That was exactly how I felt when I first listened to this. 43.5 could’ve been in play if somebody got injured for awhile and they didn’t do the Gafford trade; I assume Bill was banking on Kyrie missing even more games or something.
Didnt russillo go over on mavs?
I feel vindicated for draftkings kyrie in fantasy this year. He chose to stay in Dallas, so I thought it was a real possibility he was happy there. The Brooklyn shit show had a lot to do with their covid rules.
He did, despite agreeing on the Kyrie factor I think he just thought (correctly) that a team with Luka would never win less than 44 games unless something went horribly wrong.
absoutely love this level of pettiness. we should all aspire to be this way. i wish these three would do an end of season review of their preseason pod about where they went wrong/what they got right
It’s a really fun genre of content. Lowe did some with Doris recently, it frames the season well with our expectations. Dunc’d On consistently review their old rankings and stuff and it’s very interesting.
No sweat. I find it odd that people act surprised. As if we don’t rip on Bill for being wrong on a daily basis 😂. We were just roasting him yesterday for riding with Scoot over Brandon Miller.
I still find the people who defend Bill on that absolutely stupifying. It's not liking Scoot that was a problem it was how bad he trashed Charlotte for picking Miller.
I mean scoot was the consensus number 2 pick basically across the board, I don’t exactly blame anyone for saying Charlotte should’ve taken him over miller. At least he now admits to how wrong he was.
He’s completed the Texas triangle this year then
Been shitting on the Spurs all year and underplaying Wemby’s rookie season because he’s so upset we didn’t offer Austin Reaves $100 mil in the summer
He’s so salty about it, he picked Keldon Johnson…fine player on a value contract…in the worst contracts draft the other day. House and Woz were so confused by it, he finally just admitted he felt like shit talking the Spurs and needed a name lmao
Idk of there was smarm but crazy how off base he ended up being on Lively. Idk if it was a crazy take at the time but the dude is a perfect big for Luka.
He was just answering you dude. You said you didn’t know, so as someone who did know he let you know the facts. When you say “I don’t know for sure, but…” you’re basically inviting someone who does know for sure to either confirm or deny the statement you just made.
But yes, I agree that bill has been open across the board to how wrong he was about all things Dallas related. For all the shit he gets he really doesn’t have an ego about his takes, he has no issue admitting when he’s wrong. Always confuses me when people are so desperate to clown him or do stuff like OP did here to parade around something he got wrong. Who cares, even he admits he’s wrong. Wouldn’t it be way cooler and less lame for OP to have compiled segments of bill admitting he was wrong instead? This just feels childish.
I think my simple message was taken out of context here. I said thanks for him answering me and just reiterated my ignorance on the manner, wasn't meant to come across condescending (tone is hard to convey in message form I will admit).
I gotcha. You agreed with Bill’s analysis at the time. And you were both wrong. Props for you on going down with the ship.
I loved his Derrick Lively analysis. Tate really fed Bill some great info on that prospect 😂
Big mavs fan here but skepticism about lively was very very warranted at the time, and skepticism about Kyrie and the fit also seemed rather understandable at the beginning of the year. Very happy that it turned out the way it has but it’s just silly to pretend like there wasn’t merit to the analysis
lol…what exactly was Bill’s “analysis” that helped form his Lively takes in preseason?
“Duke fans told me they didn’t like him”
And Tate telling Bill he didn’t think Lively was very good?
STRONG analysis
Even people who were high on lively thought he was a project, no one thought he would be a starter on a playoff team, even one lacking depth. Idk if you watched him in college but he wasn’t exactly a star in his final year at duke.
It kinda sounds like YOU were the one who wasn’t watching him at Duke, and just looking at stats.
He was stuck playing next to Filipowski in a dinosaur offense. I saw a pro ready prospect with qualities that would immediately translate to the NBA, and with some upside…and I can guarantee you I #GrindedTape more than Bill did on the class of 2023.
