The Bill Simmons Thread

[TomRicardo]

I just don't get what Russillo is watching. He sounds like a monotone Skip Bayless. At least Skip has Keyshawn and Pierce laughing hysterically at him when he says shit like Luka was playing lock down defense in the 4th (yes, Skip Bayless said this and then didn't know what to do when Pierce and Keyshawn just started laughing and were like "Did you just say Luka was playing lockdown defense? Ok Skip" like he was their senile grandfather.)

I still think he and Bill play well off each other (I think Verno and KOC are good as well) but objectively it is hard to keep respect for Rusillo when he says things like Luka is could be the best player in the world when this series is proving he isn't close. He is not even the best player in the series and is probably wrestling to get in the top 3.

I think at this point it would go:

Top Tier MVP
Joker
Embiid
GIannis

Second Tier - 1As
Luka
Tatum
SGA
Kawhi

Tier Three - Emerging Superstars
Wemby
Ant

Tier 4 - Perennial All Stars / All NBA
Brunson
KD
AD
Curry
Brown
Booker
LeBron
Butler
Mitchell
Haliburton
Sabonis

 

[8slim]

I’m halfway through and I don’t think RR is quite as bad as some here have said. His comment about Kyrie going for 50 in game 3 was clearly one in cheek.

That being said, will there ever be a point that he acknowledges that the Cs are a good team? Not even an all-time team, just one that deserves to win a title given the way they’ve played all season? Listening to him you’d really think they’re a 48 win team that just got kinda hot in the playoffs and is a bit of a fluke.

Oh wait, that describes Dallas to a T.

 

[JCizzle]

I’m halfway through and I don’t think RR is quite as bad as some here have said. His comment about Kyrie going for 50 in game 3 was clearly one in cheek.

That being said, will there ever be a point that he acknowledges that the Cs are a good team? Not even an all-time team, just one that deserves to win a title given the way they’ve played all season? Listening to him you’d really think they’re a 48 win team that just got kinda hot in the playoffs and is a bit of a fluke.

Oh wait, that describes Dallas to a T.

The Kyrie being better than Tatum comment was the most batshit insane comment in a podcast featuring a million fake trades that will never happen. If someone like Perk had said that same thing on First Take or whatever, RR and Ceruti would have (justifiably) destroyed him for it. Being on and associated with Bill makes people lose their fucking mind when it comes to the Celtics.

 

[8slim]

The Kyrie being better than Tatum comment was the most batshit insane comment in a podcast featuring a million fake trades that will never happen. If someone like Perk had said that same thing on First Take or whatever, RR and Ceruti would have (justifiably) destroyed him for it. Being on and associated with Bill makes people lose their fucking mind when it comes to the Celtics.

I must have missed that or haven’t gotten to it yet. When did he say it?

 

[moondog80]

The Kyrie being better than Tatum comment was the most batshit insane comment in a podcast featuring a million fake trades that will never happen. If someone like Perk had said that same thing on First Take or whatever, RR and Ceruti would have (justifiably) destroyed him for it. Being on and associated with Bill makes people lose their fucking mind when it comes to the Celtics.

RR definitely did not think Tatum had a great or even good game, but I think the Kyrie comparison was intentionally hyperbolic. He had just finished a segment about Kyrie has sucked the first two games.

 

[JCizzle]

I must have missed that or haven’t gotten to it yet. When did he say it?

It was in the "Tatum was awful" back-and-forth. I agreed with them both that Tatum was in his own head - he admitted as much after the game.

RR definitely did not think Tatum had a great or even good game, but I think the Kyrie comparison was intentionally hyperbolic. He had just finished a segment about Kyrie has sucked the first two games.

Certainly possible - I didn't pick up on that personally.

 

[ManicCompression]

I've been a Rusillo fan for a long time, some of that was due to me working with him a little bit when I was in college and he was super nice to me, but this playoff run has been pretty rough. His analysis of Tatum and the Celtics has been as bad as he thinks Tatum has been. It just feels like he's trolling at this point, which isn't fun to listen to at all.

