Maryam Naz from Sky Sports NBA on growing basketball in Europe
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Anchor / RSS
Maryam Naz is an NBA journalist at Sky Sports, and previously covered football at The Guardian. Brian and Maryam chat about how she got into journalism and covering the NBA, how the NBA is growing their audience in Europe following the NBA Paris Game, and how Sky Sports is helping grow basketball in the UK.
Follow Maryam on Twitter.
Full Transcript:
Brian Bosche:
Hey everyone. Welcome to the High Tea Hoops podcast. This is Brian Bosche, and today we have a very special guest, Maryam Naz, Sky Sports, NBA journalist. Maryam, welcome to the podcast. How you doing?
Maryam Naz:
And I'm doing really good and, and I'm, I'm glad that I'm like the, you said I was the first person
Brian Bosche:
I was Yeah. New season.
Maryam Naz:
Exactly. I, I'm feeling very special today. Um, doing really well. I'm really excited to talk about the N B A.
Brian Bosche:
Yeah, I just got back from NBA Paris, so it's kind of our, our first taste of N B A in Europe. I haven't experienced that since moving here about two years ago now. So I have a lot of N B A passion right now. We're let, we're, we're leading into Allstar, but before we get into all of that, you are an N B A journalist in the uk mm-hmm. For Sky Sports. These are rare positions. These are highly coveted positions across Europe. I, I was in the N B A Paris Media Room. These people are passionate basketball fans. Everyone wants to be in that room. So I'd love to just start with kind of what is your background as a journalist? How did you get into sports journalism?
Maryam Naz:
Um, I think it start, it started out like, even if I look back before I started actually doing work, I, I was a fan of football as a child. I was really into sports from quite a young age. Had a lot of good influence from my dad and my uncles. From the culture I come from, it's actually quite unusual. Um, in fact, girls aren't really like, allowed to be involved in that kind of stuff, but I, I was actually, and because I was exposed to that as a child, from there on, I just became really infatuated with it. I was unfortunately a Liverpool fan. Um, I didn't get really much of a, didn't get much of a choice. I was just following the sort of the family path. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, and I realized I really enjoyed football, but I really enjoyed writing too. And it just seemed like the perfect thing to get into.
And when I was in college, um, I started writing things just in my own time, just freely, um, you know, over the summer, just in like a notebook. Notebook. Nobody would be reading it, you know, but I was just doing that stuff and actually one of my English teachers saw it, and he had like a brother who used to work with the independent mm-hmm. <affirmative>. It just took off. It just took off from there. Um, I was just doing lots of work experience, the independent, the mirror, um, stuff I was just doing for free. And I think that's the thing, like, I get a lot of people who ask me how, you know, how should I get into journalism? It's like, you're gonna have to accept to be doing a lot of free things on your own time. Unpaid mm-hmm. <affirmative>,
Brian Bosche:
Um, building out your portfolio, writing your own pieces, showcasing Yeah, absolutely.
Maryam Naz:
Because what, what the places are looking for is, is your experience inability. Um, and this is maybe like one of those areas where having a degree is not so bad. I don't have a degree mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, and, you know, for obvious reasons, I always felt a little bit suss about that, but <laugh> actually, I, I spent that time instead getting a lot of, in a lot of experience. Um, I got my first job at a betting company, but it was a sports betting company. I thought, this is it, you know? Um, accidentally spent a couple of years there getting sort of shoehorned into the betting aspect and, and SEO stuff. And I just thought, screw this. At the beginning of this year, I thought to myself, either I get into the real industry or I switch industries. Yeah. Um, I was pretty much halfway through starting to, to think about, you know, other things. I enjoy teaching, so I was like, cool, I'll just become a teacher. Um, and then someone reached out to me and said they'd, like someone from The Guardian had seen my work, um, in, on women's football, because that's another passion of mine. And I ended up working for The Guardian for under a year, um, going to the games live reporting. Yeah. Uh, I was at the union
Brian Bosche:
On the Beat Reporter. The, the beat reporting? Yeah, the grinds on
Maryam Naz:
The on, on the, did you say on the beat reporting <laugh>
Brian Bosche:
On the beat? No, no, no. On the beat. Like the beat reporters that go to every single game. Is that a UK term that's, do you say beat reporters? Yeah, let's, yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Maryam Naz:
Like on the whistle reporting.
Brian Bosche:
Oh, I don't know what that means. Is like
Maryam Naz:
On, is that on the whistle? Like the final whistle?
Brian Bosche:
Oh, I have never heard that before. <laugh>.
Maryam Naz:
Oh, on the beat. That's pretty funny. Have you
Brian Bosche:
Heard Beat Reporters? Is that not a UK term?