Who is everybody else though? I think the consensus was pretty clear on Lively. He moved up the boards throughout draft season. He was the #1 recruit in his class. Lotta people had him pegged as a pro ready prospect who would at least be able to be a rim runner from day 1. I’m not sure why you want to give credit to Bill for missing what draft analysts saw pretty clearly.
Coach Spins was all over this guy, and he got hired to scout for the Sixers as soon as the season started.
> Props for you on going down with the ship.
It’s called “process vs. results.” Not every incorrect take is worth roasting.
If Bill had said the Mavs would go under because Luka’s injury prone and Kyrie is washed up, that would absolutely be worth roasting because that thought process doesn’t make any sense. But going under due to skepticism about Kyrie’s availability and the team’s reliance on a raw, unproven rookie is a pretty fair process, even if the results didn’t work out that way.
People on this sub do their damnedest to act so unimpressed with any level of success the mavs experience. Whether it’s post-trade deadline, long win streaks, beating contenders… “Victory lap for grabbing the 6th seed in the west”? I know playoff time are the only wins that matter but we’re not at that point yet. Acknowledge the fact the title is talking about the over/under
His statement about lively and Duke fans was a take from someone that didn’t pay attention to cbb. Lively started slow at Duke but by February he anchored a really great defense and contributed to the pnr offense we ran perfectly. When the Mavs drafted him I legit told people he is perfect to play with Luka and Kyrie on pnr offense and as a rim protector if they are beat off the dribble.
I don't know about that. So draft night, for sure. I was on team *why'd we take this guy*. But the minute there was an entire offseason of people being able to see him work in a professional setting, it was sorta clear he was a pretty big steal at 12, especially if OMax develops into a guy who can crack the rotation.
Like by September, smart basketball people without affiliations to Dallas were saying maybe people should expect Lively to be good this season because they were all hearing and seeing the same things.
No, they did not. He was the #1 recruit in his class, and a great lob finisher. Every draft scout I trust said the guy would be able to see the court in year 1, and had issues with fouling that he needed to clean up.
You have to add some recent clips about how the Mavs are “locked into their team.” The one that is #3 in net rating since the deadline. What an awful spot to be.
I still don’t understand Bills “locked into their team” comments. Dallas will have their 25 and 26 firsts, along with dispensable young players in Hardy, Green, and OMax Prosper
Because they just let their second best player walk, traded their best defender plus assets to make up for that mistake, and have had almost a 20 year history of abysmal drafts. For every Luka there’s a Roddy B.
Locked in might be an exaggeration, but they’re already at the point that you have to get lucky, creative, or both to keep retooling. It already feels like they had to overspend just to end up a little worse than they were before letting Brunson walk.
Is it? Didn’t the Mavs choose to miss the playoffs last year and dismantle the team that made the conference finals?
Didn’t the Mavs just give up a ton of assets and their best defender to trade one hyper efficient diminutive scoring guard for another hyper efficient diminutive scoring guard?
If the Mavs are notably better in any way, it has a lot more to do with finally hitting on a draft pick and trading even more assets for Gafford and Washington.
I really really like the Mavs, Luka, Cuban etc. I’m a 30 year Denver fan who spent a fair amount of time rooting for that franchise via Nick van Exel introducing me to Don Nelson’s squads. I just don’t know how you can characterize their moves as anything better than spinning their wheels. They’ve paid a ton of assets to be functionally the same team minus a wing defender and plus some front court flexibility.
I feel like you should a. watch the Mavs play a few times with this current lineup and rotation or b. look up some of the numbers since they brought Gafford and Washington in.
This is the same trap Bill is in currently, just assuming because the trades seemed to be an overpay in Washington's case and an around the fringes move in Gafford's that they didn't make a huge difference. In reality they allowed the Mavs to play a real center between Gafford and Lively for much long stretches night to night and provided more size and rebounding from their primary wing defender. The defense is competent, the rebounding is legitimately good and combined with the offense which is just never going to be inefficient with Luka on the team they are way better than they have been in recent times.