 

[m0ckduck]

I've been a Rusillo fan for a long time, some of that was due to me working with him a little bit when I was in college and he was super nice to me, but this playoff run has been pretty rough. His analysis of Tatum and the Celtics has been as bad as he thinks Tatum has been. It just feels like he's trolling at this point, which isn't fun to listen to at all.

I wish one could remind podcasters that 99% of their audience— normal people— don't really care if they're right about everything, so they don't need to be so invested in defending their own takes. I guess there's a tiny loud majority of blowhards on Twitter and so forth who are taking them to task with everything they've ever gotten wrong, so they get very circle-the-wagons about it. Which is a shame, because I don't go to any podcaster for their uncanny powers of sports prognostication. I just want to listen to an engaging, fun, intelligent discussion where I can absorb what just happened, and where I feel that new information is being admitted and considered. Russillo increasingly sounds like he's mainly devoted to the defending the Russillo Industrial Sports Opinions complex. Most notably in these tortured sequences he has where he disagrees with himself four times in a single sentence— it's like he's going to battle with a hoard of trolls in his own head.

 

[ManicCompression]

I wish one could remind podcasters that 99% of their audience— normal people— don't really care if they're right about everything, so they don't need to be so invested in defending their own takes. I guess there's a tiny loud majority of blowhards on Twitter and so forth who are taking them to task with everything they've ever gotten wrong, so they get very circle-the-wagons about it. Which is a shame, because I don't go to any podcaster for their uncanny powers of sports prognostication. I just want to listen to an engaging, fun, intelligent discussion where I can absorb what just happened, and where I feel that new information is being admitted and considered. Russillo increasingly sounds like he's mainly devoted to the defending the Russillo Industrial Sports Opinions complex. Most notably in these tortured sequences he has where he disagrees with himself four times in a single sentence— it's like he's going to battle with a hoard of trolls in his own head.

I think this is a fair criticism. It reminds me a little bit of what Zach Lowe and some others do which is hedge so much that it doesn't seem like they have any opinions at all, and then this is passed off as "intelligent analysis" rather than an ultimately pointless conversation with no conclusion.

To keep it in the thread, Ethan Strauss says that Bill Simmons stands out because he actually has opinions that he voices. Yes, they may be very wrong (as I've been happy to point out), but they're at least something beyond the "I don't want to piss anyone off or look dumb" crowd that dominates most podcast talk nowadays. I think what's currently annoying about Rusillo is that, yes, he has these dumb takes, but he tries to obfuscate them in so much meandering rhetoric that I don't even know what his thesis is sometimes. At least Bill says what he's thinking for the most part (though I do above make fun of him for looking for Ryen's approval before making a statement on Sunday pods).

 

[CaptainLaddie]

His opinions are also different from the First Take opinions. I don't think Bill has a lot of HOT TAKEZ for the sake of HOT TAKEZ. I think he genuinely believes what he says. Compared to someone like Skip or whomever, that's pretty good.

 

[Jace II]

I think this is a fair criticism. It reminds me a little bit of what Zach Lowe and some others do which is hedge so much that it doesn't seem like they have any opinions at all, and then this is passed off as "intelligent analysis" rather than an ultimately pointless conversation with no conclusion.

Yeah... I feel like you see / hear this so much with baseball analysis / podcasting, and it's one of the main reasons the content is so incredibly boring and did not help in how they lost so much ground to football and basketball. Something about the way that mathematical optimization culture took hold first in baseball. I'm all for advanced stats, but it's not a sport anymore if you remove all passion and irrationality.

Ben Lindbergh is the epitome of this to me. Waffling back and forth over every debate because he's just too balanced for real life and can see both sides and knows that everything regresses to the mean anyway. The only concrete stand this type of commentator ever seems to take is that Ohtani is a very good player (and I think they're afraid to go out on that limb). Other than that, it's a constant stream of "well it seems like he's on a bit of a streak, but then you know streaks are a normal part of the game, except this one has gone on long enough to be statistically significant, but then again it's not that big of an outlier, so... I suppose we'll have to wait a bit more to get more data". Riveting.

