April 9, 2025 • 24 mins
On this episode of Her Playbook, Madelyn Burke sits down with Natalie Nakase, Head Coach of the Golden State Valkyries, the newest expansion team in the WNBA. She discusses how she fell in love with basketball, what she learned from her mentors, including Doc Rivers and Becky Hammon, and the team culture she is building in San Francisco.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to an all new episode of Her Playbook, a
podcast highlighting inspiring stories of women in business and sports.
Her Playbook is brought to you by Kendra Scott and
is a part of the Giants podcast platforms.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
My name is Madeline Burke, and this week I'm thrilled
to be joined by the very first head coach in
the history of the WNBA's expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries,
Natalie Nicasse.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Now, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I feel like that is still so much fun for
me to say about you.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
How how has.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
This experience been for you, being the very first head
coach of a franchise.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah, it's been a roller coaster ride. It's kind of
like all go, no breaks right now, just because like
as soon as I got hired, it was right into
Expansion Draft and right into you know, now we're in
free agency. Now we're into college draft. So you know,
it's a lot, but like that's kind of like my
mentality is just like dive in and just go, go, go.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Yeah, and the expansion Draft, that's such a unique process
to go through, right It's unlike a regular draft. You're
kind of scouting players that you've seen playing throughout the
league elsewhere already.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Yeah, it is. Actually I think I took it as
an advantage. People are like, oh, it's expansion team. You
guys are not gonna you know, your expectations are low,
you don't have to compete, you know all this stuff,
and no, like you actually get to hand pick players
you know that are going to fit your culture. Like
people are like, the culture is your players, and so
I've got to hand pick high character players, players that
(01:24):
work hard, players who like love, like the chip on
their shoulder. Like the fact that we got to choose
those players. I think that to me, it's an advantage
rather than a disadvantage.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Absolutely, And building a culture from the ground up, from scratch,
from piece one. I mean I love the adage too.
It takes years to build an overnight success. Right now,
you've been around the game for decades, and I want
to go back to the beginning. Where did you first
fall in love with the game of basketball? How did
you know that this game was going to be a
(01:55):
big part of your life.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah, I mean I think I knew, but I didn't
know at a young age. You know, my dad was
probably the reason why I fell in love with basketball.
He taught us. He trained us like you know, a
little basketball players at a young age, and I learned
like that was my love language with my dad. He
was my best friend. That's all we knew, that's all
we did together. And so I think I was in
(02:19):
love with it at a young age. I just didn't
even realize until probably times where it got taken away. So,
you know, tore my a cl my freshman year at UCLA.
So I think by then, when you're you have to
fully stop, completely removed. Eight months, I mean that's when
I knew, like, oh, I can't breathe without basketball, So
that's I think it was a shock. But I think
I was falling in love with it, you know, since
(02:40):
the age of six when I started.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yeah, well, and you were good at it too. You
are good at but you were an excellent player in
high school nineteen ninety eight Orange County Player of the
Year by both the LA Times and the OC Register,
set school records and assists, steals, three pointers made Natalie
Decasse fallen. But despite all that, wasn't immediately like okay,
(03:03):
you're all the scholarship offers too. There was a little
bit of a hurdle.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
You were a walk on at UCLAA.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Talk about that process of being at the top of
your game still had to kind of fight for your
place in it.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah. So funny story was like at the time when
I wasn't getting like these really big schools like looking
after or calling me, I was kind of like, are
these coaches crazy? Like I kind of was like, what
is going on here? You know what I mean? Why
wouldn't they like be like, okay, yeah, one in three fourths.
I'm not the average college player of like five eight.
(03:35):
But I just kind of was like I thought they
were crazy for not recruiting me, you know. And it
internally like I knew my mindset, I knew my hard work,
so that's kind of why, like why didn't that kind
of be a big piece of you know, my recruitment.
But I took it on as a challenge, okay, like
you Stily wasn't knocking out my door. You want me
to walk on? And when Kathy Olivia was like You're
(03:56):
gonna have to earn your scholarship every year, and I'm like,
where do I So? All right, I'm getting I'm like
that's it. I go, Kathy, once you see me work,
once you see kind of what I can bring to
the table every single day, like my work ethic, You're
going to fall in love with me. And sure enough,
you know, I ended up being a captain for three
years and a starting point guard three years. And so yeah,
I hear when I hear no, I'm like, right, let
(04:18):
me prove it to you, Let me prove you wrong,
and you know, onto the next And also.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
There's gotten be this kind of comfort in knowing that
your own preparation and your own understanding of the game
is something you can fall back on, right And when
you walk into a situation like that where people, maybe
not everyone else is clamoring at believing in you, but
you can believe in yourself because you know how prepared
you are.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Yes, that's the key. You just said it right there,
Like believing in yourself. It's a key to anything, whether
it's whatever job that you want or whatever dream that
you want to accomplish. Like, yeah, it's the believing yourself
because yes, that can get tainted, right, Like failure can
get tainted or like losing or just you know, not
getting the job that you wanted. But for me, I'm
like every failure is a lesson learned, Like, you can
(05:00):
learn from it, you can grow from it. That's when
you see change is when Yeah, so to me, fail
as much as you can, because that's really going to
prepare you and you know you're going to believe in
yourself even more.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah, and I feel like you learn so much more
from those failures than you do from the successes. And
also from the moments like you mentioned where the game
was taken away from you. You had knee injury in
college and at the pro level, when you had to
learn how to come back from something like that, What
did that do to your mentality? What kind of a
hurdle was that and how did that impact you not
(05:32):
just as a player then, but also the way you coach.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Now, yeah, that's a great question because in college, like
you're just trying to survive, you're living on your own,
right like going back. But no, that again, that was
when I realized, like I can't breathe without basketball. Like
athletes are just programmed to be very you know, habitual,
like they like habits, say, like routines, And so when
that routine got you know, completely like distorted, then I
(05:58):
really got shook. I got depressed. I mean, like when
you can't get on the court every day. Like I
got really depressed. At one point. I was like, is
this going to be it for me? You know? So
I got really low. But like in the back of
my mind, my dad is saying there's no quit in
like how I raised you. So that wasn't even like
even having I thought of having a new conversation with
my dad like hey, Dad, I think I'm going to
(06:19):
step away from basketball. Like no, that wasn't happening. That
I'd rather go the other way. So, yeah, it's just
kind of like the mentality of the mindset kind of
that my dad instilled in me is it's a thing
that really kind of kept me pushing and you know,
overcoming like all the adversity that kind of went with
you know, tearing your acl Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Now, the first time you did, of course in college.