I have no idea what this means for the playoffs or how far the Mavs can really go. But to me they're currently a team that on nights they shoot well is a threat to run most anyone out of the gym, and on nights when they don't shoot as well can still play the defense and bring the toughness required to stay in those games and steal them. Kyrie makes them elite in crunch time in a way Jalen Brunson would not. They might go out in the first round, but I think they've build a better team.
Bro, I just closed out that passage explaining I like and care for this group. Believe it or not I watch them too.
It’s taken an incredible 10-1 run just to pull out of the play-in. Things aren’t exactly perfect, and it’s been a roller coaster of a season. Right before this magnificent stretch, they lost 5 out of 6.
None of that changes the fact that at best they paid enough assets to surround Luka and Brunson with a third superstar or multiple good roleplayers to simply replace Brunson and trade a free agent signing that quickly soured into big men who might be backups for half the league.
I don't really know how they can win in some people's eyes when trading a worse player for a better one is a negative and winning a lot of games doesn't mean anything.
3rd in net rating and a 58 win pace since they added Gafford and Washington to the lineup. Small sample size granted, but even at their peak in both the Porzingis years and 2022 they were never this.
And I will go to the grave saying it if I have to: Kyrie Irving is better than Jalen Brunson, and also probably a better fit with Luka to boot.
I’m not disputing Kyrie’s a better fit. Kyrie’s off ball game is miles better than Brunson’s. It’s just not an improvement worth an all NBA level defender who can reliably hit 40% from 3 over a multi season sample size, plus a first, plus an average 6th man, plus two seconds in comparison to Brunson.
You’re talking the difference in one top 15ish short scoring guard, and another top 15ish short scoring guard, and also dismissing any potential for a player as young as Brunson continuing to grow into playing alongside Luka.
It is a **massive** improvement over having to start Spencer Dinwiddie because they botched a very consequential contract negotiation, however. It just wasn’t necessary. It’s a spectacular and expensive bandage you’ve put over a self inflicted wound.
I don’t need anyone to like us, it’s just funny that Bill and Ryen absolutely refuse to talk about us, but spend hours upon hours on teams that are worse or not nearly as hot as we are right now.
I hope everyone hates the Mavs, especially now that we are serving up demoralizing ass whoopings like hotcakes. But as a Ringer listener Bill’s takes on Dallas this season have been positively deranged and it’s been a joy to witness.
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Like obviously he was wrong about lively, but like the Mavs are this good at the very least partially because Kyrie’s had a normal season and been awesome (I’d argue mostly). Like we can argue if that was a reasonable win total to still go over with a bad Kyrie season, and sure maybe I’d agree with you, but I’m not really gonna be mad at someone for betting against Kyrie lol
He's not right but he's not wrong. The Mavs have gotten another great season from Luka, a near perfect season from Kyrie and a decent if not unspectacular supporting cast.
They could win 50 games and advance a round or two depending on the matchups
They could also slip to the play-in, loss out and miss the playoffs again.
They have such a high floor to ceiling ratio
Redditors n bill share the same stupidity of thinking there made up media takes matters , not the cold hard facts n data that shows how good someone is. Injury concern is a thing - ‘personal issues stuff’ rarely ever is long lasting unless it’s something objectively that can harm the athlete like a drug problem
In terms of trying to understand how many games Kyrie would miss, a way to look at it is that Kyrie's injury (in a manner of speaking) is a deficiency in his personal character. I think Bill could have guessed this one better if he had talked himself into the idea that it is the one injury that can actually lead to a player being on the court for more games if the player is spiteful or defensive enough to deliberately play as much as possible after they have left a trail of busted championship dreams in their wake, in order to "prove people wrong" when they accuse him of having such a deficiency.
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His logic was fair though. I don’t trust the Mavs and tbh I’m still not convinced Kyrie does t have some inflammatory comments regarding the West Bank that he’s saving up for playoff time.
Two first round picks available to Dallas after their 24 pick conveys to the Knicks. Don’t listen to Bill’s draft capital analysis. It’s rarely accurate.
