Culture isn't a word Mody Maor loves.
Peers will often show the New Zealand Breakers head coach images of his team's jubilant bench after a score, and offer endless praise.
"They say, hey, this is culture," Maor told ESPN. "It's actually not.
"Culture is what happens when things go wrong. Culture is how a group, an organisation, a team responds when things don't go well. It doesn't matter if things don't go well in a possession, don't go well in a game, don't go well in a stretch, or don't go well in a press release."
A press release?
Maor has regularly been praised by the wider NBL community for the culture he seems to have built in New Zealand, helping elevate the team from last-place to one that made it to the 2023 Championship Series, while conducting themselves in a manner that's generally garnered respect from across the league. Still, some off-court mishaps have taken centre stage.
There was an incident in the middle of last season, where a social media post about former Breaker, Corey Webster, drew the ire of the team's fans, and even some of its players. Maor was quick to apologise on behalf of the Breakers.
A similar incident occurred last week, when announcing the signing of Mangok Mathiang. The Breakers' media release described the Sudanese-Australian as a "defensive demon better than Dererk Pardon", with the article disparaging Pardon -- the team's All-NBL Second Team centre from the 2022-23 season -- a number of times. The release drew criticism from across the league, including Barry Brown Jr. -- the Breakers' import guard from last season -- who said on Instagram, "This isn't how you get tickets sold ... do better @breakersnz". Internally, Breakers players also voiced their disappointment in the messaging.
"The press release isn't what's important to me; what is important to me is a few things I'd like to touch on, and then I won't shy away from the press release." Maor said.
"Number one is how instrumental and important Dererk Pardon was to everything we did last year. For me, as a first time head coach who wants his team to play with effort and intensity all the time, and compete at the highest level all the time, Dererk was the most foundational piece for this. This is a person that brought it every moment, every second. Some teams want a versatile five-man -- and that's okay -- for us, he was absolutely perfect and I am extremely grateful I had the chance to coach him. I don't think we achieve the things we achieved without Dererk being there.
"Number two: whoever was going to take the undertaking of replacing Dererk Pardon, or filling Dererk Pardon's shoes, is going to have a monumental challenge in front of him. Mangok, in my opinion, is somebody who relishes challenges. Like part of the press release, I truly believe Mangok is the most underrated local free agent, and I believe in his ability to fill Dererk's shoes in a little bit of a different way; they're obviously not identical. That will require the best out of Mangok. What we saw from him last year was a player who had a small role on a team that did not win games, so this is definitely not plug and play."
Maor then acknowledged that the team "chose the wrong words" in the press release.
"As far as the press release goes, there is nobody in the organisation of the Breakers that is not grateful for the things that Pardon did," he said.
"The wording in the press release was trying to relate to the fact that Mangok had very good numbers in Israel that were similar or, in certain areas, better than Dererk's, and I think that got lost in translation, where the goal of this messaging was to give our fanbase and the people that are around the Breakers belief and confidence... While doing that, I think we chose the wrong words.
"Everyone around me, and everyone around our playing group, and everyone around the Breakers building, knows exactly who Dererk is, and I know he knows exactly how we feel about him, and how grateful we are to him. I'm hoping, from here, we can move forward and just try and do the best we can to fill those big shoes."
The Breakers hope to put this situation aside as a mere blip in what's otherwise been a fairly positive free agency period for the team; one that saw them retain the services of William McDowell-White, with an eye toward maximising the Australian point guard.
"If you're building a team, there's a pathway," Maor said. "There's these big blocks that you need to capture and put them in place, and then you can tailor around them. Will was step one.
"Will is a focal point in how we want to play. There's a reason he's been so good in this system, there's a reason he was so good last year. Part of it was maturity. Part of it is there's a really good fit to how he plays on offence and how we want to play. At the end of the day, we're a heavy pick and roll team, and he's a very, very good pick and roll player. Having that as a foundational piece, where you start to build your offensive philosophy from, was extremely important. Especially when you go and look in the local market, and you understand that there's nobody who can really do the things that Will does.
"The only local player who does these things is Giddey, and he's not coming to the Breakers. I'm really happy Will felt the right place to be was with us, and this is the right place for him to be in order to take the next step long term. He left a lot of money on the table to join."
That money came from across the league. The Tasmania JackJumpers were among the most aggressive in their recruitment of McDowell-White, as were the Perth Wildcats and Brisbane Bullets, all of whom had the same desire as Maor: build around one of the best connecting guards in Australian basketball.
Maor calls it a "beautiful marriage", where McDowell-White's style of play and the Breakers' on-court identity fit hand in hand. That connection also exists between the player and coach. McDowell-White was quick to cite Maor as the biggest reason why he chose to re-sign with the Breakers: "honestly, the biggest factor was Mody," he told ESPN after his re-signing.
Thomas Abercrombie said something similar when he chose to sign on to his 16th season with the Breakers.
"We have a saying in Hebrew, that the cook doesn't rate his own meal," Maor said, when asked why he thinks players are citing him as major factors in re-signing.