The second time you did it was the pros. You
played professionally in the NWBL for two seasons, and you
played in Germany overseas first. So what's the difference between
the domestic and the international level of play or type
of play as a professional.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I think the overseas is way more physical, Like when
I was played in Germany, I got pushed in the bag,
I got pushed and kicked in the head. Everything like
it was so physical, no foult and I'm sitting there
like screaming, and you know people the Reskins speak German,
but I'm just sitting there screaming. But now it's just
it was just really physical. But you have to learn.
You have to learn to adjust, you know, you have
(07:15):
to learn to maybe be a little bit more skilled
rather than I'll tell you this, I stopped going to
the paint. I really did. I stopped driving into the paint.
I wanted to live and survive. But no, so I
would say, yeah, the game is a lot more physical
and a fan base I think there. I mean we
had drums, we had sirens, we had yeah, we had everything,
(07:35):
and so I kind of think that's pretty cool. It's
like you really can never hear like your self talk
or communicate in a gym. When I was overseas, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
At five to one and three quarters, the safe spot
is on the perimeter.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Right, yes, yes, yeah, you better stay outside.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Now that second knee injury when you were a pro,
it was kind of the moment where you realize, Okay,
I'm going to step away the playing aspect and go
into coaching. What was that transition? I mean, I feel
like a lot of players, and now especially we see
it so often in you know, various sports and the
men's and women's side of things, that go from playing
to coaching, and people say, oh, this person's going to
(08:13):
be a great coach. Someday, this person's going to transition
to coaching. But it's not always that easy. What was
that transition like, going from being especially a point guard,
a floor in general on the floor to a coach.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah, I didn't want to coach. I didn't want to
I wanted to keep playing. I think playing basketball is
like the best job in the world, Like to show up,
put your shoes on, you know, get some shots up,
and play off and play defense, like that's the best thing.
So then coaching to me was something more like stand
still you you know, now you're having meetings and things
(08:46):
like that. But then I learned like, if this was
going to be my next step, this was the closest
thing to basketball that I can do. You know, I
even tried. I don't know if anyone knew this, but
when I then moved to Japan, I really tried to
recuperate my knee, and then I tried to play again,
but they said I would have to be a citizen there.
So they're like, do you want to marry a Japanese man,
then you can play in Japan. I was like, you know,
(09:09):
that's not in the cards right now for anything. But
I really thought about it because I was like, I
really want to play again, but yeah, so no. Coaching, Yeah,
was to me the best, you know, the best and
closest of playing it, honestly, Like now I love it,
like I love giving how I was taught, taught the game,
and you know, and try to impact as many people
to be the best at they can be. That's close
(09:31):
as you can get.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Well, yeah, and that is a great way to be
a part of the game, to stay a part of
the game. You mentioned Japan too, You went over there,
you end up coaching as an assistant, you end up
elevating to the head coach. He became the first female
head coach in the Basketball Japan League. It was Japan's
top professional league. Right there. That's a pretty huge accomplishment
right there. I know, in the moment, it probably felt
(09:54):
like it all happened so fast and you were just
kind of day to day to day. But when you
look back on that and the impact of that.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Do you feel that I think, now, yeah, I think
it's almost too When I listened to people, you know,
say it back to me, play it back to me.
When I hear it, I think while like, did I
actually just do that? You know? So I think that's
like like a I guess I don't know what I
(10:20):
want to say, aha, moment, Sorry, I just got someone
just came in. But no, I look back and honestly
see the women that I was able to affect. I
think after my year of being a head coach. I
think I mentioned this before, like I had the best
hugs you know from our our female fans, and once
I figured out from our translator what they're saying, and
(10:42):
they were basically saying like thank you. You were, you know,
an inspiration to us. And I was just like really really,
because I go, we didn't win that many games, and
so I'm just like kind of like, how did I
inspire you? We didn't win? But she's like, you know,
having a female being that type of position, being in
a leadership position, which women are usually not seen in Japan.
That's when I was like wow, Like I was able to,
(11:04):
you know, inspire women that are older than me, and
I just kind of thought like that was pretty special.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, And visibility is so important too, especially not just
for young girls and boys, but for people of all
ages to say, wow, this is something that's possible for
me or somebody like me, or somebody looks like me.
And I think, especially then, it was so new in
this scheme of sport, having a woman, a woman coach
of a men's professional team. You know ball, you know
(11:31):
the game so well, but when you walk into that room,
was ever a moment of like, Okay, let me make
sure I can earn the respect of the people. Was
there ever any hurdle in that regard?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
No, I don't. I don't really see it was a hurdle.
