January 29, 2022 • 41 mins
Welcome to The Big Niang Theory! On episode three, Georges Niang and Lauren Rosen go in-depth with Matisse Thybulle, following Matisse's journey from watching Kevin Durant play in Seattle as a kid to guarding Durant in the NBA and abroad. From representing the Australian Boomers in Tokyo, to biking to practice in Philadelphia, to his bond with Joel Embiid, get to know the third-year 76er on a deeper level.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Big Niang Theory is my podcast. Joel
is a card shark, Danny gets swindled fashions. I just
like stuff that looks a big greatness just reads greatness,
and we off fit right in. Welcome back, everybody to
the Big Niang Theory. I'm George Niang with Lauren Rosen,
(00:20):
and today we had a very interesting guest. You know,
I thought he did a good job of articulating his thoughts,
probably the best out of anyone that we've had. And
you really get some good in depth conversation sometimes, which
is rare with Matisse because if he feels like it's
not worth his time, then he'll just keep a very
surface level. But I'm happy that he got in depth
(00:41):
about his experiences, you know, what he likes to do,
and I actually this is one of my favorite ones.
He's a good combination of thoughtful and weird and we
got both. Yes, Yeah, it was nice. So without further ado,
here's Matisse. Yeah, Welcome back everybody to the Big Niang Theory.
(01:07):
I am George Niang with my co host Lauren Rosen,
and today we have a magnificent guest with immaculate vibes Matisse, Diabo, Matisse,
thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you
for having me guys. Matis has done a lot of media.
To his credit, he does a great job with it,
but he's been asked the same things a lot of
times by me, myself included. We've heard recycled material from
(01:30):
Matis a lot, so we were trying not to do
that today, which leads us to another thing that Matise
said prior to our recording. He said, quote, I don't
really care about beds. Tell us more about that, Matisse.
I watched your YouTube video. I watched a lot of
YouTube videos, spend a lot of time on YouTube, but
I watched a YouTube video about some kid talking about
a Japanese mattress and I believe it's called a shiki Bhutan,
(01:54):
and upon leaving the Olympics and sleeping on a mattress
that was like card board, the bed friends made out
of cardboard, but the mattress itself was like imagine top ramen,
but like plastic and thicker, so like it was like
four inches of like top ramenee plastic mattress. So I
(02:15):
was just like this brick that you slept on, and
it was everyone was complaining. Everyone hated it. I loved it,
like I slept great, like never had any issues. And
so like getting back to the States, like to my
bed in Philly, and having watched this YouTube video, I
came to the conclusion that, like the way we idealize
beds is just not really like we were, we were misguided.
(02:40):
I think what you're trying to say is like if
you had the bear, if you have the bare minimum,
then like you you don't, you could never complain and
once you have, Like, yes, that's a valid I get
what you're saying, that's valid, but no, it's more more
so coming from and this is where like my thoughts
a little wild, but like we're human beings. Yeah, Like
(03:02):
how long have comfy mattresses been around like ones, I
would probably say plush mattresses thirty forty years, thirty forty years,
George in this you think in the seventies people didn't
have like regular mattresses, comfy mattresses. I see what you say. Well,
like I think just in the last thirty years season Queens,
(03:24):
I'm thinking about, like I watch a lot of historical fiction,
British aristocracy, vibes and all of them, all of them
had nice mattresses according to the documentaries. Years. Okay, that's true.
Like let's say one hundred or two hundred years, I
would go to Kings and Queens. She's taking it back
to like London and George, Kings, Queens and London all
(03:44):
still exist today. Yeah, you know, edit this part of no. Yeah,
so I say that, like we weren't made to sleep
on these plush, comfy, cushy things, like our bodies are
not made for that. And I thrived in different setting,
and I was like, well, maybe this is what it's
supposed to be. That's kind of wild when you think
(04:05):
about it, Like being an Olympic athlete, right, I mean
not all of us get to say that, right, getting
to the Olympics, which you got to do, so credit
to you, and winning a medal, but also while sleeping
on like you know, because like we have people everybody
at those Olympics won medals sleeping on those mattresses. Well
that's not true because everybody didn't win a medal there.
Well also team you say Meal, team did not stay Okay,
(04:29):
so most of the people though that won medals, did
win them coming off of the Roman mattresses. Yeah, yeah,
that's in. It proves that you can. Yeah. Like and
then other thing I want to ask you about is
like I'm sure you've talked about it, but being an
Olympian and actually like when did it hit to be
like wow, like the Olympics, Like there's just the people
(04:49):
talk about the one percent of the one percent, like
you are in a small portion. I would love to
see the numbers of how many like Olympic basketball players
have won a medal. And because it's every four years,
it's not like the NBA, where there's a turnover of
sixty guys every year. And the fact that you got
to do like when did it set in you were
like damn, Like I'm achieving something that like very few
(05:10):
people ever get to achieve. Honestly, I'd say I would
say it was when we got into the village. But
we got in at like the Olympic village at this
we got in at like three in the morning, and
it was miserable. We'd flown for fifteen hours. It was terrible,
so we all just went to bed. But when I
woke up the next morning, went out on this little
balcony and looked out at this miniature city that's been
(05:31):
built for all of the athletes and all the countries.
I was like shocked just to see like the hustle
and bustle of the most elite athletes on the planet.
And I was like I had to stand there and
have this moment of like I'm also one of them. Yeah,
it was pretty amazing. That's sick. That's such a cool moment.
(05:51):
The most emotion I've ever seen motique show on the
court was with the Australian team, And I'm curious why
you were able to tap into sort of like a
different side of your intensity during that experience. Joe Angels
brings that out of it. But Matifs like roared. There
was one game where he and I was, I was
(06:12):
watching all these games like four in the morning and
Philly and Mattie unwashed, like I don't know what And
I remember being like is he good? Like what is
going on over there? But in hindsight, because you do
a good job of like I think you do a
good job of emotional regulation, and I think that's a
really valuable thing to have as an athlete. But but
what was different over there? And could you remember like
that moment? Yeah, I know what You're talking about it
(06:33):
was at HALFTIMEX Lebron's medal game, and I think I
gotten like a dunk or something to beat the buzzer
and like give us like just like boost our lead
a little bit more. I don't know. I literally don't
know what took over me. I was like just screaming.
But no, the emotions of the Olympics because and George
you said it earlier, like it's every four years and
(06:55):
you're also not playing for like not to say the
six Ers are an arbitrary team, but it's like I
didn't grow up in Philly, Like I love this team
and like I'm like deeply devoted towards your joy, but
it's it's much more to my job like this. The
Olympics is a choice everyone makes to go represent a country,
like something bigger than it's so much bigger than you.
And then like to add to that, you're you said
(07:17):
Joe Ingles, Joe and Patty have been to it like
four Olympics, like they've been they've been trying to win
a medal for twelve years. And for me to come
in and like take on that history of like what
this team's been striving for, it was just like it
was overwhelming, like just an abundance of emotion that just like, yeah,
(07:38):
I'm gonna break my own rule here because I said
you didn't have to talk about something you talked about before.
But I don't think you've talked to Philly people about
this before. Why was being on that team so important
to you? Why was that a choice that was so meaningful?
I mean being able to and wow, that's that's actually
a tough one. Let me think take your time, being
able to represent a country and the country that even
(07:59):
though I didn't spend a majority of my life there,
it was like a good chunk of my childhood and
has been a part of my identity since then. And
it's always been like one of those fun facts when
like you meet a new class and it's like you're
two tooths in a lie or like you're cool, like
things like oh yeah, I'm Australian. And to actually have,
(08:20):
like to have had that my whole life and then
have a chance to then take that and make it
such a meaningful thing and have it represents so much
more than just like a fun fact, but actually be
like a true part of me, and then like to
have that country also just support me in such an
amazing way where I just like kind of popped on
the scene for them and they embraced me with open arms.
(08:42):
It was a really really special experience. But I think
it's cool that he talked about like knowing the history
of like Patty and Joe, because me being a teammate
of an old teammate of Joe's, I realized how much
the Olympics means him, how much Australia means to him,
how much the lingo, like everything Joe Engels is Australian,
(09:02):
you know what I mean, Like the way he talks
like you know what I mean, Like the way he
carries himself, his kids like eat vegemite, you know what
I mean. Like and the fact that mutis like had
known like what had gone into it and how much
it meant to those other guys. I can understand why
that dunk, like that emotion like came out because it
(09:23):
was like, not only am I doing this for myself
and like the country that I has been a part
of my life, but I'm doing it for the other
people that the country is everything for them, and I
wanted them to succeed, you know, as bad as as
they want to and that's just like I just think
the whole Olympic thing is like so cool, which is
I'm going to talk about myself here even though we're
(09:45):
you're the guests. Is why I want to be a
part of the Senegaliese national team and try to go
to the Olympics, because like, what's better than like a story.