Maryam Naz:
I feel like I, I've vaguely heard of it. Maybe not like in my own spheres, but
Brian Bosche:
I got it. Yeah. And the States, if you're like, if you're on the beat, like you're the beat reporter, you are going to every game, you're with the team, you're like, you're, you're in it with them following
Maryam Naz:
Around. Like what is the, like on the, on like on the buzzer, on the final whistle, what, what is the beat coming? What are we, you're
Brian Bosche:
Just about it's the beat. You're just like on like the pulse of the team. You're like trying to be the voice. Yeah. You're like a part of a, a part of it.
Maryam Naz:
Yeah. That, that was pretty much what I was doing though. Um, and then I was at the Euros as well, which was crazy, covering ink, the England women. Oh, okay. Yeah. That was my first major tournament, and it was stressful and it was like 40 degrees, which I mean, you probably, that's not, is that hot to you? Or not
Brian Bosche:
40 degrees Fahrenheit is pretty cold.
Maryam Naz:
<laugh> 40 degrees, like
Brian Bosche:
Celsius. Celsius. Yeah. Yeah. That's hot. Yeah. That's so hot.
Maryam Naz:
It was, that's, that was like the hottest, like, you know, the football was happening at the same time. It was, it was just insane. Um, and then I, I had started sort of getting into N B A because I'd, I'd watched the playoff finals, I'd, you know, and I'd seen Golden State Warriors. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and I certainly became more and more into it. And I already have like a long list of sports that I really enjoy, aside from football. I like when watching N nfl, uh, MMA, boxing, and I just thought this could be another cool thing to add to get into because I, I genuinely en enjoyed it. I, I didn't watch it often, but I did play a bunch of basketball and school and college. Yeah. So I knew about the sport, I knew all the rules and stuff, and I thought this could be an exciting thing.
And then I saw, um, the Sky job appear and I thought, I'll apply for this, but they'll probably pick somebody who actually, you know, knows a bit more about me. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, I did the interview and I, I sold it to them to say that I'm actually, like I said up front, I said, I'm not the biggest NBA fan, but, um, I really enjoy watching it. And also I think that I wouldn't like, have any trouble getting into it. Um, and I thought, I'm not gonna get that job. And then I got the call and
Brian Bosche:
Then you got it.
Maryam Naz:
Yeah. You had the job and I was like, oh my gosh. That's, that's insane. I didn't think I was gonna get it. Fortunately, had a really long onboarding experience, um, around up to six weeks. So it took from signing the contract to starting actually just, yeah, because it's like, so
Brian Bosche:
You ramped
Maryam Naz:
Up intense. Yeah. It's an intense company. So I didn't, I didn't work until late November and I spent that time just breathing basketball. Yeah.
Brian Bosche:
Uh, getting
Maryam Naz:
Into it by time. Yeah. By the time I joined I was just like an expert. Um, and I, I say an expert, I'm, I'm autistic, so I like remember everything, so I mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I kind of had that on my side, which, um, you know, I tell people like, they're like, how do you remember all this? Or How do you watch that stuff? And I'm just like, I have super hours, but really I'm just autistic <laugh>. Um, so I spent a lot of time just drinking everything in, absorbing things. And to be honest, it's just gotten easier from there. And I've been working at Skype for under two months now. Just under two months. Got it. First week was absolute madness. I was just, it was so stressful and a lot to take in. But since then I've definitely settled into my own rhythm and yeah. Had my own schedule and the, you know, a lot of creativity and, and enjoying what I'm doing and writing things that people are saying that they enjoyed reading, which is nice. Yeah.
Brian Bosche:
How would you describe your, your style, your writing style? What, how, what is kind of your angle that you like to cover things?
Maryam Naz:
Um, I, I actually don't just cover Sky Sports in terms of digital stuff. I, I run the N B A can, I dunno if I'm allowed to say that. I mean, like, I'm, it's not like, it's not a secret. I run the, this Twitter and the social NBA Academy. Yeah. Oh, nice. And a lot of people from intern internals will read it and say, you have a really nice, like, personable style mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I, I like to be like really kind of with the lingo and, and you know, just how I'm talking. I think I like that style. It's funny. It's with, it's relatable. It's got, you know, the stats and the numbers. But I think, I think that is how I'd want to read things. And I think that's very sort of useful for the audience that we're reaching the, the millennials who are getting into the sport, um, or people who are just casual readers that way. So you're not reading something where, and I've read stuff like on other sites where it's, it's, unless you have to be really niche fan to understand what, what's going on, and I think that's really difficult to get into. We want more people to read the stuff we have to help them get there a little bit. Cause not everyone's gonna be an avid fan. Some people just watch it casually, you know? So I like to think that my style is personable, um, and, and fun. And I think that's exactly how you get more people.