The middle ground between attention-seeking hot takes and sterile hyperneutral stat parsing may be hard to find but I find those extremes unlistenable.

It feels like Simmons exited baseball discussion partly because the discourse around it got so boring. I have nothing useful to say about Russillo's recent work except that I generally like him and his extreme antisocial tendencies.

 

[8slim]

Yeah... I feel like you see / hear this so much with baseball analysis / podcasting, and it's one of the main reasons the content is so incredibly boring and did not help in how they lost so much ground to football and basketball. Something about the way that mathematical optimization culture took hold first in baseball. I'm all for advanced stats, but it's not a sport anymore if you remove all passion and irrationality.

Ben Lindbergh is the epitome of this to me. Waffling back and forth over every debate because he's just too balanced for real life and can see both sides and knows that everything regresses to the mean anyway. The only concrete stand this type of commentator ever seems to take is that Ohtani is a very good player (and I think they're afraid to go out on that limb). Other than that, it's a constant stream of "well it seems like he's on a bit of a streak, but then you know streaks are a normal part of the game, except this one has gone on long enough to be statistically significant, but then again it's not that big of an outlier, so... I suppose we'll have to wait a bit more to get more data". Riveting.

The middle ground between attention-seeking hot takes and sterile hyperneutral stat parsing may be hard to find but I find those extremes unlistenable.

It feels like Simmons exited baseball discussion partly because the discourse around it got so boring. I have nothing useful to say about Russillo's recent work except that I generally like him and his extreme antisocial tendencies.

You nailed it. I've spent the past few years trying to find a baseball podcast that entertains me like Simmons does with the NBA. I've yet to find one. And a lot of that is because advanced analytics have sucked sooooo much of the fun out of both the game and the discussion of it.

 

[SirPsychoSquints]

Yeah... I feel like you see / hear this so much with baseball analysis / podcasting, and it's one of the main reasons the content is so incredibly boring and did not help in how they lost so much ground to football and basketball. Something about the way that mathematical optimization culture took hold first in baseball. I'm all for advanced stats, but it's not a sport anymore if you remove all passion and irrationality.

Ben Lindbergh is the epitome of this to me. Waffling back and forth over every debate because he's just too balanced for real life and can see both sides and knows that everything regresses to the mean anyway. The only concrete stand this type of commentator ever seems to take is that Ohtani is a very good player (and I think they're afraid to go out on that limb). Other than that, it's a constant stream of "well it seems like he's on a bit of a streak, but then you know streaks are a normal part of the game, except this one has gone on long enough to be statistically significant, but then again it's not that big of an outlier, so... I suppose we'll have to wait a bit more to get more data". Riveting.

The middle ground between attention-seeking hot takes and sterile hyperneutral stat parsing may be hard to find but I find those extremes unlistenable.

It feels like Simmons exited baseball discussion partly because the discourse around it got so boring. I have nothing useful to say about Russillo's recent work except that I generally like him and his extreme antisocial tendencies.

You nailed it. I've spent the past few years trying to find a baseball podcast that entertains me like Simmons does with the NBA. I've yet to find one. And a lot of that is because advanced analytics have sucked sooooo much of the fun out of both the game and the discussion of it.

I feel very differently, specifically about Lindbergh. I've been listening to his Effectively Wild podcast for just about its entire run, and I love it. No, you'll never see a hot take about a recent event that changes anyone's opinion or predictions dramatically, because that's not how baseball works. What you will get is a very fun discussion of the events themselves, of advances in analytics, crazy hypotheticals, fun facts. Yes, if you ask Ben to predict something, he'll be EXTREMELY boring in his prediction, because he thinks it's a silly exercise.

Quick edit: And the Ohtani example is really bad, because Ben is IN LOVE with Ohtani. Gushes about him, follows every little thing, worries over injuries, etc.

