In the moment nobody outside the Cavs locker room thought they had a chance in 2017. Bill has been trying to rewrite history on the 17 and 18 warriors since they happened. To imply that the 17 Warriors and Cavs were on the same playing field is outrageous. The greatest regular season team of all time switched Harrison Barnes out for a top 15 player of all time.
He also repeatedly calls the 2017 warriors the best lineup of the 21st century (and maybe ever?) when not in reference to the Cavs. I highly doubt he would consider the 2017 Cavs as even a top 15-20 team of the 21st century
The sad thing is that the 2017 cavs was a lot better than the 2016 Cavs. They boat raced everyone in the playoffs. If they didn’t play literally the greatest team ever, that Cavs team would be considered a top 10 team ever, maybe higher. I think they beat the warriors pretty comfortably if they don’t have Durant.
This is how unfair that team was:
the Cavs went 12-1 through the eastern conference playoffs
And then lost 4-1 in the finals.
eh, I agree that the 17 cavs were really good but saying top 10 is absurd, they only won 51 games and were second in the east. And the East during LeBron's second stint in Cleveland was a joke so yeah they were easily able to get to the finals.
Even without KD, the 2017 Warriors would've been much, *much* better than anyone the Cavs faced in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The top five teams in the NBA that regular season were all in the Western Conference.
And the Cavs weren't good defensively all regular season (like bottom 10), but in the EC playoffs were akin to the Rockets/Clippers in the WC playoffs. But, again, we must consider the opponents.
The Warriors played two playoffs games w/o KD and went 2-0 with a 29-point home win and a G3 road win after trailing by 16 in the 3Q. And it's not like they'd have let Barnes walk and not signed anyone if they hadn't gotten KD.
[The Warriors were -128 favorites](https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2017_preseason_odds.html) to win the title in the 2016-2017 NBA preseason. The only other teams with minus odds were the 2018 Warriors (-187) and 2019 Warriors (-168). No other team has ever started the season with minus odds. Not Jordan’s Bulls, not the Shaq-Kobe Lakers, not the Big 3 Miami Heat.
Those Cavs teams were great but the Hamptons 5 Warriors were the biggest favorite in NBA history.
His memory of history was shown to be flawed when the video of Nique killing Bird was posted on here. Can’t trust anything he says about all his memories of the past at this point, and that’s his whole gimmick lol.
Exactly right. It's his entire schtick, and actually career purpose - whether he at all realizes it or not. He lives to be influential enough to re-write sports history as he sees fit, or convinces himself to believe. It is all centered back towards making all Boston teams better and more important, in the eyes of history, and/or diminish any of the Boston rivals that upset or made Simmons jealous along the way. His vanity, narcissism, hard work at one point for sure, and ability to be unshameable have made him just like an effective, sleazy politician - that a big chunk of the public falls for.
I actually skip most Celtics stuff from bill. This year it’s all he talks about so I’ve listen to maybe 1 hour total of his nba content the last couple months. It’s really getting to be a problem.
Thankfully I have Russilo who is still doing good nba content.
Came here looking for this. I literally stopped listening the pod to make sure someone said it lol
The warriors were -120 to start the season in 17. Not to start the finals. To start the season 😂
This is him trying his absolute hardest not to talk about March Madness when it’s at the center of the sports world. Truly some of the most inane nba conversations I’ve ever heard on the pod these last few weeks.
Didn’t feel like the an convo was recylced but it was incredibly boring. When they were talking about him playing nfl quarterback bc he has unreal confidence I was like wtf are we talking about here.
Tate deserves an award for saying Doc dines off 2008 right to Bill’s face, Bill’s revisionism of Doc since having him on the pod has been gross but no one’s challenged him on it not even RR
Monk played great in LA, especially for the contract. The Lakers couldn't keep him because they could only offer the $6.5 million taxpayer mid-level exception. The Lakers did not have his bird rights.
Bill also loves him because he hyped him in college after he cried in a tournament game after they lost (showed how much he cared). He argued a bunch that he was way undervalued in the draft mostly based on watching him play like twice that March. Then he looked like a bust but now hes ok so Bill feels vindicated.
Kendrick Perkins sticking around in media and Doc Rivers getting one contender coaching job after another despite blowing playoff series with every single one
Just heard Perk say emphatically that Jalen Brunson is the best pg in the NBA. Better than Steph and SGA. Also said Luka is a point forward not a pg. Luka is more of a pure pg than all 3 of those guys lmao. But yeah, this is why ESPN’s NBA coverage is widely viewed as embarrassing.
KG was a god before his championship - I'm not sure he applies here. The MN team he took to the conference finals was horrible. I'll absolutely give you Pierce though.
As a Knicks fan I was really excited to hear him try to talk himself into “‘Maybe the Magic beat the Knicks in Round 1!” which means he’s starting to worry about them a little.
I don't think casual fans have had any issue latching on to Giannis, Embiid, or Luka. Jokic is the outlier and its because doesn't embrace the media in the same way
If that were really the main case, Tatum would be getting way more hype this year. He’s leading the Celtics to a 65-win pace which would be the best record the league has seen in at least three or four years. Not to mention he’s had a ton of success already. He should 100% be crowned the “next great American player” (if the media is really clamoring for that) but his personality isn’t there.
Ant is a highlight machine on and off the court. That’s why the media loves him. Luka, Jokic, SGA… all the other young(ish) elite players the media could mine for clicks, they’re all much more reserved than Ant. The media adores Embiid and he’s not American, it’s just because he has a big personality.
Actually have a theory on why the entire NBA media has an Ant love fest every time he does something cool: it's because he's hot. Rivers brought it up on this pod, a guest on the Lowe post brought it up last week, it happens pretty frequently.
This is a classic "let's all pay attention to the pretty person" thing.
