Tea Time with Yani Ourabah from Sky Sports and the Anytime NBA Show
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Skylar and Brian chat with Yani Ourabah, Presenter at Sky Sports and Host of The Anytime NBA Show, about everything happening this week in the NBA Restart. They talk about the teams they have enjoyed watching the most, Damian Lillard going off for 61 points, Giannis headbutting Mo Wagner, TJ Warren vs. Jimmy Butler, Top Fits, drinking wine in the bubble, and more!
Transcript
Brian Bosché:
Everyone, welcome back to High Tea Hoops. This is Brian Bosche at the Duke of Hoops, and as always I am joined by Skylar. What's up, Skylar? The Duchess.
Skylar Smith:
Hello.
Brian Bosché:
And today-
Skylar Smith:
How's it going?
Brian Bosché:
It's going great, Skylar. You doing good?
Skylar Smith:
Thanks. Yup, good.
Brian Bosché:
Today we have a-
Skylar Smith:
Just needed to get that in there.
Brian Bosché:
We have a special guest today. All of you probably know him already, Yani, SkySports presenter from the Anytime NBA podcast. Yani, what's up? Welcome to the show.
Yani Ourabah:
What a time to be alive. I'm here to have some serious fun. Yeah, great. Thanks, Brian. Thanks, Skylar.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, it's always funny when I listen, like I've listened to Anytime NBA. Great show. You should go check it out. But it's so funny when I'm just listening to you all the time and then we actually have a conversation. I'm like, "Oh shit, I have to respond now." I'm not used to that.
Yani Ourabah:
You're used to just going in and just, just listening.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, I can just listen. Fly on the wall. But today I will be hosting. This is our Tea Time podcast show, so we have-
Yani Ourabah:
Oh, has a nice ring.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, we have the Sunday Roast, dive a little bit deeper. This one's a little lighter, more casual. Go into some Wubble Bubble talk, go into some roasts and who's hot or not. I'm just going to kick off to you, Yani, with our first question. Who's been your favorite team to watch in the bubble?
Yani Ourabah:
Is it recency bias? Because I watched the Blazers last night, and I think it might be the Blazers. I'm on the Suns train. Everyone knows I'm on the Sun train. I'm on a lot of trains.
Brian Bosché:
There's a lot of trains to be on.
Yani Ourabah:
There's a lot of trains to be gotten. Do you know what I mean? I've got my rail card 33% off, six cents 25. But it might be recency, but Dame dropped 61 last night. Obviously right now it's Wednesday.
Brian Bosché:
Insane.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, they beat the Mavs 134 to 131. I'm just amazed every single time. I was impressed. I've been impressed by Dame for a long time, but I feel like he's just figured it out. The answer there is the Trail Blazers in at one and the Suns sneaking in at two. Oh, and the Raptors at three.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, love that Raptors pick. Yeah, the top two, the Suns and the Blazers, I love that there is this fight for the eighth seed, because that is making the game so much more fun to watch and has definitely increased their intensity.
Yani Ourabah:
Incredible, incredible. Obviously we've got those last games coming up Thursday night, so we'll see what happens there.
Brian Bosché:
Skylar, your favorites, or favorite.
Skylar Smith:
I was going to say the Blazers too. I just can't get enough of Dame, and I just, we talk a lot about how the Lakers, you can tell that they really like each other and they really enjoy playing together, and you can see that with the Blazers as well. I just love, you know, Dame's obviously killing it, but I've been having a really fun time watching Melo too. He's so skinny and he's so in shape, and he looks like he's having fun-
Yani Ourabah:
Skinny Melo.
Skylar Smith:
... and he's nailing threes. He just looks great. Yeah, I was going to say the Blazers too.
Yani Ourabah:
It's actually mad that he's the only don in the NBA still posting up.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
Nuts.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Brian Bosché:
Love to see it.
Yani Ourabah:
They put the ball into Melo and everyone just clears out. I'm sitting there like, "Oh yeah."
Brian Bosché:
Yeah. Skylar, this is a shout out to you at Michigan. He got Trey Burke on him and he was just licking his lips in the post. Just immediately backed down. Everyone went to the other corner. I was like, "Oh, he's going to eat on Trey Burke."
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, and no surprise, he did. 26 points from Melo last night.
Skylar Smith:
No surprise.
Brian Bosché:
Amazing. Mine's the Mavs.
Yani Ourabah:
I get it.
Brian Bosché:
We talked about this on one of our last shows. They are in all of these close games. They can't really win a lot of them. They always kind of blow it at the end, even if it's a Dame Lillard 35 foot bounce up and then it swishes through, which kills them. But having Luka and Kristaps actually come together and play really well, and they're battling in the west, they've been my favorite team so far.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, I can definitely back the Mavs. Is it a little bit worrying that they sort of keep not winning these close games? Potentially.
Brian Bosché:
Yes. It definitely is.
Skylar Smith:
I think it is.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah.
Skylar Smith:
They cannot close a game.
Brian Bosché:
The Bucks game though, there was, and he actually closed that one out after blowing it a few other times, so that one gives me a little bit of hope that they can. I think that was one of Luka's best games I've ever seen him play.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
That stat line was ridiculous. Was it 19 assists or 19 rebounds? I don't even know now.
Brian Bosché:
Both. Who knows. He's getting like 30, 20, and 20.
Yani Ourabah:
I don't even know what to do with the kid. Worrying slightly. The Mavs obviously lost to the Blazers last night, which means that they're pretty much just locked in for the seventh.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
So they definitely have to play the Clippers as opposed to kind of push in to play the Nuggets. They're pushing up that sixth seed, which is just problematic.
Brian Bosché:
Very meaningful. Nuggets are much easier to handle than the Clippers. As me, a Nuggets fan, I can definitely, you're like, "We need to get the Nuggets." They didn't even start their starters in the fourth quarter, which we'll go into later.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, that's it. I'd say it kind of goes a little bit both ways. The Clippers should definitely be a little bit scared of the Mavs, but not too scared.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah. All right, Yani, least favorite team to watch, or have you just not watched them, or have you actually bit the bullet and watched them?
Yani Ourabah:
Oh my God. You know what? Has it been bad? I haven't watched the Kings, and I haven't watched-
Skylar Smith:
I haven't either.
Brian Bosché:
Not more than one game.
Skylar Smith:
I haven't watched a single minute of the Kings.
Yani Ourabah:
I just, I know the Kings. I love De'Aaron Fox, but it's just Walton ball. They just kind of, they just mill about. There's not really much going on. I've got a lot of reason to love the Kings, as a fan of basketball and just a bit of a purist, but right now with all this going on, I ain't got time to watch the Kings, and I certainly don't have enough time to watch the Wizards.
Brian Bosché:
No. Both of them are bad, except when-
Yani Ourabah:
[inaudible 00:05:50].