I thought I took it more where I was like,
this is an opportunity, Like you know, Vannie del Negro,
I mean Viningdale Manago hired me. He didn't know me.
He didn't No, oh, I wasn't.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
You hear back in these stories about how people get
into the NBA, A lot of it's connections, a lot
of it's really relationships, and so you know the fact
that Vinnie was just like, you want to do video
as an intern at thirty one and you were just
a head coach and you know, a men's professional Japan,
Like uh yeah, why not? Like he's like you're overqualified,
but like if you want this job, So I just
(12:17):
was like, wow, you know, this is a great opportunity.
I read that Eric Spolshrow became a head coach, you know,
by starting in video, and that's the way he got
his foot in the door. He wasn't a player. So
I was like, I'm just going to do what Eric
Spolster did and uh yeah, So that's kind of what
I did, is like I kind of set my goals.
I kind of tried to follow the journey that someone
else did and yeah, now I'm a head coach in WMV.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Right. I love the idea to the story that I
saw that you know, when you were coaching in Japan,
you considered staying there and your dad was actually the
one who convinced you to come back to the US,
who reminded you of your dream, which is a dream
you first told me when we met while we were
both working with the Clippers that you're like, I want
to be the first female head coach in the NBA.
(13:02):
Obviously you are the first head coach of the Golden
State Valkyries. That is a pretty dang close manifestation there.
But how was that in transition for you? Of like, Okay,
I'm going to walk away from here and go back
to chase the dream that I had set my north
star on.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Yeah, so now I look back or right, because I
was like pissed. I was like, nah, I love living
in Japan. I love the culture everything, And at that
age too, you want to be able to live overseas
and you know, as you get older then you want
to go back, you know, to where you're from and
your family. But what I started to realize was my
dad just he saw something in me. He saw like, well,
(13:39):
you know, maybe she could maybe she could do this,
you know. So he saw there was some belief in him.
And I think when people believe in you, then they
have to challenge you, they have to push you. And
I think that's what he did. He knew my ventul
dream was to work in the NBA, and so he's
just like, well, get your ass back here then, you know.
So I think having people that believe in you and
really try to challenge you and push you. I think
(14:00):
those are the ones that and those are the moments
that really help you, you know, steering you in the
right direction.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah, and then you mentioned Vinny Del Negro of course
bringing you on to the coaching staff of the Clippers
in the video room. You worked your way up. You
stayed at that organization through several coaching changes as well,
which is not easy to do usually, you know, coaching
changes as you are aware, like there's you know a
lot of changes that come with it. But as somebody
who proved to be such an important part to that franchise,
(14:27):
how do you see that evolution of your role throughout
the years in your time in the NBA with the Clippers.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yeah, I think it was the head coaches that kind
of may be similar to my dad, like they believed
in me, you know, like obviously that Any did in
some way after we first met. And then you know,
when Doc Rivers took over, I think maybe he saw
something in me that I didn't know. And uh, I
think I worked with Don for about seven years and
a moment with Doc was when I kind of voiced
(14:57):
out I think in an article that eventually I do
want to be a head coach. And I remember, you know,
I always like to stand next to Doc when we're
on the court, just because I always like the lens
of a head coach and I also want to hear
anything that he has to say, whether he mumbles it,
and so it's always still next to him. And then
I remember him leaning over and he said, Nat, He's like,
when you become a head coach. He goes, just remember
(15:19):
to put this like special defense. He's like, this will
really trick him. He's like you can get a steal
off of it or whatever. And I'm like, wait, wait, wait,
like rewind, did you just say like when you're going
to be a head coach. And so you know, when
your mentors and you know, people that you admire like
kind of stay your dream out loud. It's pretty effective.
And so yeah, that shot my confidence up like really fast.
(15:42):
And so I think it's you know, the people who
I worked under with the Clippers and obviously Tyron Lou.
I mean I did his video when he first was
with the Clippers with Dog, right, So that's why you
do each other. When you went to Cleveland and we
stayed in contact, and so for me, like having to
lou just answer a call, answer text like instantly, just
(16:04):
kind of having that support system. I think again, that's
just again more confidence building, more inspiring because they see it,
you know, they see it in me. I don't think
they would talk to me if they didn't see it,
you know. So I think, you know, just those type
of relationships I was able to build. I think that's
really why I stay there as long as I could. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Absolutely, And the fact that they saw it and they
supported it and nurtured the thing that you were already
putting in so much time and effort into growing yourself. Now,
when you left the Clippers organization, you went to the WNBA.
You worked with the Aces. You guys want a championship there.
It was one of the you know, peak franchises in
the WNBA. What was that transition like, going from the
(16:45):
NBA to the WNBA in terms of coaching, in terms
of experience, how different was that for you?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Yes, So I didn't know Becky h prior, you know,
I knew lover. I mean, who didn't know Becky Hammond, right?
So yeah, megammon. So it was a little bit of
a hard phone call to take because, like I was
like because we were always like competing, so it was
Jenny Boose I can was like make the I mean,
(17:13):
have a conversation with Becky and I was like I
don't know, you know, and she's like trust me. She's like,
you're not gonna regret it. And sure enough, like got
on phone with Becky and we were just talking about
experiences we went through in the NBA. Oh my god,
the common you know, themes that we had, the common
just like everything. It was like time of talking to
(17:34):
like a sister in the NBA, Like it really was.
