Boston Celtics

‘Time to shake it up’: Billboard near Celtics facility urges Brad Stevens to hire female coach

"Hire Kara or Becky!"

Celtics billboard
A billboard advocating for the Celtics to hire either Kara Lawson or Becky Hammon as the next coach was purchased near the team's practice facility near Boston Landing. Handout

By Tom Westerholm

1 minute to read

A billboard recently placed near the Celtics practice facility urges new President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens to hire a female coach as his replacement after he was promoted to replace Danny Ainge earlier this month.

“Hey Brad, it’s time to shake it up,” the billboard reads. “Hire Kara or Becky!”

The Celtics will reportedly consider both Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon and Duke women’s basketball head coach Kara Lawson for the open position, among other candidates both within the organization and outside of it.

Lawson, who began her career as an assistant coach for the Celtics, was asked about the rumors during a recent Bleacher Report AMA.

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“I’ve done really well in my career by focusing on myself in the moment,” Lawson said. “I loved my time in Boston. I loved coaching those players. It was a special time in my life. The speculation, you can chase a lot of rabbits down a lot of holes.”

Stevens, meanwhile, has spoken glowingly of Hammon in the past, and she is consistently linked in rumors to head coaching jobs.

“Becky obviously is a terrific candidate [for a head-coaching position],” Stevens said last year. “I know what people think about her, and I know how well she is respected all across the league by the players and the coaches.”

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Both Hammon and Chauncey Billups, another reported candidate for the Celtics job, will interview with the Portland Trail Blazers this week. Stevens has also reportedly reached out requesting interviews with assistant coaches around the league, including Nets assistant Ime Udoka and Bucks assistants Darvin Ham and Charles Lee.

“The good news about whoever we hire, they don’t have to fill Doc Rivers’s shoes like I did, and they don’t have to fill Danny Ainge’s shoes now like I do,” Stevens quipped at his introductory press conference. “The good news is they just have to figure out a way to be better than the last guy.”

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