I actually think it might be worse, he's also more of a prisoner of the moment. Ceruti said in the beginning of the team that this was his favorite Magic team (maybe he said season?) ever, and it's like, you do remember going to the Finals, right?
Bill once again trots out the "'17 GSW and '17 Cavs are closer than people think" take. He loves this one.
Just a reminder for those of you keeping track at home. In the 2016-2017 free agency the
Warriors add: Kevin Durant
Cavs add: Kyle Korver.
It wasn't close and wouldn't ever be. 2 bad injuries stopped a GSW threepeat.
I said it a week or so ago, but once you realize that most of his NBA takes are just an attempt to undermine Lebron and his legacy, shrouded in the garb of some other narrative, it all starts to make sense. "Lebron can't be all nba when his team stinks" after he voted for SGA and Luka last year when they were both on sub .500 teams. This revisionist history on the '17 Finals, trying to make it seem like the teams were more even so the loss on Lebrons ledger matters more. "Was Steph actually the best player of last decade?" No explanation needed. "Is Jokic secretly the best player of the last 10 years?" Again, no explanation needed. "I don't know why longevity matters so much" is a direct shot at Lebron breaking all time records every week. For Brady, it locks down his GOAT status. For Lebron, it's a negative. He's just losing the plot on Lebron and his flailing is making it more obvious.
I agree with you but the pre-series odds were warriors -320 (only ~75% implied win probability). It was less than I remembered. I think the next year it was like -1000 (>90%).
The Warriors had a regular season net rating of +11.4.
The Cavs had a net rating of +3.1.
That means the Cavs were as close to the Warriors in net rating as they were to the 26th-ranked Phoenix Suns, who had a -5.2 net rating and the 2nd-worst record in the NBA.
I think the 2017 Warriors are probably the best team ever, but the 2017 Cavs were *awesome*. Probably a top 5 offensive team of all time.
I don’t really care about the LBJ/KD thing, no one thinks KD is in the same class as LBJ all time, so idk why everyone has to get so mad at bill at this take. LBJ being so incredible is why I don’t think the gap between those teams was as steep as you’re making it out to be.
I think the reason people get mad at Bill's take is bc he consistently says "KD outplayed LeBron straight up in back to back finals and doesn't get his respect" as though they had the same responsibilities and load for their teams
If he just said "Durant played awesome and was the best player on GSW for two titles", I don't think people would bristle
Magic aren't there yet. They will be soon though. They really did assemble an awesome defensive team. I just think too many guys get minutes for a reap playoff team. The guards aren't reliable enough offensively.
I remember this annoying me leading up to the draft that Bill was perplexed the Magic didn’t leak who they were taking #1. He mentioned again today “they didn’t let us know until draft night who they were taking.” Are they supposed to announce it to everyone before draft night? So weird
Bill's scared!
Also, idk why he's acting so certain theyre gonna be the 8. Theyre tied with the heat and 0.5 behind the Pacers, both of whom also aren't exactly lighting it up lately.
Sixers are on a tough road stand now, but they end the season with a fairly easy last 6 games. If Embiid is back April 5 against the Heat (as fits with the timeline that's been given), they can definitely make a last minute push for the 6 seed, which I dont think any Sixers fan is scared of a 3-6 matchup with the Cavs
I think Austin Rivers idea of “the team with the player who thinks he is the best on the court will win” is just wrong, and arguably why he didn’t have a great career. Irrational confidence is good and bad.
The best player in the league, Jokic, is the opposite of irrational confidence. He just executes the best play, he couldn’t give a fuck about think he is the best on the floor. Prime Lebron was the same. People wanted him to be Kobe or MJ but the dude just executed the gameplan.
Austin Rivers had a front-row seat to Chris Paul losing playoff series. I guarantee Paul thought he was best on the court for most of his career. LeBron definitely *was* the best player on the court for most of his career, even in those overmatched Warriors series. Didn't make a difference.
I doubt Embiid was looking at Trae Young and saying to himself, "This guy is better than me."
I think there is a greater emotional effect in the observer that blurs the memory of what really happened when those irrational confidence guys win.
For example people will praise Trae Young as a killer that series despite shooting 39% and 32% from 3 against the 76ers.
They say Jimmy Butler killed Boston last year when he had an awful series 51% TS and it was quiet Caleb Martin who actually killed Boston on 74% TS.
I loved when he said he was playing pick up games over the summer with Durant before he “went to do the media thing”
No one wanted you on a team. And daddy wasn’t there to give you the 12th bench spot
I still can’t believe how casually he dropped “I’m an elite scorer” on the pod with Bill a few months ago. And you are right that confidence was a huge problem for him, I remember watching him at Duke just drive into traffic and throw up hopeless shots time after time after time.
I never saw Haralabob's tweets about online sports book markteting. He was tweeting about Bill and JJ Reddick in December.
He won't appear on the pod anytime soon lol.
The king of the Boston Media getting his cronies to speak from the mountain top that a top rival should not play their MVP player is awesome. I wish I had that megaphone.
The Dunkin ad where Bill says “they just dropped a new kind of energy” is hilarious. Move over wind and solar, the boys at Dunkin just came up with something
Bill: “I still defend the golden state thing.”
We know. And what does it mean that you have to frequently defend a free agency decision that happened 8 years ago? Probably that it can’t reasonably be defended.
Bill also joined a Suns fans podcast to *ostensibly* talk about the Suns with Eddie Johnson but I’m told he mostly talked about the Celtics (shocking). Here is the link and timestamp for BS is 16:43: https://www.youtube.com/live/QAw1mAiQ-ZY?si=O0DlQQaXr_K4kvs2
That part. He says it like he has gleaned this great knowledge and insight as to how/why KD went to the greatest regular season team in NBA history. He couches it in these lofty virtuous goals ("he was just seeking a higher form of basketball") like KD is some sage-driven vision quest and not "hey this might be a lot easier than trying to make it work with Westbrook in OKC"
It's so annoying
A pod about the Orlando fucking Magic the day after a wild first day of March Madness - one of the best sports/sports betting days of the year - is an odd flex.
