Barber's mobile shop now stops at Auerbach Center to clip Celtics players
BOSTON -- The Celtics don't just play like winners, they have to look the part, too. That falls on the nimble hands of the team barber, who has the pressure of getting their hair playoff ready.
His name is Coco Fernandez. Sometimes, you can find him in his mobile barbershop. More than nine years ago, he was driving it around when a few players took notice.
"I would park around different places, and players would see me, and I kind of made the relationships that way. Once I got my first haircut, they would just refer me to the next player," explains Fernandez.
Now, he cuts the team's hair in a barber shop inside their Auerbach Center training facility in Brighton. The conversations during cuts can vary from current events to NBA chatter. He says Malcom Brogdon is the most particular about his hair, but Blake Griffin has the hardest hair to cut. Marcus Smart can also be a challenge; however, he is not the one responsible for dyeing his hair different colors. While we were interviewing Fernandez for this story, Smart drove by and gave a waive.
"Smart and I have been friends for almost 10 years now," says Fernandez. "Marcus is hard because you have to go around the twist and turns of whatever hair style he has. I have to lift up the skinny braids and move them to the side without messing them up. I have to make the lines concise, so you can see the lines in the camera angles underneath the hair."
The team got their hair cut before the series started, but some players prefer getting a touch up before games. Fernandez says seniority rules. The longer a player has been on the team or in the league, they get first dibs in the chair.
"Marcus is the longest Celtic, but Al Horford is the vet, so Marcus will probably defer to Al," explains Fernandez.
The more he gets to know the team, the more nerve racking it is to watch their playoff run. He predicts the Celtics will beat the Heat in seven games, then win the NBA Finals in six games against Denver.
