ainge.
02:09 And that's what I felt about Duke
02:11 when I first talked with Nina King and Kevin White.
02:14 And so it is very similar in that regard.
02:18 But, no, I didn't intend to have a 12-month stay in the NBA.
02:23 That certainly wasn't my intention.
02:24 I thought I'd be there for a while.