I don't necessarily agree with Bill but his logic here is pretty sound--All-NBA has been going on for over 70 years under the same format, two guards, two forwards, one center. No matter how the game has changed and evolved, it has kept that consistency and going back all the way to very beginning of the league, it is a consistent ranking of who the best are at their positions, in any given year. The NBA changing that is frustrating for Simmons, one of the few prominent NBA pundits who deeply cares about the history of the league and preserving that, and so he is going to continue to vote that way.
To this point, what would Magic be considered? He rarely guarded the opposing PG.
I'm not saying I really agree with it, it's just an old basketball saying that I could see Bill referencing dogmatically. I think he'd find a loophole to call Magic a PG regardless of who he defends or how big he is.
Yeah, I respect Bill for his dedication to maintaining the history of the sport on stuff like this. He clearly cares more than some - most (?) - modern pundits about his vote.
We can agree to disagree, but to me it smacks a little of the old arguments to dismiss or downgrade a DH's chances of getting into the HoF because they rarely or never played the field. The game has changed, so the considerations for the honors should evolve as well. It sucks that Wilt and Russell had a zero-sum competition with each other to be on the All-NBA first team, but that doesn't mean the league has to submit Jokic and Embiid to that same situation if they are now willing to define that team simply as consisting of the five best players.
I think a big thing for Bill is he feels like Silver gave into pressure from social media, especially with people getting mad that Embiid/Jokic can't both be first-team NBA, so Silver changed the rules. He said something on a recent pod about it, and was like "I'm sorry Jokic and Embiid are two of the three best players and they are both Centers so they can't both make first team All-NBA. I'm pretty sure it didn't bother Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain."
I think the difference for me is, dead ball full court inbounds - where is the ball going, who is bringing it up? In Dallas it’s like 95% going to be inbounded to Luka and he will dribble it over half court and call the play/run the offense. With Jokic, they look to get him the ball of course, but it’s more often in the spots for “traditional passing big men” where the offense flows through them (foul line, top of key and ATB 3 in the modern game). They will run stuff to deliver the ball to Jokic in those spots, vs him directly initiating it. Thinking old school Sabonis, Bill Walton, Kings era Valde Divac, probably a lot of Wilt looked like this (I never saw him) in being the center pieces distributing for their various teams. Of course those guys aren’t bringing the ball up, and handling it a ton in the backcourt, they aren’t ball handlers. Luka is definitely a ball handler. That is how I segment it. Back to the Magic example, their offense when starting full court dead ball was similar. Ball inbounded to Magic, he brought it up while everyone else got in position.
Is it just social media? When all-NBA status was added into the CBA that made it something that players need to care more about, right? Obviously that wouldn't change the Embiid/Jokic calculus, but it has impacts down the line for whomever the 4th best center was.
The positions rule definitely hindered Jokic/Embiid the last few years, but it absolutely benefited centers in the modern NBA. Rudy Gobert and DeAndre Jordan have never been considered among the 15 best players in the league, but have made a combined 7 all-NBA teams. The days of guys like them making All-NBA is over, and that is unequivocally a good thing for the league. Tyson Chandler, Andrew Bogut, Al Jefferson....there has been a lot of thoroughly average players make all-NBA in the last 15 years because they were solid centers in a league in which that position was no longer of great importance.
The one on Simmons feed he did a week or two ago? I thought it was entertaining.
He guested on The Lowe Post this week, but I half listened and don't recall anything egregious. The OP should provide more context.The one on Simmons feed he did a week or two ago? I thought it was entertaining.
I certainly don’t think Bill is the smartest guy ever or anything, but his podcasts routinely give me more enjoyment than most other outlets.
I think so. Makes sense that a Rogan co-founded supplement company (Onnit) would advertise on other Spotify podcasts.
I've had this happen to me as well and thought i was losing my mind.
Eh, for someone of Larry's generation I don't think its that crazy. For decades the main notion by promoters was that if the fans knew that the matches were fixed, they would stop coming to the shows and the business would collapse. That obviously isn't the case anymore and hasn't been for some time, but for someone that is basically unfamiliar with the industry, who comes from an older generation, the take doesn't surprise me.
Yeah but even given his age/generation that is an incredibly stupid take for such a smart person.
I had written it off as part of my ongoing cognitive decline after it happened a second time.
Nah. It happens to me a fair bit on Ringer podcasts - I notice it not infrequently on the Rewatchables.
It’s not a pull, it’s a memory. This is actually John:
This may me vanishingly rare in the us, but there are plenty of people in the global audience who still think it’s real.
Right? That was a big takeaway for me as well since we know that Bill loves to say 'the Jets fans in my life think...' and now we can connect those dots back to Larry David.
He did indeed. He mentioned that their next year (Season 18) of Guess The Lines was already renewed but then he wondered aloud if it might be the last on the podcast and that maybe it would just be them on the phone again like the old days insead. Cousin Sal seemed surprised to hear that.
I feel like their tour is “news” and since you have a “view” about it while also wanting to view a thread about it, the tour thread should be moved to V&N because I am thinking I am getting Simmons gossip every time I see the Seattle classic rock band thread.
This is the exact post I’d expect from a Bill Simmons fan in 2024. Well done.