 

[Van Everyman]

Just finished the part w Rusillo after Game 2. That guy has self-satisfied Cybertruck dude energy. He refuses to give the Celtics credit for anything they do right – everything is how the Mavs failed, Kidd didn’t make the right moves, Luka can’t do it alone, etc. About the only thing he credits the Celtics with is the Smart trade to build depth. He’s smart enough to know he has to throw a little credit the Celtics’ way. But he would be insufferable without a counterweight.

By contrast, Simmons is pretty thoughtful and candid with his takes. Some of it is that, like all Boston fans, he just has been here before with the Celtics – he knows the storylines about Tatum, the late collapses but also recognizes what we all do: that this team just has a different energy about them. So rather than chalking the Celtics’ success up to good fortune—opponents’ mistakes or playing a weak field—he acknowledges what the narratives are going to be and adds data points and observations that kind of subtly counter Rusillo and the national media’s digs.

(As an aside, in general I think the fact that Simmons is just always thinking of narratives and counter-narratives, for better or worse, makes him kind of the perfect podcaster for the moment and this media environment)

Also, Simmons said that someone in his section told Luka he was fat and Luka told him he should leave. It will be interesting to see how the Mavs play back home – I think they have absolutely struggled in the Boston pressure-cooker.

 

[Auger34]

I must have missed that or haven’t gotten to it yet. When did he say it?

I am about halfway through listening.

He says this at roughly the 25 minute mark. ("We're talking about Kyrie but he was incredible compared to Tatum.")

 

[8slim]

I am about halfway through listening.

He says this at roughly the 25 minute mark. ("We're talking about Kyrie but he was incredible compared to Tatum.")

Yeesh, unless he was joking that's an abysmal take.

That being said, I don't mind people criticizing Tatum when he shoots as poorly as he did in game 2. Personally, I used to blast Kobe when he'd have one of his patented 10-32 games, so I won't let Tatum off the hook. Yes, he does other things to contribute, but that doesn't absolve him from shooting terribly for the first 2 games of the series.

 

[Auger34]

Yeesh, unless he was joking that's an abysmal take.

That being said, I don't mind people criticizing Tatum when he shoots as poorly as he did in game 2. Personally, I used to blast Kobe when he'd have one of his patented 10-32 games, so I won't let Tatum off the hook. Yes, he does other things to contribute, but that doesn't absolve him from shooting terribly for the first 2 games of the series.

Which is a completely fair take (and what Bill was saying).

i thought he had a pretty good game. He definitely manipulated the defense and took what was given to him. Made some very good passes, good rebounds, was good defending the lob.

However, I have to agree with you overall. It's tough for me to say someone was awesome when they were 6-22 from the field

 

[8slim]

Which is a completely fair take (and what Bill was saying).

i thought he had a pretty good game. He definitely manipulated the defense and took what was given to him. Made some very good passes, good rebounds, was good defending the lob.

However, I have to agree with you overall. It's tough for me to say someone was awesome when they were 6-22 from the field

Which brings us back to Russillo, who repeatedly said he didn't mind Kyrie taking his "I'm getting mine" shots because he's earned that right. Even though he's missing nearly all of them in Boston. Yet, Russillo crushes Tatum constantly for... reasons.

It's very clear that sometime over the past few years RR decided he hates the way the Cs play. And now this supposed Celtics fan seems to root against them, as if to preserve some sense of basketball purity in his own mind. It's tedious and exhausting.

 

[Auger34]

Which brings us back to Russillo, who repeatedly said he didn't mind Kyrie taking his "I'm getting mine" shots because he's earned that right. Even though he's missing nearly all of them in Boston. Yet, Russillo crushes Tatum constantly for... reasons.

It's very clear that sometime over the past few years RR decided he hates the way the Cs play. And now this supposed Celtics fan seems to root against them, as if to preserve some sense of basketball purity in his own mind. It's tedious and exhausting.