Brian Bosche:
Yeah. It's hard. We were talking before we started recording about how it is a little bit of a grind with the N B A season being 82 games, there's 12 games a night <laugh>. So how do you balance like covering and making sure you're conveying the information, you know, who's winning, who's having good games, kind of the themes while also kind of making it more fun and personable and telling those player stories and, and you know, maybe higher level stories. How do you, how do you strike that balance for the nba?
Maryam Naz:
Um, you have to really be on top of things. Uh, I wake up very early 5:00 AM uh, the first half an hour is a roundup. That's what you have to do.
Brian Bosche:
Um, and, and, uh, there's still West Coast games going on, you know, I'll wake up sometimes and see like, like the Lakers games are still
Maryam Naz:
Going three, the the 3:00 AM ones really get to me because then it's like either the game is still going on, or, um, we use like, um, like wires and like, um, where with a associated press, so they send us like recaps of the games and we just don't have them. Um, so then I'm ha them ha I'm having to do my own stuff in terms of writing a recap when it's 12 games. But that's the first thing I do because, you know, we are not at the games like a lot of other companies. E s ESPN are great. They've got a whole team of writers in, in America. Yeah. So we are doing an overnight recap, so that's gotta be the first port of call at six o'clock, um, in under 30 minutes round up of what's happened last night. Yeah.
Brian Bosche:
Um,
Maryam Naz:
And then I spend the next hour just like reporting on blog stuff and, you know, if any big news has come out, um, and if it's a huge game, like, I don't know, look at Don scoring eight point or whatever. Yeah. Nonsense, uh,
Brian Bosche:
Amazing news, whatever nonsense happening in the right now, like every week.
Maryam Naz:
Then there's like, there's a, there's definitely space to follow up with quotes and stuff. So I think I'd spend the first three hours of my, um, morning reacting to stuff that's happened. Um, and that involves blog pieces, roundups articles, and once I'm done with that, um, I woke up up until 2:00 PM I've got that time to, to think what I might wanna do, you know, maybe I don't know,
Brian Bosche:
More storytelling type pieces than, yeah.
Maryam Naz:
Maybe the Bucks have won six games in a row. Maybe Jamon has just done something crazy again. Yeah. Uh, maybe it's a, a preview. I like doing talking points. I think those are quite fun. Um, and that's kind of all up to me to do. And I think it's really important with N B A, you have to be like really on, on top of things when you're reacting. Um, yeah. But actually outside of that, there's a lot of scope because people will read that stuff. Um, they'll wanna follow up on what's happened, and that's where all the, all the resources, like the quotes and the videos and the tweets come really, um, are really useful.
Brian Bosche:
Yeah. What audience do you, do you find yourself writing for as you're going? Like, uh, it's been interesting for me coming to the UK from the states where N B A is just, everyone's an NBA fan, or most people have their team and if, you know, know the history, where here basketball is not as popular as even other parts of Europe. So when you're writing these, there's a, a certain target audience that you're going after.
Maryam Naz:
Yeah. I think that's, that's the thing. Like for example, N F L has become like really big here in the last couple of years. Yeah. Um, the main,
Brian Bosche:
There are four games this year, three games this year in, in London.
Maryam Naz:
Yeah. The main issue with, with any American sport is that it's overnight, it's happening when people are asleep, you know? Yeah. And that's the biggest problem, um, unless you've got like, you know, a team of riders where who are there at the games that's different. So I think for us, we're, we're catering to very specific set of people who are fans enough to want to know what's happening, whether it's happening at 3:00 AM or 5:00 AM. Um, in terms of like our own style, we, we have a lot of people who come back to us, so we've got like existing readers who come back. So we try to have a real mix of, of things that are sort of like niche and, and people are actually reading and, and stuff that might just be a new person clicking onto the site and getting to read stuff. Uh, and I think that's where the, the, like you have to have a really good balance between facts and information and also a personal element because it's not really fair if you're just catering towards really avid fans. Like, in fact, getting into N V A that I found that quite difficult. You read stuff with like, the word dime in it or like just a weird style, and you're like, what do these numbers mean? I don't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um, so I think like our own style is kind of finding that balance to be in between, to be providing content that everyone can access, um, and not just people who are really into it.
Brian Bosche:
So you mentioned one of the biggest barriers that I see is the games are overnight, so it's very hard to stay up and watch consistently. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, having NBA app is great and being like able to watch the next morning, which I love to do. And I like hide the scores and like, try not to, you know, try to make, I'm Endeavor Nuggets fan, so I love this year. It's amazing for me. So I like try to watch the big games in the morning after and not have it spoiled by Sky Sports Twitter. Um, so Thank you. If I checked Twitter first, but the N B A Paris game was pretty amazing to see. I know they only have one game in Europe every year. Um, but being there on there, and did you go, by the way, were you at the N B A Paris game?