Brian Bosché:
... except when Giannis headbutts Moe Wagner, which we'll also get into later. Then I'll watch. I'll watch the clips. Skylar, your least favorite team to watch in the bubble.
Skylar Smith:
Same. I haven't watched the Kings literally at all. I don't think I've watched a single minute of them. There's so much good basketball on that I'm not wasting my time on the bad basketball. I'm too busy.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah. A lot of games.
Brian Bosché:
We've covered this. I fucking hate watching the Pelicans. I hyped them up in all of our intro preview podcasts. They don't look like they're trying. The body language, the attitude, it just sucks, and they have so much potential, and so I just hate watching them.
Yani Ourabah:
Now, what a flop. What a monumental flop. Unbelievable. People had them having a 37% chance of making the playoffs, right?
Brian Bosché:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, sure.
Skylar Smith:
No.
Brian Bosché:
And then, Zion coming back. I mean, we've covered this, but he's not coming back. He's not playing in crunch time. The whole team isn't coming together. They look like they don't want to play just they're so frustrating, but we can move on from that. I've bitched about the Pelicans enough on this podcast.
Skylar Smith:
We get into this every podcast.
Brian Bosché:
That's because I love them. The Bane shot of Zion in the weight room got me so hyped for them to come back and just-
Yani Ourabah:
And then he came back chunky again. I was like, "What?"
Brian Bosché:
I know. He put on 30 pounds between that photo and the restart. It just shows you.
Yani Ourabah:
Bang on the outside.
Brian Bosché:
Angles. Angles matter, angles and lighting. That's what it's all about.
Skylar Smith:
Angles and lighting.
Brian Bosché:
Let's move on to our next takeaway. Skylar, do you want to launch this one off?
Skylar Smith:
Sure. We've been talking about everything going on surrounding Damian Lillard. He got into it a bit with Paul George and Pat Bev against the Clippers the other week when he couldn't close out that game, and it wasn't Dame time, and since then he's just been insanely committed to just putting up fuck you points every single night. Just proving all of the haters and losers wrong.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah. Trademarked.
Skylar Smith:
Trademarked, fuck you points. I mean, last night it was, 61 points against the Mavs. Was that last night?
Brian Bosché:
Yeah.
Skylar Smith:
I'm losing track of time.
Yani Ourabah:
It was.
Skylar Smith:
Then he hit that game winner and put some respect on my fucking name. People later asked him who that was to, and he said it was to the media, which I was kind of expecting, I don't know, everyone who's doubted. I don't know, not the media specifically.
Brian Bosché:
It's to Skip Bayless.
Skylar Smith:
Well, he said he turned to the media row, who was sitting there at the game. He looked at them, which is intense, honestly.
Yani Ourabah:
I kind of back it.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
He's been playing at a level now for the last two years. I mentioned before that he should really be getting more recognition, and he's still the kind of guy that it's not been that long since he was left out of the All Star Game.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah.
Skylar Smith:
Yes.
Yani Ourabah:
It's really not been that long, and when you think about this guy, 61 points last night being left out of an All Star Game. Of course it wasn't this season, but still just a bit tacky.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, and it's like, what does he have to do to start getting into the conversation with Curry, because you know that's always the comparison. Curry always overshadows him. But similar three point percentage, similar leadership positions on the team. They're one and two, and he's never in those. There's just Curry and then there's a big drop off to Dame from what people write, which is probably why he directed it at the media.
Yani Ourabah:
And it also kind of works as his persona. Do you know what I mean? Like, "Fuck everyone."
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
You know what I mean? Screaming that all the time, it kind of works.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah, but with that game, he was the only player besides Wilt to have more than three 60 point games in one season, which I was surprised when I saw that stat, that Harden hadn't done that.
Yani Ourabah:
I know what you mean. I feel like he should have done it in the last three years. Apparently not.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
He's a 50 point man.
Brian Bosché:
He's a 50, yeah. He doesn't go to 60.
Yani Ourabah:
He's not a 60 man.
Skylar Smith:
Not hitting that 60 yet.
Yani Ourabah:
He's just a 50 man. No, I remember the famous LeBron versus the Hornets 61 point game. It might have been 63, I can't remember. But that felt like a monumental performance, and Dame casually dropped 61 yesterday.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah. It feels weird. It feels weird with the bubble too, where there aren't fans, where they're not going crazy.
Yani Ourabah:
That was my takeaway from last night's game. Dame's hitting these shots and it's just, it's unjust that there's no fans. The whole place-
Brian Bosché:
Yeah.
Skylar Smith:
I thought that with the Devin Booker shot.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, yeah.
Skylar Smith:
I wanted fans there for that so badly.
Yani Ourabah:
My word. A real shame, but at least we've got ball back.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah. Are you leaning towards... I haven't listened to the episode that dropped this morning, Yani, but are you leaning towards Dame as the bubble MVP?
Yani Ourabah:
Dame is indeed my bubble MVP.
Brian Bosché:
Okay.
Yani Ourabah:
It's close. I will chuck T.J. Warren in there as well as Devin Booker. I think it's a three man thing, definitely a three man thing. All-bubble team considerations, essentially those guys. Considerations to Michael Porter, Jr. and AD, really.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah. Got it. All right, next category. Let's keep running through these. Yani, who do you want to see in that eighth spot? Or let's start. Who do you want in the playoff game, the play-in game? What two teams?
Yani Ourabah:
I met with a friend of mine who's a Spurs fan last night for a cheap little just beverage, and the first thing he said to me was, "I really don't want us to make it," which is nuts as a Spurs fan. So that's really-
Brian Bosché:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
... all you need to know. If he doesn't think that the Spurs should make it, I definitely don't, although I-
Brian Bosché:
Okay, so they're off.
Yani Ourabah:
If they have to, at least the whole playoff narrative with Popo will be there. I need something, right? Yeah, so sack the Spurs off. It's Blazers and Suns. It's so clearly Blazers and Suns. It's one of the most cut and dry things alongside Giannis being the MVP that won't have any other words. Yeah. What a mini-series that will be. Buckets on buckets on buckets. Dame versus... The Blazers will absolutely beat them.
Brian Bosché:
Especially if they have to be beaten twice, yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
Absolutely. I've got no doubt in my mind the Blazers will beat them, but at least the Suns will be there. Devin Booker's been dropping consistent 35s a night. There's a strong chance that he.
Brian Bosché:
Exactly 35 every night.
Yani Ourabah:
Exactly 35.
Brian Bosché:
It's like exactly that every time. He's like a machine.
Yani Ourabah:
He does his thing and then sort of checks out.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, I got it. Skylar, any argument on your side for the Grizzlies in the play-in?
Skylar Smith:
No. I don't want to see it. They've been bad, and I've said this a million times. I love watching Ja Morant. If he gets injured in this bubble because he's coming down from a dunk on one foot, I'm going to be so mad.