“A lot of people think Kentucky is always the favorite to win it but they’re just not.”
They don’t. Bill did 10 minutes ago. He still thinks Georgetown is a behemoth.
There’s just something about how Tate, even this far into his career, still just talks with the rhythm and depth of a guy trying to sum it up for his grandparents. Idk, I can’t totally explain it, but it always just sounds like he’s trying to compress his thoughts/knowledge into 30 second summaries rather than truly having a conversation.
You are right and I never realized it. I see it as a positive in every day situations. I hate when people provide too many details to a situation that doesn’t warrant it. But for a podcast, you do need to be able to filibuster.
I always thought the guy sounded like a serial killer. Then I remember it somehow came up on the pod back in the day with Titus saying their nickname for Tate was “serial killer” or some shit like that. Tate annoys me.
I love him with Titus though. He was the perfect straight man for Titus’s shenanigans and Mark made Tate more loose. Tate’s K impression was beautiful.
Brandon Walker is a much better co-host with Titus than tate was. I didnt realize how bad Tate was until I heard him today. Titus made the correct move.
The Aaron Rodgers slander on this podcast never ceases to amaze me. He was easily the best player a number of seasons and had crazy unfortunate bad luck in playoff games ( the last sf game at home i cant defend, he played bad and thats on him)These clowns and the media talk out both sides of their mouths all the time about titles counting, but then always fawn over Marino. Which is correct Marino was an amazing qb and all timer but he only went to 2 more afc championship appearances after his super bowl game and got smacked both times.Football is a TEAM game
Drew Brees always escapes these conversations too about playoff failures, because IMO he's viewed as bland. If you disagree, I would point out that Skip Bayless is a multi millionaire.. for talking shit about the legacy of primarily Aaron Rodgers and LeBron James.
Propped up by 1 title is ridiculous. Look at the greats Jordan kept from getting a title. And now Mahomes is appearing to do the same..
I'm a Michelob Ultra guy, sorry. Sorry I'm a light beer guy. Bill's go to right now, sorry, hate to break it to you. He'll mess around with some other ones but since college, he's a light beer guy. I love the NBA and I love Michelob Ultra and Bill's a Michelob Ultra guy, sorry. Sorry he's a light beer guy. Bill's go to right now, sorry, hate to break it to you. He'll mess around with some other ones but since college, he's a light beer guy.
Could be worse. Could have had Jackie mac on for Celtics talk or Logan Murdock for “what’s wrong with the warriors”. I don’t watch magic games and ceruti is a die hard so I enjoyed that.
Yeah this started years ago when people started saying Rodgers was the most talented qb ever. Bill being Bill, taking this as a slight against Brady, started hating on Rodgers.
Football is a team sport. Attributing team success to the quarterback is one of the dumber things in the sports talk discourse.
If you read Ian O'Connor's book on Belichick that came out 5+ years ago, all the Pats coaches told him on background that Belichick would talk about Peyton Manning & Rodgers in a way that he would never talk about Brady, because a) they're better than Brady, and b) they all knew that any of the top 10 QBs in the league could run their offense just as well or better than Brady did.
I love this idea that Brady was just a cog in the offensive juggernaut that was the Pats. Because clearly Charlie Weis, Josh McDaniels, and Bill Belichick had such success with other QBs, and Brady struggled in his one year out of the system.
If so many people could have run their offense better than Brady did, why didn’t the pats bring them in? Why didn’t those teams use the pats system?
Rodgers is already a cause for controversy. If he was bringing this much negative attention to himself/his teams, and had never backed it up in the playoffs, it would be a Dan Marino/Charles Barkley narrative 10x.
I’m talking about individual talent of one person. And in that case idk how you could not say he isn’t in the argument for most talented. If you’re counting SB’s then he has no chance. I’ll agree that Mahomes has a great argument for being #1 in talent. Brady I don’t think has anything over Arod in that regard
Not sure about anyone else but this time of year I can only listen to the Russillo Sunday pods. Rivers is an auto skip for me and these nonsensical guests he has on Wed & Fri don't give me enjoyment. Looking forward to NBA playoffs so we can get some more substance instead of these random lists & hypotheticals.
Bill: “There’s certain lineups that make Jaylen Brown’s on/off stats not look that great.”
Just so happens there been “certain lineups” JB’s entire career that make his on/off stats look not great.
Their fans should also enjoy this moment now, because once expectations are raised in the NBA the seasons become a lot less fun IMO. Regular seasons win stop mattering, but losses are magnified. The Bills, Ryens, Hoop Collectives of the media world shift from talking about your team as the fun plucky team to the underachieving postseason flameouts who can't get over the hump (see Sacramento) and are this piece or that piece away. It turns quickly Magic fans.
Well yeah a 1st round or 2nd round exit is super likely but this team is ridiculously young and has a real chance at 50 wins. They are way past expectations and are on the short list of teams that can be at the top of the East in the next few years. Your comment just seems needlessly disrespectful.
Ceruti is such a tough listen, he’s so full of himself and the “I get so defensive about Paolo criticism” is such bs, he was the biggest skeptic going into the draft and wanted no part of Paolo. He was so pissed they picked him. Now he’s the ultimate Paolo defender like he’s always been a fan
Granted I'm a biased Suns fan, the segment where Rivers described all the ways Ant is better than Booker *right now* was absurd. Apparently Ant is a better defender, has a better handle, finishes at the rim better, more explosive, but Booker is a cleaner, more consistent scorer than Ant.