I called this out earlier in the thread. He CLEARLY doesn't like this team and doesn't watch them that much. His Jaylen takes are from like 2-3 years ago.
I think I have a reputation on this board of being a Tatum "hater"...RR's Tatum rhetoric is absolutely crazy. Refusing to recognize any positives from his Games 1 and 2 while simultaneously talking about Kyrie was better? That's fucking wild

 

[cheech13]

Sometimes I feel like I’m listening to a completely different podcast than the rest of you. Bill and Ryen spent an entire segment absolutely trashing Kyrie and how bad he played in the game, how he took the Mavs out of their rhythm and chucked up bad shots. RR then made a tongue in cheek statement about how he’ll come back next game and score 50, which was his way of saying that sometimes you think you analyze something correctly and it backfires. This was not an endorsement of him at all.

 

[jose melendez]

I like Rusillo mostly, at least alongside Bill, but he's clearly a colossal douche.

 

[Auger34]

Sometimes I feel like I’m listening to a completely different podcast than the rest of you. Bill and Ryen spent an entire segment absolutely trashing Kyrie and how bad he played in the game, how he took the Mavs out of their rhythm and chucked up bad shots. RR then made a tongue in cheek statement about how he’ll come back next game and score 50, which was his way of saying that sometimes you think you analyze something correctly and it backfires. This was not an endorsement of him at all.

At the 24:54 mark he explicitly says, and I am listening now to make sure I have the exact quote

"I know people can never get past us talking about Kyrie but Kyrie was awesome compared to Tatum".

This is what I am responding to at least

 

[Jace II]

I feel very differently, specifically about Lindbergh. I've been listening to his Effectively Wild podcast for just about its entire run, and I love it. No, you'll never see a hot take about a recent event that changes anyone's opinion or predictions dramatically, because that's not how baseball works. What you will get is a very fun discussion of the events themselves, of advances in analytics, crazy hypotheticals, fun facts. Yes, if you ask Ben to predict something, he'll be EXTREMELY boring in his prediction, because he thinks it's a silly exercise.

Quick edit: And the Ohtani example is really bad, because Ben is IN LOVE with Ohtani. Gushes about him, follows every little thing, worries over injuries, etc.

I like that there are people out there intelligently discussing baseball, and I like some of Lindbergh's work. On the whole though I just find that type of commentating dry for the reasons I mentioned, and I think I'm not alone. When that's the face of baseball talk, I think it gets diminished as a mainstream sport compared to the competition. Simmons has been successful in part by merging at least a basic layer of modern stats with relatable, irrational fandom and pop culture. There's some "everyman" going on there, but it's not "intentionally moronic everyman".

I mentioned Ohtani because he's the only player I remember Lindbergh having an opinion on beyond what you can just read off a baseball-reference page. And of course predictions are a silly exercise. As is baseball itself. Yet here we are.

 

[cheech13]

At the 24:54 mark he explicitly says, and I am listening now to make sure I have the exact quote

"I know people can never get past us talking about Kyrie but Kyrie was awesome compared to Tatum".

This is what I am responding to at least

Ok, but Tatum did suck. That’s part of the analysis of the game. I guess you could say he could’ve softened that a bit given the other stuff Tatum did but this thread is full of examples of people saying RR hedges too much without a strong opinion.

 

[pjheff]

It's very clear that sometime over the past few years RR decided he hates the way the Cs play. And now this supposed Celtics fan seems to root against them, as if to preserve some sense of basketball purity in his own mind. It's tedious and exhausting.

Didn’t RR grow up a Sixers fan with Barkley as his favorite athlete ever?

 

[Auger34]

Ok, but Tatum did suck. That’s part of the analysis of the game. I guess you could say he could’ve softened that a bit given the other stuff Tatum did but this thread is full of examples of people saying RR hedges too much without a strong opinion.

I really don't think that Tatum sucked. I don't think he was good but to continually say how terrible he was and then say Kyrie was awesome compared to him is crazy.

IMO, Russillo has a lot of strong opinions on the Celtics because he thinks that he has the reputation for being a Celtics fan, which he is trying to shed.

TBH, this only bothers Boston sports fans, but whatever

 

[luckiestman]

Ok, but Tatum did suck.