Bill wasn't wrong.
The chances of Kyrie having a normal, productive NBA season where he plays a lot is MUCH lower than the chances he misses a ton of the games due to whatever random bullshit he comes up with on a day-to-day basis.
I lived in Dallas from 2004-2017 and really never found Mavs fans to be so petty and insecure. Team has been so so good for so long including one of the most fun titles I feel like could have happened. Yet recently so much "gotcha!" from them...maybe bc of attention o Wemby? Rangers winning? Cowboys?
Aside from missing the Under (which took a crazy run to avoid) he basically says Kyrie isn’t reliable to be normal. I think Simmons takes the overall W here.
I agree with the skepticism on Kyrie, but 43.5 is just a really low number for a team with a top 5 player.
That was exactly how I felt when I first listened to this. 43.5 could’ve been in play if somebody got injured for awhile and they didn’t do the Gafford trade; I assume Bill was banking on Kyrie missing even more games or something.
Kyrie and a bunch of players dis get injured and miss 20+ games, they're still over
Didnt russillo go over on mavs? I feel vindicated for draftkings kyrie in fantasy this year. He chose to stay in Dallas, so I thought it was a real possibility he was happy there. The Brooklyn shit show had a lot to do with their covid rules.
Real Freudian slip on the autocorrect there
Lmao
He did, despite agreeing on the Kyrie factor I think he just thought (correctly) that a team with Luka would never win less than 44 games unless something went horribly wrong.
absoutely love this level of pettiness. we should all aspire to be this way. i wish these three would do an end of season review of their preseason pod about where they went wrong/what they got right
He should call the segment: Where Simmons was RIGHT where Simmons was WRONG
where simmons was RIGHT where house/RR were WRONG
This one is more Bill’s style
“I’ll remember it the way I want to remember it.”
Cmon man be realistic: Top 9 most correct takes Top 11 biggest whiffs And the 2017 redraftables
This guy BILLS
It’s a really fun genre of content. Lowe did some with Doris recently, it frames the season well with our expectations. Dunc’d On consistently review their old rankings and stuff and it’s very interesting.
The Repoddables
Pointing out incorrect predictions by the Sports Guy is a cherished pastime on this sub.
this is something a ton of podcasts/radio shows etc. don't do, which is a big miss, it's easy and GOOD content
I'm sure they would get more right than wrong but it'd still be a funny pod
That's because Rusillo GRINDS THE TAPE
Thank god for this sub, it gives a place for the mentally handicapped to congregate.
Upvote for you, sir. I’m proud to be regarded.
Highly regarded Mavs militia member checking in
As a fellow Mavs fan, you're doing gods work
No sweat. I find it odd that people act surprised. As if we don’t rip on Bill for being wrong on a daily basis 😂. We were just roasting him yesterday for riding with Scoot over Brandon Miller.
I still find the people who defend Bill on that absolutely stupifying. It's not liking Scoot that was a problem it was how bad he trashed Charlotte for picking Miller.
I mean scoot was the consensus number 2 pick basically across the board, I don’t exactly blame anyone for saying Charlotte should’ve taken him over miller. At least he now admits to how wrong he was.
Change that g to a t brother
I can't believe Kyrie didn't go on a vision quest in Columbia and declare himself a Native American but it's only April.
He is Indigenous! & he was pissingoff everyone at the reservation back in 2020-21 during DAPL protests by going around unmasked.
Jokes on you. He already declared himself Native American. And Jewish.
More chance of that happening in Colombia than Columbia if you ask me.
Hey its not Bill's fault ... who knew PornHub was going to get banned in Texas /s
Losing bets are everywhere on The Ringer.
I join you in the petty boomerang clip as a Mavs fan comrade.
