Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla has quickly become one of the league's top head coaches. But like many of the top flight coaches in the NBA today, he's not without his quirks.
Mazzulla refuses to communicate with former assistants during the season, because they're part of the enemy, according to the Celtics coach. He explained with a story about ex-assistant Charles Lee, who is now the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets.
"I told Charles when he left, 'I'm not talking to you during the season. I'm not waving to you at the national anthem. I'm not doing that. You're an enemy,'" Mazzulla said. "So he breached NBA rules and came into the assistant coach locker room and forced me to give him a hug. That could easily be a psychological tell that knocks you off your game competitively. So he knew what he was doing," Mazzulla added.
It's likely Lee was being friendly, but for Mazzulla, he didn't want any "psychological tells" to come out of the friendly gesture.
When a follow-up question was asked if it was nice to hug Lee, Mazzulla didn't miss a beat.
"No," he added.
Mazzulla's competitive edge is fierce, to say the least. It's what's made him an NBA champion coach in just two years on the job.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Joe Mazzulla Weirdly Accuses Former Assistant of Psychological Warfare.