And so her IQ was off the charts and I
was like, wow, I'm like I could learn so much
from Becky. I'm attracted to obviously high Q you know,
head coaches, and then you know Becky. On another note,
she just asked me how it was doing as a person,
and that's something I did not get a lot from
(17:55):
my past experiences. Like she knew my dad passed and
so it was just like it was actually the perfect
moment where I knew, like I could learn a lot,
but I know I'll be in good hands. So I
think that was kind of the immediate like connection of
like just take this leap of faith that and just
you know, after ten years at nbaight' let's go to
the W. Let's learn from one of the best coaches's
(18:16):
let's help a league that's just ready to take off.
And I literally that was probably the best coaching experience
I've had with with the Las Vegas Aces under Becky.
It was so much fun. And winning two championships isn't
that bad? Yeah? Not too bad.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
You had some hardware out of it as well. And
I think, you know, you look back at this point
and you see all these experiences that you've had in
the game and coaching that have kind of put you
built you towards this position that you're in now, does
it kind of like in the rear view mirror looking
at it, think like, wow, all these pieces kind of
came together to make this a perfect storm. As now
you embark on your first head coaching experience in the
(18:54):
W as the first head coach of this franchise.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Yeah, I mean I'm only here because of them, you know,
I'm I'm literally like a piece of I think every
one of the coaches and mentors that I've had. I
mean I haven't even talked about you know, armand Hill.
I think you've email him from the Clippers, like someone
who took me under his wing after a year of
not really even talking to me because he's so tough
(19:19):
and I had to gain his respect and gain his
uh you know, just it able to be in his
space because he doesn't around like he's a straight shooter.
As you know, he's tough, he's he's no bs. So yeah,
I'm pretty much the product of like my environment and
my mentors, and like I owe it to all of them,
to them, number one, just the belief, but also just
(19:41):
every little thing that they're willing to kind of teach me,
you know and mold me. And so now I'm like,
I gotta do a great job because of the high
caliber mentors that I have. Like now this is like,
let me make sure I do a good job because
of the preparation and the time that they spent with me. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Well, and you mentioned too, some of them to earn
over than others. Is there a moment that you're like, Okay,
this is how I will win you over. Is there
something that you can share that you.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Are Yeah, so with armand I mean to me, I
love the silent type coaches as well, because you know
they're observing, and so to me, some of the great
coaches are quiet because then they're seeing everything and they're listening,
so they're in taking more rather than like they're outputting,
if that makes sense. Yeah, So I'm like, this guy
has a lot of knowledge. I was like, I can
(20:28):
tell like he has a lot of experience. And then
when I did ask him a question, he was like
quick and then he's kind of like moveway. Oh my god.
I was like, why is he so mean? And like,
after a year right where I just kind of always
kept it quick, I was like, okay, kid, he doesn't like
to waste time, so it's like top to him, move on.
And then he the first time I did a defensive edit,
he pretty much cussed me out without like giving me
(20:52):
any leeway. He's just like, just don't fuck this up.
And I was like, I was like, okay, got it,
Like got it. But what he was teaching me was like,
when you come and you have to give an edit,
and you have to it's got to be right, it's
God right, it's got to be correct, and you have
to be able to deliver it. And so that's where
I've learned my preparation was like, you only get one
(21:13):
opportunity in the NBA, because one opportunity of like speaking
in front of the players and they don't respect you
because you're not prepared. You're done. So learned that from
Armand and then one like once we started to like
become a little bit of friends. He uh, he was
showing me a play and I took a picture of it,
and he goes, what are you doing? And I'm like,
(21:34):
I'm taking a picture. It's like easier for me to remember.
He goes, just look at it and he goes study
it and he's like move on, and I'm like, why
can't just take a picture. He's like, you guys in
this generation, like you're just lady, You're lazy. He's like,
you have to be able to listen or to look
at a play and then be able to like move
on and write it down. He goes, you always can't
(21:54):
rely on ara iPhone net. He's like, you've got to
be able to learn it in game time or like
the time you see it. And like that has helped
me a ton, you know what I mean, Like because
you're waking, like whether I'm watching a game on TV
or if I'm like at arena like I could now
see it, remember it, and then go home and write
it down.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
So yeah, and I think a lot of that, too,
is trusting your own mind over relying on the crutch
of like, Okay, I have this to fall back on,
I can go back and look at it. Cause how
often do we really go back and look at the
pictures we take of certain things like that anyway?
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Right, Yeah, and it's actually really hard, like if you
just you see a play drawn like it's it's just hard.
It's hard to recover. So yeah, he taught me all
these little tricks of like you don't you don't you
have to be efficient, can't waste time, you know what
I mean, and like you have to be ready and prepared.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
So and if you stay ready, you don't have to
get ready in the words of sugar Free, exactly exactly.
I You know, I have loved watching you grow and
evolve in your journey, and I'm so excited for you
and for the Valkyries. I want to know what you
want basketball fans to know about this team and this
(23:03):
organization as it's about to Barka's debut season.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Yeah, I mean, being our first season, I think what
I could definitely promise is just we're going to be very,
very competitive and gritty, like our players are going to
show up every single day, just because again, those are
the players that we have already selected. They are hard
nos playing, they're gritty, they plays a lot of energy,
(23:29):
and so I think when you come into a Valkeries game,
you're going to feel our players, and when you feel
our players, you're going to leave I think always wanting more.
That's just how I see it.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Got to leave them wanting more. Which is a perfect
way to end this conversation because I could talk to
you for hours about this stuff. Golden State Valkyries head
coach Natalie Nakasse, thank you so much for taking the
time today. It's been such a treat chatting with you
and getting to know more about your journey and your
playbook to success.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Well, thanks, Matty, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Thank you so much. It has been the Her Playbook
Podcast presented by Kendra Scott, the jewelry company that's shining
bright and doing good. Shop jewelry sales designed for every
day and every occasion at your local Kendra Scott store
or Kendrascott dot com.
