Boston Celtics director of player development and personal growth Allison Feaster is in the right place.
When you have seven rookies on a team where most of the players are still on the upswing of their career, you need someone who can not only relate to them on a professional level, but also has the background and training to help them be their best.
As an accomplished athlete on the court, and the ultimate professional off of it, Feaster has been an outstanding add for the franchise.
Her ties to the Boston area as a Harvard graduate and collegiate player set in motion the phone call that would make it all come together years later, and for Feaster, it’s been a near-ideal situation.
“Not to sound like it’s a fairy tale, but it has been everything I could have hoped for,” said Feaster via NBC Sports Boston’s A. Sherrod Blakely. “It has exceeded my expectations; working alongside a group of men and women, to try and get this team to the next level.”
After a long and successful NCAA and WNBA career, Feaster transitioned into a trajectory towards a front office career, only to get a phone call from a Boston-area number unknown to her.
Thinking it might be an old friend from her days at Harvard, the WNBA veteran answered, only to hear Celtics team president Danny Ainge answer.
“Sometimes when those random calls come out of the blue you just have to take them,” offered Feaster. “I was actually interviewing with another team and Danny called me.”
Part of Feaster’s transition from player to a team management role involved participation in a program designed by the NBA to help former players do just that, and through a lucky break, her Boston ties helped set the stage for the later hire.
“There was a program created for former players to help transition off the court, explore the league office operations as well as team operations of the business of basketball,” Feaster explained.
“I had the fortune, the great fortune to trade with one of my colleagues. I had Atlanta and she had Boston. Because of my ties in the Boston community, I asked her to switch me. She did and I met Danny, Mike [Zarren] Brad [Stevens and], Rich Gotham through that program.”
The rest, as it is said, was history as those early ties set the stage for Feaster to join the Celtics in the summer of 2019, where she helped the team coalesce into its chemistry-driven behemoth with her work behind the scenes.
From the oldest veterans to the youngest rookies — especially the rookies — the Harvard product has been a boon to the organization despite the lack of love she and the rest of her front office compatriots tend to get in the daily news cycle.
The team’s players are more than happy to try and reverse that trend whenever they get a chance, though.
“We all have so much respect for Allison,” Kemba Walker proclaimed.
She just genuinely cares about us,” continued the former Husky. “Basketball season can be really difficult for some people, some of the young players trying to adjust.”
“She’s there for us; whatever we need, ask for, she tries her best to get it done for us.” said Walker.
The consensus is a strong one of what she brings to the table as not only the first woman but first African-American woman in her role for the team. To the players, though, her importance is more about her ability to keep them focused and growing as players and a team.
“Having her around is really important; it helps the transition,” rookie wing Romeo Langford explained.
“We [first-year players] don’t know too much. Coming into the league, what to expect or what to do or where to turn. She’s that person who is there, for that, to make the transition a lot smoother.”
That’s not to say the team is unaware of how big of a deal it is to have Feaster in such a role given her background, but for the Celtics, it’s what she’s doing with that job that matters as much as who it is that was given it.
“To have an African-American female in that position, that’s big time,” noted Walker.
“It gives young, Black girls hope in this business, in this league, period. It’s hard to get that position. But she’s super-intelligent, she played, went to Harvard, has so many connections,” offered the UConn product.
“It’s a blessing to have her around,” he added.
Feaster has noticed that she and fellow front office denizen assistant coach Kara Lawson haven’t been treated in a token manner by anyone in the organization, a fact that’s left an impression on the 10-year WNBA veteran.
“The beauty of this position and this organization and the way that Kara and I have been welcomed, it’s been just like any other employee I imagine … I don’t feel like ‘the other’ as maybe I felt as being the only African-American on my Harvard team.”
It’s allowed Feaster to focus wholeheartedly on her actual job — making the team a better-playing, well-adapted unit embodying the professionalism that got her where she is as a player and executive.
“I’m here to lend a hand, help young people aspire to be where we are. It’s an honor to represent them in this space.”
The honor, Mrs. Feaster, is ours.
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