Maryam Naz:
I wasn't there in person. Okay. But I was You
Brian Bosche:
Scene. Yeah. Yeah. So being there in person, it's like every single European media outlet is just crammed in there. It was crazy in these media rooms with broadcast and online and different creators and personality. It seemed like there was so much attention on this one game, even though it was, you know, bulls, pistons, which are amazing brands, you know, they have, you know, legacies in, in history mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but are not doing well this year. I mean, it's like, I was like, whatever team wins, or I was like, whatever team wins, whatever team loses gets to take Webi home. I, I don't know which one it would've been. Mm-hmm. <laugh>. Yeah. Like that's, that's the prize, the Paris game. But how do you think the N B A continued to grow in Paris when there is only one game and you know, they don't have as much, uh, you know, exposure over it, even when there's multiple MVPs every year, you know, that are European and the European talent pool is growing like crazy. How can the N B A kind of grow more in the, in the Europe and, and UK markets?
Maryam Naz:
It's, it's difficult for the same reasons that, like, getting people interested is difficult because as you say, it's, it's an overnight thing. Um, but looking at the N nfl, it's a good example of how you can do that. That's, that was a similar issue. It was quite difficult. We only had a couple of games here in the uk, um, and it was really hard to find fans that were sort of sort of, you know, passionate enough about going to do that. But I think one good thing that is that they, they did is that they opened a lot more, um, space for those games. A lot of stadiums opened up, dispersed. The new Spurd stadium has being used quite a lot. Um, and also there, there's loads of people like you who live here and are, you know, are fans of the N B A or the N F L, and they're from the States and they used to live there and, you know, they were into it there mm-hmm. <affirmative> and they bring the culture and their heritage over here. It's, it's a real sort of mix of, of all all of those things. I do think you're right in saying that just the one game that, although that gives it a lot more power and a lot of more, a lot more attraction, uh, you see lots of famous people are there, you know, Kelly and Mbae and lots of French, um, yeah. Celebrities
Brian Bosche:
To baby. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, Webe, uh, yeah. <laugh> huge TikTok ERs. Yeah. It was just, they just brought everyone out. It was insane.
Maryam Naz:
But then like, what do you do outside of that? You know, it's, it's, you have to think about how you facilitate growth. It doesn't just come from one thing. Like for example, even countries in football that host World Cups, they have plenty of tournaments running up to that. They, it's about garnering interest and unfortunately one game doesn't do that. Um, we need more games. You know, we, we, we have plenty of primetime games that are at UK Friendly Times, and those are the ones that we are told to push from the nba. Yeah.
Brian Bosche:
Like the Sunday games that, you know, the
Maryam Naz:
Earlier ones the 8:00 PM slot, they're like, you know, all over it. They're like, you, you better be all over it because this is a UK friendly time. Yeah. And Ben, those are our, those are the ones that bring in the most attraction, the most viewers. So it's, it's not a myth. People are watching and listening in, but we just need to widen the opportunities in which we're able to get access for those people.
Brian Bosche:
Yeah. Do you find yourself focusing on European players more? And hopefully we'll get more British players in there, but like, is that more of a focus is like highlighting those player stories kind of, or it more just general,
Maryam Naz:
But al it's also, it's like you have to know that with the N B A there are, there are maybe it's like five or six players that will always get people listening in LeBron James. Yeah. Every time, like I mentioned him, it's like the numbers are like, whoop, like all the way
Brian Bosche:
Up. You can actually just tell that every single post.
Maryam Naz:
Pretty, pretty much. And sometimes you have to pick, you know, like you look at a, like a, a schedule and you see that, I don't know, um, DeMar Deez says, scored like 40 points, but then like, LeBron James scored 25 and you are like, there's no way anyone's gonna read about him. So
Brian Bosche:
Tomorrow doing 40, did you see that viral video that came out of how the en how the media covers the N NBA and a guy? I know it's guy doing exactly that. Like, get outta here, DeMar, like, we don't wanna talk to, to you, you have 50. That's a normal night. Yeah.
Maryam Naz:
You know, like Janice, uh, Luca, Don Chi, uh, maybe even like, uh, Damian Lillard, like those are the big names really? Kevin Du Durant, the Nets. Yeah. You kind of have to accept to a certain extent that at the moment those are the people who will get people inside and, and you kind expose, like for example, we've been a lot doing a lot more stuff in Ja Moran and even Powder Bank Carro. Yeah. Just big names that are appearing that might not be as familiar, but they are still big. So you kind of slowly have to introduce that. Um, so to answer your question, you kind of sometimes don't have a choice. Um, you have to delete with what, um, makes headlines. And, and sometimes that means good players or good performances Miss out. But that's kind of where I have the creativity. Now I can pick which of those games I want to talk about. Uh, even like, like I said for the primetime game, I'm looking this weekend, it's like the magic versus the Hornets. And I'm just like, <laugh>, that's not, that's like, and it, it's so annoying because the 6:00 PM stop before that is Dallas versus Golden State. And I'm like, that's the one we should be writing for. But no, I have, we have to do the primetime games cuz we gotta focus on, we have to focus on what we know works. Um, and so it's a bit of a, like a by
Brian Bosche:
The unique angles. Yeah. Franz Foner. Yeah, <laugh>. How do, how do you do the young pa banker? At least you have some good young guys there. Yeah.