Brian Bosché:
I know.
Skylar Smith:
They're not as exciting of a team as the Suns and the Blazers. I would much rather see them play, and also I don't want to see Ja get hurt, and also the Grizzlies are boring.
Yani Ourabah:
Last point on the Grizzlies. Before the bubble, I was happy to buy into the narrative of, "Oh, everyone's disrespecting us. Everyone's saying that we're not going to make it." I, again, was really happy to buy into that. Obviously, they kind of play like shit, and Jaren Jackson, Jr. gets hurt. I want it back next time, guys. Sweet one. See you.
Brian Bosché:
Yup, yup. And Zion and Ja, top two rookies. No playoff experience this year. Just kick it to next year.
Yani Ourabah:
Absolutely none. Absolutely none. Yeah, that being said, to what you said earlier, who do I want to see in that? It's the Blazers for me.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, me too.
Yani Ourabah:
I just think this is Dame. Dame is a top 10 NBA player. The Suns don't have a top 10 NBA player, and I want to see the best first round series possible. I think it would just be wildly unjust if Damian Lillard doesn't make the playoffs. Big up to the Suns, and of course I love the Suns, big up to the Suns for making this late surge, but the Blazers-
Brian Bosché:
They're not there yet.
Yani Ourabah:
be there. If Nurkic was healthy all year they'd be a four or five, which is nuts, by the way.
Brian Bosché:
Seriously.
Yani Ourabah:
The West is stacked.
Brian Bosché:
So many good teams.
Yani Ourabah:
It's disgusting.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, if the Mavs are the seventh seed with an MVP from Luka, it's insane.
Yani Ourabah:
[crosstalk 00:14:19].
Brian Bosché:
Yeah. I don't what to do. Just quick point, I don't think we've had such a good league in a very long time.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, it's super deep.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
I don't think we've had a league this good in a very long time. What a time to be alive.
Brian Bosché:
It's great.
Skylar Smith:
What a time.
Brian Bosché:
That's why we are big proponents. You see Skylar's Sonics hat. Just bring in a Las Vegas team. Bring in a Seattle team. It's deep. There's enough players.
Brian Bosché:
Let's just go to 32. All right.
Yani Ourabah:
Let's go to 32.
Brian Bosché:
Let's go to our next topic. Yani, I'm throwing this to you. There is a wide mix of how teams are approaching the bubble. Some are resting players on back to backs. Some are kind of checking out and not playing any of the starters. The Suns and the Trail Blazers are obviously going all for it. How do you think about this bubble playing experience? It seems like games are all over the place. Do you think it's the elite teams are resting? The other ones are ramping up? How do you view what teams are doing in this bubble experience?
Yani Ourabah:
I think the important thing to remember when it comes to the bubble is that this is literally just the end of the season, as a normal life end of the season would be. You get teams resting. You get teams not really putting that much into it. I think the bubble itself has made the end of the season more exciting, certainly more exciting than it normally is. It's just as it normally is, the big teams not wanting to show their cards.
Brian Bosché:
Yup.
Yani Ourabah:
Denver. Denver the other night.
Brian Bosché:
So crazy.
Yani Ourabah:
Denver the other night against LA just not wanting to show any of their cards and passing it to Bol Bol under the hoop just for a two point shot when they're three points down.
Brian Bosché:
I know, I was like, "What are you doing?"
Yani Ourabah:
Watch that. Yeah, no. That's it. These guys, teams are just not really wanting to show their cards, which is fair play. Yeah, the playoffs are on the horizon and whilst I've been, and also the wider NBA community have been sort of getting caught up in these eight games, it's time to remember now that the real reason we're here, playoff time. That's exactly it.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah. Skylar, if you were a coach on one of these teams, you're the coach of the Spurs versus the Lakers, are you going to rest if you're a top seed? Are you going to pull players out? Are you not going to show your cards? Do you like that they're doing that, or would you rather have everyone play just to kind of get revved back up for the playoffs?
Skylar Smith:
I think there's a lot going on. It's not just like, "Are you playing your players or are you resting your players?" I think a lot of teams needed to get back into game shape. There's truly nothing you can do to emulate basketball game playing shape, and so those players weren't going to be able to do that on their own when they were quarantined. There's something definitely to be said for just getting players in enough minutes to get themselves back into shape.
Skylar Smith:
I also think that there's a certain rhythm that they should have gotten back into, so with Harden and Bron, you could see that they were kind of trying to take some rest but also get some good minutes in, some solid minutes, so that they could get into a rhythm, get back into the offense. I think some teams are kind of like seeing where their players are at, going deep down the bench to see how the guys fared in quarantine, whether they were staying in shape. You see the Mavs' Trey Burke coming out and really impressing in the bubble after doing almost nothing this season, so there's something to be said for that.
Skylar Smith:
There's a lot of different stuff going on, and it's beyond just players need to rest or players need to get back into it.
Brian Bosché:
Yup, great.
Yani Ourabah:
Notable on these deep benches, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist got minutes yesterday in the Blazers game. I haven't seen that done for like two years. Gets to the line, drives, and one, and I just remember I'm sitting there thinking, "I can't wait to see this shot form," and I can confirm it's as bad as it was before. Always bad.
Brian Bosché:
It hasn't improved.
Skylar Smith:
It's so bad.
Yani Ourabah:
Also, there's a guy on the Spurs called Keldon Johnson.
Brian Bosché:
Some of these lineups are insane.
Yani Ourabah:
I don't know who he is-
Brian Bosché:
I don't even know who these players are.
Yani Ourabah:
... but he just keeps dropping buckets, and I feel like the Spurs, I won't obviously spend too long on the Spurs because who needs to, they've just got so many of these guys that are kind of good. You can't have eight kind of good players, can you? Do you know what I mean?
Brian Bosché:
The only way it's working is because of Becky.
Skylar Smith:
I feel like that's what the Nets are doing too. The Nets have a bunch of guys I've literally never heard of, and they're all kind of good, and it works.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, we'll go into that with who's hot or not, because I have some Nets takes. But to close this, the takeaways out, Skylar, you have not a special relationship, but you're U of M, same year as Moe Wagner.
Skylar Smith:
Don't make it sound weird.
Brian Bosché:
I know. Sorry, that was weird. I'm not cutting that, though, sorry.
Yani Ourabah:
A special relationship.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Brian Bosché:
You know Moe Wagner. You guys graduated same year at U of M?
Skylar Smith:
No, not same year. We were there for two years at the same time. Yeah. I got to see him play at Michigan a lot, and we lived near each other for a while so I would see him a lot. My favorite thing about... What?
Brian Bosché:
I was just going to say I was making fun of you before the season that Moe Wagner wouldn't get any minutes and was just not doing anything, and now last night he just comes into the limelight.
