its funny how its the Bubble title that will be discredited instead of the season where half the contending teams are gonna end up missing key players and guys were sitting out every other night with COVID or random injuries
yeah i won't say it in the nba thread because the winning teams fans will get upset but people are out of their minds if 3 of 4 conference finals teams (could be 4!) go out in round 1 and people don't realize it's due to the short layoff for them and if Denver survives they're missing their second best player and not really a title contender
The injuries are brutal right now. Hopefully everyone stays healthy. But losing AD, Paul, and Embiid in the first round is rough for the league and the outcome of the best teams advancing
Feels like a Lebron/AD team getting to the finals is more logical than the Heat coming from the East last year. Everyone was on the same plane but undeniably two weird ass seasons. Hadn’t even thought about all 4 finals teams possibly getting knocked out. Wild data point.
The Lakers were legitimate and their title should not be discounted. Their opponents in the finals however, were fraudulent
to zag this years title due to short lay off/injuries/etc would be the easier asterisk title than last years
its clear the external stuff with Milwaukee made them check out mentally from the bubble you see any title won by the Lakers has an asterisk because they didn't go through MVP caliber players like Kendrick Perkins
Only Boston titles count. Bill said lakers can’t complain about injuries because Boston had injuries both time lakers beat them to win a title in the 2000s
“On the one hand it’s an isolated incident, on the other hand is it any different than saying something shitty to somebody on Twitter?” Yes - it is literally 1 million times different. Though about the take I expected from Simmons.
Simmons floated this a month ago to russillo on a pod. If there’s one thing to listen to bill on, it’s info regarding the only team he watches.
I know why he posted it, but how? Everyone acknowledges that they won a title and were a contender for several years.
I missed Rich Paul calling Bill out? And I’m gonna google that “column” because I bet it was a damn heater
It’s an all timer “I blame the people around him. I blame the lack of a father figure in his life,” Bill Simmons, then a leading columnist at ESPN, wrote. “I blame us for feeding his narcissism to the point that he referred to himself in the third person five times in forty-five minutes. I blame local and national writers (including myself) for apparently not doing a good enough job explaining to athletes like LeBron what sports mean to us, and how it IS a marriage, for better and worse, and that we’re much more attached to these players and teams than they realize.”
Ryen “I only watch the Celtics so I can talk them with my dad” Russillo sounded on the verge of tears defending Ainge in that emergency pod, good god man get it together also another pod where Bill reminds us that Jaylen Brown ended racism in Boston
Haha “Ainge is so smart Bc he took Tatum. Great talent evaluator what balls!” He was offered a trade and didn’t value anyone enough one. He didn’t just take Tatum with the #1 pick. e: if he believed in Tatum THAT much then he wouldn’t have traded to 3 gtfo
Jaylen has top 10 trade value largely bc of race relations. Also, how much did Bill cover racist comments from fans at TD Garden? I realize St. Danny was totally surprised by it. Pfft.
Enjoyed The Daily Coach with Kilff and McVay. Laughed out loud at Kliff hitting up McVay for sideline passes for an IG model
Jackie MacMullin calling KOC like 3 different incorrect names was both hilarious and ruthless Kevin O'Verlooked
Of course Ryen has to think up some reason why Dame going nuts the other night was kind of bad (teammates were cold). He just can't help himself.
Bills gonna be obnoxious about his whole “teams should want to play the Lakers early on the playoffs” take.
rasheed wallace with the "guaransheed" reference i loved rasheed and i will hear no words against him btw
Its funny listening to other guests who call out the fact that Tatum and Brown aren’t household names. You can tell it really upsets Bill.
Meatball can name only 3 NBA players; LeBron, KD, and Tatum Spoiler Only because these are his favorite chips
Thought it was funny in the Celtics homer Ainge/Stevens excuse fest pod when they all agreed they should hire a black head coach for “reasons” but nobody would actually say what those reasons are. plus it seemed a little patronizing for them to suggest hiring a black coach only for optics, as if that will erase Boston’s entire history of racism. “See! We hired one of them! What do you have to say now Kyrie??!”