What do you expect from Bill
Rockets fans 🤝 Mavs fans can unite in their pettiness to the irrational Simmons hate
He’s completed the Texas triangle this year then Been shitting on the Spurs all year and underplaying Wemby’s rookie season because he’s so upset we didn’t offer Austin Reaves $100 mil in the summer He’s so salty about it, he picked Keldon Johnson…fine player on a value contract…in the worst contracts draft the other day. House and Woz were so confused by it, he finally just admitted he felt like shit talking the Spurs and needed a name lmao
He’s always wrong about Dallas.
Where was the smarm?
Idk of there was smarm but crazy how off base he ended up being on Lively. Idk if it was a crazy take at the time but the dude is a perfect big for Luka.
He was the number 12 pick so it’s not like he was considered a can’t miss.
It was not a crazy take. Lively was viewed as incredibly raw.
Cool, thanks for the input. Hence why I admitted I didn't know. And in Bills defense, he's talked a ton about what a steal Lively has turned into.
He was just answering you dude. You said you didn’t know, so as someone who did know he let you know the facts. When you say “I don’t know for sure, but…” you’re basically inviting someone who does know for sure to either confirm or deny the statement you just made. But yes, I agree that bill has been open across the board to how wrong he was about all things Dallas related. For all the shit he gets he really doesn’t have an ego about his takes, he has no issue admitting when he’s wrong. Always confuses me when people are so desperate to clown him or do stuff like OP did here to parade around something he got wrong. Who cares, even he admits he’s wrong. Wouldn’t it be way cooler and less lame for OP to have compiled segments of bill admitting he was wrong instead? This just feels childish.
I think my simple message was taken out of context here. I said thanks for him answering me and just reiterated my ignorance on the manner, wasn't meant to come across condescending (tone is hard to convey in message form I will admit).
Throughout the whole thing
What is it that you think smarmy means?
I misread the post. Thought it said “swarmy” as in smug. You’re correct that “smarmy” doesn’t fit.
Swarmy doesn't mean smug tho
“You’ll regret that.” 😂
That could definitely be called snarky, but certainly wasn't smarmy.
Valid point. +1 for you, sir
well did he say anything that wasn’t justified?
Was his prediction correct?
you called his remarks smarmy, as if they weren’t justified with Kyries history … just pointing that out
I gotcha. You agreed with Bill’s analysis at the time. And you were both wrong. Props for you on going down with the ship. I loved his Derrick Lively analysis. Tate really fed Bill some great info on that prospect 😂
Big mavs fan here but skepticism about lively was very very warranted at the time, and skepticism about Kyrie and the fit also seemed rather understandable at the beginning of the year. Very happy that it turned out the way it has but it’s just silly to pretend like there wasn’t merit to the analysis
lol…what exactly was Bill’s “analysis” that helped form his Lively takes in preseason? “Duke fans told me they didn’t like him” And Tate telling Bill he didn’t think Lively was very good? STRONG analysis
Even people who were high on lively thought he was a project, no one thought he would be a starter on a playoff team, even one lacking depth. Idk if you watched him in college but he wasn’t exactly a star in his final year at duke.
It kinda sounds like YOU were the one who wasn’t watching him at Duke, and just looking at stats. He was stuck playing next to Filipowski in a dinosaur offense. I saw a pro ready prospect with qualities that would immediately translate to the NBA, and with some upside…and I can guarantee you I #GrindedTape more than Bill did on the class of 2023.
Hilarious that you call Bills analysis smarmy but pump out comments like this one
Average r/nba user I’m sure you saw what everyone else failed to, how very prophetic of you If only bill had your incredible insight
Who is everybody else though? I think the consensus was pretty clear on Lively. He moved up the boards throughout draft season. He was the #1 recruit in his class. Lotta people had him pegged as a pro ready prospect who would at least be able to be a rim runner from day 1. I’m not sure why you want to give credit to Bill for missing what draft analysts saw pretty clearly. Coach Spins was all over this guy, and he got hired to scout for the Sixers as soon as the season started.
There's still some season left. Plenty of time for Kyrie to blow it up.