Skylar Smith:
He's like the biggest story.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, exactly.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah. I mean, Moe Wagner was literally my favorite player to ever watch at Michigan just because he's a really fun player, which you won't see in the NBA as much. But just trust me, he was really fun to watch in college. He was one of the best players I've ever seen at getting under his opponents' skin.
Brian Bosché:
Yes.
Skylar Smith:
I don't know what he's saying on the court or what little jabs he's throwing, but he's so good at pissing people off. There's just so many videos of our opponents just losing their shit against him. This happened two years ago. He dunked on Dreymon, and Dreymon wanted all the smoke. He got dunked on and was literally ready to fight Moe Wagner over it. I was not at all surprised that Moe Wagner was on the receiving end of this Giannis headbutt, but what the fuck is Giannis doing?
Brian Bosché:
I don't know.
Skylar Smith:
He lost his mind.
Brian Bosché:
Again, I'm not surprised either, but why headbutt the tenth man on the Wizards?
Yani Ourabah:
Moe Wagner literally must be that good at getting under skin.
Brian Bosché:
Yes.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Brian Bosché:
That's his special talent.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
The thing is, people, casuals will sit there and just be like, "Oh, he's just this nice dude on the end of the bench," and here he is riling up the MVP. It's worth noting, by the way, that I am Algerian, and Zinedine Zidane is Algerian, and the 2006 headbutt, I'm here for it. I'm fucking here for it.
Brian Bosché:
For all headbutts.
Skylar Smith:
We all got our jokes off on Twitter last night about Zidane.
Yani Ourabah:
Giannis a little boom, fine my me.
Brian Bosché:
Just a little one. It was light.
Yani Ourabah:
Just a light one.
Brian Bosché:
Just to show him he's taller.
Yani Ourabah:
Let's be honest. He gets bounced every game for the last five years at least, not including his rookie year when he was camping out on the three point line and his shot stroke looked a lot better. But yeah, he does get beaten up every game.
Skylar Smith:
I feel like he's pretty bad too, though. He gets away with murder because he's Giannis. That first week back when literally everyone was getting technicals over saying "shit." I don't know, like literally nothing. Giannis was hitting guys in the balls and telling the ref he was going to fuck a guy up. Giannis has been wilding in this bubble and has not gotten techs for them, so this was just, he's been testing these limits and he realized that there kind of weren't any, and so he went for it.
Yani Ourabah:
It's mad. I don't know if we've ever had a player this... If he continues like this, which I'm happy for him to, to be this guy, this real dog, I don't think we've ever had a player who's so happy-go-lucky off court and then just an absolute animal on the court. I'm here for it.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, he's gotten in multiple fights.
Skylar Smith:
I'm here for it too.
Brian Bosché:
Is he getting suspended? He's got to, right? At least a one game.
Skylar Smith:
He has to.
Brian Bosché:
Forced rest before the playoffs start. It's not going to hurt them too much.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, he knew it too.
Brian Bosché:
All right, let's move on to our next segment, who's hot and who's not? We've covered the Suns. That was first on my list. Anything to add?
Skylar Smith:
Devin Booker is shooting from all angles. He's killing it in the bubble. He's showing up in Diana Taurasi GOAT shirts, and he's shooting his shot at Kendall Jenner on Instagram, so he's really just winning on all aspects.
Brian Bosché:
On and off the court.
Yani Ourabah:
D Book don't miss. He just doesn't miss.
Skylar Smith:
He said he doesn't take shots that he... What was the quote?
Yani Ourabah:
Oh yeah.
Skylar Smith:
He doesn't take shots to miss.
Yani Ourabah:
He doesn't shots that he doesn't think he's going to make.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
That's hilarious now when you think about it in reference to commenting on Kendall Jenner's Instagram.
Brian Bosché:
That's a great shot. Yes, yes.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
He's obviously 23. D Book is, what do I want to say, the face of NBA culture in a way. Do you know what I mean? He pops up in Drake videos. He's in Drake lyrics. Do you know what I mean? It seems like he's just one of the coolest cats in the league.
Brian Bosché:
For someone who plays for the Suns, you're right. He pops up a lot more than that role should.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah. Everyone loves him, and too, right, they should. The kid's a bucket. I don't have anything more to say on D Book.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah. It's amazing.
Yani Ourabah:
I can't wait to see him over the next few years.
Brian Bosché:
All right, moving on to probably Moe's favorite topic, the Celtics' four game win streak.
Yani Ourabah:
Oof.
Brian Bosché:
That's my thoughts.
Skylar Smith:
I mean, these aren't great teams that they won against. It's the Nets, Grizzlies, Raptors, and Magic, so it's a four game win streak, but...
Brian Bosché:
So are they not hot? Are they just doing what they should do?
Skylar Smith:
I really struggle to put any praise upon the Celtics, so I'm just giving the full picture here, adding context.
Yani Ourabah:
Skylar, you're not a massive fan of the Celtics?
Skylar Smith:
No. Who is?
Yani Ourabah:
Fantastic news. I'm on that train as well. Still 33% off.
Skylar Smith:
Great.
Yani Ourabah:
I get free tickets for that one. Yeah, four game win streak for the Celtics. To be fair, they kind of did need that after the way they started.
Skylar Smith:
Yup.
Brian Bosché:
Yup.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, in general, four game win streak is a four game win streak, and if they can take that into the payoffs against Philly, then I'm sure they will. Yeah, it's just, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are just the most impressive younglings in the league.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, together on the same team. It's really fun to watch.
Yani Ourabah:
Incredible to watch. Of course, I have my disdain for the Celtics for reasons, but I'm a basketball fan so obviously I love those guys.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah. I'm going to remove them from hot, though. They're just doing what they should do. Sorry, Moe.
Yani Ourabah:
They're not hot, just there.
Brian Bosché:
They're not hot. They're just beating bad teams. Not the Raptors, who are good. Okay, Yani, are the Nets hot? They're five and two in the bubble, three straight wins against the Bucks, Clippers, Magic. Are the Nets hot?
Yani Ourabah:
I think they are.
Brian Bosché:
I think they are.
Skylar Smith:
It makes no sense, but...
Brian Bosché:
Joe Harris with a beard is just, you can't beat him.
Yani Ourabah:
It's one of these, they could have gone 0 and eight and no one cares.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
They really could have gone 0 and eight and no one cares, and they're still looking ahead to next year. But yeah, fascinating. It's great to see. Imagine they pull off a first round upset. Don't do this to me. Don't, don't.
Brian Bosché:
It would be insane. Well, they have Caris LeVert and Joe Harris, so they have some of these good, young players, but-
Yani Ourabah:
This wouldn't be We Believe Warriors. This would be something we've never seen.
Brian Bosché:
This would be the Replacements, where it's a bunch of guys-
Yani Ourabah:
The Replacements.