Maryam Naz:
At least there's some good, there's some good ways to get in. Um, but you just, it's a compromise. You gotta stick with what works now. And, and the more you build and we know that we are improving in a lot of ways, the more opportunities we get to include new things.
Brian Bosche:
Well, when you think about trying to grow the N B A audience in the UK and then a across Europe, it's, you're right, they're for the casual fans. Cuz the diehard fans are gonna follow no matter what they're gonna know, all the players are gonna know the rosters. But if you're trying to hook more and more people in, they can't really invest the ti time to get to know 20 or 30 players. So picking those, you know, five names, they get the numbers that they can know and develop a relationship with, kind of get their, your foot in the door. That does make a lot of sense to actually try to get the, the casual fans converted over. So, and you just, you totally see it on the numbers. Like, I'll post a Brony photo and I'll post it 20 times and every time it does. Well I know it's just insane the kind of attention that this any, like when, when Bronny came, um, with, with Sierra Canyon, when Cayenne Anthony and like his team, Christ the King, king and when Carmella was here, anytime there's any of those names associated with it, they do crazy numbers even if you post 20 times in one day mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So Yeah. Gotta give the people what they want.
Maryam Naz:
Yeah. I think that's, that's the thing though. Like even if people don't know the sport or anything about the team or even anything about basketball, don't know the name, right. They know LeBron James because he's a Liverpool fan or because he's LeBron James or Owen Liverpool br
Brian Bosche:
Or like part of the ownership group,
Maryam Naz:
He's got like, I think I saw a, a picture of him on Twitter. He's got like the Liverpool jacket, but it's got like the Lakers Col logo. I don't, um, yeah. It's just crazy. But that's the thing, you might not know anything about the sport, but if you know the player then that's a way to get hooked.
Brian Bosche:
Totally. And I think that's, so this weekend Stuart Hodge just did a really nice article, um, of the B L Cup. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, W B B L and B B L Cup where it was trying to get more people interested in basketball domestically and the British Basketball League, women's British Basketball League with that LeBron Hook. So he kind of had like LeBron's paying attention to British basketball mm-hmm. <affirmative> because Bronny and Bryce played together for the first time at a Hoops Fix event, you know, in, in the city of London, which is kind of a crazy, that's like a very crazy, uh, historical like footnote of like mm-hmm. <affirmative>, when was the first time Bronny and Bryce played together? It's like in London at the Copper Box Arena, like the hoops Fix, you know, pretty amazing that that happened. But it kind of was like a hook of like LeBron's paying attention to British basketball. So should you mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So how much do you kind of see the overlap between N B A fans and British Basketball League, women's British Basketball League fans? Do you see there be, there's crossover there or does it seem like it's very different groups to you?
Maryam Naz:
It's definitely very different in terms of the attraction and the audience that are, are attracted to it, but you are Right. Like pieces like that really work that, that piece did really well for us on socials. Yeah. And, and even even just understanding the, the nature of the teams and the stats. Like I, I did a piece on that. I was able to speak to the PR team, um, from the London Line women's team and the crazy stat had been un beaten in 637. Yeah, that is so good days. Which is like insane. But it, but like stuff like that, people get hooked by that. Um, and I think although it's completely different audiences, there's still things that you can use to, to overlap as you say. Like LeBron is one way of doing that. Um, but a lot of people responded and they were like, they were, didn't even know that the team had not been unbeaten in that many games or Yeah.
Or that it was 50 games at home unbeaten. And I think that's the thing. We had to be more consistent in our coverage of that. It's hard because you have to pick, you know, it's like I was saying before between DeMar Rose and then LeBron James or whatever you really have to pick. But we have to make more people open to the idea that it is happening and that we do have coverage of it. We do have live streams of it. Um, and there are cut finals happening and as, as much as we promote that, we get more and more people at least aware if not like, interested in it.
Brian Bosche:
Yeah. Well it's, it's an interesting parallel in the States where football or soccer is, it's kind of similar to basketball in the UK where we have our, you know, the mls, which is our, you know, domestic league and soccer is, you know, is one of the fastest growing sports in the US now there's a lot more interest in the Premier League and international soccer. And it is kind of the parallel where you have your, you know, your fan of Liverpool, if you're in Seattle, like there's a Liverpool bar that, that has games early in the morning. You know, we have Premier League mornings, you have your Spurs bar you can go to, so there is like interest in Premier League, but then you also support your m l s team and it's just like mm-hmm. <affirmative> because you wanna see live soccer. So it's kind of like, it's kind of making that balance where like you get more people interested in basketball in general, you'll get the more interested in the top league and then whatever the local team is. So yeah, it's a nice kind of, uh, cooperation between the two. So yeah, loved seeing that love seeing that article, um, kind of bridging the gap there. It's really nice.