I mean, this is a little narcissistic, but like to
tell your kids I was an Olympian, you know what
I mean? Like that. I think there's challenges and goals
that you know, you try to check off, and I
think being an Olympian is definitely one of them. But
(10:06):
you use those small things to try to move like
being an Olympian, win a medal in the Olympics, and
I'm sure the next thing for you is whin a
silver or when a gold or you know, beat the
United States again? Like you you achieved so many things
in like your first experience there. It's like wow, you
know what I mean, Like does it get much better
than that? Because if you go back and you guys
don't medal, it's like damn, I gotta wait a whole
(10:27):
four years. Yeah, it was one of the things Patty
and Joe said when we were doing the medal ceremony,
was like, don't think it's that easy that you can
just show up and win a medal? Like they kept
like joking with me, like this doesn't just happen like this. Yeah,
they're like almost mad, but like obviously not actually mad.
But it was a fun little joke. We were out
and about in the city that we're in and I
(10:48):
see you walking around sometimes when I'm out to eat
in Philly and Matisse would just be cruising by, or
I'll see Matiss riding his bike and I was joking
with you earlier. You just seem like a guy that's
just cont hint with having adventures on your own. Like
where the heck does that come from? Because honestly, I
spend five hours alone and I'm like, where are people.
(11:12):
I think I'm a bit of a It's like a
newfound like trait I've discovered about myself. It's like the
loan or aspect, like I think I'm a little bit
more introverted than I realize. And I mean, I feel
like so many people after the pandemic was like either
you're of the school of thoughts, like it was miserable.
I needed people are like, oh my god, I love
(11:32):
the alone time. Like it just was so good to
be away from people, and like I kind of fell
into the ladder of like just realizing how content I
am with myself by myself, like to my own means
of just imagination. And you are just having a blast
like you are, like like there are days where you
could not see another person, and you'd be like I
had a fun, solid day to day. I while I
(11:57):
was in COVID protocol. Yeah, I went an entire day
without speaking. You know what's actually crazy is I could
never do that because I would just say, you know
what I mean. I would just blurt out something, or
I'm the king of just like face timing or just
randomly calling someone like I'm that person where my friends
are like George's calling, like pick up the phone, like
(12:17):
what do you want? Like, I know you don't want
anything at something important. But a day without speaking during COVID,
I started talking to myself. I can believe that, Like
I'd like clean up the kitchen. I'd be like nice,
go off, Like I evaluate I have to. Someone's got
to give me the affirmation. It seemed like you're gonna
(12:39):
make fun of me and I cut you off. No, no, no,
I would never do such a thing. But you know
the fact that you are your own hype woman. Like
you did the dishes. You're like, yeah, them dishes look clean, Like,
come on, I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
Matissa doesn't speak for a day, but you're hyping yourself up. Well,
I don't need to be in contact with people constantly.
I'm like somewhere in between you guys like I couldn't
go a day without speaking. But I also don't always
(13:01):
need to be talking to someone. So if I can
talk to myself, that works. That is true. Less about me,
more about something that George just mentioned to me that
Matisse sometimes rides his bike across the bridge to practice.
Tell us about that. Yeah, I got a bike. I yeah,
one day sitting I think you might have been in
the hot tub when I was trying to buy Yes,
(13:23):
I called every called every bike shop in Philly because
one day I just was like, I need a bicycle.
So they don't really make bikes for our size. I
realized this, it's hard to come by, and well, the
bikes you're looking for, Like I was suggesting like mongoes.
Matisse was like looking at me, like shut up, this idiot. No.
I wanted like a like a fixed speed like single gear. Yeah,
(13:46):
so I looked all over Philly, got a bike and
now it's like my best friend and I just ride
it whenever wherever. Now here's the thing is the problem
with me is like I always needed be entertained, Like
that's that's a problem with like running for a long
time or like biking, Like so what are your like
(14:07):
thoughts when you're biking like over a bridge, because I'm
driving and I'm like looking over at the Delaware River
and I'm like, man, like, that's like that's a long
way down. Like I couldn't imagine riding my bike one
like exerting energy up like a little bit of an
incline and then like being closer to the water like
(14:27):
with only a railing between, and then you have these
wild Pennsylvania New Jersey drivers just flying by it. It's
it was terrifying the first time, like because yeah, first
of all, I think the bridge is like a mile
or something or like maybe a little over a mile long,
so half of that is all uphill and you're like,
(14:48):
like you said the railing that's on the side like
you're up on a bike, so like we're tall people
to begin with, but then like seat it up on
a bike, this railing came up to like my waist.
So it's like if I really took a wrong turn,
I just tip ap Like there wasn't much thinking, I
would you do it? Would you do a cannonball? I
was really locked in, like from when, Yeah, my time
(15:08):
on the bridge is not like there's less time enjoying
the process as there was, just like, we're not going
to fall off? Yeah, I don't. I don't think I
can do that and I'm not coordinated. You think you
could ride a bike over there? Yeah? Can you ride
a bike launch? Yeah? Rude? And yes, I think you
guys really underestimate my athleticism because of my size and
(15:29):
I don't appreciate that. Well, now we're going to dive
into Matisa's thoughts. But we were talking before this and
Matisse had a comment that I was he did He said,
pets don't make sense? Can you elaborate? This is a
segment right here. Matissa's thoughts. I just don't everyone all right,
(15:50):
So I've had this conversation a bunch of times constantly
ridiculed about my opinion on it. Yeah, everyone always says
is because I didn't grow up with animals. I didn't
have a dog grown up or anything. But I say
all that to say that it just doesn't like, logically speaking,
there's no reason that we should have pet dogs and
cats and fishes and hamsters, Like they don't do anything,
(16:14):
and we just breed these things into existence so that
they can serve us for entertainment or emotional connection because
some people like, well, here's the thing is, some people
cannot emotionally connect with other humans as well as they
can with dogs. Like for me, it'd be great. It's
(16:35):
great because like the dog can't ever speak back, so
I'm constantly in control of You wouldn't have to call
people all day. You could just talk to Yeah, I could,
and like he's constantly listening, Like he doesn't ever chime
in and ruin what I'm trying to say. Because there's
a lot of humans that I talk to that talk
as much as I do, and you know, they chime
in and they ruined what I'm trying to say. The floe, Yeah,
(16:57):
I just like I will say that there are some
instances where it could be understandable or like emotional care dogs,
which has gotten to a space where it's like people
just say it's an emotional care dogously and get it
into like the airports, it's not curriculum. Yeah, but like
I understand that there is a real need in that aspect,
(17:17):
but like half these animals would have never existed if
it wasn't for us needing like entertainment and think about
the animal though, Like now that I have to be
your entertainment, that's my life. Yeah, Like they were saying,
like I'm just a basketball player and nothing. I can't
do anything else besides that, Like I'm just here form
pure entertainment of yeah, fans, and we breed these things
(17:40):
to provide that you like entertainment and company. Like, no,
we talked about this before. I agree with him, but
I'm also allergic to cats and dogs, so it's easier
for me to be like, yeah, totally say I'm also allergic.
But I think that that totally clouds it. Like it's
not fun to interact with something that's making you sick
unless you're a freaking I'm interacting weekend. Here's another thing.
(18:02):
This question is like total pivot um Matisse. What do
you make of George Niang? What? What do you think
of George? Still take of George was the thought process
as a human or a basketball player? Let's do both
loaded question. Let's start with basketball, because you were exposed
to that first. Okay, basketball's benishing. One of my favorite
(18:25):
quotes was when was it you who asked Joel this? Yeah?
And did you read what Joe said? He thought I sucked? Well?
I wouldn't say that my view was this extreme because
I've only been in the NBA for and this is
my third season, so I don't have a good idea
of anyone outside of my own team. Did you find
(18:48):
it yet? I did? Do you want to read it? Yeah?
November six, Joel Embiad on George Niang. I used to
think he sucked, honestly, but obviously the way he's playing now,
he's doing way more than shooting threes. I'm impressed that
he's a compar editor. I used to think he sucked,
but he brings so much joy to all of us
on and off the court. I'm just glad we have
it like he seeing some really nice stuff in there.
That was the biggest backhanded compliment I've ever gotten. But anyway,
(19:13):
continue you we're going to say you thought I sucked
to you. No, but anyways, your role, I wanted me
to read the quote when someone else said it your
role with your last team, you weren't able to show,
like I think, the fastest of your game that we're
seeing now, So it wasn't It's not like in if
you're in as an NBA player, you kind of know
(19:35):
that about certain guys like you. You understand the roles
and how it may or may not be limiting them.
So you know that some guys have more potentially than
what they're showing. And here actually make this about me
a little bit, to take a play from your book.
When I went to the Olympics, everyone was talking about
how I was playing so much better, and like, well,
what changed? What blah bla blah blah, And nothing changed.
(19:56):
I went from a season and then three weeks was
playing in the getting ready for the Olympics. But I
was shooting better. Everything I was doing was at a
higher level, and most is because my role had changed.
