Chris Baker

Asked Joe Mazzulla about what the general public doesn’t understand about NBA locker rooms and player relationships: “That’s a really good question. I think that’s it. And one, I’ll tell you right now, all 30 teams, it’s not Boy Scouts. We’re not all just sitting there getting along, and everyone’s happy-go-lucky. I mean, that’s just not how the world works. So to think that a group of guys are just supposed to be happy with each other all the time. This isn’t camp. We’re going after something that’s highly competitive and stressful, and there’s things at stake, and with that comes conflict. Doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. You work through things together. Secondly, you got people that are single, married, divorced, kids, no kids. People have been traded four times. People haven’t been traded at all. You just have a plethora of experiences from on and off the court that you have to mix together into a group of guys, and you have to leave space for that. And but it’s not over that. I think the one thing I’d like people to understand is this isn’t supposed to be summer camp where we all just get along all the time. There’s plenty of times within a great culture, good culture, where you have disagreements, you have things where you say, hey, we could have done this better, we should have did this, we didn’t do that. That’s just a part of the competitive journey and going after greatness together. So, but they’re also humans. They’re people. They got guys that have been through a bunch of different stuff, and I think it’s important to highlight that and leave space for that. And there’s different personalities. There’s different opinions. The way they view the world is different. I think that’s the piece that I enjoy, is just getting a group of guys and creating a space where everyone understands each other. And how can we get to the point where we just go after greatness together, but at the same time appreciate each other’s life?”