He sucked at shooting. He was good at running the offense, distributing, rebounding, and defense. The objective is to win. No one on the Celtics lit it up, Luka was awesome by your metric and the game was never really in doubt in the second half, that seems odd.

 

[jezza1918]

He sucked at shooting. He was good at running the offense, distributing, rebounding, and defense. The objective is to win. No one on the Celtics lit it up, Luka was awesome by your metric and the game was never really in doubt in the second half, that seems odd.

Right. While I get that the main objective is to put the ball in the hoop and Tatum did indeed suck in that regard at an individual level, another primary objective is to prevent the other team from putting the ball in the hoop and boy oh boy did Luka suck at that...and while I havent had a chance to listen yet something tells me Ryen didnt spend a whole lot of time discussing how sucky the 2nd best player in the world was on the D end.

 

[Van Everyman]

He sucked at shooting. He was good at running the offense, distributing, rebounding, and defense. The objective is to win. No one on the Celtics lit it up, Luka was awesome by your metric and the game was never really in doubt in the second half, that seems odd.

There's a small piece of me that is hoping that the Celtics sweep and Luka gets the MVP.

Actually, scratch that: I want that more than anything.

 

[8slim]

Ok, but Tatum did suck. That’s part of the analysis of the game. I guess you could say he could’ve softened that a bit given the other stuff Tatum did but this thread is full of examples of people saying RR hedges too much without a strong opinion.

Tatum was 6-22, 18 points, with 9 boards and 12 assists. Kyrie was 7-18, 16 points, with 2 boards and 6 assists. Tatum had 3 turnovers, Kyrie had 2. Tatum played good D, Kyrie… didn’t.

There’s no universe where Kyrie was “awesome” compared to Tatum. That’s an outlandish take from a guy who’s spent the past 2 months pumping Kyrie’s tires while killing Tatum at every turn.

I do get your first point. The “50 points” comment about Kyrie was clearly tongue in cheek, and was at the end of them killing him for 10 minutes.

But as someone who entered the playoffs generally liking Russillo, he’s been flat out awful on Simmons’ pod.

 

[TomRicardo]

Just finished the part w Rusillo after Game 2. That guy has self-satisfied Cybertruck dude energy. He refuses to give the Celtics credit for anything they do right – everything is how the Mavs failed, Kidd didn’t make the right moves, Luka can’t do it alone, etc. About the only thing he credits the Celtics with is the Smart trade to build depth. He’s smart enough to know he has to throw a little credit the Celtics’ way. But he would be insufferable without a counterweight.

Also, Simmons said that someone in his section told Luka he was fat and Luka told him he should leave. It will be interesting to see how the Mavs play back home – I think they have absolutely struggled in the Boston pressure-cooker.

Russillo cannot contemplate that the Eastern Conference was even close to the Western Conference. It struck me when he was talking about the Lakers coaching job but he is an East Coast guy who moved to LA with a bit of money and thinks the West Coast is the best place to live. So Cybertruck's main demographic?

Edit - RR pretends to be grind it out team basketball guy but he really is social media clip shot basketball fan which is a great metaphor for someone in love with LA and can't contemplate someone not wanting to live there.

 

[kenneycb]

The Eastern Conference wasn't close to the West. The Celtics are. But the rest of the East is a combination of injured, shit, and shit and injured.

I thought the Simmons projection is some of the weirdest shit on here but the Russillo stuff is approaching it only at a lower volume, dating back to the taxes stuff.

 

[TomRicardo]

The Eastern Conference wasn't close to the West. The Celtics are. But the rest of the East is a combination of injured, shit, and shit and injured.

I thought the Simmons projection is some of the weirdest shit on here but the Russillo stuff is approaching it only at a lower volume, dating back to the taxes stuff.

The Pacers would have probably beaten the Mavs as well.

 

[luckiestman]

Russillo cannot contemplate that the Eastern Conference was even close to the Western Conference. It struck me when he was talking about the Lakers coaching job but he is an East Coast guy who moved to LA with a bit of money and thinks the West Coast is the best place to live. So Cybertruck's main demographic?

