South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Bubble barber
Meet the South Floridian who is a regular on the competitive cutting circuit and will serve as one of the NBA’s barbers
Mohashie “Mo” Rodriguez has made the cut. So add another South Florida member to the team in the NBA’s “bubble” at Disney World.
No, not just because he’s Jae Crowder’s personal barber, although the connection with the Miami Heat forward certainly doesn’t hurt. But when you cross competition with clippers, it was the logical result.
“The players all spoke highly of my professionalism, so here I am,” Rodriguez told the Sun Sentinel from his hotel room at Disney.
For Rodriguez, 34, the invitation to serve as one of the six barbers in the league’s quarantine setting, was, in many ways, a continuation of a personal winning streak. For as much as you can catch him at The Cut Stop Barbershop in Palmetto Bay, he also has been a regular on the competitive cutting circuit.
Yes, competitive cutting circuit.
“In the industry of barbering, I’m mostly known for competing,” he said. “I travel the world entering in different barber competitions. That’s how I built my name in the
industry, and I started developing a following on social media of barbers from all over the world. And a lot of these barbers, they cater to NBA players, NFL players.
“So when they have a client who is an NBA player, a lot of time the guys will reach out to their own barber first, ‘Hey, do you know a guy in Miami that’s really good, that can take care of me?’ And they’re
like, ‘I know this guy, I met him at a show,’ and then they forward my information to him. That’s pretty much how the bulk of my success with NBA players came.”
In addition to Crowder, Rodriguez has been summoned for cuts by Rajon Rondo, Kyle Kuzma, Lance Stephenson and Denzel Valentine, among others.
And now, potentially 350 NBA players who will rely on the six barbers selected to work in the quarantine setting amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In a most unusual setting, as the NBA seeks to avoid transmission of COVID-19.
“They turned this conference room into a barbershop, with a TV and video games for the guys to play while they wait on their haircut,” he said. “They pretty much covered all the aspects of a barbershop environment. We have a barber chair, a station, a mirror, and then we bring our own tools.”
Although he cut Crowder’s hair before the Heat left Miami, the two have been texting at Disney, with teammates possibly to be steered in his direction.
“I’m pretty sure he will,” Rodriguez said with a laugh.
As part of the NBA protocol, Rodriguez had to begin COVID testing prior to his arrival. That, in turn, allowed him to make sure that his wife and children also were virus free before he departed for what could be months at Disney.
Although games that count don’t start until July 30— with the Heat’s resumption opener on Aug. 1 at the Wide World of Sports complex against the Denver Nuggets — the competition for Rodriguez is scheduled to begin Wednesday, when the cutting commences.
In this case, with a South Florida flavor.
“When I talk to them, I usually try to talk to them about Miami and the city and what there’s to do, what restaurants they should try, and the culture,” he said.
As for the pressure of being in the game?
“The best way to look at it is you were selected for a reason — you come out here, you put out your best work, remain professional, treat everybody with respect, give everybody your best work and your best manners and the rest will show,” he said.
And while he said he had nothing to do with Kuzma briefly going blonde — “He didn’t have that when I cut his hair. That came afterward.” — he appreciates that the NBA hair game is ever evolving, just like the games on the court.
“If we’re in a restaurant, we look at the waiters’ hair. It doesn’t make any difference where we are. If we drop our kids at school, we look at other kids’ haircuts, we look at the staff ’s haircuts. That’s what barbers do. We look at hair all day long,” he said. “I’m always amazed about the creativity that some of these guys bring to the court. And I think, as players, it’s also for them to do something different.
“When Zion [Williamson] brought out the Z, it was cool, because that haircut has been around forever, and we always call it the Zig or the Zig-Zag. Some people call it the Zig-part, or the Z-part, and nobody has worn that in the NBA, and then Zion comes out, and boom! He comes out with the Z, and it’s the big thing. I got kids coming into the barbershop and they want Zs all over the head, all the time.
“It’s just great, because barbering is a form of art, and when these guys get to let us express our artistic skills and let it be shown on a major platform like ESPN, it’s always great.”
IN THE LANE
BEASLEY BACK: For all of his extensive travels, including three stints with the Heat, Michael Beasley has never been a teammate of childhood friend Kevin Durant. That now has changed, sort of, with the Heat 2008 first-round pick added as a replacement player by the Brooklyn Nets for the NBA resumption. Durant, who has not played since last year’s Achilles injury in the NBA Finals, is among the missing for the Nets. But if Beasley (who in Beasley-like manner will have to sit out Brooklyn’s first five games due to a 2019 substance-policy suspension) makes it work this summer, Nets general manager Sean Marks, also a former Heat forward, said it could potentially lead to something down the road for the 31-year-old. “I think we’re always going to be evaluating players,” Marks said, “how they will fit with not only with the group that we have now, but the group that’s expected to be part of this team next year and the year after that.” As in the group that would include Durant. But Marks also made it clear that Beasley was not added at Durant’s behest. “I don’t think that it’s fair to call Kevin on every single thing we do,” Marks said. “I think it’s probably well-documented over the court of the last few years that these two are close. But we’re looking at best available and talent. Michael certainly is that.”
DIALING DION: With Avery Bradley bypassing the Disney restart, Dion Waiters‘ next big chance could be at hand, as the Los Angeles Lakers look for backcourt alternatives. “He is working extremely hard, looks really good,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said on a conference call, while also discussing his team’s addition of J.R. Smith. “I think, like J.R., both of these guys haven’t played in a lot of full-contact basketball in some time, even prior to the hiatus, so conditioning will be a concern. But the talent is obvious when you watch him work out, you watch him handle the ball and create shots off the bounce.” Kentavious Caldwell-Pope would appear to be the frontrunner for Bradley’s minutes, with Alex Caruso also to potentially limit Waiters’ opportunities. Waiters, dealt by the Heat to the Memphis Grizzlies in February, before being waived days later and then signed by the Lakers, has not appeared in a game since going 18 minutes for the Heat on Jan. 28 against the Boston Celtics. “He’s one of the more talented guys in this league,” Vogel added of Waiters, while also addressing Smith. “If we can get these guys brought along at the right pace from a conditioning standpoint, I think both of them are going to help us.”
SPEAKING UP: Quiet by nature during his Heat stint, Josh Richardson said a key to his Philadelphia
76ers stepping up during the restart could be a more active voice. “Going forward, I need to keep playing defense the way I always do, and try to be consistent and vocal,” he said on a 76ers media conference call. “I think our team needs to be a little bit more vocal going forward.” With the Indiana Pacers shorthanded, a Heat-76ers series at No. 4-No. 5 in the East appears the most likely outcome from the seeding games. “I think we will be able to give ourselves a good chance once we start rolling,” Richardson said.
IN THE GAME: From the where-are-they-now department, Jamal Robinson, who appeared in eight games with the Heat in 2000-01, his only NBA action in a pro career that also included time overseas and the G League, this past week was hired as an assistant coach at LaSalle. Robinson, now 46, went undrafted out of Virginia in 1997. He spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Hampton University.
NUMBER
5. Heat players 30 or older, with Jae Crowder turning 30 this past Monday. He joins Udonis Haslem (40), Andre Iguodala (36), Goran Dragic
(34) and Jimmy Butler
(30). (Kelly Olynyk and Solomon Hill are 29.)