Brian Bosché:
... looking for a 10 day contract next season or trying to get on a squad. That's what I think. I think it's all these substitute players coming in that are wanting to prove themselves, so this is for a lot of them, they might not play next year, so they have to win now and they're trying to prove their worth now.
Yani Ourabah:
That's it. They've got Chris Chiozza, who-
Brian Bosché:
I know. It's unbelievable.
Yani Ourabah:
... who is a guy that I really like, but another one of these guys that essentially on a 10 day and kind of got cut this season, brought back, started playing really well just before quarantine hit, and then, yeah. All these guys. I mentioned it on the other show. These Nets guys have done exactly what they need to hopefully to stick around for next year. If the Nets go ahead and make a load of free agent signings or a load of moves, it will kind of be a bit of a dampener. These guys have really worked their ass off just to prove that they can hang around when KD and Kyrie come back, and then it's go time. It's championship mode. Fantastic that they can go from being a G League team to championship mode next year, which they will.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, it's going to be a really weird transition team with KD and Kyrie.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, and then the East is somewhat stacked.
Brian Bosché:
For the first time in a long time.
Yani Ourabah:
For the first time in a long time. If we're considering the Magic, quick one. Who apart from the Magic can we even consider to make waves next year in the East? I don't think there is anyone. Maybe the Hawks? Oof.
Brian Bosché:
No.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, right. Okay, so it will be one to eight with the Magic.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, I think it's the Magic. Wizards, if John Wall can get... I haven't seen him healthy in a long time.
Yani Ourabah:
No, you're right. It's probably not the Wizards. It's not the Hornets. It's not the Cavs. It's not the Hawks. Maybe the Cavs will make me eat my words. Who knows? But yeah, no. Good to see from the Nets, absolutely on that train.
Brian Bosché:
Skylar, who else do you have that's hot in the bubble?
Skylar Smith:
Should we talk about Kuzma?
Brian Bosché:
If you want to. I would-
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, go on then.
Brian Bosché:
Skylar hates Kuzma, so I love it.
Skylar Smith:
I do hate Kuzma.
Yani Ourabah:
Why?
Skylar Smith:
Honestly, we don't have to get into it. It doesn't have to be a whole thing.
Brian Bosché:
Come on. Our whole Lakers preview podcast was just, "Oh, fucking Kuzma." And now he's coming through.
Skylar Smith:
I just, Kuzma and I grew up 15 minutes from each other, so I have a lot of Kuzma knowledge. I don't know. Kuzma, whatever.
Yani Ourabah:
Nice.
Skylar Smith:
He might be hot. He might be hot. He had 25 against Denver, 21 against Houston, obviously hit that game winner over Bol Bol. My favorite part of this, though, was in his post-game media scrum when he said that if Jesus was in front of him he would still shoot. I saw someone on Twitter later that night look up how tall Jesus was, which first of all, no clue if this is accurate or if anyone even has a way of figuring out if this is accurate, but it said Jesus was 5'5". So they were like, "All right, Kuzma, you ain't shit, shooting over Jesus."
Brian Bosché:
Is that with or without sandals?
Yani Ourabah:
Jesus is 5'5", 5'6" with sneakers on.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah, with sandals on.
Brian Bosché:
Well, everyone's getting shots over Bol Bol, which is so annoying. Chris Paul's hitting jumpers over. Bol Bol, just block some people, please, on the wing. As a Nuggets fan-
Yani Ourabah:
It should be.
Skylar Smith:
I mean, people are saying it was over Bol Bol, but he was kind of wide open, and Bol Bol was like 10 feet away and could basically get his arm up kind of in front of him, because he's so long.
Yani Ourabah:
But he was wide open because Bol Bol missed the switch.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, it was a bad defensive play.
Skylar Smith:
It's kind of not fair to make that the same thing as Chris Paul literally right over Bol Bol.
Brian Bosché:
Multiple times in a row.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Brian Bosché:
Yani, who do you have as hot in the bubble?
Yani Ourabah:
I mentioned him earlier, Michael Porter, Jr., and this gives me a fantastic reason to talk about the Nuggets. I enjoy talking about the Nuggets-
Brian Bosché:
Great.
Yani Ourabah:
... especially as a Nuggets fan. Let's bring it. I really, really like this team, and I've done a lot of deep dives into the Nuggets. There's just so much to like. You guys are so deep.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, we have too many players.
Yani Ourabah:
You guys are so deep. How good is Plumlee? Because the guy can pass.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, he is a good post player.
Yani Ourabah:
As far as a second center goes, he's so good.
Brian Bosché:
Well, especially in that Lakers game. What, it was him and Dozier?
Yani Ourabah:
Him and Dozier, yeah.
Brian Bosché:
It was pick and rolls over and over and over again.
Yani Ourabah:
P.J. Dozier. I was happy. I was happy to really discount P.J. Dozier. I didn't like him early, but he just keeps proving me wrong. No. Jamal Murray is a player that I'm higher on than others. I assume almost all Nuggets fans are pretty high on him because they watch him game in and game out.
Brian Bosché:
High yet frustrated this season. He didn't really quite make that next leap.
Yani Ourabah:
No, he didn't, especially since he's got that big contract. But yeah, I'm happy to go Nuggets hot, because if Michael Porter, Jr. stays doing what he's doing, and I don't really see a reason why he wouldn't, then you've got one of the most perfect blends of teams. Jokic is the best passing center in NBA history, Jamal Murray being that sort of primary guard, and then Michael Porter, Jr. coming off back cuts. Yeah, fantastic.
Brian Bosché:
There's an interesting Nuggets thread going on of if Michael Porter, Jr. should start or not, and it's like, do you roll with the squad that you had all season that's strong or do you see if you could get to that next level with Michael Porter, Jr.?
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, okay, right, so it's basically Will Barton or Michael Porter, Jr.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, or maybe even just take Gary Harris out, or there's a lot of options. Is there a higher ceiling with Michael Porter, Jr. and you just go for that, or do you stick with the squad that you've had all season?
Yani Ourabah:
I think Mike Malone will be scared of the mistakes that Michael Porter, Jr. will make just being the rookie. They're literally bound to happen. It is quite nuts. I'm starting to find this. I'm out playing basketball and if I'm playing against a 19 year old, it's crazy how you just get them on things like pump fakes, just being a rookie. Yeah, to hop back, Mike Malone will be hesitant, I think, even though he's played in big minutes in the bubble and the NBA season. Up until this point, his career high was, what, 19?
Brian Bosché:
He hasn't played much.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, he would go games where he's only played eight minutes. I'm glad he's proven himself, but it is a good point. Personally, as a fan I'd like to see Michael Porter, Jr. start, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's Will Barton, Gary Harris, and Michael Porter, Jr.'s back on the bench.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, especially I think, what, it's looking like they're going to play the Mavs. Or no, the Jazz.
Yani Ourabah:
The Jazz.