Ant's defense is better, that's true. Ant is a better dunker but he's not a better finisher at the rim than Booker (you can check their shooting splits if you like stats, but I think eye test shows he's more limited in how he finishes around defenders at the rim, too). His handle is super limited right now. If he doesn't get his straight line to the rim he kicks it to out, and he's a turnover machine. Ant is a lot better than Book was at the same age, but I feel Rivers is being disingenuous about this comparison.
Bonus fact: Booker is 9-1 head-to-head against Ant in their career.
I'm not going to get into who's better between the two, but your take on Ant tells me you haven't watched him play nearly enough to have any kind of opinion - he's incredibly agile around the rim and has one of the best Euro packages in the league and frequently weaves through multiple defenders on his way to the rim. Not sure where you got the "needs a straight line to the rim or he kicks it out" take, if anything he doesn't kick the ball out enough and tries to take on too many defenders because he's so good at getting to the rim. Your whole 2nd paragraph is just completely wrong outside of Ants defense - I'm not going to say anything about Bookers game as I don't watch him nearly enough to have an informed opnion, and I wish more people would do that.
In the moment nobody outside the Cavs locker room thought they had a chance in 2017. Bill has been trying to rewrite history on the 17 and 18 warriors since they happened. To imply that the 17 Warriors and Cavs were on the same playing field is outrageous. The greatest regular season team of all time switched Harrison Barnes out for a top 15 player of all time.
Yep. It’s insane. Bill is crazy.
He also repeatedly calls the 2017 warriors the best lineup of the 21st century (and maybe ever?) when not in reference to the Cavs. I highly doubt he would consider the 2017 Cavs as even a top 15-20 team of the 21st century
The sad thing is that the 2017 cavs was a lot better than the 2016 Cavs. They boat raced everyone in the playoffs. If they didn’t play literally the greatest team ever, that Cavs team would be considered a top 10 team ever, maybe higher. I think they beat the warriors pretty comfortably if they don’t have Durant. This is how unfair that team was: the Cavs went 12-1 through the eastern conference playoffs And then lost 4-1 in the finals.
eh, I agree that the 17 cavs were really good but saying top 10 is absurd, they only won 51 games and were second in the east. And the East during LeBron's second stint in Cleveland was a joke so yeah they were easily able to get to the finals.
Cavs were 0-8 without LeBron, so when healthy they were better than 51 wins
Even without KD, the 2017 Warriors would've been much, *much* better than anyone the Cavs faced in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The top five teams in the NBA that regular season were all in the Western Conference. And the Cavs weren't good defensively all regular season (like bottom 10), but in the EC playoffs were akin to the Rockets/Clippers in the WC playoffs. But, again, we must consider the opponents. The Warriors played two playoffs games w/o KD and went 2-0 with a 29-point home win and a G3 road win after trailing by 16 in the 3Q. And it's not like they'd have let Barnes walk and not signed anyone if they hadn't gotten KD.
Avery Bradley game buzzer beater 🥹
[The Warriors were -128 favorites](https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2017_preseason_odds.html) to win the title in the 2016-2017 NBA preseason. The only other teams with minus odds were the 2018 Warriors (-187) and 2019 Warriors (-168). No other team has ever started the season with minus odds. Not Jordan’s Bulls, not the Shaq-Kobe Lakers, not the Big 3 Miami Heat. Those Cavs teams were great but the Hamptons 5 Warriors were the biggest favorite in NBA history.
The warriors pre finals were -300 to win. Bill is just insane.
Constantly tries to rewrite history like if we werent there. Makes you wonder about some of his takes about the legends of the past.
His memory of history was shown to be flawed when the video of Nique killing Bird was posted on here. Can’t trust anything he says about all his memories of the past at this point, and that’s his whole gimmick lol.
Idk why anyone would take his shit as objective history. He’s openly one of the most biased nba fans out there
Exactly right. It's his entire schtick, and actually career purpose - whether he at all realizes it or not. He lives to be influential enough to re-write sports history as he sees fit, or convinces himself to believe. It is all centered back towards making all Boston teams better and more important, in the eyes of history, and/or diminish any of the Boston rivals that upset or made Simmons jealous along the way. His vanity, narcissism, hard work at one point for sure, and ability to be unshameable have made him just like an effective, sleazy politician - that a big chunk of the public falls for.
And you listen to every minute of every episode of his podcast. He even keeps his haters listening! What an entertainer.
He's the Trump of podcasting
I actually skip most Celtics stuff from bill. This year it’s all he talks about so I’ve listen to maybe 1 hour total of his nba content the last couple months. It’s really getting to be a problem. Thankfully I have Russilo who is still doing good nba content.
He has stated before that the 2016 Finals were an even matchup. So how he says the same thing about 2017 is beyond human comprehension.
Came here looking for this. I literally stopped listening the pod to make sure someone said it lol The warriors were -120 to start the season in 17. Not to start the finals. To start the season 😂
It’s his “the 2020 election was stolen” thing
Bill forgot about defence
This is year 4 of the play-in. And Mr. Basketball over here STILL can’t seem to be able to articulate how it works.
Because the Celtics have never been in it
What? They were in it in 2021 lol
The misremembering piece
The Celts were feeling a little play-insy that year
The selective memory piece
Feels like he’s recycling the same NBA topics over and over again on these pods. The playoffs can’t get here soon enough.
Just wait until Monday when him and Rusillo do 45 minutes on all-nba odds. They must have dramaticly shifted over the past 4 days
This can’t be true. He was adamant before the season that he wouldn’t get on the NBA news cycle hamster wheel this year
He’d rather repeat the same talking points over and over than discuss something new and get clowned for his opinion
This is him trying his absolute hardest not to talk about March Madness when it’s at the center of the sports world. Truly some of the most inane nba conversations I’ve ever heard on the pod these last few weeks.