Edit - RR pretends to be grind it out team basketball guy but he really is social media clip shot basketball fan which is a great metaphor for someone in love with LA and can't contemplate someone not wanting to live there.

I don't know that I agree with your particular insults, but I love that you are insulting this clown

 

[kenneycb]

You are just making up shit willy nilly, so sure why not.

 

[TomRicardo]

I don't know that I agree with your particular insults, but I love that you are insulting this clown

Jokes on you I love listening to him. My dream is to have my own show called "Sports Yelling" where I take increasingly hot takes. ideally I would love to reach Howard Hughes levels of craziness like Skip Bayless.

 

[cheech13]

Russillo cannot contemplate that the Eastern Conference was even close to the Western Conference. It struck me when he was talking about the Lakers coaching job but he is an East Coast guy who moved to LA with a bit of money and thinks the West Coast is the best place to live. So Cybertruck's main demographic?

Edit - RR pretends to be grind it out team basketball guy but he really is social media clip shot basketball fan which is a great metaphor for someone in love with LA and can't contemplate someone not wanting to live there.

The Pacers made the ECF and wouldn’t have been a top 7 team in the west. It doesn’t diminish the Celtics accomplishment to acknowledge that the East was generally terrible this year.

 

[Midnight Ryder Jones]

You nailed it. I've spent the past few years trying to find a baseball podcast that entertains me like Simmons does with the NBA. I've yet to find one. And a lot of that is because advanced analytics have sucked sooooo much of the fun out of both the game and the discussion of it.

MLB-wide pod: Cespedes Family BBQ

Red Sox-centric:

• Section 10: about as passionate as it gets
• Monsters of Sox: two smart guys who talk as much about movies and parenting as they do about the Sox
• Pod on Lansdowne: probably the funniest Boston sports pod going

 

[TomRicardo]

The Pacers made the ECF and wouldn’t have been a top 7 team in the west. It doesn’t diminish the Celtics accomplishment to acknowledge that the East was generally terrible this year.

The Pacers would given the Mavs are huge amount of trouble if they beat the Celtics. They play 5 out, and Myles Turner and Siakam could have shut down the lob game. Luka might have hard a heart attack if he had to keep up with them. The post Siakam trade Pacers beat the shit out of the Mavs twice, OKC twice, Lakers, and the Clippers,

You probably couldn't have picked a worse team than the Pacers to play this game with.

If you were going to rank the teams with current rosters:

Boston
Denver

OKC
Minnesota

Knicks
Clippers
Bucks
New Orleans
Mavs
Pacers
76ers

76ers
Orlando
Cleveland
Miami
Suns

Then like the whole play in group from the West and Rockets over the Bulls and Hawks.

All that said, West is probably a bit better than the East but the East wasn't terrible.

 

[Auger34]

I think the West was better than the East but the team that everyone was truly scared of (the Nuggets) met their worst matchup possible and lost. I think the next scariest team was the Wolves and they seemingly ran out of juice against the Nugs, then faced a terrible matchup for them.
That Wolves-Nuggets series was great television but it kind of drained the Western Conference as a whole.

The Clippers without Kawhi aren't making anyone nervous.

OKC was a very good regular season team but was very young and had some clear roster weaknesses.

I guess a better way to put it is that over the course of a full season the West was better than the East but in the playoffs, I think that advantage dwindles a decent amount

 

[nattysez]

Incredible work by Bill on his latest pod:
(1) He's never experienced a honeymoon period with a young QB like Maye. I'm pretty sure he once said Mac Jones was "Brady-esque," but other than that, great point.
(2) Caitlin Clark should've been on the Olympic team. Except that he doesn't know who he'd have left off for her. But it was a real failure of vision to leave her off. Except that the Tebow experience with the Pats shows how hard it is to have a press favorite at the end of the bench.
(3) "I cannot believe people (no recognition that Wos on a Ringer pod said this) think the Lakers are a 'family business.'" Paraphrasing: "They have money because they could sell a piece of the team." Does he not understand what liquid v illiquid assets are? Does he know how much they've already borrowed against the team? He MAY not be wrong, but dismissing out of hand a reasonable suggestion from his own employee is pretty funny.