And I think for you, I think that's like a
huge Obviously, you had a summer to put in work,
and you obviously got better, but you've had a chance
to step into a new role or more it's needed
of you, and it's like shown immensely. So like me
(20:19):
in my opinion of George Yang as a basketball player
is like the player who I knew was like a
scout on a piece of paper to the player I
played with, or two completely different guys. And George smiling
is so good right now to get an honest compliment
from matifs because Matiss doesn't just get if he's going
to tell you how he really feels about it. But
(20:40):
I think, well, and they'll let him carry on so
he can give me more compliments. But I honestly I
take pride in understanding like who I am and like
what I bring to the table and not getting out
of my box because I feel like people that try
to do too much, like you honestly hurt yourself by
trying to do more. Are so when people are like,
(21:01):
well why don't you try and do more this and that,
it's like, because I understand the value of winning and
what how I can contribute to winning, And if me
trying to do more takes away from someone else who's
trying to do their role, then I'm honestly hurting the team.
So coming here was like the perfect thing for me
because it allowed me to grow as a basketball player.
(21:24):
And like you talked about with the Olympics is like
I remember Joe told me one time. He was like,
you know, I was like, Matisse had like this turnover,
Like what the And I was like what was he thinking?
He was like, yeah, I honestly told him. I was like, bro,
this isn't Philadelphia. Like you can dribble the ball. He
told me that, and I just thought that was funny
because everybody knows their role, like you know, and it's
(21:47):
tough to find self aware like people in this world.
And I think that's should be almost as big of
a skill as like shooting, because like, if you're not
self aware and don't know yourself, you could be out
there thinking you're doing the right thing and then the
ten other guys on your team are like this guy
is killing us, but you're thinking like, I'm doing the
right So like valuing your role and loving your role
(22:08):
and being a star on year role, which I'll give
you credit, Matife is like playing defense is not fun
and I'll be the first one to tell you that.
But Matisse like enjoys it, like he'll take the all.
That guy's going, oh okay, I'll guard him. That guy's hot, okay,
I'll guard him. It's like I wouldn't want any part
of that. I'm usually out there trying to find the
guy that you're trying to guard. The me of the
(22:29):
other team that's at least involved. I want to guard
the guy standing in the corner of the hotel. Well,
we're disparaging matifus. I'll give you a commiment as well.
I think what you said about Joe encouraging you to
dribble with Australia is interesting because to your credit, when
you're with the Sixers, you know what your role is, right,
like what George said, you're not trying to do too
(22:51):
much when you're out there with Joel and Tobias and
stuff and like creating for yourself, Like that's not what
you do. And I think that that's part of why
you have been successful though, because like what you're good at,
you're great at, and what you're less inclined towards you
don't force. But I do think it's worth noting what
George said, at some point your role with this team,
with your next team with whatever, like it is going
to change and you're going to have that experience in
(23:13):
Australia or with Australia right where like it's not gonna
be the first time, right that you actually have to
dribble the ball. Yeah, that's pretty cool winning the medal
or dribbling the ball a little of both beautiful. Wait,
but I feel like there's the second half of that question.
A human being. I like George. I like George because
(23:38):
I've found, like we're saying, with the quietness thing, I
don't need to speak. I've found that it's with George
being comfortable being a vocal person in the locker room,
like a vocal leader and just like a charismatic dude.
It allows me to be myself when there isn't that
person who can fill the silence and like be the
(24:00):
guy who brings everyone together. Everyone else kind of feels like,
oh I need to do a little bit here, do
a little bit there, and you're kind of you're kind
of forced outside of your comfort zone and everyone feels
that it's not authentic. And so to have you an authentically,
an authentic version of you that is that person who
can bring everyone together and be that voice makes me
so much comfortable just being myself and being quiet and
(24:22):
just like a little bit of a wall flower, I
guess not and not having to like say something because
it's like, well, the team needs to be better. It's
like I don't have to say anything something because it's
already been like a dressed Yeah, and it puts it
puts a little bit of pressure on you, honestly, which
I mean whether or not you like it. It's just
energy all day. But it's it's such a necessary part
of like everyone talks about like chemistry or like having
(24:44):
a good locker room. That's a huge part of its.
People who know their role is to bring an all
full circle. Like and you know your role and you
feel it great and allows me to do mine even better.
I'm gonna bring an extra full circle that roar that
we talked about with you the bronze medal game, the
way that you emoted like George and like the second
quarter of a regular season game in November. Yeah, that's
a very common. That's true, but sometimes you just have
(25:08):
to like let it out. And like I feel like
so many times, like people have asked me, like I've
still haven't I've done a terrible job of knowing the media.
People that cover us like their names, and like they'll
ask I like, why did you why did you scream?
Like it's a regular season, there's eighty two games, and
I'm like, because like I wanted to, you know what
I mean? Because it's just like Matisse said, it's like
something comes over you. And I've said it before, like
(25:31):
when you asked me that question about Seth's like I've
gotten to a point in my life where I am
so happy for other people's successes because everything in my
life has fallen into place. And I wasn't always like that,
but everything in my life has fallen into place where
it's whether it's like I've achieved my dream of playing
in the NBA, you know what I mean, I'm well
taken care of financially. Like I wake up and I
do what I love. Why not be happy for someone
(25:53):
else that's trying to find that or do the same thing.
And so like when I scream when Joel like dumps
on somewhere or so Bias has an n one, it's
like I understand the pressure that goes on for other guys.
So to see them succeed is like like you talked
about in the in the kitchen, it's like, hell, yeah,
like you just you just killed that, like thank you,
and well, I talk about it a lot, Like I
(26:14):
don't think that people, especially in our line of work,
when we have like cool jobs and we get to
do cool stuff. I get on the tias about this
a lot. I don't think that people celebrate their successes
as much as they should, just because something doesn't feel
like a big deal to you and the grand scheme
of the world, like the stuff that's happening is cool
and awesome and hard earned. Though, and so I do
think you guys are sort of on the opposite ends
of the spectrum. They're like, you're really good at celebrating
(26:35):
little successes. And here's the other thing I was gonna say.
It makes a difference. It moves the needle on the court.
I remember in Detroit, right before everybody went out with
COVID protocols. Okay, you guys, it was like way too
close the entire game, and you said after the game
that you felt that whichever team brought the most energy
in the fourth quarter was going to win. Yeah, And
(26:55):
that was the first time I had seen you take
a regular season game and just like blow it up
with energy and it worked. And I've seen you do
it a bunch of times, and that's a real thing.
It's not just you like keeping the vibes high. It
makes a difference. Yeah, I was running my mouth a
little bit. I was talking about but you see how
it like transitions that someone played a clip the other
day of when we had like two steals in a row,
(27:17):
tires had a lay up and then you had like
a steel and dunked it, and like Joel during the
game is like very mellow manner, you know what I mean,
Like great job duel. He'd be like yes, like yeah,
and you dunked it. And all I saw was like
him chasing you up to quote like flexing and yelling,
and I was like, what the heck, who is that? Well,
(27:40):
I'm like, I have no expression. And those are the
moments where, like as a team are huge because professional
sports is like it's very individualized, which is sad because
it's you get paid. Not everybody gets paid the same,
and you get paid on your individual accolades for the
most part, and sometimes you know if you're a winner.
(28:01):
So those moments where you can see people like being
genuinely happy for other people. That's when you know, like
you like look next to you and and you're like, we
have the same common goal in mind, and that's to win,
and we're connected. And I've been on teams where it's
so hard to find that, but I've also been on
teams where it's like you find that and like, you know,
you know, if someone drives by me, that person has
(28:22):
my back and I have to work even harder because
I gotta have their back. You know. It's just a revolving,
revolving circle of having each other's back. And those are
the moments where in your head you're like, all right,
we're together, we're in sync, we're in one. And I
feel like those teams are the ones that you know
either overachieve or are the most successful. You bring up Joel,
(28:42):
and we talked about this at the very beginning with
the I used to think George sucked. Honestly, Can you
not bring that up ever again? Can you delete that tweets? Now?
Joel's love George Joel's love is kind of hard to earn,
but once you earn it, you know it means more
because he's not fake with people like you earn his love.
But I think someone that never really had to learn
(29:04):
his earn his love is Matise. Joel has kind of
always adored Matise, but it's not something that either of
you really talk about that often. He's a try hard no,
give us a little look inside your relationship with Joel,
because I don't think you guys talk a ton, but
you just clearly really enjoy each other. Yeah, I mean, honestly,
(29:27):
I think part of it is what George was saying earlier,
is like I take pride in doing the stuff that
other people don't necessarily want to do. So it takes
a lot of pressure off of guys, like especially a Joel,
who like so much is demanded of him, to have
someone who you can trust, like who is going to
take as much pride in like scoring points on offense
and like shutting down a player on defense. Is like
(29:49):
I feel like that naturally flows into some sort of bond,
like a good connection. And yeah, I mean I I'm
not trying to do anything special. It's just like my
natural disposition towards the game, Like that's just how I
see things, and I think it helps. I mean, all
this stuff comes from the circle. It's like making a
team dynamic that works. Yeah, I feel like Matisse isn't
(30:10):
going to try to be over the top to impress anybody,
and I think neither is Joel, you know what I mean,
Like Joel is not gonna do too much and Matisse
isn't gonna do too And I think Joel like his
sense is like I can appreciate that like you. I
don't want to say he sees a little bit of
himself and you, but how you like handle yourself and
(30:30):
really recognize real stop. I do think Joel's favorite possession
in any game is when Matisse gets like a poke
out and a steel takes it down for a dump,
because like Joel gets to take two possessions in a
row off to just like breathe, and he always watches it.