Welcome to an all new episode of Her Playbook, a
podcast highlighting inspiring stories of women in business and sports.
Her Playbook is brought to you by Kendra Scott and
is a part of the Giants podcast platforms.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
My name is Madeline Burke, and this week I'm thrilled
to be joined by the very first head coach in
the history of the WNBA's expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries,
Natalie Nicasse.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Now, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I feel like that is still so much fun for
me to say about you.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
How how has.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
This experience been for you, being the very first head
coach of a franchise.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah, it's been a roller coaster ride. It's kind of
like all go, no breaks right now, just because like
as soon as I got hired, it was right into
Expansion Draft and right into you know, now we're in
free agency. Now we're into college draft. So you know,
it's a lot, but like that's kind of like my
mentality is just like dive in and just go, go, go.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Yeah, and the expansion Draft, that's such a unique process
to go through, right It's unlike a regular draft. You're
kind of scouting players that you've seen playing throughout the
league elsewhere already.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Yeah, it is. Actually I think I took it as
an advantage. People are like, oh, it's expansion team. You
guys are not gonna you know, your expectations are low,
you don't have to compete, you know all this stuff,
and no, like you actually get to hand pick players
you know that are going to fit your culture. Like
people are like, the culture is your players, and so
I've got to hand pick high character players, players that
(01:24):
work hard, players who like love, like the chip on
their shoulder. Like the fact that we got to choose
those players. I think that to me, it's an advantage
rather than a disadvantage.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Absolutely, And building a culture from the ground up, from scratch,
from piece one. I mean I love the adage too.
It takes years to build an overnight success. Right now,
you've been around the game for decades, and I want
to go back to the beginning. Where did you first
fall in love with the game of basketball? How did
you know that this game was going to be a
(01:55):
big part of your life.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah, I mean I think I knew, but I didn't
know at a young age. You know, my dad was
probably the reason why I fell in love with basketball.
He taught us. He trained us like you know, a
little basketball players at a young age, and I learned
like that was my love language with my dad. He
was my best friend. That's all we knew, that's all
we did together. And so I think I was in
(02:19):
love with it at a young age. I just didn't
even realize until probably times where it got taken away. So,
you know, tore my a cl my freshman year at UCLA.
So I think by then, when you're you have to
fully stop, completely removed. Eight months, I mean that's when
I knew, like, oh, I can't breathe without basketball, So
that's I think it was a shock. But I think
I was falling in love with it, you know, since
(02:40):
the age of six when I started.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yeah, well, and you were good at it too. You
are good at but you were an excellent player in
high school nineteen ninety eight Orange County Player of the
Year by both the LA Times and the OC Register,
set school records and assists, steals, three pointers made Natalie
Decasse fallen. But despite all that, wasn't immediately like okay,
(03:03):
you're all the scholarship offers too. There was a little
bit of a hurdle.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
You were a walk on at UCLAA.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Talk about that process of being at the top of
your game still had to kind of fight for your
place in it.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah. So funny story was like at the time when
I wasn't getting like these really big schools like looking
after or calling me, I was kind of like, are
these coaches crazy? Like I kind of was like, what
is going on here? You know what I mean? Why
wouldn't they like be like, okay, yeah, one in three fourths.
I'm not the average college player of like five eight.
(03:35):
But I just kind of was like I thought they
were crazy for not recruiting me, you know. And it
internally like I knew my mindset, I knew my hard work,
so that's kind of why, like why didn't that kind
of be a big piece of you know, my recruitment.
But I took it on as a challenge, okay, like
you Stily wasn't knocking out my door. You want me
to walk on? And when Kathy Olivia was like You're
(03:56):
gonna have to earn your scholarship every year, and I'm like,
where do I So? All right, I'm getting I'm like
that's it. I go, Kathy, once you see me work,
once you see kind of what I can bring to
the table every single day, like my work ethic, You're
going to fall in love with me. And sure enough,
you know, I ended up being a captain for three
years and a starting point guard three years. And so yeah,
I hear when I hear no, I'm like, right, let
(04:18):
me prove it to you, Let me prove you wrong,
and you know, onto the next And also.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
There's gotten be this kind of comfort in knowing that
your own preparation and your own understanding of the game
is something you can fall back on, right And when
you walk into a situation like that where people, maybe
not everyone else is clamoring at believing in you, but
you can believe in yourself because you know how prepared
you are.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Yes, that's the key. You just said it right there,
Like believing in yourself. It's a key to anything, whether
it's whatever job that you want or whatever dream that
you want to accomplish. Like, yeah, it's the believing yourself
because yes, that can get tainted, right, Like failure can
get tainted or like losing or just you know, not
getting the job that you wanted. But for me, I'm
like every failure is a lesson learned, Like, you can
(05:00):
learn from it, you can grow from it. That's when
you see change is when Yeah, so to me, fail
as much as you can, because that's really going to
prepare you and you know you're going to believe in
yourself even more.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah, and I feel like you learn so much more
from those failures than you do from the successes. And
also from the moments like you mentioned where the game
was taken away from you. You had knee injury in
college and at the pro level, when you had to
learn how to come back from something like that, What
did that do to your mentality? What kind of a
hurdle was that and how did that impact you not
(05:32):
just as a player then, but also the way you coach.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Now, yeah, that's a great question because in college, like
you're just trying to survive, you're living on your own,
right like going back. But no, that again, that was
when I realized, like I can't breathe without basketball. Like
athletes are just programmed to be very you know, habitual,
like they like habits, say, like routines, And so when
that routine got you know, completely like distorted, then I
(05:58):
really got shook. I got depressed. I mean, like when
you can't get on the court every day. Like I
got really depressed. At one point. I was like, is
this going to be it for me? You know? So
I got really low. But like in the back of
my mind, my dad is saying there's no quit in
like how I raised you. So that wasn't even like
even having I thought of having a new conversation with
my dad like hey, Dad, I think I'm going to
(06:19):
step away from basketball. Like no, that wasn't happening. That
I'd rather go the other way. So, yeah, it's just
kind of like the mentality of the mindset kind of
that my dad instilled in me is it's a thing
that really kind of kept me pushing and you know,
overcoming like all the adversity that kind of went with
you know, tearing your acl Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Now, the first time you did, of course in college.