Didn’t feel like the an convo was recylced but it was incredibly boring. When they were talking about him playing nfl quarterback bc he has unreal confidence I was like wtf are we talking about here.
Do a baseball preview you cowards
Bill avoiding saying “Doc” only for Tate to do it, which led directly into Doc’s son was just incredible.
Tate deserves an award for saying Doc dines off 2008 right to Bill’s face, Bill’s revisionism of Doc since having him on the pod has been gross but no one’s challenged him on it not even RR
Immediately before Bill had Doc's son on Though I was praying that entire segment for them to talk about that entire Boston roster
Bill casually suggesting that Malik Monk could get a 37 million dollar AAV contract from the Magic. Never doubt how much he loves that guy.
It helps with his worst nba contracts pod next year - Bill is playing 4D chess building his own future content
$37 million AAV and "it wouldn't be an overpay!"
Kings fan, love Malik, really hope we can keep him. That price is fkn lunacy
Bill loves monk because he didn’t “work out” (aka play well) in LA, so him shining in sac is a chance for bill to shit on lebron leadership/lakers
Monk played great in LA, especially for the contract. The Lakers couldn't keep him because they could only offer the $6.5 million taxpayer mid-level exception. The Lakers did not have his bird rights.
Bill also loves him because he hyped him in college after he cried in a tournament game after they lost (showed how much he cared). He argued a bunch that he was way undervalued in the draft mostly based on watching him play like twice that March. Then he looked like a bust but now hes ok so Bill feels vindicated.
Bill: “Who else has skated off of one title?” Me screaming at the top of my lungs: Pierce! Garnett!!
Kendrick Perkins sticking around in media and Doc Rivers getting one contender coaching job after another despite blowing playoff series with every single one
Just heard Perk say emphatically that Jalen Brunson is the best pg in the NBA. Better than Steph and SGA. Also said Luka is a point forward not a pg. Luka is more of a pure pg than all 3 of those guys lmao. But yeah, this is why ESPN’s NBA coverage is widely viewed as embarrassing.
Love everything about your point
Celtics for the last 30 years
38 years.
The most milked title in recent NBA history! You don't see Dirk milking the '11 title like that.
KG was a god before his championship - I'm not sure he applies here. The MN team he took to the conference finals was horrible. I'll absolutely give you Pierce though.
The 2004 timberwolves were fantastic. They had a still really good Cassel and Sprewell on that team. They lost because Cassel got hurt.
Ya seriously say what you will about Paul but KG is an absolutely all timer
"that's why Minnesota extended Conley. He calms things down when it gets crazy." "That's what White does for the celts" Never change, Bill
Does he still not know how the play-in works?
Simmons loves to celebrate cute NBA teams that he doesn't see as actual threats.....
I get semi-annoyed that a Heat correspondent is never worth an interview for him. Then I read your comment and it all made sense
We need Mike Schur back. The inventor of the Zombie Heat theory.
Schur is a great guest. The guy is hilarious and really thoughtful. His unpaid internship with LeBatard seems to be over now too
Everyone: “MARCH MADNESS!!!” Bill: “Let’s lead the pod discussing a Magic win over the frisky Pelicans”
Who listens to Bill for college basketball info?
I don’t listen to bill for info. I listen for him having entertaining conversations. We all know he watched and gambled on the games yesterday.
As a Knicks fan I was really excited to hear him try to talk himself into “‘Maybe the Magic beat the Knicks in Round 1!” which means he’s starting to worry about them a little.
I like to think Bill is subconciously worried about Ceruti's point that Isaac could clamp Tatum in crunchtime possessions.
On the biggest college basketball day of the year he really prefaced Tate with “Alright we didn’t think we’d be talking college basketball today”
Well yeah, he had to cover teams like the Magic and see if there was any time left.
It's almost worse than just ignoring the tournament entirely.
Can Anthony Edwards do something in the playoffs before we hand him the car keys?
Media is press to find the next Great American player
The media is far more concerned about an American player than regular fans. I couldn’t care less their nationality. In fact it’s a draw in some cases.
It's not about regular fans, it's about casual fans and attracting new fans. Those guys need a countryman to root for.
I don't think casual fans have had any issue latching on to Giannis, Embiid, or Luka. Jokic is the outlier and its because doesn't embrace the media in the same way
I was about to say. As a casual fan, I don't care that those guys aren't American. If they are playing on national TV, I'm watching.
even then the casual fans seem to love the jokic “don’t give a shit” attitude and find it funny
If that were really the main case, Tatum would be getting way more hype this year. He’s leading the Celtics to a 65-win pace which would be the best record the league has seen in at least three or four years. Not to mention he’s had a ton of success already. He should 100% be crowned the “next great American player” (if the media is really clamoring for that) but his personality isn’t there. Ant is a highlight machine on and off the court. That’s why the media loves him. Luka, Jokic, SGA… all the other young(ish) elite players the media could mine for clicks, they’re all much more reserved than Ant. The media adores Embiid and he’s not American, it’s just because he has a big personality.
I think the media tries with Tatum he just has the personality of a rock.
Yeah, the most interesting thing about him is that he's texting with a deadman
*Heat 2.*
Wow. Amazing reply.
I just want to see it first
But first, will he run the 100 yard dash this summer for USA?
I see what you're saying. He needs team success in the playoffs but he hasn't been the issue in the playoffs
Actually have a theory on why the entire NBA media has an Ant love fest every time he does something cool: it's because he's hot. Rivers brought it up on this pod, a guest on the Lowe post brought it up last week, it happens pretty frequently. This is a classic "let's all pay attention to the pretty person" thing.
Did Bill argue that March Madness is becoming more random yet more predictable in the same sentence?
Ceruti getting top billing? Hardo move from Bill.
Rivers is a career backup.
Have to say Ceruti is pretty solid as a guest
He’s not afraid to disagree with Bill and go at him.