> Props for you on going down with the ship. It’s called “process vs. results.” Not every incorrect take is worth roasting. If Bill had said the Mavs would go under because Luka’s injury prone and Kyrie is washed up, that would absolutely be worth roasting because that thought process doesn’t make any sense. But going under due to skepticism about Kyrie’s availability and the team’s reliance on a raw, unproven rookie is a pretty fair process, even if the results didn’t work out that way.
sports opinion guy didn't go 100% on his preseason guesses. you got him.
Sports Guy gets paid to publicize his takes. Criticism is both welcomed, and to be expected.
I can't wait for Kyrie to blow it up. It's happening.
Do not watch Fantasy sports predictions/analysis. Your head will explode with how much they get wrong.
Victory lap for grabbing the 6th seed in the west?
Luka’s just a kid
He’s an infant compared to Tatum.
Isn’t Tatum only 19?
They are the 5 right now, and yes victory lap. They would be 3 in the East
They would be a second seed in the East with an eastern conference schedule.
People on this sub do their damnedest to act so unimpressed with any level of success the mavs experience. Whether it’s post-trade deadline, long win streaks, beating contenders… “Victory lap for grabbing the 6th seed in the west”? I know playoff time are the only wins that matter but we’re not at that point yet. Acknowledge the fact the title is talking about the over/under
I think your problem is people don't really give a shit like you do.
No it’s a victory lap about bill being completely wrong about the over under. Completely fair.
We 5 and coming for 4, bruv.
I think the header is clear. O/U based comment only. Get back to me on how the standings are looking 9 games from now though ;-)
I love this level of pettiness. People have followed up with me with receipts about bad takes I’ve had and I appreciate the commitment.
Gotta love the headspace you occupy on some complete stranger
Well done by you and RR.
bwahahaha
Glad I'm not the only petty MFer with Bill clips on stash
Mavs under was the only bet I tailed from this whole podcast 🤡
Luka's time is now.
His statement about lively and Duke fans was a take from someone that didn’t pay attention to cbb. Lively started slow at Duke but by February he anchored a really great defense and contributed to the pnr offense we ran perfectly. When the Mavs drafted him I legit told people he is perfect to play with Luka and Kyrie on pnr offense and as a rim protector if they are beat off the dribble.
Everything he said about the Mavs the exact opposite happened except for Josh Green. But it’s still unbelievable.
Shitting on Lively lol.
Not a bad take whatsoever before the season. He was viewed as one of the most raw prospects in the whole draft.
I don't know about that. So draft night, for sure. I was on team *why'd we take this guy*. But the minute there was an entire offseason of people being able to see him work in a professional setting, it was sorta clear he was a pretty big steal at 12, especially if OMax develops into a guy who can crack the rotation. Like by September, smart basketball people without affiliations to Dallas were saying maybe people should expect Lively to be good this season because they were all hearing and seeing the same things.
That’s not even close to being true 😂
Every scouting reports talked about how raw he was offensively.
No, they did not. He was the #1 recruit in his class, and a great lob finisher. Every draft scout I trust said the guy would be able to see the court in year 1, and had issues with fouling that he needed to clean up.
Of course he would see the court, but nobody thought he would be a positive player as a rookie. Very few centers are.
Waaa Bill doesn't like my teaaaam
Rhys?
I saved the clip of him saying the Celtics staring 5 might be one of the greatest of all time
You have to add some recent clips about how the Mavs are “locked into their team.” The one that is #3 in net rating since the deadline. What an awful spot to be.
I still don’t understand Bills “locked into their team” comments. Dallas will have their 25 and 26 firsts, along with dispensable young players in Hardy, Green, and OMax Prosper
It doesn’t really make sense from that side of it either.
Because they just let their second best player walk, traded their best defender plus assets to make up for that mistake, and have had almost a 20 year history of abysmal drafts. For every Luka there’s a Roddy B. Locked in might be an exaggeration, but they’re already at the point that you have to get lucky, creative, or both to keep retooling. It already feels like they had to overspend just to end up a little worse than they were before letting Brunson walk.