The second time you did it was the pros. You
played professionally in the NWBL for two seasons, and you
played in Germany overseas first. So what's the difference between
the domestic and the international level of play or type
of play as a professional.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I think the overseas is way more physical, Like when
I was played in Germany, I got pushed in the bag,
I got pushed and kicked in the head. Everything like
it was so physical, no foult and I'm sitting there
like screaming, and you know people the Reskins speak German,
but I'm just sitting there screaming. But now it's just
it was just really physical. But you have to learn.
You have to learn to adjust, you know, you have
(07:15):
to learn to maybe be a little bit more skilled
rather than I'll tell you this, I stopped going to
the paint. I really did. I stopped driving into the paint.
I wanted to live and survive. But no, so I
would say, yeah, the game is a lot more physical
and a fan base I think there. I mean we
had drums, we had sirens, we had yeah, we had everything,
(07:35):
and so I kind of think that's pretty cool. It's
like you really can never hear like your self talk
or communicate in a gym. When I was overseas, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
At five to one and three quarters, the safe spot
is on the perimeter.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Right, yes, yes, yeah, you better stay outside.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Now that second knee injury when you were a pro,
it was kind of the moment where you realize, Okay,
I'm going to step away the playing aspect and go
into coaching. What was that transition? I mean, I feel
like a lot of players, and now especially we see
it so often in you know, various sports and the
men's and women's side of things, that go from playing
to coaching, and people say, oh, this person's going to
(08:13):
be a great coach. Someday, this person's going to transition
to coaching. But it's not always that easy. What was
that transition like, going from being especially a point guard,
a floor in general on the floor to a coach.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah, I didn't want to coach. I didn't want to
I wanted to keep playing. I think playing basketball is
like the best job in the world, Like to show up,
put your shoes on, you know, get some shots up,
and play off and play defense, like that's the best thing.
So then coaching to me was something more like stand
still you you know, now you're having meetings and things
(08:46):
like that. But then I learned like, if this was
going to be my next step, this was the closest
thing to basketball that I can do. You know, I
even tried. I don't know if anyone knew this, but
when I then moved to Japan, I really tried to
recuperate my knee, and then I tried to play again,
but they said I would have to be a citizen there.
So they're like, do you want to marry a Japanese man,
then you can play in Japan. I was like, you know,
(09:09):
that's not in the cards right now for anything. But
I really thought about it because I was like, I
really want to play again, but yeah, so no. Coaching, Yeah,
was to me the best, you know, the best and
closest of playing it, honestly, Like now I love it,
like I love giving how I was taught, taught the game,
and you know, and try to impact as many people
to be the best at they can be. That's close
(09:31):
as you can get.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Well, yeah, and that is a great way to be
a part of the game, to stay a part of
the game. You mentioned Japan too, You went over there,
you end up coaching as an assistant, you end up
elevating to the head coach. He became the first female
head coach in the Basketball Japan League. It was Japan's
top professional league. Right there. That's a pretty huge accomplishment
right there. I know, in the moment, it probably felt
(09:54):
like it all happened so fast and you were just
kind of day to day to day. But when you
look back on that and the impact of that.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Do you feel that I think, now, yeah, I think
it's almost too When I listened to people, you know,
say it back to me, play it back to me.
When I hear it, I think while like, did I
actually just do that? You know? So I think that's
like like a I guess I don't know what I
(10:20):
want to say, aha, moment, Sorry, I just got someone
just came in. But no, I look back and honestly
see the women that I was able to affect. I
think after my year of being a head coach. I
think I mentioned this before, like I had the best
hugs you know from our our female fans, and once
I figured out from our translator what they're saying, and
(10:42):
they were basically saying like thank you. You were, you know,
an inspiration to us. And I was just like really really,
because I go, we didn't win that many games, and
so I'm just like kind of like, how did I
inspire you? We didn't win? But she's like, you know,
having a female being that type of position, being in
a leadership position, which women are usually not seen in Japan.
That's when I was like wow, Like I was able to,
(11:04):
you know, inspire women that are older than me, and
I just kind of thought like that was pretty special.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, And visibility is so important too, especially not just
for young girls and boys, but for people of all
ages to say, wow, this is something that's possible for
me or somebody like me, or somebody looks like me.
And I think, especially then, it was so new in
this scheme of sport, having a woman, a woman coach
of a men's professional team. You know ball, you know
(11:31):
the game so well, but when you walk into that room,
was ever a moment of like, Okay, let me make
sure I can earn the respect of the people. Was
there ever any hurdle in that regard?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
No, I don't. I don't really see it was a hurdle.
I thought I took it more where I was like,
this is an opportunity, Like you know, Vannie del Negro,
I mean Viningdale Manago hired me. He didn't know me.
