Picks 'n Pops: Boos, Yabu, & a medal snafu

Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because I dove into the Seine during the Olympics and will be in the hospital battling typhoid fever for a few weeks.

- I’m so happy the Golden State Warriors come to town right away. The Dubs are in Boston on November 6, meaning the Jayson Tatum Olympic story will still be fresh. We may never hear an opposing coach booed more loudly than Steve Kerr on that Wednesday night. It wouldn't have felt the same if they came to Boston in March.

- Tom Brady picked Tatum to be his QB on a football team made up of Team USA players. Something for Eliot Wolf to keep in mind in case a couple of things don’t work out in Foxboro.

- Payton Pritchard got married on the Cape this week, with ol’ buddy Blake Griffin officiating. It’s pretty amazing how much of an impact Griffin had in one season, especially with his “Bus One Boys.” When I got married, I had my brother officiate the wedding. Griffin has to be a pretty special guy to rise to that level for Pritchard in less than a calendar year.

- The Celtics are playing all of their Western Conference road games in January and March, a byproduct of their preseason trip to face Denver in Abu Dhabi. They play 10 road games in January with Toronto as the only East opponent. 

Just prepare yourself right now for that month. It has the potential to be a very tough one for Boston. Not only are they traveling a lot, it’s in the doldrums of January, which is already a tough time to get fully motivated. That's going to be especially true for a team fresh off a championship who just wants to get back to the playoffs. 

- The saving grace in January could be the return of Kristaps Porzingis and Boston’s need to rekindle the chemistry they had this past season. In a weird way, him not coming back until January could be the boost they need to fight some of the letdown.

- Jaylen Brown is taking his XChange program to Oakland, his college stomping grounds. The UC Berkley product is aiming to create billions in generational wealth for people in underserved communities.

He started with Boston and then he took it to Cal. The man is retracing his steps back towards Atlanta and giving back to all the communities that have given something to him. 

As I’ve said before, he’s using his extremely good fortune to make the world a better place. We should be proud that a man like that wears Boston on his chest every night.

- This Clippers schedule release/tour of the Intuit Dome is pretty spectacular

I’m looking forward to seeing this in person. 

- I love Guerschon Yabusele as much as anyone, and I think his Olympic performance was incredible … 

… but …

I think there's a bit of an overreaction to a few good games. He might be worth a look for another NBA stint, but he hasn’t exactly been dominating Euroleague basketball. Hell, he wasn’t even dominating in the Olympics until he caught fire for a few games. 

NBA basketball is very different. We see it every couple of years when national teams square off in the World Cup or the Olympics and someone on the NBA fringes goes ballistic in a tournament. That rarely translates to similar NBA production. 

Bottom line: he’s under contract with Real Madrid and I’m not sure he’s worth whatever the NBA buyout is just for the offhand chance that he might have a couple of good games. 

- Tyrese Haliburton proves once again that self-deprecating humor is always a win. 

There was almost no uproar over him not playing. He was just enjoying the ride. 

- Tatum welcomed his second child while he was at the Olympics. There are no details beyond photos of Tatum with the baby post-gold medal, but it certainly adds another layer to his Olympic story.

- It’s going to take me a long time to get used to the new NFL kickoffs.

- The NBA Cup is still in its infancy, and the NBA if following the formula for convincing people it’s special.

They made the courts, ahem, unique last season and they forced the Lakers to have a champagne celebration and hang a banner. 

This year, they made a big deal of the schedule announcement, separating it from the rest of the schedule and making ESPN do a whole show about it. 

They’ll probably make the courts look wild again so people can keep talking about it and they’ll make the winners drink champagne and hang a banner until the minority of NBA fans who are already into it becomes the majority of NBA fans. 

As long as they're committed to the bit, people will start to buy into it themselves. It’s not going away.

- Victor Wembanyama saying he wants to steal some of Kevin Durant’s moves is scary. He’s still a couple of years away from figuring everything out, but if he successfully incorporates Durant’s game into his, then the league will be fully his. 

- The more Wemby, the more wonderful still photos we get of him. 

- Here’s Malika Andrews handling a mid-show earthquake like a boss:

I personally would be going full Costanza, knocking old people with walkers out of the way in my mad dash to safety. 

I can handle a hurricane or a blizzard, but I’m checking out when the earth starts shaking. 

- I don’t know where this joke started on Twitter so I can’t give it proper credit, but it’s really funny that Sha’Carri Richardson was banned from the Tokyo Olympics for smoking weed and then Snoop Dogg became one of the faces of the 2024 Olympic coverage. 

- Happy trails, Joe Harris. 

- Just let Jordan Chiles and Ana Barbosu both have their medals and move on. 

- This week’s Bing AI-generated image: the welcome I anticipate for Steve Kerr and the Warriors

I assume the front sign is the driver frantically trying to change the team name to the Clippers to throw fans off the scent. 

- Here’s my latest podcast, if you’re bored.