He like just sort of nods in approval and then
you guys come back the other end. That's one of
my favorite things. It's like when the um you know
(30:53):
how people say like at weddings, you're supposed to watch
the groom's reaction when the when the bride comes down
the aisle. I like to like watch You've heard this before, right,
Like yeah, and the groom is sometimes crying, and sometimes
they're crying or smiling or whatever. I'm like soft, I'm kidding,
but so I take that like I like just because
I've watched you guys so much and I need to
(31:13):
do things to stay super interested. I like to watch
you guys react to each other. So like when I
see Matisse poke it out, like I know what's going
to happen. So I watched the other side and like,
see how people are going to react to what's happening.
And it's helped, No, but it's helped me. That's how
I can make the observation that I just made, and
it makes the game more interesting too, to see how
you guys react to one another. I think you're spot
out of that, Matis. How do you keep yourself entertained
(31:36):
while out on the court, Well out on the court,
I have crazy thoughts. You want to know what I
almost did last game that I didn't because like, oh wow, yeah,
so something happened, and like people aren't flying into the baseline.
I think Andre like went for loose ball, something dove
into the crowd. Cameras and phones aren't flying, and like
(31:58):
a phone slid towards me and I like walked over
and picked it up off the court and was like,
if the game wasn't so close, and if like I
had been like done more, I think I would have
picked it up and taken a selfie. But because like
it was like somewhat tense times this happened. Yeah, I
was in the game, was on the court, and I
walked over and picked up the phone literally like clicked
(32:20):
it to see the home screen and then handed it back.
But I was like looking, I was like, should I
take the No, No, And I just handed it to
the person next contract in Fatista will definitely taking a fake. Sure,
Oh my god, that's actually a crazy I would have
been crazy. It's more like Mike Scott beloved Sixer who
(32:41):
fell into the stands and landed on someone and grabbed
their drink and took a sip of it and then
ran back out on the court. He fully took a
swig of this woman's and kept playing, Hey, oh my
good bad, that's funny. All right. Last thing, though, we
have a segment um on our podcast that is called
(33:03):
like dear younger Me, So like dear younger matise, if
you could give yourself some advice, or the younger you
some advice or people that look up to you. What
would it be about your journey and where you've been,
or what you'd want to do better, or just any
type of advice. What would that be? Um, can't say
(33:25):
something really quick before that. Yeah, for sure, the mic
smells like good, like like I don't know, I really
enjoyed the smell of this. I was really distracted as
you're talking because I just got I got a whiff
of it. I was like, you can take it with
you if you want, yo, Lauren, that was funny, Lauren
(33:47):
ros everyone. Um, so wait, what is the question, oh,
my advice to my younger self? Interesting? I don't I
can't think of question right at the bat. But what
that question kind of reminds me of is what I've
seen a bunch of lately is about Virgil Ablow a blow,
(34:09):
Virgil abb blow his quote of like everything I do
is for my seventeen year old self, like, and I
thought that was like a really cool concept of like
think about us, like seventeen year old you imagining like
the success you're having and like what you're doing, Like
even I think about myself like an Olympic the stuff
that I've done to this point in my life, my
(34:31):
teenage self would idolize, Like I literally I used to
wait the Seattle Pro and that Jamal Crawford used to do.
I waited for three hours before the first game, and
there was three games that day just so I could
see Kevin Duran and Blake Griffin play. And now it's like,
these are guys who I play against, and these are
guys shots that I block, Like these people know who
(34:55):
I am now, and they like they respect me and
like my craft and liked, that's just such a crazy concept.
Like I like, so I don't know what would I
tell my younger self, Like my younger self had no
idea that I would be in this position. My younger
self never even actually dreamed to go into Olympics because
he didn't think it was a possibility. He didn't really
(35:16):
think that the NBA would work out because me and
my best friends, my best friends were five to five,
and we like our hoop dreams were like each other's
whop dreams, so like once we realized that they weren't
going to make it, we just assumed, like, Okay, the
squad's not going to the NBA, and like, so I
don't know it's like you plant a seed and then like,
I don't know what i'd tell me younger self. You know,
(35:37):
that's that's funny. And I feel like I have a
couple of comments about that is I think about your journey,
and everybody has their own journey, and the one thing
that comes together about successful people as like one common thing,
as the one common denominator. It's just like the grit,
you know what I mean, Like every successful person has grit.
And yeah, some people's journey was a little easier than
(35:59):
how but there always comes that moment where like I
didn't know I was going to be here, but I
just kept my head down and continue to work hard.
And you know what I mean, it's like you took
life one step at a time, like yeah, you know
what I mean. You went to Washington, you know what
I mean. You yeah, nobody knew you worth got got
a little better every year a coach was like, hey,
maybe you should work on this or maybe and you
(36:21):
like fully indulge yourself into that, Like you you gave
yourself up to be better and more vulnerable and try to,
you know, work through your mistakes, where most people in
this world, as you forget it's like things get hard
and people are like, ah, that's uncomfortable. I don't want
to do that. And that's one thing that people don't
realize about successful people, as like they're willing to put
(36:42):
themselves out there and be uncomfortable and constantly be uncomfortable
and have that grit to fight through and then once
the breakthrough comes, it's like damn, like I got better.
But then it's like, all right, what's the next challenge?
Like for you, it was like yeah, you you played
in the NBA, but then you're like, all right, now
the next challenge is the Olympics, and now like what
the next challenge after that? And that's what makes successful
(37:03):
people successful is like the grit. So if I could
give advice to the younger stuff of you, is like
just never never lose that edge and continue to be
yourself because I think what makes you so cool and
great at the same time is that you're Matisse one
of the time. And if people don't like that, you're
(37:23):
like cool, you know what I mean, Like, because I'm
gonna be like, nothing's gonna stop me from being me.
And I think that's what makes you who you are,
and that's what makes you successful. Can you drop the mic?
Policeell was incredible. You said something interesting because I'm at
the point now where like kids in high school or
college are starting their careers are reaching out to me.
I guess on kids, some of those people are adults
at my starting to cut you off. At my photo
(37:44):
walk that I did for Red Bull in Philadelphia, yeah,
Lauren was there and people were there for my photo
walk asking Lauren for photos like can I get a
picture with you? I was pissed. This is about me
game last night that we're coming up to me and
can I take a picture? That was super weird. But
something that I tell people that are like actually seriously
(38:06):
looking for advice, it's like in these fields, I think
this probably applies to you guys too, but you can
tell me if it doesn't. A lot of people want
to do what I do, a lot of people want
to do what you do, and obviously both take a
lot of talent and luck and determination. But something I
tell people is the longer that you persist, there are
people that are giving up during that time making way
(38:27):
for you. Yea more and more people are going to say,
I guess it's not for me. The adversity is going
to be unappealing and you're going to veer and like
choose a new path. And like, the longer you stick
on your path, other people are going to fall off.
They're going to quit, and you're not if you really
want something, and then that's less competition exactly, and you
don't want to be that person that quits and gives
(38:48):
another person less competition. I'm also going to press Matisse
now that we're in like the late hours of this show. Yea,
you gave advice to your former self. I feel more
in terms of like basketball then in terms of personal growth,
and I know that that's something that you pride yourself
on as well. What advice would you give maybe like
rookie matifs um. I mean, the things that you're saying
(39:14):
about me right now, George are things that were like learned,
Like it's more so like a skill than it was
just innately who I am. Like I had to learn
to just be cool with being me and not trying
to be more than that or less than that. And
so I think from now to like my rookie year,
(39:36):
that's probably been the biggest difference. And yeah, I'll just
tell that version of myself is like who you are
is okay, Like who you are is all you're supposed
to be and that translates from just being a person
into like being a basketball player. And yeah, for whatever reason,
yeah people like me, they watch my videos like whatever.
(39:57):
But it's just like all I'm doing is all what
I know to do and be, and that's just matis.
Like I've played this character for twenty four years now,
and I've gotten like a pretty good idea of like
what i wanted to look like, and I'm just comfortable
with that now. I think that was well said the
character for I've played this character for twenty four years.
(40:20):
I'm gonna steal that one. I rolled my eyes so big.
Oh my god. Hater, hype woman and hater. I try
to be a good balance book. That's true. That's true,
Thanks for coming on the show. He laughed at the name.