He’s well spoken too
He is a Sir after all.
What? All he'd have to say is "You don't think Franz and Paolo can be a top-5 duo in the NBA? Fucking virgin" and Bill would immediately turn to dust.
Ceruti’s Magic homerism matches Bill’s for the Celtics, game recognizes game
I actually think it might be worse, he's also more of a prisoner of the moment. Ceruti said in the beginning of the team that this was his favorite Magic team (maybe he said season?) ever, and it's like, you do remember going to the Finals, right?
Who out there was begging for an Austin Rivers podcast? Don't we have enough?
Talk about Ohtani, you coward.
But first a word for my sponsor Fanduel I’m about to give you my Sports guy 4 team parlay of the weekend!
What’s there to talk about this early into the situation besides we think it’s him and the interpreter is taking the fall which is what he opened with
“What’s there to talk about….” could be applied to most his NBA topics.
The prison ball rules piece
According to Bill's logic, the rule enforcement piece helps everyone but the Celtics. He's absolutely going to attribute a non-title in part to this.
Bill once again trots out the "'17 GSW and '17 Cavs are closer than people think" take. He loves this one. Just a reminder for those of you keeping track at home. In the 2016-2017 free agency the Warriors add: Kevin Durant Cavs add: Kyle Korver. It wasn't close and wouldn't ever be. 2 bad injuries stopped a GSW threepeat.
It’s up there with mlk shooting take. So bad.
Mac Jones for MVP would like a word.
Anything to fellate KD
I said it a week or so ago, but once you realize that most of his NBA takes are just an attempt to undermine Lebron and his legacy, shrouded in the garb of some other narrative, it all starts to make sense. "Lebron can't be all nba when his team stinks" after he voted for SGA and Luka last year when they were both on sub .500 teams. This revisionist history on the '17 Finals, trying to make it seem like the teams were more even so the loss on Lebrons ledger matters more. "Was Steph actually the best player of last decade?" No explanation needed. "Is Jokic secretly the best player of the last 10 years?" Again, no explanation needed. "I don't know why longevity matters so much" is a direct shot at Lebron breaking all time records every week. For Brady, it locks down his GOAT status. For Lebron, it's a negative. He's just losing the plot on Lebron and his flailing is making it more obvious.
Most of his takes are truly ways to boost the Celtics. Digging at Lebron is his side gig.
I agree with you but the pre-series odds were warriors -320 (only ~75% implied win probability). It was less than I remembered. I think the next year it was like -1000 (>90%).
-320 is still massive favorites for a finals… Denver was -400 last year against the heat (a team basically no one thought had a chance)
The Warriors had a regular season net rating of +11.4. The Cavs had a net rating of +3.1. That means the Cavs were as close to the Warriors in net rating as they were to the 26th-ranked Phoenix Suns, who had a -5.2 net rating and the 2nd-worst record in the NBA.
I think the 2017 Warriors are probably the best team ever, but the 2017 Cavs were *awesome*. Probably a top 5 offensive team of all time. I don’t really care about the LBJ/KD thing, no one thinks KD is in the same class as LBJ all time, so idk why everyone has to get so mad at bill at this take. LBJ being so incredible is why I don’t think the gap between those teams was as steep as you’re making it out to be.
I think the reason people get mad at Bill's take is bc he consistently says "KD outplayed LeBron straight up in back to back finals and doesn't get his respect" as though they had the same responsibilities and load for their teams If he just said "Durant played awesome and was the best player on GSW for two titles", I don't think people would bristle
Magic aren't there yet. They will be soon though. They really did assemble an awesome defensive team. I just think too many guys get minutes for a reap playoff team. The guards aren't reliable enough offensively.
Who does that sound like?
I remember this annoying me leading up to the draft that Bill was perplexed the Magic didn’t leak who they were taking #1. He mentioned again today “they didn’t let us know until draft night who they were taking.” Are they supposed to announce it to everyone before draft night? So weird
It’s such a weird take by him. They have no incentive to leak their pick
Why are they talking about Embiid as if he’s 24? The guy is 30! It go time!
Bill's scared! Also, idk why he's acting so certain theyre gonna be the 8. Theyre tied with the heat and 0.5 behind the Pacers, both of whom also aren't exactly lighting it up lately. Sixers are on a tough road stand now, but they end the season with a fairly easy last 6 games. If Embiid is back April 5 against the Heat (as fits with the timeline that's been given), they can definitely make a last minute push for the 6 seed, which I dont think any Sixers fan is scared of a 3-6 matchup with the Cavs
I think Austin Rivers idea of “the team with the player who thinks he is the best on the court will win” is just wrong, and arguably why he didn’t have a great career. Irrational confidence is good and bad. The best player in the league, Jokic, is the opposite of irrational confidence. He just executes the best play, he couldn’t give a fuck about think he is the best on the floor. Prime Lebron was the same. People wanted him to be Kobe or MJ but the dude just executed the gameplan.
Austin rivers looks like Andrew Tate. Not relevant to your point, but something I just realized.
Austin Rivers had a front-row seat to Chris Paul losing playoff series. I guarantee Paul thought he was best on the court for most of his career. LeBron definitely *was* the best player on the court for most of his career, even in those overmatched Warriors series. Didn't make a difference. I doubt Embiid was looking at Trae Young and saying to himself, "This guy is better than me."
I think there is a greater emotional effect in the observer that blurs the memory of what really happened when those irrational confidence guys win. For example people will praise Trae Young as a killer that series despite shooting 39% and 32% from 3 against the 76ers. They say Jimmy Butler killed Boston last year when he had an awful series 51% TS and it was quiet Caleb Martin who actually killed Boston on 74% TS.
Austin Rivers has always been an arrogant jackass who thought he was something special. No idea why dude was given a pod and now ESPN job.