Maryam Naz:
Yeah. And I think a lot of people recognize that there's, there is room for being like, as you say, both a fan of, of the, of the basketball team, but also aware of what's happening more locally. Uh, one good thing about that piece was that as, as I was getting quotes from the manager Banya and, and one of the players named she's Great Stewart,
Brian Bosche:
Fun is Great,
Maryam Naz:
Is Aya Stewart. She was talking about how we need more opportunities even at a very sort of low grass level, um, to get people involved in it. Because the more involvement we have, the more funding we have, the better we're able to then provide that awareness. The a big problem with local basketball here in the UK is that, um, even at that level, there's a lack of participation. There's not enough leaders, there's not enough, um, intervention from the government and I think that applies to a lot of women's sports or a lot of local leagues. So it's definitely something we need to work on. Obviously the NBA's amazing and it's, it's got like the most amazing players in the league in the world, but there's a lot happening outside of that, um, that needs just as much funding.
Brian Bosche:
Yeah. And if you're a fan of the N B A, like the Lions have Sam Decker and Costa CFUs. Mm-hmm. So if you want to see like N b A quality players, you can go to Lions games and see them play. And it's like, I I, I remember growing up watching Sam Decker play in, you know, March Madness with Wisconsin and I was a Nuggets fan, so Costa Covas, I'm like, holy shit. Costa Covas is playing it for the Lions this season. So you get a little bit of taste of N B A there and then in Euro Cup there's a ton of former n b players. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> like Jordan McCray and Sam Decker just kind of went head to head in the Tel Aviv versus, uh, lions game at, at Wembley and they were battling back and forth and it was like, whoa, this is like more of an N B A game than like a lot of the B B L games I've seen just cuz it was like two guys making every shot back to back to back <laugh>. Uh, but that, that's cool to see in London cuz there's also a lot of N B A players that visit, like Dwight Howard was just here, Tracy McGrady was just making a visit mm-hmm. <affirmative> over the summer. You have a bunch of guys coming and working out like Jordan Pool. Um, so yeah, it seems like London is becoming more of a hotspot for the community. Have you felt that all in the last few months? Have you, as you've joined Skye, as people are more interested in London and Europe and coming over here?
Maryam Naz:
I think there's definitely more of a pool here now because the, the resources and the, the availability of, of being able to travel of, you know, overseas and getting specific fitness help or whether it's physio. Yeah. That's definitely improved. Like I've, I've heard of a lot of players who've come here specifically for those kinds of things, especially in the off season. I also think there's definitely like an attraction of, of being around here when, like for example, even the Paris game players coming ahead of time so they could just, just, they could just enjoy
Brian Bosche:
Experience. Paris experience. Yeah.
Maryam Naz:
So you'd see the Twitter pictures of them like at the air tower or just hanging out at restaurant. It's, it's as much of a like, of a sort of place to relax and be in a whole other culture for them than sort of being in an intense environment where pretty much all you're doing all day is training and eating and, and maybe like sometime away. Yeah. Um, when I learned that basketball happens on Christmas day, I was like, yeah,
Brian Bosche:
It's the game. These
Maryam Naz:
Set of games seen me <laugh>. No, I would be doing absolutely nothing on that day, but that's crazy.
Brian Bosche:
Like, oh yeah, I've been to Christmas day games, it's amazing. You Yeah, yeah. You get like fun Christmas. Yeah. I went to a Rockets game with Harden and uh, you know, I think it was Harden Westbrook, you get your little Houston Rockets Christmas sweater on you go, like they have pick up basketball afterwards, so Yeah. You do a little Christmas morning, go to the NBA basketball. It's like, it's a it's an event. It's a thing.
Maryam Naz:
Yeah. I mean, but it's, it's fun for you. But like what about the players who, like, who would just, they don't in Christmas today
Brian Bosche:
They play. Oh well I don't know if, if not playing a game, but it's like, it's a special day. Like it is the day to play basketball if you get a Christmas Day game. That's a special thing.
Maryam Naz:
Really? Yeah. That's so strange because he
Brian Bosche:
Like, it's like NFL and Thursday it's like n f NFL playing on Thanksgiving. No,
Maryam Naz:
Yeah. That's the thing cuz like here it's, it's like we are really against the idea, especially in football where we are really upset at the fact that we have to play on the 28th Right. Because football teams don't have a winter break. Yeah. That's already upset to us. So to be thinking about playing on Christmas Day, um, but that's like another one of those culture shocks. So that's probably why it's, it's so much cooler to come in, just relax for a couple of days, even if, whether you're training or whether you've got a game in Paris.
