Podcast: How JaVale McGee started the vlog that’s given us an inside look at the Lakers in the bubble

The idea for JaVale McGee to vlog about life in the NBA bubble run hit him the day before the Lakers were set to leave for what they hope will be a lengthy run through the NBA playoffs, but the seeds were planted for the videos started when he was much younger.

“The inspiration came from 10 years of wanting to do this, but I didn’t really have anything to vlog. I’ve always wanted to do it,” McGee said. “Now I have the idea, I had all the equipment, and I was like ‘I’m going to the bubble for three months, I’m going to have a lot of time on my hands, so I might as well try to do something.’ It just went off. It seems like from the feedback I’ve been getting, everybody loves it. They love the perspective, they love the inside scoop of what’s going on. I’m just doing it for the fans and keeping them entertained, and I really appreciate the love.”

McGee’s vlogs have given us one of the best, clearest looks we’ve gotten of what it’s actually like inside the NBA bubble at Disney World, providing an unfiltered glimpse behind the scenes of this chemistry-laden Lakers team. To give all of us a better understanding of how the videos come together, I spoke with the man who edits them: Devin Dismang, who is the guest on our latest episode of the Silver Screen and Roll podcast.

Because Anthony and Jas already gave us a full Blazers series preview yesterday (you can listen to it here), I thought this might be a fun time to talk with Dismang about how the series got started, what the process of editing the videos is like, the genesis behind some of the most fun viral moments of this current Lakers run, and much more. I thought it was a really fun conversation about the creative process behind it the vlog, the balance of telling cool stories without being a distraction and more. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Before throwing to that talk, though, Christian and I talked about the surprisingly imminent return of Rajon Rondo, and what he may bring to the team. After the conversation with Devin, we shared some final thoughts on this series before it begins, made some final predictions (including a wager one of us may regret).

You can listen to the full episode below (with timestamps in the description), and don’t forget to subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen, and Christian at @RadRivas. If you for some reason have not checked out or subscribed to JaVale’s vlogs yet, you can do that here.