Joe Mazzulla Says Being a Stepfather Helps Him Coach Young Rookies

It's not always easy to connect with a teenager walking into a professional sports environment, but Mazzulla is leaning on his home life to make it work

Las Vegas, NV — Celtics rookie Chris Cenac Jr. takes a free throw during a summer league game on July 13, 2026 | John Karalis

Mike Conley reported to his first training camp in September of 2007. Chris Cenac Jr. was seven months old at the time. One guy probably owned a Blackberry, the other is vlogging on multiple social media platforms.

And now Joe Mazzulla coaches both of them as members of the Boston Celtics. 

Connecting with Conley is easy enough. They were born eight months apart, so they all understand the same references. Things are different with rookies like Cenac Jr., who is still just 19 years old. 

But Mazzulla has experience with people in that age bracket too, and that's something he’s leaning on. 

“I think being a stepfather has made me a better coach, because I've had to build a different relationship with my oldest,” Mazzulla said at the team’s Thursday practice. “I can't just say something because I'm the father, and respecting the relationship that he and his father had. It’s the same as respecting a young kid and having a relationship and you're not just going to listen to me because I'm the coach.”

Mazzulla’s stepson, Michael Harden, is in his senior year at Xaverian, where he’s a star linebacker who just committed to Boston College. So Mazzulla has had to navigate the waters of a teenager who is also an elite athlete. 

And the connection between being a stepfather and a professional coach is real. Coaching NBA players isn’t like coaching in college, where the coach is king. In the pros, it’s more of a coworker or middle-manager situation. In both, there is a distinct lack of “because I said so” available in the relationship.

“That's humbled me, and I’m forced to be able to find different ways to connect with people at that age,” Mazzulla said. “It's interesting the dynamics of being a stepdad. It's not much different than being a coach because you can't fall on the crux of authority. You have to dig beyond the relationship aspect and really get to the crux of like, we're in this together, and how can I try and motivate you and inspire you, and how can we learn from each other? So I kind of take that relationship and apply it to the younger kids because it’s pretty similar.”

It’ll only get more challenging as Mazzulla gets older as a coach but every rookie that comes in the door is still around 19, but being able to tie his approach to something he lives every day is giving Mazzulla a good chance to get critical relationships right in the early going.