Brian Bosché:
The Jazz first round. I'd rather play the Jazz than the Mavs.
Skylar Smith:
I just hate the-
Yani Ourabah:
That matchup.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, I think we're losing on purpose. I think that's why we pulled all the starters. We want that three seed.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, big time.
Skylar Smith:
I just hate that Michael Porter, Jr. just will straight up refuse to play defense for full quarters at some points. He wants to ball out so hard, and then it's like he needs rest so he just rests on defense. Did you guys watch that game where he got pulled because he was literally not playing defense, and he was throwing a fit about it on the court?
Brian Bosché:
Yeah. But I think he just checks out. I don't even think it's effort.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Brian Bosché:
I think he, just like Yani's saying, you're not really situationally aware so you just kind of check out for a little bit instead of staying that intense the whole time, which is hard.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, yeah. It's a mental thing.
Brian Bosché:
All right, let's keep this moving. Skylar, who is not hot? Who do you got first?
Skylar Smith:
I got T.J. Warren first. Let's get into it.
Yani Ourabah:
Nice.
Skylar Smith:
We just talked about on Sunday, so excited to see T.J. Warren and Jimmy Butler play each other after all of the beef during the regular season, and we weren't even really sure that both of them were going to play. So then when it was announced that they both were going to play, I was so excited, but T.J. Warren didn't do anything. He played for 29 minutes. He had 12 points, zero assists. He had zero points in the second half. It's funny the way that these mental things can work. It literally, it looked like, I'm not saying this is what it was, but it always looks like he can't do anything against Jimmy Butler, because Jimmy just gets in his head.
Yani Ourabah:
Somewhat disappointing. I have a little bit of faith that T.J. will step it up kind of in the playoffs. I hope so, anyway, but if you're asking me T.J. Warren or Jimmy Butler, Jimmy's got him on clamps.
Brian Bosché:
It's Jimmy, yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
I would assert that.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah, Jimmy every day.
Yani Ourabah:
I'd say 10 games out of 10 games Jimmy's got him on clamps.
Brian Bosché:
This is after Marley, what, you or Marley posed the question who's better, bubble T.J. Warren or Michael Jordan? I think we've answered that at this point. Yani, who do you got as not hot?
Yani Ourabah:
Who I have as not hot. I've been mildly disappointed with the Oklahoma City Thunder, considering I'm very much a fan of them, just over these last games. I know they're somewhat resting. Interesting, actually. Marley touched on it once or twice. It's pretty much down to Steven Adams. They win with Steven Adams on the court, and they don't without him. He's actually become really interesting. He's become a passer, and for anyone that watches Thunder games will know that. He sort of sets up top of the key, kind of like Jokic does, with the one hand. Yeah, incredible. Yeah, I really need to see the Thunder step up there.
Yani Ourabah:
The Jazz I-
Brian Bosché:
We have that one, yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, the Jazz I'm not wildly impressed by. They're the team that everyone wants to play against, and for that reason, yeah, the whole dynamic with Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert just not ideal. I don't really see them coming out of the first round. Yeah, not impressed. In terms of teams, I could harp on about all the other teams that really aren't hot, but-
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, but these are the ones that-
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, these are the ones that really should be pushing on. Yeah, the Jazz are one.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, the Jazz, they didn't have such high expectations because Bogdanovic is out, and I think he was their second leading scorer, but you would hope that Gobert, two time defensive player of the year, Donovan Mitchell, they could be a little bit more competitive. But yeah, they've been a little, but yeah, they're just only two wins in the bubble. They just aren't impressing at all.
Yani Ourabah:
Last one. The Magic.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah. Why?
Yani Ourabah:
I've felt like this for the last three years with the Magic. The Magic are amplified by Aaron Gordon. You feel the same way about Aaron Gordon as you do about the Magic. It's kind of just like, "Yeah?"
Skylar Smith:
I feel nothing towards Aaron Gordon.
Brian Bosché:
Yes.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah, I feel nothing towards him or towards the Magic. It's just I don't care.
Yani Ourabah:
They signed Vucevic to that massive extension in the summer. Like, guys, really, are we doing this? Okay, fine. Cool.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, that's too bad. They've lost the last five I think. It's just like, "All right, what are you doing out there?" Mine, to close out this category, is Deandre Ayton. This is just off the court you miss your test. This is also, this might be bubble, but Deandre, I would love to be in the bubble, seeing him miss the test, having to go get it, and then sprinting across campus to join the game last minute.
Yani Ourabah:
Of course.
Brian Bosché:
Just, what are you doing, man? You're trying to make the playoffs. You're the second, third most key player on this team and you miss your test? I think he was on a podcast or something, so maybe credit to him. His priorities were straight. But you can't miss your test, man, when you're in a playoff battle. Come on.
Yani Ourabah:
What's hilarious is that the podcast he was on was the Woj Pod, so I get the notification for it. I get the notification for the Woj Pod first, and then I'm like, "Oh, Deandre's coming on the podcast, fantastic." And then an hour later I see that he's missed the thing. I'm sitting there going... I haven't listened to the pod yet, but apparently Deandre talks about second year leap and how he's become more mature, et cetera, dah-dah-dah, and then he goes and misses the thing.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, I would love, Woj is just live tweeting like, "Deandre Ayton is currently missing his test because I'm on a pod with him. Breaking news."
Yani Ourabah:
Takes video of Deandre sprinting. No, I've never related to something more. Yeah, a guy is [inaudible 00:38:50] I feel more mature now, missed his test.
Brian Bosché:
Missed his test.
Yani Ourabah:
Find myself sprinting across campus. As a man that sprints for many trains. I've [inaudible 00:38:59] podcast, but as a man who sprints for many trains, I can sympathize.
Brian Bosché:
Yup. All right, Skylar. I'm going to let you take this next category, which is always your favorite. What's up next?
Skylar Smith:
Is this the first time we're doing it?
Brian Bosché:
Yeah.
Skylar Smith:
I don't think we did it last week.
Brian Bosché:
It's its own category segment.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah. All right, let's talk about some fits. I'll keep it quick, because I know everyone doesn't really care about fits, but I like talking about it.
Brian Bosché:
No we'll get there.
Skylar Smith:
We'll get there. I'm building the interest. Okay, number one, we got Sue Bird and her Dior Jordan 1s.
Yani Ourabah:
Dior Jordan, woo.
Brian Bosché:
They're incredible.
Skylar Smith:
They're so pretty, and it's such a flex, because we see NBA players wearing these extravagant shoes and extravagant fits all the time. We don't see it as much with the WNBA players. I mean, they just straight up don't make as much money. So Sue Bird coming out, before this game when she wasn't even playing, in these $14,000 shoes, just what a flex. I love Sue Bird.
Yani Ourabah:
She looks incredible, and yeah, those Jordan 1s might be some of the nicest I've ever seen in my life.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Brian Bosché:
Her and Rapinoe are just fucking chilling in the Wubble together. It's amazing.