He didn't No, oh, I wasn't.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
You hear back in these stories about how people get
into the NBA, A lot of it's connections, a lot
of it's really relationships, and so you know the fact
that Vinnie was just like, you want to do video
as an intern at thirty one and you were just
a head coach and you know, a men's professional Japan,
Like uh yeah, why not? Like he's like you're overqualified,
but like if you want this job, So I just
(12:17):
was like, wow, you know, this is a great opportunity.
I read that Eric Spolshrow became a head coach, you know,
by starting in video, and that's the way he got
his foot in the door. He wasn't a player. So
I was like, I'm just going to do what Eric
Spolster did and uh yeah, So that's kind of what
I did, is like I kind of set my goals.
I kind of tried to follow the journey that someone
else did and yeah, now I'm a head coach in WMV.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Right. I love the idea to the story that I
saw that you know, when you were coaching in Japan,
you considered staying there and your dad was actually the
one who convinced you to come back to the US,
who reminded you of your dream, which is a dream
you first told me when we met while we were
both working with the Clippers that you're like, I want
to be the first female head coach in the NBA.
(13:02):
Obviously you are the first head coach of the Golden
State Valkyries. That is a pretty dang close manifestation there.
But how was that in transition for you? Of like, Okay,
I'm going to walk away from here and go back
to chase the dream that I had set my north
star on.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Yeah, so now I look back or right, because I
was like pissed. I was like, nah, I love living
in Japan. I love the culture everything, And at that
age too, you want to be able to live overseas
and you know, as you get older then you want
to go back, you know, to where you're from and
your family. But what I started to realize was my
dad just he saw something in me. He saw like, well,
(13:39):
you know, maybe she could maybe she could do this,
you know. So he saw there was some belief in him.
And I think when people believe in you, then they
have to challenge you, they have to push you. And
I think that's what he did. He knew my ventul
dream was to work in the NBA, and so he's
just like, well, get your ass back here then, you know.
So I think having people that believe in you and
really try to challenge you and push you. I think
(14:00):
those are the ones that and those are the moments
that really help you, you know, steering you in the
right direction.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah, and then you mentioned Vinny Del Negro of course
bringing you on to the coaching staff of the Clippers
in the video room. You worked your way up. You
stayed at that organization through several coaching changes as well,
which is not easy to do usually, you know, coaching
changes as you are aware, like there's you know a
lot of changes that come with it. But as somebody
who proved to be such an important part to that franchise,
(14:27):
how do you see that evolution of your role throughout
the years in your time in the NBA with the Clippers.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yeah, I think it was the head coaches that kind
of may be similar to my dad, like they believed
in me, you know, like obviously that Any did in
some way after we first met. And then you know,
when Doc Rivers took over, I think maybe he saw
something in me that I didn't know. And uh, I
think I worked with Don for about seven years and
a moment with Doc was when I kind of voiced
(14:57):
out I think in an article that eventually I do
want to be a head coach. And I remember, you know,
I always like to stand next to Doc when we're
on the court, just because I always like the lens
of a head coach and I also want to hear
anything that he has to say, whether he mumbles it,
and so it's always still next to him. And then
I remember him leaning over and he said, Nat, He's like,
when you become a head coach. He goes, just remember
(15:19):
to put this like special defense. He's like, this will
really trick him. He's like you can get a steal
off of it or whatever. And I'm like, wait, wait, wait,
like rewind, did you just say like when you're going
to be a head coach. And so you know, when
your mentors and you know, people that you admire like
kind of stay your dream out loud. It's pretty effective.
And so yeah, that shot my confidence up like really fast.
(15:42):
And so I think it's you know, the people who
I worked under with the Clippers and obviously Tyron Lou.
I mean I did his video when he first was
with the Clippers with Dog, right, So that's why you
do each other. When you went to Cleveland and we
stayed in contact, and so for me, like having to
lou just answer a call, answer text like instantly, just
(16:04):
kind of having that support system. I think again, that's
just again more confidence building, more inspiring because they see it,
you know, they see it in me. I don't think
they would talk to me if they didn't see it,
you know. So I think, you know, just those type
of relationships I was able to build. I think that's
really why I stay there as long as I could. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Absolutely, And the fact that they saw it and they
supported it and nurtured the thing that you were already
putting in so much time and effort into growing yourself. Now,
when you left the Clippers organization, you went to the WNBA.
You worked with the Aces. You guys want a championship there.
It was one of the you know, peak franchises in
the WNBA. What was that transition like, going from the
(16:45):
NBA to the WNBA in terms of coaching, in terms
of experience, how different was that for you?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Yes, So I didn't know Becky h prior, you know,
I knew lover. I mean, who didn't know Becky Hammond, right?
So yeah, megammon. So it was a little bit of
a hard phone call to take because, like I was
like because we were always like competing, so it was
Jenny Boose I can was like make the I mean,
(17:13):
have a conversation with Becky and I was like I
don't know, you know, and she's like trust me. She's like,
you're not gonna regret it. And sure enough, like got
on phone with Becky and we were just talking about
experiences we went through in the NBA. Oh my god,
the common you know, themes that we had, the common
just like everything. It was like time of talking to
(17:34):
like a sister in the NBA, Like it really was.
And so her IQ was off the charts and I
was like, wow, I'm like I could learn so much
from Becky. I'm attracted to obviously high Q you know,
head coaches, and then you know Becky. On another note,
she just asked me how it was doing as a person,
and that's something I did not get a lot from
(17:55):
my past experiences. Like she knew my dad passed and
so it was just like it was actually the perfect
moment where I knew, like I could learn a lot,
but I know I'll be in good hands. So I
think that was kind of the immediate like connection of
like just take this leap of faith that and just
you know, after ten years at nbaight' let's go to
the W. Let's learn from one of the best coaches's
(18:16):
let's help a league that's just ready to take off.