You don't like the name Big Niang Theory. It's it's
funny because whenever I hear folks say it, will say
(40:45):
it's the Big George's Niang theory. Yeah, like also not
how you pronounce your name. So that's that's why I laughed,
because I just hear Firk's voice ba yes, well, thank
you Matisse. That was awesome. Thanks for having me. Guys, yeah,
we are corrupted.
Welcome to the Big Niang Theory is my podcast. Joel
is a card shark, Danny gets swindled fashions. I just
like stuff that looks a big greatness just reads greatness,
and we off fit right in. Welcome back, everybody to
the Big Niang Theory. I'm George Niang with Lauren Rosen,
(00:20):
and today we had a very interesting guest. You know,
I thought he did a good job of articulating his thoughts,
probably the best out of anyone that we've had. And
you really get some good in depth conversation sometimes, which
is rare with Matisse because if he feels like it's
not worth his time, then he'll just keep a very
surface level. But I'm happy that he got in depth
(00:41):
about his experiences, you know, what he likes to do,
and I actually this is one of my favorite ones.
He's a good combination of thoughtful and weird and we
got both. Yes, Yeah, it was nice. So without further ado,
here's Matisse. Yeah, Welcome back everybody to the Big Niang Theory.
(01:07):
I am George Niang with my co host Lauren Rosen,
and today we have a magnificent guest with immaculate vibes Matisse, Diabo, Matisse,
thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you
for having me guys. Matis has done a lot of media.
To his credit, he does a great job with it,
but he's been asked the same things a lot of
times by me, myself included. We've heard recycled material from
(01:30):
Matis a lot, so we were trying not to do
that today, which leads us to another thing that Matise
said prior to our recording. He said, quote, I don't
really care about beds. Tell us more about that, Matisse.
I watched your YouTube video. I watched a lot of
YouTube videos, spend a lot of time on YouTube, but
I watched a YouTube video about some kid talking about
a Japanese mattress and I believe it's called a shiki Bhutan,
(01:54):
and upon leaving the Olympics and sleeping on a mattress
that was like card board, the bed friends made out
of cardboard, but the mattress itself was like imagine top ramen,
but like plastic and thicker, so like it was like
four inches of like top ramenee plastic mattress. So I
(02:15):
was just like this brick that you slept on, and
it was everyone was complaining. Everyone hated it. I loved it,
like I slept great, like never had any issues. And
so like getting back to the States, like to my
bed in Philly, and having watched this YouTube video, I
came to the conclusion that, like the way we idealize
beds is just not really like we were, we were misguided.
(02:40):
I think what you're trying to say is like if
you had the bear, if you have the bare minimum,
then like you you don't, you could never complain and
once you have, Like, yes, that's a valid I get
what you're saying, that's valid, but no, it's more more
so coming from and this is where like my thoughts
a little wild, but like we're human beings. Yeah, Like
(03:02):
how long have comfy mattresses been around like ones, I
would probably say plush mattresses thirty forty years, thirty forty years,
George in this you think in the seventies people didn't
have like regular mattresses, comfy mattresses. I see what you say. Well,
like I think just in the last thirty years season Queens,
(03:24):
I'm thinking about, like I watch a lot of historical fiction,
British aristocracy, vibes and all of them, all of them
had nice mattresses according to the documentaries. Years. Okay, that's true.
Like let's say one hundred or two hundred years, I
would go to Kings and Queens. She's taking it back
to like London and George, Kings, Queens and London all
(03:44):
still exist today. Yeah, you know, edit this part of no. Yeah,
so I say that, like we weren't made to sleep
on these plush, comfy, cushy things, like our bodies are
not made for that. And I thrived in different setting,
and I was like, well, maybe this is what it's
supposed to be. That's kind of wild when you think
(04:05):
about it, Like being an Olympic athlete, right, I mean
not all of us get to say that, right, getting
to the Olympics, which you got to do, so credit
to you, and winning a medal, but also while sleeping
on like you know, because like we have people everybody
at those Olympics won medals sleeping on those mattresses. Well
that's not true because everybody didn't win a medal there.
Well also team you say Meal, team did not stay Okay,
(04:29):
so most of the people though that won medals, did
win them coming off of the Roman mattresses. Yeah, yeah,
that's in. It proves that you can. Yeah. Like and
then other thing I want to ask you about is
like I'm sure you've talked about it, but being an
Olympian and actually like when did it hit to be
like wow, like the Olympics, Like there's just the people
(04:49):
talk about the one percent of the one percent, like
you are in a small portion. I would love to
see the numbers of how many like Olympic basketball players
have won a medal. And because it's every four years,
it's not like the NBA, where there's a turnover of
sixty guys every year. And the fact that you got
to do like when did it set in you were
like damn, Like I'm achieving something that like very few
(05:10):
people ever get to achieve. Honestly, I'd say I would
say it was when we got into the village. But
we got in at like the Olympic village at this
we got in at like three in the morning, and
it was miserable. We'd flown for fifteen hours. It was terrible,
so we all just went to bed. But when I
woke up the next morning, went out on this little
balcony and looked out at this miniature city that's been
(05:31):
built for all of the athletes and all the countries.
I was like shocked just to see like the hustle
and bustle of the most elite athletes on the planet.
And I was like I had to stand there and
have this moment of like I'm also one of them. Yeah,
it was pretty amazing. That's sick. That's such a cool moment.
(05:51):
The most emotion I've ever seen motique show on the
court was with the Australian team, And I'm curious why
you were able to tap into sort of like a
different side of your intensity during that experience. Joe Angels
brings that out of it. But Matifs like roared. There
was one game where he and I was, I was
(06:12):
watching all these games like four in the morning and
Philly and Mattie unwashed, like I don't know what And
I remember being like is he good? Like what is
going on over there? But in hindsight, because you do
a good job of like I think you do a
good job of emotional regulation, and I think that's a
really valuable thing to have as an athlete. But but
what was different over there? And could you remember like
that moment? Yeah, I know what You're talking about it
(06:33):
was at HALFTIMEX Lebron's medal game, and I think I
gotten like a dunk or something to beat the buzzer
and like give us like just like boost our lead
a little bit more. I don't know. I literally don't
know what took over me. I was like just screaming.
But no, the emotions of the Olympics because and George
you said it earlier, like it's every four years and
(06:55):
you're also not playing for like not to say the
six Ers are an arbitrary team, but it's like I
didn't grow up in Philly, Like I love this team
and like I'm like deeply devoted towards your joy, but
it's it's much more to my job like this. The
Olympics is a choice everyone makes to go represent a country,
like something bigger than it's so much bigger than you.
And then like to add to that, you're you said
(07:17):
Joe Ingles, Joe and Patty have been to it like
four Olympics, like they've been they've been trying to win
a medal for twelve years. And for me to come
in and like take on that history of like what
this team's been striving for, it was just like it
was overwhelming, like just an abundance of emotion that just like, yeah,
(07:38):
I'm gonna break my own rule here because I said
you didn't have to talk about something you talked about before.
But I don't think you've talked to Philly people about
this before. Why was being on that team so important
to you? Why was that a choice that was so meaningful?
I mean being able to and wow, that's that's actually
a tough one. Let me think take your time, being
able to represent a country and the country that even
(07:59):
though I didn't spend a majority of my life there,
it was like a good chunk of my childhood and
has been a part of my identity since then. And
it's always been like one of those fun facts when
like you meet a new class and it's like you're
two tooths in a lie or like you're cool, like
things like oh yeah, I'm Australian. And to actually have,
(08:20):
like to have had that my whole life and then
have a chance to then take that and make it
such a meaningful thing and have it represents so much
more than just like a fun fact, but actually be
like a true part of me, and then like to
have that country also just support me in such an
amazing way where I just like kind of popped on
the scene for them and they embraced me with open arms.
(08:42):
It was a really really special experience. But I think
it's cool that he talked about like knowing the history
of like Patty and Joe, because me being a teammate
of an old teammate of Joe's, I realized how much
the Olympics means him, how much Australia means to him,
how much the lingo, like everything Joe Engels is Australian,
(09:02):
you know what I mean, Like the way he talks
like you know what I mean, Like the way he
carries himself, his kids like eat vegemite, you know what
I mean. Like and the fact that mutis like had
known like what had gone into it and how much
it meant to those other guys. I can understand why
that dunk, like that emotion like came out because it
(09:23):
was like, not only am I doing this for myself
and like the country that I has been a part
of my life, but I'm doing it for the other
people that the country is everything for them, and I
wanted them to succeed, you know, as bad as as
they want to and that's just like I just think
the whole Olympic thing is like so cool, which is
I'm going to talk about myself here even though we're
(09:45):
you're the guests. Is why I want to be a
part of the Senegaliese national team and try to go
to the Olympics, because like, what's better than like a story.