"At the core of it, the reason the guys have to come back is players want to achieve their dreams, and they feel that in our environment -- and hopefully with my coaching -- they have a better chance of doing it. I'm humbled they feel this way, and I feel super, super, super lucky that I've been around these kinds of people that value these kinds of things. I'm blessed as a coach to have these kinds of partners and hopefully we'll have a few more partners join us this offseason too."
The Breakers have the bulk of their local talent shored up. McDowell-White and Abercrombie re-upped with the franchise, while Izayah Le'afa, Cameron Gliddon, and Daniel Fotu will all return from last season. Tom Vodanovich was granted a release in order to sign with a team in the Philippines, but the Breakers have retooled their frontline with Mangok Mathiang and Dane Pineau. Throw in a Next Star -- the team locked in Lithuanian wing, Mantas Rubštavičius -- and all eyes then turn to filling all three import spots.
Stylistically, those imports will look different to the 2022-23 season. The introduction of Mathiang -- someone the team's decision-makers see as a starter-level player -- removed the need for an American centre, so the Breakers' focus shifted.
"We're gonna have an import who's a four-five, and we're going to have two more imports on the perimeter," Maor said. "If you want to peg them into positions, it's a two and a three, but not really; it's two perimeter players.
"One of my conclusions from last year was that we wanted a little bit more offensive versatility on the perimeter. At the end of the day, we had two and a half main creators on the perimeter: we had Will, we had Barry, and for stretches we had Izayah. But that's really the only creation we had on the perimeter. We want to create a situation where we have another perimeter player who can create, at least to a degree. We couldn't find that in the local market, so that required us to finagle a little bit in how we build the roster from a local standpoint. The decision we went with is not to go with a four and a five import."
The Breakers finished last season with the league's best defence, and were among the better rebounding teams; two things Maor is aware of, and how causal both things are to winning.
"I've been very deliberate and clear about the fact that I believe defence is what wins everywhere; I also believe this is what wins in the NBL," he said. "There's a way and a style we want to play offensively, that maybe it's a little bit of a zig when everybody's zagging, that I think gives us a little bit of an advantage. Our pace is a little bit different, how long our possessions in the halfcourt are different to other teams."
Maor sees the addition of Mathiang and Pineau as steps toward retaining that defensive identity and intensity. Both are extremely effective rebounders who "put their hands in the mud," according to Maor.
"They don't shy away from the battles... it's a very, very important piece for how we play. It was one of the things Dererk did so well that we needed to replace so, yes, what they do on the boards is very important, but it's really the tenacity, and the effort, and the intensity, and the bruising physicality they play with on a consistent basis."
The Breakers could look different in a number of ways.
On the court, there's already been some player turnaround, and that will continue once all three imports are signed and arrive in New Zealand. There's also positivity from a financial side within the franchise, after they were especially affected when the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak.
"There's been a great deal of excitement in the sponsorship space around the Breakers heading into next season," Matt Walsh, the Managing Partner of the Breakers, told ESPN.
"Last year's Finals run created some extremely positive momentum for us on the business side. Season ticket sales have also been great so far. The upcoming season is going to be incredibly exciting for our fans."
Maor has often attempted to downplay the impact the Covid-affected seasons had on the Breakers, especially in the midst of a season where every game is crucial, so focusing on anything but on-court sentiments feels moot.
"I thought it was really important for us, as an organisation, to turn a leaf," Maor said.
"It's no longer a crutch, it's no longer something we rely on, and it's no longer something we address. It's something that's in the past and we move on. It did leave us, from an organisational standpoint, very skinny. Our offices were basically abandoned for two years, and we were in a different country. There was a complete disconnect between what was happening in New Zealand; basically, there was a team of people in Australia trying to make this thing function. That cost us, in different places and spaces, and I want to be better in all of them.
"I want our coaching staff to be better -- they were great -- but I [also] want to be better, I want my performance to be better, and I want our scouting to be better, and I want how we take care of players off the floor to be better, how we travel to be better, our nutrition, everything. These are incremental games that are critical in a league as competitive as the NBL. If you're going to drop the ball in one of those, then you're gonna drop those few games that puts you out of the second-place and into the play-in, or maybe out of the play-in and out of the playoffs. All of those areas where we can gain an inch are critical, and we're trying to tackle all of them in this offseason.
"It starts with having a real, in-depth look at what you're doing and what you can do better, then finding the right pieces and right places to put in place; hopefully we get it right."
Maor is disciplined, and seems to lean on his processes as opposed to flashy sentiments. It's why there's a clear desire to silently work through adversity while loudly getting in the front of unforced errors.
"I strongly believe we have a good foundation," Maor said.
"The sneaky thing about culture, which is a word I don't like, is that it's something you need to guard all the time. It's something you need to fight for all the time. It's something you need to work for in every instance; it's your guiding light in the decisions you need to make. I feel confident we are constantly taking steps toward doing things the right way. I feel very confident in our ability to course-correct.
"I don't think we're not going to make mistakes, but I think we're very good at being honest, and looking at ourselves in the mirror and knowing what we did wrong, and doing it better."