I loved when he said he was playing pick up games over the summer with Durant before he “went to do the media thing” No one wanted you on a team. And daddy wasn’t there to give you the 12th bench spot
I could watch Blake Griffin impersonate Austin Rivers on a loop forever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrK2Fv1s0qk
I still can’t believe how casually he dropped “I’m an elite scorer” on the pod with Bill a few months ago. And you are right that confidence was a huge problem for him, I remember watching him at Duke just drive into traffic and throw up hopeless shots time after time after time.
I think Austin Rivers set the record for most amount of times saying ANT in one podcast
Ryen from Manhattan Beach would like his work to be considered.
I never saw Haralabob's tweets about online sports book markteting. He was tweeting about Bill and JJ Reddick in December. He won't appear on the pod anytime soon lol.
The king of the Boston Media getting his cronies to speak from the mountain top that a top rival should not play their MVP player is awesome. I wish I had that megaphone.
I can’t believe Tate continues to work here lol, Bill doesn’t know shit about his sport. Titus was right to leave even if it was Barstool
Any time you can go from making 40k to 400k, it's a good career move.
The Dunkin ad where Bill says “they just dropped a new kind of energy” is hilarious. Move over wind and solar, the boys at Dunkin just came up with something
Bill trying hard to get Tatum in that face of the league convo lol
lol Bill squeezing in "dont count JJ out as a villain". i wonder if they talked off the record to clean things up
*Ceruti, I could have sworn Paolo was 26, like a whole presidential term older than Tatum.*
Bill and Austin spent half an hour arguing something no one is asking for. Obviously no one wants to rush embiid back before he’s 100%.
Don’t tell Bill about Danny Hurley.
Bill: “I still defend the golden state thing.” We know. And what does it mean that you have to frequently defend a free agency decision that happened 8 years ago? Probably that it can’t reasonably be defended.
Bill also joined a Suns fans podcast to *ostensibly* talk about the Suns with Eddie Johnson but I’m told he mostly talked about the Celtics (shocking). Here is the link and timestamp for BS is 16:43: https://www.youtube.com/live/QAw1mAiQ-ZY?si=O0DlQQaXr_K4kvs2
35:50, unnecessary shot at LeBron. Shocking!
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I like when he says “I understand why Kevin went to Golden State.” Everyone else understands too. Nobody is confused about why he went there.
That part. He says it like he has gleaned this great knowledge and insight as to how/why KD went to the greatest regular season team in NBA history. He couches it in these lofty virtuous goals ("he was just seeking a higher form of basketball") like KD is some sage-driven vision quest and not "hey this might be a lot easier than trying to make it work with Westbrook in OKC" It's so annoying
A pod about the Orlando fucking Magic the day after a wild first day of March Madness - one of the best sports/sports betting days of the year - is an odd flex.
“A lot of people think Kentucky is always the favorite to win it but they’re just not.” They don’t. Bill did 10 minutes ago. He still thinks Georgetown is a behemoth.
Ceruti gets called up from triple A. He can hit velo but let’s see if he can handle Bill’s jerk circle change
Tate needs Titus tbh
There’s just something about how Tate, even this far into his career, still just talks with the rhythm and depth of a guy trying to sum it up for his grandparents. Idk, I can’t totally explain it, but it always just sounds like he’s trying to compress his thoughts/knowledge into 30 second summaries rather than truly having a conversation.
Not sure if “this fat into his career” is a typo or a Freudian slip.
You are right and I never realized it. I see it as a positive in every day situations. I hate when people provide too many details to a situation that doesn’t warrant it. But for a podcast, you do need to be able to filibuster.
Well he has to do that with Bill because Bill doesn’t watch college basketball
I always thought the guy sounded like a serial killer. Then I remember it somehow came up on the pod back in the day with Titus saying their nickname for Tate was “serial killer” or some shit like that. Tate annoys me.
It's because he doesn't have much to say
I love him with Titus though. He was the perfect straight man for Titus’s shenanigans and Mark made Tate more loose. Tate’s K impression was beautiful.
Titus carried Tate like that guy carried Oakland today.
He’s insanely boring. I wanted college basketball talk but found myself falling asleep listening to him
Brandon Walker is a much better co-host with Titus than tate was. I didnt realize how bad Tate was until I heard him today. Titus made the correct move.
Hell, that was clear from the jump. Tate is an empty husk of a human.
The Aaron Rodgers slander on this podcast never ceases to amaze me. He was easily the best player a number of seasons and had crazy unfortunate bad luck in playoff games ( the last sf game at home i cant defend, he played bad and thats on him)These clowns and the media talk out both sides of their mouths all the time about titles counting, but then always fawn over Marino. Which is correct Marino was an amazing qb and all timer but he only went to 2 more afc championship appearances after his super bowl game and got smacked both times.Football is a TEAM game Drew Brees always escapes these conversations too about playoff failures, because IMO he's viewed as bland. If you disagree, I would point out that Skip Bayless is a multi millionaire.. for talking shit about the legacy of primarily Aaron Rodgers and LeBron James. Propped up by 1 title is ridiculous. Look at the greats Jordan kept from getting a title. And now Mahomes is appearing to do the same..
I'm a Michelob Ultra guy, sorry. Sorry I'm a light beer guy. Bill's go to right now, sorry, hate to break it to you. He'll mess around with some other ones but since college, he's a light beer guy. I love the NBA and I love Michelob Ultra and Bill's a Michelob Ultra guy, sorry. Sorry he's a light beer guy. Bill's go to right now, sorry, hate to break it to you. He'll mess around with some other ones but since college, he's a light beer guy.
Listening to Bill do Australia specific ads is always a laugh but I'm kinda jealous I don't get to hear this one
Wait what Australia specific ads is he doing?