I mean, this is a little narcissistic, but like to
tell your kids I was an Olympian, you know what
I mean? Like that. I think there's challenges and goals
that you know, you try to check off, and I
think being an Olympian is definitely one of them. But
(10:06):
you use those small things to try to move like
being an Olympian, win a medal in the Olympics, and
I'm sure the next thing for you is whin a
silver or when a gold or you know, beat the
United States again? Like you you achieved so many things
in like your first experience there. It's like wow, you
know what I mean, Like does it get much better
than that? Because if you go back and you guys
don't medal, it's like damn, I gotta wait a whole
(10:27):
four years. Yeah, it was one of the things Patty
and Joe said when we were doing the medal ceremony,
was like, don't think it's that easy that you can
just show up and win a medal? Like they kept
like joking with me, like this doesn't just happen like this. Yeah,
they're like almost mad, but like obviously not actually mad.
But it was a fun little joke. We were out
and about in the city that we're in and I
(10:48):
see you walking around sometimes when I'm out to eat
in Philly and Matisse would just be cruising by, or
I'll see Matiss riding his bike and I was joking
with you earlier. You just seem like a guy that's
just cont hint with having adventures on your own. Like
where the heck does that come from? Because honestly, I
spend five hours alone and I'm like, where are people.
(11:12):
I think I'm a bit of a It's like a
newfound like trait I've discovered about myself. It's like the
loan or aspect, like I think I'm a little bit
more introverted than I realize. And I mean, I feel
like so many people after the pandemic was like either
you're of the school of thoughts, like it was miserable.
I needed people are like, oh my god, I love
(11:32):
the alone time. Like it just was so good to
be away from people, and like I kind of fell
into the ladder of like just realizing how content I
am with myself by myself, like to my own means
of just imagination. And you are just having a blast
like you are, like like there are days where you
could not see another person, and you'd be like I
had a fun, solid day to day. I while I
(11:57):
was in COVID protocol. Yeah, I went an entire day
without speaking. You know what's actually crazy is I could
never do that because I would just say, you know
what I mean. I would just blurt out something, or
I'm the king of just like face timing or just
randomly calling someone like I'm that person where my friends
are like George's calling, like pick up the phone, like
(12:17):
what do you want? Like, I know you don't want
anything at something important. But a day without speaking during COVID,
I started talking to myself. I can believe that, Like
I'd like clean up the kitchen. I'd be like nice,
go off, Like I evaluate I have to. Someone's got
to give me the affirmation. It seemed like you're gonna
(12:39):
make fun of me and I cut you off. No, no, no,
I would never do such a thing. But you know
the fact that you are your own hype woman. Like
you did the dishes. You're like, yeah, them dishes look clean, Like,
come on, I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
Matissa doesn't speak for a day, but you're hyping yourself up. Well,
I don't need to be in contact with people constantly.
I'm like somewhere in between you guys like I couldn't
go a day without speaking. But I also don't always
(13:01):
need to be talking to someone. So if I can
talk to myself, that works. That is true. Less about me,
more about something that George just mentioned to me that
Matisse sometimes rides his bike across the bridge to practice.
Tell us about that. Yeah, I got a bike. I yeah,
one day sitting I think you might have been in
the hot tub when I was trying to buy Yes,
(13:23):
I called every called every bike shop in Philly because
one day I just was like, I need a bicycle.
So they don't really make bikes for our size. I
realized this, it's hard to come by, and well, the
bikes you're looking for, Like I was suggesting like mongoes.
Matisse was like looking at me, like shut up, this idiot. No.
I wanted like a like a fixed speed like single gear. Yeah,
(13:46):
so I looked all over Philly, got a bike and
now it's like my best friend and I just ride
it whenever wherever. Now here's the thing is the problem
with me is like I always needed be entertained, Like
that's that's a problem with like running for a long
time or like biking, Like so what are your like
(14:07):
thoughts when you're biking like over a bridge, because I'm
driving and I'm like looking over at the Delaware River
and I'm like, man, like, that's like that's a long
way down. Like I couldn't imagine riding my bike one
like exerting energy up like a little bit of an
incline and then like being closer to the water like
(14:27):
with only a railing between, and then you have these
wild Pennsylvania New Jersey drivers just flying by it. It's
it was terrifying the first time, like because yeah, first
of all, I think the bridge is like a mile
or something or like maybe a little over a mile long,
so half of that is all uphill and you're like,
(14:48):
like you said the railing that's on the side like
you're up on a bike, so like we're tall people
to begin with, but then like seat it up on
a bike, this railing came up to like my waist.
So it's like if I really took a wrong turn,
I just tip ap Like there wasn't much thinking, I
would you do it? Would you do a cannonball? I
was really locked in, like from when, Yeah, my time
(15:08):
on the bridge is not like there's less time enjoying
the process as there was, just like, we're not going
to fall off? Yeah, I don't. I don't think I
can do that and I'm not coordinated. You think you
could ride a bike over there? Yeah? Can you ride
a bike launch? Yeah? Rude? And yes, I think you
guys really underestimate my athleticism because of my size and
(15:29):
I don't appreciate that. Well, now we're going to dive
into Matisa's thoughts. But we were talking before this and
Matisse had a comment that I was he did He said,
pets don't make sense? Can you elaborate? This is a
segment right here. Matissa's thoughts. I just don't everyone all right,
(15:50):
So I've had this conversation a bunch of times constantly
ridiculed about my opinion on it. Yeah, everyone always says
is because I didn't grow up with animals. I didn't
have a dog grown up or anything. But I say
all that to say that it just doesn't like, logically speaking,
there's no reason that we should have pet dogs and
cats and fishes and hamsters, Like they don't do anything,
(16:14):
and we just breed these things into existence so that
they can serve us for entertainment or emotional connection because
some people like, well, here's the thing is, some people
cannot emotionally connect with other humans as well as they
can with dogs. Like for me, it'd be great. It's
(16:35):
great because like the dog can't ever speak back, so
I'm constantly in control of You wouldn't have to call
people all day. You could just talk to Yeah, I could,
and like he's constantly listening, Like he doesn't ever chime
in and ruin what I'm trying to say. Because there's
a lot of humans that I talk to that talk
as much as I do, and you know, they chime
in and they ruined what I'm trying to say. The floe, Yeah,
(16:57):
I just like I will say that there are some
instances where it could be understandable or like emotional care dogs,
which has gotten to a space where it's like people
just say it's an emotional care dogously and get it
into like the airports, it's not curriculum. Yeah, but like
I understand that there is a real need in that aspect,
(17:17):
but like half these animals would have never existed if
it wasn't for us needing like entertainment and think about
the animal though, Like now that I have to be
your entertainment, that's my life. Yeah, Like they were saying,
like I'm just a basketball player and nothing. I can't
do anything else besides that, Like I'm just here form
pure entertainment of yeah, fans, and we breed these things
(17:40):
to provide that you like entertainment and company. Like, no,
we talked about this before. I agree with him, but
I'm also allergic to cats and dogs, so it's easier
for me to be like, yeah, totally say I'm also allergic.
But I think that that totally clouds it. Like it's
not fun to interact with something that's making you sick
unless you're a freaking I'm interacting weekend. Here's another thing.
(18:02):
This question is like total pivot um Matisse. What do
you make of George Niang? What? What do you think
of George? Still take of George was the thought process
as a human or a basketball player? Let's do both
loaded question. Let's start with basketball, because you were exposed
to that first. Okay, basketball's benishing. One of my favorite
(18:25):
quotes was when was it you who asked Joel this? Yeah?
And did you read what Joe said? He thought I sucked? Well?
I wouldn't say that my view was this extreme because
I've only been in the NBA for and this is
my third season, so I don't have a good idea
of anyone outside of my own team. Did you find
(18:48):
it yet? I did? Do you want to read it? Yeah?
November six, Joel Embiad on George Niang. I used to
think he sucked, honestly, but obviously the way he's playing now,
he's doing way more than shooting threes. I'm impressed that
he's a compar editor. I used to think he sucked,
but he brings so much joy to all of us
on and off the court. I'm just glad we have
it like he seeing some really nice stuff in there.
That was the biggest backhanded compliment I've ever gotten. But anyway,
(19:13):
continue you we're going to say you thought I sucked
to you. No, but anyways, your role, I wanted me
to read the quote when someone else said it your
role with your last team, you weren't able to show,
like I think, the fastest of your game that we're
seeing now, So it wasn't It's not like in if
you're in as an NBA player, you kind of know
(19:35):
that about certain guys like you. You understand the roles
and how it may or may not be limiting them.
So you know that some guys have more potentially than
what they're showing. And here actually make this about me
a little bit, to take a play from your book.
When I went to the Olympics, everyone was talking about
how I was playing so much better, and like, well,
what changed? What blah bla blah blah, And nothing changed.
(19:56):
I went from a season and then three weeks was
playing in the getting ready for the Olympics. But I
was shooting better. Everything I was doing was at a
higher level, and most is because my role had changed.
