“Obviously, nowhere near the manager that Pep is but we share a similar beginning,” Mazzulla said in interview with Men in Blazers. “He was coaching Barcelona’s B team, I was in Maine’s G League team, and they could have easily gone for a bigger name, but they go to this guy sitting on the back bench with no experience. “It became really a roadmap to how I wanted to go about building a culture, a team, and you know, taking over greatness. You take a look at his tactical ability, his abilty to manage the best players, which I think is what separates coaches in any sport — that’s something that I thought I could really learn from.”