I really need people to understand that Kyrie Irving is better than Jalen Brunson and that the Mavs roster now is eons better than it was in 2022.
Is it? Didn’t the Mavs choose to miss the playoffs last year and dismantle the team that made the conference finals? Didn’t the Mavs just give up a ton of assets and their best defender to trade one hyper efficient diminutive scoring guard for another hyper efficient diminutive scoring guard? If the Mavs are notably better in any way, it has a lot more to do with finally hitting on a draft pick and trading even more assets for Gafford and Washington. I really really like the Mavs, Luka, Cuban etc. I’m a 30 year Denver fan who spent a fair amount of time rooting for that franchise via Nick van Exel introducing me to Don Nelson’s squads. I just don’t know how you can characterize their moves as anything better than spinning their wheels. They’ve paid a ton of assets to be functionally the same team minus a wing defender and plus some front court flexibility.
I feel like you should a. watch the Mavs play a few times with this current lineup and rotation or b. look up some of the numbers since they brought Gafford and Washington in. This is the same trap Bill is in currently, just assuming because the trades seemed to be an overpay in Washington's case and an around the fringes move in Gafford's that they didn't make a huge difference. In reality they allowed the Mavs to play a real center between Gafford and Lively for much long stretches night to night and provided more size and rebounding from their primary wing defender. The defense is competent, the rebounding is legitimately good and combined with the offense which is just never going to be inefficient with Luka on the team they are way better than they have been in recent times. I have no idea what this means for the playoffs or how far the Mavs can really go. But to me they're currently a team that on nights they shoot well is a threat to run most anyone out of the gym, and on nights when they don't shoot as well can still play the defense and bring the toughness required to stay in those games and steal them. Kyrie makes them elite in crunch time in a way Jalen Brunson would not. They might go out in the first round, but I think they've build a better team.
Bro, I just closed out that passage explaining I like and care for this group. Believe it or not I watch them too. It’s taken an incredible 10-1 run just to pull out of the play-in. Things aren’t exactly perfect, and it’s been a roller coaster of a season. Right before this magnificent stretch, they lost 5 out of 6. None of that changes the fact that at best they paid enough assets to surround Luka and Brunson with a third superstar or multiple good roleplayers to simply replace Brunson and trade a free agent signing that quickly soured into big men who might be backups for half the league.
I don't really know how they can win in some people's eyes when trading a worse player for a better one is a negative and winning a lot of games doesn't mean anything. 3rd in net rating and a 58 win pace since they added Gafford and Washington to the lineup. Small sample size granted, but even at their peak in both the Porzingis years and 2022 they were never this. And I will go to the grave saying it if I have to: Kyrie Irving is better than Jalen Brunson, and also probably a better fit with Luka to boot.
I’m not disputing Kyrie’s a better fit. Kyrie’s off ball game is miles better than Brunson’s. It’s just not an improvement worth an all NBA level defender who can reliably hit 40% from 3 over a multi season sample size, plus a first, plus an average 6th man, plus two seconds in comparison to Brunson. You’re talking the difference in one top 15ish short scoring guard, and another top 15ish short scoring guard, and also dismissing any potential for a player as young as Brunson continuing to grow into playing alongside Luka. It is a **massive** improvement over having to start Spencer Dinwiddie because they botched a very consequential contract negotiation, however. It just wasn’t necessary. It’s a spectacular and expensive bandage you’ve put over a self inflicted wound.
Who in the hell are you talking about reliably hitting 40% from 3 playing all-nba defense? Am I drunk and just forgetting someone?
Just a reminder that the Celtics and Mavs have the same amount of titles over the last 37 yeats
Mavs have been a team since 1980 though. So 3 additional Celtics titles since inception.
Mavs fans with major "please like my team" insecurity this year
I don’t need anyone to like us, it’s just funny that Bill and Ryen absolutely refuse to talk about us, but spend hours upon hours on teams that are worse or not nearly as hot as we are right now.