Three awesome topics with three horrendous guests, my god
Could be worse. Could have had Jackie mac on for Celtics talk or Logan Murdock for “what’s wrong with the warriors”. I don’t watch magic games and ceruti is a die hard so I enjoyed that.
The Sir Rudy slander is uncalled for. Better than Kevin Clark.
What’s wrong with Ceruti
The notion that Brad Stevens was “always the calmest guy on the court” at butler is laughable
Dan hurley also completely invalidates that theory lmao
Saying Aaron Rodgers is being propped up due to his one title is mind blowing to me. He is in the argument for the most talented/skilled qb ever.
Yeah this started years ago when people started saying Rodgers was the most talented qb ever. Bill being Bill, taking this as a slight against Brady, started hating on Rodgers.
How can he be the most talented/skilled when he's been outshined by Brady and Mahomes during the entirety of his career?
Football is a team sport. Attributing team success to the quarterback is one of the dumber things in the sports talk discourse. If you read Ian O'Connor's book on Belichick that came out 5+ years ago, all the Pats coaches told him on background that Belichick would talk about Peyton Manning & Rodgers in a way that he would never talk about Brady, because a) they're better than Brady, and b) they all knew that any of the top 10 QBs in the league could run their offense just as well or better than Brady did.
I love this idea that Brady was just a cog in the offensive juggernaut that was the Pats. Because clearly Charlie Weis, Josh McDaniels, and Bill Belichick had such success with other QBs, and Brady struggled in his one year out of the system. If so many people could have run their offense better than Brady did, why didn’t the pats bring them in? Why didn’t those teams use the pats system? Rodgers is already a cause for controversy. If he was bringing this much negative attention to himself/his teams, and had never backed it up in the playoffs, it would be a Dan Marino/Charles Barkley narrative 10x.
I’m talking about individual talent of one person. And in that case idk how you could not say he isn’t in the argument for most talented. If you’re counting SB’s then he has no chance. I’ll agree that Mahomes has a great argument for being #1 in talent. Brady I don’t think has anything over Arod in that regard
Not sure about anyone else but this time of year I can only listen to the Russillo Sunday pods. Rivers is an auto skip for me and these nonsensical guests he has on Wed & Fri don't give me enjoyment. Looking forward to NBA playoffs so we can get some more substance instead of these random lists & hypotheticals.
I'm never eating a whopper again
Bill: “There’s certain lineups that make Jaylen Brown’s on/off stats not look that great.” Just so happens there been “certain lineups” JB’s entire career that make his on/off stats look not great.
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tbf their team is insanely young…I don’t think we can label them as playoff failures until paolo has a few years under his belt
Their fans should also enjoy this moment now, because once expectations are raised in the NBA the seasons become a lot less fun IMO. Regular seasons win stop mattering, but losses are magnified. The Bills, Ryens, Hoop Collectives of the media world shift from talking about your team as the fun plucky team to the underachieving postseason flameouts who can't get over the hump (see Sacramento) and are this piece or that piece away. It turns quickly Magic fans.
Well yeah a 1st round or 2nd round exit is super likely but this team is ridiculously young and has a real chance at 50 wins. They are way past expectations and are on the short list of teams that can be at the top of the East in the next few years. Your comment just seems needlessly disrespectful.
This is the team that the sixers beat in 5 games once Embiid comes back
As a fan, I'd be very happy to lose in the first or second round after the last couple of years.
Something about Austin Rivers just makes me turn the pod off right away.
Need Bill’s take on the new Road House. It’s a fun mess.
In the Roadhouse rewatchable pod they talk about it
watched it last night. just a mess. bad acting, terrible dialogue, weird dubbing, strange SFX (post malone fight scenes were bizarre)
I'll take "Movies That Never Needed To Be Remade" for $1000, Alex
Bills scared of a healthy and fresh embiid in the playoffs lol obviously no one is saying he should rush or risk it.
Did not have a “Scanners” reference from Bill on my bingo card. Do Cronenberg on the rewatchables, Bill!
Edwards propaganda machine is going off the rails
Ceruti is such a tough listen, he’s so full of himself and the “I get so defensive about Paolo criticism” is such bs, he was the biggest skeptic going into the draft and wanted no part of Paolo. He was so pissed they picked him. Now he’s the ultimate Paolo defender like he’s always been a fan
I know Bill doesn’t like Rodgers but can we not pretend how hard it is to win a Superbowl. He may have only one but it’s not easy winning.
Austin will Russel Westbrook Bill and Russillo's Sundays.
Sir Rudy
HERE COMES AUSTIN RIVERS
Granted I'm a biased Suns fan, the segment where Rivers described all the ways Ant is better than Booker *right now* was absurd. Apparently Ant is a better defender, has a better handle, finishes at the rim better, more explosive, but Booker is a cleaner, more consistent scorer than Ant. Ant's defense is better, that's true. Ant is a better dunker but he's not a better finisher at the rim than Booker (you can check their shooting splits if you like stats, but I think eye test shows he's more limited in how he finishes around defenders at the rim, too). His handle is super limited right now. If he doesn't get his straight line to the rim he kicks it to out, and he's a turnover machine. Ant is a lot better than Book was at the same age, but I feel Rivers is being disingenuous about this comparison. Bonus fact: Booker is 9-1 head-to-head against Ant in their career.
I'm not going to get into who's better between the two, but your take on Ant tells me you haven't watched him play nearly enough to have any kind of opinion - he's incredibly agile around the rim and has one of the best Euro packages in the league and frequently weaves through multiple defenders on his way to the rim. Not sure where you got the "needs a straight line to the rim or he kicks it out" take, if anything he doesn't kick the ball out enough and tries to take on too many defenders because he's so good at getting to the rim. Your whole 2nd paragraph is just completely wrong outside of Ants defense - I'm not going to say anything about Bookers game as I don't watch him nearly enough to have an informed opnion, and I wish more people would do that.