Brian Bosche:
Yeah. We're pretty capitalistic in the States. If there's a day where people are at home in front of their tv, we're gonna put something on it. And I think the capitalizes on those numbers,
Maryam Naz:
They don't play on voting day do they? On what games? Uh, when you're voting, right?
Brian Bosche:
Oh, uh, yeah, I think they might have one space off.
Maryam Naz:
Yeah. So that's like the
Brian Bosche:
One time you have one day off for that. Yeah.
Maryam Naz:
Right. It's, but not Christmas, like Thanksgiving, but
Brian Bosche:
Yep. You're at home, you know, you're in front of a tv, not out voting, not in front of a TV to watch
Maryam Naz:
<laugh>, but that, that's what I'm like, I feel like that's, that this is why this culture is, it must seem at least to them the same way. It's like weird for me. It's like you can come away from that. And that's why so many of them came like, well ahead of the Paris game. They were here for like a couple of weeks just hanging out and Yeah. Um, I think there's that appeal here, but then maybe the more time you spend here you you realize that actually that stuff is also cool and interesting.
Brian Bosche:
Yeah. And you're a little more incognito in Europe. Uh, even if you're like seven feet tall, like you can, you, you're blending in a little bit bit more. People might not know who you are and you can have like a, a really nice trip as a tourist.
Maryam Naz:
It reminds me of the, the Michael Jordan piece I wrote ahead of the Paris game. Uh, he said he used to go to Paris, like just to like be hidden and spend like the summer there. Yeah. Um, but then after obviously that year, it just became impossible to do that. Yeah. So I think you're definitely right. You could, you could blend in, you know, if, if, you know, basketball isn't that big in the uk so you could definitely just Yeah. Be here and, and nobody would know.
Brian Bosche:
Well one of my favorite parts of the Dream Team documentary was interviews with John Stockton where he would just be like walking around with his family <laugh> and people would be like, oh, like the, you're American, the dream team is here. We're so excited. And he is like, yeah, who's your favorite player? And they're like, oh, Michael Jordan or Charles Barkley. And he is like, oh, do you know who John Stockton is? And they're like, no. And he is like, I'm John Stockton, I'm on this team. Like, he just went so incognito, nobody knew. He
Maryam Naz:
Must be nice though, like essentially. Oh yeah. He loved it. Like, you just walk around and nobody knows who you are and you do whatever you want. Um, you
Brian Bosche:
Know that six foot kind nerdy point guard <laugh> from from from Washington. Yeah, totally. Uh, okay, so we have NBA All-Star coming up. I are you going?
Maryam Naz:
I'm not going, but I've, you're covering. I've spent, I spent, yeah, I spent the last month just writing different pieces, really creative pieces. You know, we did like a, we did kind of newsy piece on, on voting when that was happening. Yeah. I did a predictive piece on, on the Eastern and Western Conference players. Um, I then did a piece where I asked a bunch of, of writers who were N NBA fans and also non N B A fans to pick their five. Um, and again, it's, it goes back to that point on creativity. There's just so many different ways. Yeah.
Brian Bosche:
I really like those
Maryam Naz:
Pieces. Lot, a lot of support from the n b that, you know, they really enjoyed those pieces. So we've had all those pieces going at the moment. Uh, and then obviously as the news is coming in on, on the starting five and the the coaches and the reserves, we've got a lot more content coming that way. Um, that's kind of the the thing though, like although you're not attending, you still have so much to do. Yeah.
Brian Bosche:
You're behind the screen. Yeah. You got, you're gonna be busy.
Maryam Naz:
Yeah. That weekend. I don't think I'm gonna be sleeping. I think I'm just gonna be like, oh, that's a
Brian Bosche:
Lot.
Maryam Naz:
I don't even drink coffee. I don't drink Anya caffeine. I'm gonna be powered of she and some sheer willpower. That's
Brian Bosche:
Brutal. Yeah. I, there's Rising Stars and Celebrity Game Friday. There's the three point in dunk and everything and Skills on Saturday. All. Yeah. Uh, so I'll be there, I'll be in Salt Lake City for that weekend. That's so
Maryam Naz:
Exciting.
Brian Bosche:
Cannot wait. I've never been to an All-Star game before. Um, or All-Star weekend. What should I look out for? Who's, you know, who's, what hotels should I go in? What should I look at? Like rumors behind the scenes <laugh>, what, what kind of information do you need me to gather on the ground? What storylines are you looking at? Um,
Maryam Naz:
I think it's, it's kind of interesting cuz this has been my first year reporting on the All Star and you have these players who all are the best players on their team, but you never quite know how that will work out, um, until the day and this year they're doing the rule change, right. We don't wanna know about the team on the actual day itself.