And I literally that was probably the best coaching experience
I've had with with the Las Vegas Aces under Becky.
It was so much fun. And winning two championships isn't
that bad? Yeah? Not too bad.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
You had some hardware out of it as well. And
I think, you know, you look back at this point
and you see all these experiences that you've had in
the game and coaching that have kind of put you
built you towards this position that you're in now, does
it kind of like in the rear view mirror looking
at it, think like, wow, all these pieces kind of
came together to make this a perfect storm. As now
you embark on your first head coaching experience in the
(18:54):
W as the first head coach of this franchise.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Yeah, I mean I'm only here because of them, you know,
I'm I'm literally like a piece of I think every
one of the coaches and mentors that I've had. I
mean I haven't even talked about you know, armand Hill.
I think you've email him from the Clippers, like someone
who took me under his wing after a year of
not really even talking to me because he's so tough
(19:19):
and I had to gain his respect and gain his
uh you know, just it able to be in his
space because he doesn't around like he's a straight shooter.
As you know, he's tough, he's he's no bs. So yeah,
I'm pretty much the product of like my environment and
my mentors, and like I owe it to all of them,
to them, number one, just the belief, but also just
(19:41):
every little thing that they're willing to kind of teach me,
you know and mold me. And so now I'm like,
I gotta do a great job because of the high
caliber mentors that I have. Like now this is like,
let me make sure I do a good job because
of the preparation and the time that they spent with me. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Well, and you mentioned too, some of them to earn
over than others. Is there a moment that you're like, Okay,
this is how I will win you over. Is there
something that you can share that you.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Are Yeah, so with armand I mean to me, I
love the silent type coaches as well, because you know
they're observing, and so to me, some of the great
coaches are quiet because then they're seeing everything and they're listening,
so they're in taking more rather than like they're outputting,
if that makes sense. Yeah, So I'm like, this guy
has a lot of knowledge. I was like, I can
(20:28):
tell like he has a lot of experience. And then
when I did ask him a question, he was like
quick and then he's kind of like moveway. Oh my god.
I was like, why is he so mean? And like,
after a year right where I just kind of always
kept it quick, I was like, okay, kid, he doesn't like
to waste time, so it's like top to him, move on.
And then he the first time I did a defensive edit,
he pretty much cussed me out without like giving me
(20:52):
any leeway. He's just like, just don't fuck this up.
And I was like, I was like, okay, got it,
Like got it. But what he was teaching me was like,
when you come and you have to give an edit,
and you have to it's got to be right, it's
God right, it's got to be correct, and you have
to be able to deliver it. And so that's where
I've learned my preparation was like, you only get one
(21:13):
opportunity in the NBA, because one opportunity of like speaking
in front of the players and they don't respect you
because you're not prepared. You're done. So learned that from
Armand and then one like once we started to like
become a little bit of friends. He uh, he was
showing me a play and I took a picture of it,
and he goes, what are you doing? And I'm like,
(21:34):
I'm taking a picture. It's like easier for me to remember.
He goes, just look at it and he goes study
it and he's like move on, and I'm like, why
can't just take a picture. He's like, you guys in
this generation, like you're just lady, You're lazy. He's like,
you have to be able to listen or to look
at a play and then be able to like move
on and write it down. He goes, you always can't
(21:54):
rely on ara iPhone net. He's like, you've got to
be able to learn it in game time or like
the time you see it. And like that has helped
me a ton, you know what I mean, Like because
you're waking, like whether I'm watching a game on TV
or if I'm like at arena like I could now
see it, remember it, and then go home and write
it down.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
So yeah, and I think a lot of that, too,
is trusting your own mind over relying on the crutch
of like, Okay, I have this to fall back on,
I can go back and look at it. Cause how
often do we really go back and look at the
pictures we take of certain things like that anyway?
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Right, Yeah, and it's actually really hard, like if you
just you see a play drawn like it's it's just hard.
It's hard to recover. So yeah, he taught me all
these little tricks of like you don't you don't you
have to be efficient, can't waste time, you know what
I mean, and like you have to be ready and prepared.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
So and if you stay ready, you don't have to
get ready in the words of sugar Free, exactly exactly.
I You know, I have loved watching you grow and
evolve in your journey, and I'm so excited for you
and for the Valkyries. I want to know what you
want basketball fans to know about this team and this
(23:03):
organization as it's about to Barka's debut season.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Yeah, I mean, being our first season, I think what
I could definitely promise is just we're going to be very,
very competitive and gritty, like our players are going to
show up every single day, just because again, those are
the players that we have already selected. They are hard
nos playing, they're gritty, they plays a lot of energy,
(23:29):
and so I think when you come into a Valkeries game,
you're going to feel our players, and when you feel
our players, you're going to leave I think always wanting more.
That's just how I see it.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Got to leave them wanting more. Which is a perfect
way to end this conversation because I could talk to
you for hours about this stuff. Golden State Valkyries head
coach Natalie Nakasse, thank you so much for taking the
time today. It's been such a treat chatting with you
and getting to know more about your journey and your
playbook to success.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Well, thanks, Matty, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Thank you so much. It has been the Her Playbook
Podcast presented by Kendra Scott, the jewelry company that's shining
bright and doing good. Shop jewelry sales designed for every
day and every occasion at your local Kendra Scott store
or Kendrascott dot com.
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