The thing with Zion is he isnt afraid to shoot and I bet he improves his shot. He has a good work ethic. Simmons is almost afraid to shoot and becomes no existent in crunch time.
Zion made 24 three-pointers last season and shot 34% in 33 college games. Ben Simmons has attempted 21 three-pointers in two NBA seasons (regular and postseason) + his lone LSU season (215 total games). He has made one of them (at LSU). The "outside shooting weakness" for Zion is not remotely close to what it is for Ben Simmons.
Wasn’t necessarily comparing the 2 players. Was more of a comment that Bill Simmons seems to gloss over shooting when evaluating young players.
The amount of mental weakness this suggests for Simmons would make me nervous about building around him.
I thought Zion would struggle to produce offensively at the college level due to lack of shooting and teams sagging off and clogging driving lanes, and it couldn’t have mattered less. I now think the same about his jump to the NBA level but I think you have to concede, the potential for him to be a freakishly efficient scorer because of his explosiveness and power is undeniable. He is going to look bad on defense for a minute. Even at Duke he hunted steals and blocks with wreckless abandon for team defense and in the NBA that won’t work. It’s hard to adjust “hype” for pre and post social media but by a simple metric like name recognition, and in particular name recognition 18-34 male, I imagine he blows away any of the other names mentioned. Fucking Drake had his jersey when he was in high school. His Duke games were literally appointment television.
Do we honestly think NO wouldn't have made the trade if the lakers pick was like 15 instead of 4? It would have still been the best available trade on the market so if anything the Pelicans are the lucky ones that it fell to 4th because the Lakers were trading it regardless.
Skipped the mid week pod that said it was involving a discussion about the pats and fantasy baseball. Glad bill posted another pod for today where he screams into the sun about Lebron
Just got to Bill’s take about how Trae Young didn’t exceed expectations after he shit on him for 6 straight months. Good lord
between a role call of his fantasy baseball team and a recap of a rich guy dinner, Bill is a poker bad beats story or hole-by-hole golf recap away from the Triple Crown of "Things you never want your buddy to bring up in conversation"
Bills recall of random and very uneventful anecdotes from his teenage and college years leads me to believe he has some kind of autism.
He just loves him, likes the way he plays. I don't believe there's even any irony or weird racial stuff involved.
I don’t think it’s that, I think he saw the NBA twitter dorks fawning over him and thought it was funny that people were that gaga over a fairly nondescript prospect
It's definitely sarcasm. I think it's a combination of some NBA nerds liking him and Huerter being white that makes it easy to make fun of. I think he brought his name up once in a joke and Bill laughed, so now he finds reasons to keep doing it. It's usually amusing to me when I've heard him do it, but I haven't listened to them all and I'm sure some of them have been forced and not funny.
Was it just me or was the Common interview horrible? He sounded so fake and rehearsed in everything he said. Not a natural conversation at all. Did enjoy Michael K today though.
Just listened to Bill's dad for the first time on his most recent podcast and good lord. He's literally just a random low knowledge Boston sports homer. Who the hell wants to listen to that for 30 minutes? Bills dad: Kyrie didn't make 3s for us like he did for Cleveland Bill: Dad he made 40 % from 3 last year Bills dad: yea but I just didnt feel like he made that many.
No desire to listen to Common. Can’t wait for Michael K. Bill was the one who turned me onto The Wire through his columns.
I don’t disagree with any of this really. Also liked a random mid season “copa” style tournament where teams can win cap space or draft capital.
Put a financial kicker in for it, an increase in cap space is more money for players, or just give a cash bonus for performance in the cup.
I would assume the nba could sell the tv rights to a mid season cup separately or additionally and increase revenue too which means more money for players also.
They won’t. But it allows lesser teams to compete for a cup and players to show out on a bigger stage
I don't think it means more money to players if they're cutting from 82 to 72 regular season games. That's 5 home dates for every team that are gone, fewer TV dates for the league, and local TV deals are going to need to be adjusted, as well. I don't see how the league just cuts 10 games for every team and the cap stays the same or goes up. Seems like those moves would put a decent sized dent into the cap, and the best things those tournaments could do is possibly recoup some of those losses.
Don't have a stance besides questioning fan and player interest so I would like to learn more details.
Yeah and paying cash while also offering salary cap space or draft picks would make benefit smart GMs and coaches
just look at the EPL cups. Generally the top teams (Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool) play back-ups. And the lesser teams (Crystal Palace or some shit) will work their ass off to win it.
Sure, it all depends on how many games they cut out, and what the players value more, but if they value some semblance of a compromise a mid season cup could potentially offer that with a cut in the total number of games. Offsetting some of the revenue lost with an addition to their TV rights deal, while offering the players more time off, or more rest is an interesting way to do it.
I don’t think this is a terrible outcome. It engages disenfranchised fans from shitty teams potentially. Would be interesting to see them score games in aggregate or something different as well.
I'm sure the Magic would love to win some shitty NBA Cup on their way to a 35 win season. And I mean that.
100% Also if you include additional cap space or cap relief for teams that win, it could be an interesting pull for teams stuck in cap hell like the Hornets for instance. Also would be a motivator for other teams as well imo.
well I have no idea, but that seems like a good idea, doesn't it? allows fans of good teams to get excited about seeing 2nd rounders they drafted 2 years ago.
I think it would be too many games unless 8-10 teams get a bye. I think the lower roster numbers would be a hindrance. I don't think American fans would care but I may be underestimating support.
Love the idea of a mid-season tournament similar to the soccer leagues of the world. Fuck it, make it a Slamball tournament with real NBA players and I would be fucking glued to the TV.
Lol Kemba miraculously just rocketed up to Bill’s top 15 to 20 players in the league. I wonder why that is?
Kemba was, by the votes, a top 15 player in the league this year. He was 3rd team all-NBA. Probably should have gone to Beal, but a guy who has made his living off being a Boston sports fan getting excited over them probably signing Kemba shoud not be sad or surprising.
I dont think saying he is a top 20 player is reaching. I dont think he felt Kemba was an option so he was resigned to the fact he was losing Kyrie and Horford. Stein's thoughts on Horford being a good fit in NOLA is a good point.