And I think for you, I think that's like a
huge Obviously, you had a summer to put in work,
and you obviously got better, but you've had a chance
to step into a new role or more it's needed
of you, and it's like shown immensely. So like me
(20:19):
in my opinion of George Yang as a basketball player
is like the player who I knew was like a
scout on a piece of paper to the player I
played with, or two completely different guys. And George smiling
is so good right now to get an honest compliment
from matifs because Matiss doesn't just get if he's going
to tell you how he really feels about it. But
(20:40):
I think, well, and they'll let him carry on so
he can give me more compliments. But I honestly I
take pride in understanding like who I am and like
what I bring to the table and not getting out
of my box because I feel like people that try
to do too much, like you honestly hurt yourself by
trying to do more. Are so when people are like,
(21:01):
well why don't you try and do more this and that,
it's like, because I understand the value of winning and
what how I can contribute to winning, And if me
trying to do more takes away from someone else who's
trying to do their role, then I'm honestly hurting the team.
So coming here was like the perfect thing for me
because it allowed me to grow as a basketball player.
(21:24):
And like you talked about with the Olympics is like
I remember Joe told me one time. He was like,
you know, I was like, Matisse had like this turnover,
Like what the And I was like what was he thinking?
He was like, yeah, I honestly told him. I was like, bro,
this isn't Philadelphia. Like you can dribble the ball. He
told me that, and I just thought that was funny
because everybody knows their role, like you know, and it's
(21:47):
tough to find self aware like people in this world.
And I think that's should be almost as big of
a skill as like shooting, because like, if you're not
self aware and don't know yourself, you could be out
there thinking you're doing the right thing and then the
ten other guys on your team are like this guy
is killing us, but you're thinking like, I'm doing the
right So like valuing your role and loving your role
(22:08):
and being a star on year role, which I'll give
you credit, Matife is like playing defense is not fun
and I'll be the first one to tell you that.
But Matisse like enjoys it, like he'll take the all.
That guy's going, oh okay, I'll guard him. That guy's hot, okay,
I'll guard him. It's like I wouldn't want any part
of that. I'm usually out there trying to find the
guy that you're trying to guard. The me of the
(22:29):
other team that's at least involved. I want to guard
the guy standing in the corner of the hotel. Well,
we're disparaging matifus. I'll give you a commiment as well.
I think what you said about Joe encouraging you to
dribble with Australia is interesting because to your credit, when
you're with the Sixers, you know what your role is, right,
like what George said, you're not trying to do too
(22:51):
much when you're out there with Joel and Tobias and
stuff and like creating for yourself, Like that's not what
you do. And I think that that's part of why
you have been successful though, because like what you're good at,
you're great at, and what you're less inclined towards you
don't force. But I do think it's worth noting what
George said, at some point your role with this team,
with your next team with whatever, like it is going
to change and you're going to have that experience in
(23:13):
Australia or with Australia right where like it's not gonna
be the first time, right that you actually have to
dribble the ball. Yeah, that's pretty cool winning the medal
or dribbling the ball a little of both beautiful. Wait,
but I feel like there's the second half of that question.
A human being. I like George. I like George because
(23:38):
I've found, like we're saying, with the quietness thing, I
don't need to speak. I've found that it's with George
being comfortable being a vocal person in the locker room,
like a vocal leader and just like a charismatic dude.
It allows me to be myself when there isn't that
person who can fill the silence and like be the
(24:00):
guy who brings everyone together. Everyone else kind of feels like,
oh I need to do a little bit here, do
a little bit there, and you're kind of you're kind
of forced outside of your comfort zone and everyone feels
that it's not authentic. And so to have you an authentically,
an authentic version of you that is that person who
can bring everyone together and be that voice makes me
so much comfortable just being myself and being quiet and
(24:22):
just like a little bit of a wall flower, I
guess not and not having to like say something because
it's like, well, the team needs to be better. It's
like I don't have to say anything something because it's
already been like a dressed Yeah, and it puts it
puts a little bit of pressure on you, honestly, which
I mean whether or not you like it. It's just
energy all day. But it's it's such a necessary part
of like everyone talks about like chemistry or like having
(24:44):
a good locker room. That's a huge part of its.
People who know their role is to bring an all
full circle. Like and you know your role and you
feel it great and allows me to do mine even better.
I'm gonna bring an extra full circle that roar that
we talked about with you the bronze medal game, the
way that you emoted like George and like the second
quarter of a regular season game in November. Yeah, that's
a very common. That's true, but sometimes you just have
(25:08):
to like let it out. And like I feel like
so many times, like people have asked me, like I've
still haven't I've done a terrible job of knowing the media.
People that cover us like their names, and like they'll
ask I like, why did you why did you scream?
Like it's a regular season, there's eighty two games, and
I'm like, because like I wanted to, you know what
I mean? Because it's just like Matisse said, it's like
something comes over you. And I've said it before, like
(25:31):
when you asked me that question about Seth's like I've
gotten to a point in my life where I am
so happy for other people's successes because everything in my
life has fallen into place. And I wasn't always like that,
but everything in my life has fallen into place where
it's whether it's like I've achieved my dream of playing
in the NBA, you know what I mean, I'm well
taken care of financially. Like I wake up and I
do what I love. Why not be happy for someone
(25:53):
else that's trying to find that or do the same thing.
And so like when I scream when Joel like dumps
on somewhere or so Bias has an n one, it's
like I understand the pressure that goes on for other guys.
So to see them succeed is like like you talked
about in the in the kitchen, it's like, hell, yeah,
like you just you just killed that, like thank you,
and well, I talk about it a lot, Like I
(26:14):
don't think that people, especially in our line of work,
when we have like cool jobs and we get to
do cool stuff. I get on the tias about this
a lot. I don't think that people celebrate their successes
as much as they should, just because something doesn't feel
like a big deal to you and the grand scheme
of the world, like the stuff that's happening is cool
and awesome and hard earned. Though, and so I do
think you guys are sort of on the opposite ends
of the spectrum. They're like, you're really good at celebrating
(26:35):
little successes. And here's the other thing I was gonna say.
It makes a difference. It moves the needle on the court.
I remember in Detroit, right before everybody went out with
COVID protocols. Okay, you guys, it was like way too
close the entire game, and you said after the game
that you felt that whichever team brought the most energy
in the fourth quarter was going to win. Yeah, And
(26:55):
that was the first time I had seen you take
a regular season game and just like blow it up
with energy and it worked. And I've seen you do
it a bunch of times, and that's a real thing.
It's not just you like keeping the vibes high. It
makes a difference. Yeah, I was running my mouth a
little bit. I was talking about but you see how
it like transitions that someone played a clip the other
day of when we had like two steals in a row,
(27:17):
tires had a lay up and then you had like
a steel and dunked it, and like Joel during the
game is like very mellow manner, you know what I mean,
Like great job duel. He'd be like yes, like yeah,
and you dunked it. And all I saw was like
him chasing you up to quote like flexing and yelling,
and I was like, what the heck, who is that? Well,
(27:40):
I'm like, I have no expression. And those are the
moments where, like as a team are huge because professional
sports is like it's very individualized, which is sad because
it's you get paid. Not everybody gets paid the same,
and you get paid on your individual accolades for the
most part, and sometimes you know if you're a winner.
(28:01):
So those moments where you can see people like being
genuinely happy for other people. That's when you know, like
you like look next to you and and you're like, we
have the same common goal in mind, and that's to win,
and we're connected. And I've been on teams where it's
so hard to find that, but I've also been on
teams where it's like you find that and like, you know,
you know, if someone drives by me, that person has
(28:22):
my back and I have to work even harder because
I gotta have their back. You know. It's just a revolving,
revolving circle of having each other's back. And those are
the moments where in your head you're like, all right,
we're together, we're in sync, we're in one. And I
feel like those teams are the ones that you know
either overachieve or are the most successful. You bring up Joel,
(28:42):
and we talked about this at the very beginning with
the I used to think George sucked. Honestly, Can you
not bring that up ever again? Can you delete that tweets? Now?
Joel's love George Joel's love is kind of hard to earn,
but once you earn it, you know it means more
because he's not fake with people like you earn his love.
But I think someone that never really had to learn
(29:04):
his earn his love is Matise. Joel has kind of
always adored Matise, but it's not something that either of
you really talk about that often. He's a try hard no,
give us a little look inside your relationship with Joel,
because I don't think you guys talk a ton, but
you just clearly really enjoy each other. Yeah, I mean, honestly,
(29:27):
I think part of it is what George was saying earlier,
is like I take pride in doing the stuff that
other people don't necessarily want to do. So it takes
a lot of pressure off of guys, like especially a Joel,
who like so much is demanded of him, to have
someone who you can trust, like who is going to
take as much pride in like scoring points on offense
and like shutting down a player on defense. Is like
(29:49):
I feel like that naturally flows into some sort of bond,
like a good connection. And yeah, I mean I I'm
not trying to do anything special. It's just like my
natural disposition towards the game, Like that's just how I
see things, and I think it helps. I mean, all
this stuff comes from the circle. It's like making a
team dynamic that works. Yeah, I feel like Matisse isn't
(30:10):
going to try to be over the top to impress anybody,
and I think neither is Joel, you know what I mean,
Like Joel is not gonna do too much and Matisse
isn't gonna do too And I think Joel like his
sense is like I can appreciate that like you. I
don't want to say he sees a little bit of
himself and you, but how you like handle yourself and
(30:30):
really recognize real stop. I do think Joel's favorite possession
in any game is when Matisse gets like a poke
out and a steel takes it down for a dump,
because like Joel gets to take two possessions in a
row off to just like breathe, and he always watches it.