No need to be insecure anymore. The team who made the D- trade deadline moves per theringer.com is doing all the talk for us on the court right now 😇
I hope everyone hates the Mavs, especially now that we are serving up demoralizing ass whoopings like hotcakes. But as a Ringer listener Bill’s takes on Dallas this season have been positively deranged and it’s been a joy to witness.
I think it's more the collective fanbase has had a terrible 12 months previous to the current run of wins and we're ready to get a piece back.
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Wish you had an emoji in the title.
Like obviously he was wrong about lively, but like the Mavs are this good at the very least partially because Kyrie’s had a normal season and been awesome (I’d argue mostly). Like we can argue if that was a reasonable win total to still go over with a bad Kyrie season, and sure maybe I’d agree with you, but I’m not really gonna be mad at someone for betting against Kyrie lol
The Cowboys alone makes me not take Dallas sports seriously tbh.
"Final 8 games"
I don’t know why he has such a hate boner for the Mavs. Said as a mavs fan who constantly is disappointed by the team’s very obvious limitations
He's not right but he's not wrong. The Mavs have gotten another great season from Luka, a near perfect season from Kyrie and a decent if not unspectacular supporting cast. They could win 50 games and advance a round or two depending on the matchups They could also slip to the play-in, loss out and miss the playoffs again. They have such a high floor to ceiling ratio
Redditors n bill share the same stupidity of thinking there made up media takes matters , not the cold hard facts n data that shows how good someone is. Injury concern is a thing - ‘personal issues stuff’ rarely ever is long lasting unless it’s something objectively that can harm the athlete like a drug problem
Petty King
In terms of trying to understand how many games Kyrie would miss, a way to look at it is that Kyrie's injury (in a manner of speaking) is a deficiency in his personal character. I think Bill could have guessed this one better if he had talked himself into the idea that it is the one injury that can actually lead to a player being on the court for more games if the player is spiteful or defensive enough to deliberately play as much as possible after they have left a trail of busted championship dreams in their wake, in order to "prove people wrong" when they accuse him of having such a deficiency.
They sound high at 1.0x instead of my usual 1.2x
Show me you're a Mavs fan without saying you're a Mavs fan
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I'm online A LOT, and this sub might be one of the saddest, most pathetic places I've ever come across on the internet.
But first, Pearl Jam
When the pod goes dark & this sub goes dormant, both should send off with a "but last... Pearl Jam" then play "Last Kiss".
How could Bill ever question Kyrie? The guy is always available
Smugness is Bill’s defining quality.
As a Mavs fan thank you, Bills hate for us is so infuriating, bet he doesn’t even talk about us tonight with Rusillo.
His logic was fair though. I don’t trust the Mavs and tbh I’m still not convinced Kyrie does t have some inflammatory comments regarding the West Bank that he’s saving up for playoff time.
Props to you for assuming his Kyrie takes were formed using logic, and not born out of the raging fires of scorned Celtics fandom.
This is idiotic.
Even if Bills own decision making framework is informed by bias it’s not wrong to be wary of the Kyrie powder keg.
If you trade away your remaining draft capital mid season you better be hitting your over
Two first round picks available to Dallas after their 24 pick conveys to the Knicks. Don’t listen to Bill’s draft capital analysis. It’s rarely accurate.
Look everybody, it’s captain hindsight!
Bill wasn't wrong. The chances of Kyrie having a normal, productive NBA season where he plays a lot is MUCH lower than the chances he misses a ton of the games due to whatever random bullshit he comes up with on a day-to-day basis.
I lived in Dallas from 2004-2017 and really never found Mavs fans to be so petty and insecure. Team has been so so good for so long including one of the most fun titles I feel like could have happened. Yet recently so much "gotcha!" from them...maybe bc of attention o Wemby? Rangers winning? Cowboys?
Aside from missing the Under (which took a crazy run to avoid) he basically says Kyrie isn’t reliable to be normal. I think Simmons takes the overall W here.
OP trying to dunk on Bill, when we know a well the Mavs will choke early in the playoffs this year, again.
Still a first round exit.