Skylar Smith:
They seem to be having a great time.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, yeah. They needed a little reality show in there.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah. Bring back their Instagram show. Okay, number two, we got LeBron walking in with just barely a shirt on, just going full Orlando Vice.
Yani Ourabah:
Open flow.
Skylar Smith:
Full open shirt, and then Dwyane Wade later imitating him on the post-game show. Just incredible. The thing I love about LeBron is sometimes he'll dress really well. We saw him for the first bubble game. He had this incredible matching set that it was so good, so we have seen him dress really well. But for the most part, Bron's fits, they're a little bit playful and they're always just a little bit cringey, and I love that about LeBron.
Yani Ourabah:
There's big dad vibes there from LeBron. Big, big dad vibes.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
It was great.
Skylar Smith:
Actually, I-
Yani Ourabah:
Go ahead.
Skylar Smith:
Go for it.
Brian Bosché:
She's launching into the next one.
Yani Ourabah:
He's walking through, open shirt, then Dwyane Wade copies him, and then I think it was Jared Greenberg shows LeBron Dwyane Wade copying him. I'm sitting there going, "This is the best league in the world. I'm comparing to you lot. This shit don't happen in football."
Brian Bosché:
No.
Yani Ourabah:
It just don't.
Skylar Smith:
That's why we love the NBA, these personalities.
Brian Bosché:
The players are elevated, yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
This is exactly it. No, big thumbs up from me on that LeBron fit.
Brian Bosché:
Yani, we're voting after this for our favorites, so Skylar's going to list these out and then we'll tell.
Skylar Smith:
Oh, great. You got me too excited when you said he was going full dad mode, because our guy Melo, who I brought up earlier, he really went full dad mode with one of his walk in fits this week. He also did the same fit for post-game press, which I loved. It was just this incredible black, long-sleeved polo with stripes with a cargo short and a printed Converse and high socks, and he had the Buffs, the glasses. He looked like such a dad taking his kid to the zoo, and I love that, and I love that for Melo. It looked so funny in the post-game press with his mask and the Buffs. It was just so good.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah. Then last, Skylar, this is mine.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah, Brian threw this one in there.
Brian Bosché:
I get some fit categories.
Skylar Smith:
Right, do you want to do it?
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, the Raptors Grizzlies throwback jerseys I fucking love. All Canada. I love when they do these. These are two of my favorite jerseys in history, and so this isn't really fit, Skylar, but for me it's a fit. This is a good matchup.
Skylar Smith:
I saw you put those and I was like, "This is not a fit, Brian."
Brian Bosché:
I know, I break your rules on these categories all the time.
Skylar Smith:
All the time. No, I do. I love these jerseys. These are two of my favorite jerseys. Honestly, a lot for my eyes to take when both were on the court at the same time.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, very bright.
Yani Ourabah:
There's a lot going on.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Brian Bosché:
Very bright. Okay, Yani-
Skylar Smith:
I always complain about when the Clippers play the 76ers and it's just the inverse of the jerseys, how annoying that is to look at, but this was too much.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah. Very bright. Yani, those are your top four. What's your favorite fit of the week?
Yani Ourabah:
Favorite fit of the week. Damn.
Brian Bosché:
Of those four.
Yani Ourabah:
I think I'm going to go Sue Bird.
Brian Bosché:
Nice.
Yani Ourabah:
I'll be real with you. Yeah, I think Sue Bird is the overarching number one. I'm going to go dad Melo two. Dad Melo at number two.
Brian Bosché:
I love dad Melo.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, that's for me. But Sue Bird, overarching at number one.
Brian Bosché:
I agree. Let's close the pod out with some bubble life. I have a first question for both of you. Dion Waiters was shown rewatching Game of Thrones from season one, episode one.
Yani Ourabah:
Hits like that.
Brian Bosché:
What show, Skylar, you start first, are you bringing to the bubble to rewatch in its entirety?
Yani Ourabah:
Damn.
Skylar Smith:
I don't know.
Brian Bosché:
Yani, I'm thinking-
Skylar Smith:
I honestly feel like Game of Thrones is a good choice, because-
Brian Bosché:
Yeah.
Skylar Smith:
It's long, and so the fact that you're choosing a long show shows-
Brian Bosché:
Shows confidence.
Skylar Smith:
... that you're confident that you're going to be in the bubble for a long time.
Brian Bosché:
Oh yeah.
Skylar Smith:
But also, I saw him watching one of the big battle scenes when I think it's the first battle that Khaleesi brings the dragons in on, and he was watching it two hours before a game. I was like, honestly, Game of Thrones is a good show if you want to get a quick one in before a game. It kind of hypes you up still, so I feel like it's a good bubble show.
Brian Bosché:
I agree. Yani, what's yours? It's a tough one.
Yani Ourabah:
It's a good point, right? If you pick a short one with three seasons, you're just not backing yourself.
Brian Bosché:
Nope.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
And that, my friends, is why I'm going Simpsons, 2700 seasons, whatever it is. Thank you.
Brian Bosché:
Never-ending.
Yani Ourabah:
No, yeah. I'm a big Brooklyn 99 guy. I think I would probably rewatch that.
Brian Bosché:
Nice.
Yani Ourabah:
I think that's got to be on the list. I think it's probably about high time I started Breaking Bad.
Brian Bosché:
Oh, a new show.
Yani Ourabah:
Hits like that. Yeah, I know. I think I'd go that route.
Brian Bosché:
We'd give the Woj bomb of Yani missed his test in bubble due to watching Breaking Bad and forgetting when his test was scheduled.
Yani Ourabah:
Yani says he's quitting basketball to go and cook meth in a caravan.
Brian Bosché:
Supplying the bubble with its meth needs. Skylar, what is another favorite bubble moment of yours from last week?
Skylar Smith:
Okay, you took mine off the notes, so I'm just freestyling here and going back into it.
Brian Bosché:
What?
Skylar Smith:
I want to talk about how much wine they're drinking, because it's so much wine.
Brian Bosché:
I thought you would pick that.
Skylar Smith:
I listened to an interview with CJ McCollum, and it was a long form podcast interview. He was probably on it for 30, 35 minutes. He literally every five minutes he was talking about them drinking wine in the bubble, and I don't think of CJ as a big wine guy, so I started doing a little research. CJ has his own wine label. CJ brought 84 bottles of wine with him to the bubble, which first of all that shows how far he thinks the Blazers are going in the playoffs. He's made his room into a wine cellar, so he has those 84 bottles of wine in his room and he's keeping his room at 60 degrees when he's in it, and high 50s when he's not in it so that he can keep these bottles of wine chilled. I just, I love that for them.
Brian Bosché:
I'm so impressed.
Skylar Smith:
They're there for a good time.