Brian Bosche:
The picking. They're like, it's like pick rules, like, which
Maryam Naz:
Is like Right. Super exciting and thrilling if you're a fan, but not really exciting if you are a writer and want to prep as much as you can. Um, that's
Brian Bosche:
True. You're gonna have to do a lot of like what you're, you're so right. It's hard. Like you're gonna have to react in real time. You're gonna have like 15 minutes before the game starts to know who the actual rosters are.
Maryam Naz:
Pretty much. Yeah. We're gonna have to be like on the money with that kind of stuff. Um, and you know, if there's any big breaking news, uh, our Sky Rule is actually a four minute rule in terms of breaking news stories. So yeah. That'll be fun. Um, I think in terms of the players itself though, I think it would be interesting to see how Don Chich does, because I think he's definitely like a, a lone man type player. Yeah. Uh, maybe that's why the Mavericks are deciding that they're actually not gonna buy anyone to support him and they're gonna suffer and, and lose games when he's not playing. Um, he really, he really revels playing by himself, so it's gonna be interesting to see how he's playing on the front court. Uh, LeBron James, just absolutely insane year
Brian Bosche:
20,
Maryam Naz:
No fears of having to defend for his team, you know, actually having support for once in his life defensively. Uh, and, and the fact that Joel and B didn't make it, I, I felt sad for him. I know, but
Brian Bosche:
I know they're gonna announce what the reserves coming up here, so he's definitely
Maryam Naz:
Gonna be, he's gonna be in there. But I, I think that this season, and I, and I looked at other seasons before, but this season you have so many players who are just reaching their peaks. I saw a stat on Twitter where it was a huge list of players just in January who'd scored 40 or more. Yeah. Um, like the, the talent
Brian Bosche:
Is
Maryam Naz:
Crazy right now. Points the amount of 40 point, 50 point and even to extend 60 point performances we're seeing in the beginning of this year, there's, it's no surprise that he missed that he missed out because there's just too much, there's too much going on. So going by all of that, you'd expect a really high scoring game. You know? Um,
Brian Bosche:
I hope they play, I hope they get a little resentful of each other. Like who's gonna get picked lost? Like, they're gonna get some, some feelings. They're gonna be hurt in the moment. So I hope they hold those grudges in the game and they actually go for it instead of like dealing with it all. And then they come a little bit more neutral. I hope they're like, you got picked above me. I hope it, I hope it, it spurs more competition in the game. I
Maryam Naz:
Hope so, cuz I, I I dunno if there's a bit of like, um, like a celebrity type field to these games where you just become, everyone's laughing and smiling and
Brian Bosche:
There's def there's always
Maryam Naz:
That buddy buddy. I mean Yeah, of course. But like, as you say, you also wanna see a bit of like spiciness. Yeah. You just want at least some element of competition because at, you know, these are the best players in the league. There's no rank, although we can probably guess who's at the top, but between themselves it's up to them to really decide and push that. Um, and once this is over, I guess you, you've gotta look forward and see how that's gonna appear in the playoffs.
Brian Bosche:
Yeah. Yeah. It's gonna be a fun weekend. Um, I don't wanna keep you for too long. I know you have a lot of stuff to do. Um, but do you wanna plug anything before we leave? Where can people find you?
Maryam Naz:
Um, so I'm, I'm on Twitter, you can find me at m nas 98. Uh, I do have a podcast. It's not anything to do with the nba. It's actually a women's football podcast. Um, the Fran Kirby Fight Club, which I, I do enjoy covering once a week, although much less now because of the N B A, uh, meaning that my only days off I like Friday and Saturday and I'd spend at least Friday just sleeping. Yep. Just cause you know, you've got
Brian Bosche:
A lot of getting some recovery seem to
Maryam Naz:
Catch up on. Um, and you know, the Skys sports n b social account and the Skys sports n b website is all me. I've got all the content there, so I do like to promote and plug it on my account. But if you have the app or gosh, it sounds really like PR doesn't it? <laugh> if
Brian Bosche:
You have to it at the end of the podcast, the people are here now listening. <laugh>, you're hooked, you gotta go follow,
Maryam Naz:
Feel free to to look it up and, and message in DM And I also have my Sky email in, in this, in the bio. So feel free, you can sometimes people send stories or, uh, had this one had this Pace fan who was very upset about me and my views on Tyre had a Burton so <laugh>, uh, and then I had to point him out. Actually he didn't read my article and I had included him in my all-star predictions. So if you're one of those people feel, redo that as well. I love reading it. So Yeah.
Brian Bosche:
And
Maryam Naz:
Your response, that's fine. My 2 cents.
Brian Bosche:
Love it. All right. Thanks so much for coming on. I appreciate it.