He like just sort of nods in approval and then
you guys come back the other end. That's one of
my favorite things. It's like when the um you know
(30:53):
how people say like at weddings, you're supposed to watch
the groom's reaction when the when the bride comes down
the aisle. I like to like watch You've heard this before, right,
Like yeah, and the groom is sometimes crying, and sometimes
they're crying or smiling or whatever. I'm like soft, I'm kidding,
but so I take that like I like just because
I've watched you guys so much and I need to
(31:13):
do things to stay super interested. I like to watch
you guys react to each other. So like when I
see Matisse poke it out, like I know what's going
to happen. So I watched the other side and like,
see how people are going to react to what's happening.
And it's helped, No, but it's helped me. That's how
I can make the observation that I just made, and
it makes the game more interesting too, to see how
you guys react to one another. I think you're spot
out of that, Matis. How do you keep yourself entertained
(31:36):
while out on the court, Well out on the court,
I have crazy thoughts. You want to know what I
almost did last game that I didn't because like, oh wow, yeah,
so something happened, and like people aren't flying into the baseline.
I think Andre like went for loose ball, something dove
into the crowd. Cameras and phones aren't flying, and like
(31:58):
a phone slid towards me and I like walked over
and picked it up off the court and was like,
if the game wasn't so close, and if like I
had been like done more, I think I would have
picked it up and taken a selfie. But because like
it was like somewhat tense times this happened. Yeah, I
was in the game, was on the court, and I
walked over and picked up the phone literally like clicked
(32:20):
it to see the home screen and then handed it back.
But I was like looking, I was like, should I
take the No, No, And I just handed it to
the person next contract in Fatista will definitely taking a fake. Sure,
Oh my god, that's actually a crazy I would have
been crazy. It's more like Mike Scott beloved Sixer who
(32:41):
fell into the stands and landed on someone and grabbed
their drink and took a sip of it and then
ran back out on the court. He fully took a
swig of this woman's and kept playing, Hey, oh my
good bad, that's funny. All right. Last thing, though, we
have a segment um on our podcast that is called
(33:03):
like dear younger Me, So like dear younger matise, if
you could give yourself some advice, or the younger you
some advice or people that look up to you. What
would it be about your journey and where you've been,
or what you'd want to do better, or just any
type of advice. What would that be? Um, can't say
(33:25):
something really quick before that. Yeah, for sure, the mic
smells like good, like like I don't know, I really
enjoyed the smell of this. I was really distracted as
you're talking because I just got I got a whiff
of it. I was like, you can take it with
you if you want, yo, Lauren, that was funny, Lauren
(33:47):
ros everyone. Um, so wait, what is the question, oh,
my advice to my younger self? Interesting? I don't I
can't think of question right at the bat. But what
that question kind of reminds me of is what I've
seen a bunch of lately is about Virgil Ablow a blow,
(34:09):
Virgil abb blow his quote of like everything I do
is for my seventeen year old self, like, and I
thought that was like a really cool concept of like
think about us, like seventeen year old you imagining like
the success you're having and like what you're doing, Like
even I think about myself like an Olympic the stuff
that I've done to this point in my life, my
(34:31):
teenage self would idolize, Like I literally I used to
wait the Seattle Pro and that Jamal Crawford used to do.
I waited for three hours before the first game, and
there was three games that day just so I could
see Kevin Duran and Blake Griffin play. And now it's like,
these are guys who I play against, and these are
guys shots that I block, Like these people know who
(34:55):
I am now, and they like they respect me and
like my craft and liked, that's just such a crazy concept.
Like I like, so I don't know what would I
tell my younger self, Like my younger self had no
idea that I would be in this position. My younger
self never even actually dreamed to go into Olympics because
he didn't think it was a possibility. He didn't really
(35:16):
think that the NBA would work out because me and
my best friends, my best friends were five to five,
and we like our hoop dreams were like each other's
whop dreams, so like once we realized that they weren't
going to make it, we just assumed, like, Okay, the
squad's not going to the NBA, and like, so I
don't know it's like you plant a seed and then like,
I don't know what i'd tell me younger self. You know,
(35:37):
that's that's funny. And I feel like I have a
couple of comments about that is I think about your journey,
and everybody has their own journey, and the one thing
that comes together about successful people as like one common thing,
as the one common denominator. It's just like the grit,
you know what I mean, Like every successful person has grit.
And yeah, some people's journey was a little easier than
(35:59):
how but there always comes that moment where like I
didn't know I was going to be here, but I
just kept my head down and continue to work hard.
And you know what I mean, it's like you took
life one step at a time, like yeah, you know
what I mean. You went to Washington, you know what
I mean. You yeah, nobody knew you worth got got
a little better every year a coach was like, hey,
maybe you should work on this or maybe and you
(36:21):
like fully indulge yourself into that, Like you you gave
yourself up to be better and more vulnerable and try to,
you know, work through your mistakes, where most people in
this world, as you forget it's like things get hard
and people are like, ah, that's uncomfortable. I don't want
to do that. And that's one thing that people don't
realize about successful people, as like they're willing to put
(36:42):
themselves out there and be uncomfortable and constantly be uncomfortable
and have that grit to fight through and then once
the breakthrough comes, it's like damn, like I got better.
But then it's like, all right, what's the next challenge?
Like for you, it was like yeah, you you played
in the NBA, but then you're like, all right, now
the next challenge is the Olympics, and now like what
the next challenge after that? And that's what makes successful
(37:03):
people successful is like the grit. So if I could
give advice to the younger stuff of you, is like
just never never lose that edge and continue to be
yourself because I think what makes you so cool and
great at the same time is that you're Matisse one
of the time. And if people don't like that, you're
(37:23):
like cool, you know what I mean, Like, because I'm
gonna be like, nothing's gonna stop me from being me.
And I think that's what makes you who you are,
and that's what makes you successful. Can you drop the mic?
Policeell was incredible. You said something interesting because I'm at
the point now where like kids in high school or
college are starting their careers are reaching out to me.
I guess on kids, some of those people are adults
at my starting to cut you off. At my photo
(37:44):
walk that I did for Red Bull in Philadelphia, yeah,
Lauren was there and people were there for my photo
walk asking Lauren for photos like can I get a
picture with you? I was pissed. This is about me
game last night that we're coming up to me and
can I take a picture? That was super weird. But
something that I tell people that are like actually seriously
(38:06):
looking for advice, it's like in these fields, I think
this probably applies to you guys too, but you can
tell me if it doesn't. A lot of people want
to do what I do, a lot of people want
to do what you do, and obviously both take a
lot of talent and luck and determination. But something I
tell people is the longer that you persist, there are
people that are giving up during that time making way
(38:27):
for you. Yea more and more people are going to say,
I guess it's not for me. The adversity is going
to be unappealing and you're going to veer and like
choose a new path. And like, the longer you stick
on your path, other people are going to fall off.
They're going to quit, and you're not if you really
want something, and then that's less competition exactly, and you
don't want to be that person that quits and gives
(38:48):
another person less competition. I'm also going to press Matisse
now that we're in like the late hours of this show. Yea,
you gave advice to your former self. I feel more
in terms of like basketball then in terms of personal growth,
and I know that that's something that you pride yourself
on as well. What advice would you give maybe like
rookie matifs um. I mean, the things that you're saying
(39:14):
about me right now, George are things that were like learned,
Like it's more so like a skill than it was
just innately who I am. Like I had to learn
to just be cool with being me and not trying
to be more than that or less than that. And
so I think from now to like my rookie year,
(39:36):
that's probably been the biggest difference. And yeah, I'll just
tell that version of myself is like who you are
is okay, Like who you are is all you're supposed
to be and that translates from just being a person
into like being a basketball player. And yeah, for whatever reason,
yeah people like me, they watch my videos like whatever.
(39:57):
But it's just like all I'm doing is all what
I know to do and be, and that's just matis.
Like I've played this character for twenty four years now,
and I've gotten like a pretty good idea of like
what i wanted to look like, and I'm just comfortable
with that now. I think that was well said the
character for I've played this character for twenty four years.
(40:20):
I'm gonna steal that one. I rolled my eyes so big.
Oh my god. Hater, hype woman and hater. I try
to be a good balance book. That's true. That's true,
Thanks for coming on the show. He laughed at the name.
You don't like the name Big Niang Theory. It's it's
funny because whenever I hear folks say it, will say
(40:45):
it's the Big George's Niang theory. Yeah, like also not
how you pronounce your name. So that's that's why I laughed,
because I just hear Firk's voice ba yes, well, thank
you Matisse. That was awesome. Thanks for having me. Guys, yeah,
we are corrupted.
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