Yani Ourabah:
Damn. Wine just doesn't have the reputation beer does. Somebody brought that many beers, you're sitting there going, "Jeez, you're an alcoholic." But this guy with his wine, it's like, "Oh, they love wine, that's great."
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, it's classic. It's good for recovery, the antioxidants. Your heart.
Yani Ourabah:
I bet. Unbelievable. What, so every man's just getting mashed every night in the lobby?
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, I think they go into those little ice baths out in the yard and just sipping on the wine.
Yani Ourabah:
Definitely a rich person thing, isn't it? Definitely a rich person.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah.
Skylar Smith:
I can't even imagine. Wine hangovers are the worst. How are they playing basketball after drinking wine every night?
Brian Bosché:
They're not real humans.
Yani Ourabah:
How many glasses do you reckon they're having?
Brian Bosché:
A bottle each a night?
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Brian Bosché:
I think these guys are just different. I just don't think it affects them.
Yani Ourabah:
You reckon the uber athlete sort of thing, yeah, I don't know, does wonders for them in terms of less hangover or gets them less drunk. I don't know.
Skylar Smith:
I don't know. How does that work?
Brian Bosché:
I don't know either. You just hear Allen Iverson or Michael Jordan, them partying all night and still just coming in the next day without sleeping. They're just different.
Skylar Smith:
Yeah. I mean, this is still nothing compared to what we were seeing on The Last Dance.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah, true.
Brian Bosché:
Yani, your favorite bubble moment so far.
Yani Ourabah:
Damn, my favorite bubble moment. Remember when Richaun Holmes left the Bubble line and has to requarantine for eight days?
Brian Bosché:
Yes.
Skylar Smith:
He got a worse quarantine than Lou Will, who was just at a strip club.
Yani Ourabah:
Which is nuts, because that was the most publicity the Kings got the whole time. It was the first story. That was literally it. It might have been Chick-fil-A. I've never had Chick-fil-A.
Brian Bosché:
It's great. The owners are a little bigoted, but chicken sandwiches are great.
Skylar Smith:
A little?
Brian Bosché:
They are bigoted, but-
Skylar Smith:
I mean, we all have to try to convince ourselves that the human rights things are worth the chicken, so it's probably good that you've never had it.
Yani Ourabah:
The chicken.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
Fair enough. All I ever see is NBA teams making rookies buy it. Sounds fantastic.
Brian Bosché:
Skylar, any other favorite moments before I kick to some breaking news to end the pod?
Skylar Smith:
Breaking news. Is it going to be breaking if we do it in two minutes? Do you want to do it right now?
Brian Bosché:
It's going to be breaking in two minutes, definitely.
Skylar Smith:
Okay, great.
Brian Bosché:
Good clarification, though.
Yani Ourabah:
Thanks, Skylar.
Skylar Smith:
Okay, great. Yup, got you. A little bit more of a serious one. I wanted to talk about Jaylen Brown bringing attention to mental health in the bubble. Literally my worst nightmare is reading a long quote on this podcast, so I'm not going to do that, but he basically said that when they're in the bubble they can't escape basketball. They're just there. It's what they have to think about all the time and they don't really get an escape from their work. That's kind of something that we've all been experiencing in the U.S. since the pandemic started now, when we all had to go to work from home. Brian and I have talked about this. It's really fucking hard to always be at work if you're working from home, so I totally sympathize with this. It's not something that a lot of people are going to talk about because they have all these amenities and they're NBA players.
Skylar Smith:
This just isn't something we talk about, but it's definitely something to be conscious of, especially if guys are up and down or if they have an off night. Just cut them a little slack. Everyone's been dealing with the pandemic. It's fucking hard. Everyone has anxiety. It's got to be really hard to be in that bubble.
Yani Ourabah:
Yeah. A lot of these guys are big family men as well, right?
Skylar Smith:
Yeah.
Yani Ourabah:
You can take me and put me in that bubble, and I'm sweet. I'm this young, independent, caught in my own space all the time kind of kid, but yeah, I very much sympathize with the guys that always in and around their family, never really doing anything else, because that's where the fun's at.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, and this is a great segue, Skylar, to the breaking news. This just dropped this morning. Yani, you were probably playing basketball.
Yani Ourabah:
That's it.
Brian Bosché:
Woj bomb, after the first round of the playoffs, players will be allowed to bring in family and established longstanding personal friends into the bubble.
Yani Ourabah:
Nice. [crosstalk 00:51:42].
Skylar Smith:
I thought this was going to be... What was the breaking news we got during that pod one time? This broke two hours ago, Brian. This is not breaking news.
Yani Ourabah:
[crosstalk 00:51:51].
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, but it's also a podcast, so we're not going to release this for a bit.
Skylar Smith:
Some people don't know. People don't know what time we're recording. I just saw a lot of people getting their jokes off on Twitter about how all the Instagram thoughts are fucked, but honestly there have been Instagram thoughts in that bubble already. I know it, so they're fine. Don't worry about it.
Brian Bosché:
Yes.
Yani Ourabah:
Do you think?
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, but these are the rules. These are the rules, Skylar, so they're going to try to prevent that. Four guests per player, but can be exceeded for children. Guests can travel on team charters following testing, and guests are allowed to attend games. So these people can show up at the games so we'll actually have fans. Let's see, there's another funny one. Here's who isn't eligible to come into the bubble, the Instagram thoughts.
Yani Ourabah:
Instagram thoughts.
Brian Bosché:
This is the nicest way to describe that of all time. Any individual the player has not previously met in person or with whom the player has had limited in-person interactions with, for example known by the player only through social media or an intermediary. That is Adam Silver for no Instagram thoughts.
Skylar Smith:
There's so many words.
Yani Ourabah:
That's so funny.
Skylar Smith:
It's so many words just to say Instagram thoughts.
Brian Bosché:
Yeah, but it's-
Yani Ourabah:
Kendall Jenner is not allowed in the bubble.
Brian Bosché:
Exactly, exactly. And Woj just goes.
Skylar Smith:
I feel like she might be. Woj is like... They dated before. I feel like Devin Booker could make an argument for it.
Yani Ourabah:
Maybe.
Skylar Smith:
I feel like he could get her in there. Plus, Kuzma's dating Winnie Harlow, so they're friends. Maybe we just see a bunch of actual models inside the bubble sitting courtside at these NBA games.
Brian Bosché:
I would love to see it.
Skylar Smith:
Me too.
Brian Bosché:
All right. Thank you, Yani, so much for coming on. That concludes our Tea Time show today. I'm so excited for future Tea Times where we get to see who these people bring in and what drama they're causing. It's just a great bubble life. Yani, thanks so much for coming on. Skylar, the Duchess, again as always amazing to have you on, even though it's your podcast.
Skylar Smith:
Thanks, it's my podcast.
Brian Bosché:
Thanks, guys.
