It was Kids Day at Boston’s TD Garden a couple of weeks back, and while children were given the opportunity to pose questions to their hometown NBA team, the Boston Celtics, head coach Joe Mazzulla did not pull any punches in his responses. But one particular exchange stood out. When Sports Illustrated Kids reporter Rusty Smith asked Mazzulla how he balances “pushing players to improve while also keeping the game fun for them,” the 37-year-old championship-winning coach did not mince words, or offer platitudes.
“I struggle with that, to be honest with you,” Mazzulla said. “I think everyone has a different definition of fun, and you have to find one as a team. I think fun’s a cop-out sometimes when things aren’t going well. Everyone likes to say, ‘Well, let’s just have fun.’ Well, what does that mean, you know? So you have to define what fun looks like as a team, and you have to go after that. But that phrase can be a cop-out sometimes. So as you get older, kid, don’t use it. You know? ‘I just want to have fun.’ Well, what does that mean?”
The comments, which sparked broader discussions about the role of enjoyment in professional settings, aren’t particularly surprising coming from Mazzulla, whose emotionless nature on the sidelines—never too high, or too low—is well-documented. (Mazzulla’s intensity, including his eccentric practice methods and his esoteric love of things such as European soccer, mixed martial arts, and even jiujitsu is also widely known in NBA circles.)