 

[Jace II]

Incredible work by Bill on his latest pod:
(1) He's never experienced a honeymoon period with a young QB like Maye. I'm pretty sure he once said Mac Jones was "Brady-esque," but other than that, great point.

He has insanely short memory about his own post-Brady Patriots QB takes.

He spent a couple late-era Carolina Cam Newton years calling him "Scam Newton" (which was pretty entertaining), then as soon as the Patriots signed him, spent months talking about how he was the perfect rebound girl, his athleticism after Brady's relative immobility would be a big unlock for Belichick, etc.

Then of course, many months of Mac Jones love, basically assuming that Bill Belichick drafting a Nick Saban Bama QB with intangibles was a can't miss. Jones was obviously pretty good his first year so it wasn't all homerism, but he definitely forgets the depths of his passion.

Drake Maye is obviously by far the most exciting of these 3 so he's not completely wrong, he just has the memory of a goldfish with this.

 

[ManicCompression]

He has insanely short memory about his own post-Brady Patriots QB takes.

He spent a couple late-era Carolina Cam Newton years calling him "Scam Newton" (which was pretty entertaining), then as soon as the Patriots signed him, spent months talking about how he was the perfect rebound girl, his athleticism after Brady's relative immobility would be a big unlock for Belichick, etc.

Then of course, many months of Mac Jones love, basically assuming that Bill Belichick drafting a Nick Saban Bama QB with intangibles was a can't miss. Jones was obviously pretty good his first year so it wasn't all homerism, but he definitely forgets the depths of his passion.

Drake Maye is obviously by far the most exciting of these 3 so he's not completely wrong, he just has the memory of a goldfish with this.

"More tapioca pudding, Mr. Simmons?"

 

[johnmd20]

Then of course, many months of Mac Jones love, basically assuming that Bill Belichick drafting a Nick Saban Bama QB with intangibles was a can't miss. Jones was obviously pretty good his first year so it wasn't all homerism, but he definitely forgets the depths of his passion.

In 2021, Simmons predicted the Pats would make the Super Bowl.(which was the most homer call in the history of homes)

In November of 2021, Simmons had all his NFL suffering friends on his pod to do a 2021 NFL redraft because Mac was obviously the 2nd best QB in the draft by a mile and the Pats pulled off another QB miracle. It was the peak of Mac's career.

He was all honeymoon with Mac. He even guaranteed a playoff spot for the team in 2022 and 2023.

 

[ifmanis5]

Bill comparing Jrue's high basketball IQ to Bill's own late-period pickup game chops was really something.

 

[8slim]

Forget Mac, Bill experienced Drew Bledsoe. That honeymoon was like hardcore porn compared to the last 6 weeks of Drake Maye.

 

[luckiestman]

Bill comparing Jrue's high basketball IQ to Bill's own late-period pickup game chops was really something.

see, that’s fun

 

[jose melendez]

Jokes on you I love listening to him. My dream is to have my own show called "Sports Yelling" where I take increasingly hot takes. ideally I would love to reach Howard Hughes levels of craziness like Skip Bayless.

Jokes on you I love listening to him. My dream is to have my own show called "Sports Yelling" where I take increasingly hot takes. ideally I would love to reach Howard Hughes levels of craziness like Skip Bayless.

I swear the Simpsons had a bit with a name like "sports shout" or something, but I can't find it. Anyone?

 

[Auger34]

I swear the Simpsons had a bit with a name like "sports shout" or something, but I can't find it. Anyone?

I believe you are thinking of 30 Rock.

It had a bit with Tracy Morgan where he said "I am a frequent guest on Sports Shouting!" and then it cut to an Around the Horn style show with 4 guys just yelling over one and another

 

[jose melendez]

I believe you are thinking of 30 Rock.

It had a bit with Tracy Morgan where he said "I am a frequent guest on Sports Shouting!" and then it cut to an Around the Horn style show with 4 guys just yelling over one and another

Got it.