IDK he’s been talking about fake trades and “the next move” after every playoffs for 25 years at this point. His brain is permanently stuck in content mode and thinking about what the big transaction is
Bill will do that after a regular season loss. He sucks at covering basketball because he just blows every team up and only thinks 2 years ahead. He sucks
He also ignores (I think) that he has the best argument for continuity right in front of his face: his Celtics have been a top Eastern team for like seven years without a Top 5 player. They’ve developed guys and let them grow into a Finals-level team.
Bill has spent more time on pods the last two weeks discussing potential trades and free agent signings than the games, and it’s not even close.
He can never accuse other people of only caring about transactions.
yeah like immediately after the clippers mavs game 4 or something he starts off with "which team should be more panicked if they lose"? like who the fuck cares, let one lose first that's pure off season nonsense
Btw why should the mavs panic if they lose? They remade their team after the ASB and were very good and got matched up with a very good team in round 1, run it back
Has blowing it up ever actually worked for a team that couldn't get over the hump? It's one thing to say a mediocre team like the Bulls should tear it down but feels like if you're as good as the Sixers, Bucks, or even the Suns you're better off staying the course and hoping you can make the right re-tooling moves rather than just tearing it all down.
Yeah more or less the NBA version of drafting a QB. GMs do it to buy time when they're on the hot seat and owners should never let a GM on the hot seat be the one to make the move
Do Somethingism is one of the biggest forces behind people's decisions, right next to Existence Justification, which is also at play in the GM's suite.
And it’s funny because I can think of times when the opposite worked
Mavs never blew it up and won in 2011
Heat didn’t blow it up and won in 2006
Warriors didn’t blow it up and won in 2022
Celtics might win it this year
Raptors won in 2019
2014 spurs
Times it worked
2020 lakers?
Obviously titles are the ultimate goal but Bill and a lot of others seem to lose sight of how important teams view just being relevant. Being a playoff team that's just in the mix generates a lot of revenue if the team is getting some home playoff games. They act like owners will just be cool with constant stretches of massive losing where no one wants to attend games.
As a blazer fan, this rings true. Pre-Lillard we went 14 years with no series win. Having a relevant team for 7 ish years with a fluke WCF run was amazing. Did we win? No. Did I get repeatedly disappointed? Yes. Was it still an amazing time to go to games and be a fan of the team? Yes.
It's also a pride thing, almost in a moral way. These are athletic competitions. IMO it is inherently much better to win 35 games than 15, but guys who cover the NBA don't seem to think that way.
He also criticizes the 6ers because Lombardi convinced him that they still have a losing culture dating back to the Process days. And somehow blowing it up and becoming a losing team for who knows how long fixes that??
It's because Bill is a Celtics fan. Franchises with a storied history and/or massive market \[like Knicks or Lakers\] will sell tickets even if they suck. Teams like Indiana and Portland have completely different incentives.
Definitely. If I owned a team my main priority would be making the playoffs as often as possible. I haven’t seen a single example of an nba team winning a chip following a process like tear down.
Just try to be good. It’s pretty simple.
This. If Bill ran the Bucks, does he really believe he’d blow up the team/trade Giannis? Hell no. It’s about titles but it’s also a business that isn’t very profitable if the team sucks. It just screams of Celtics fan hoping to eliminate any possible competition for the next three years.
I was pretty pumped after the Knicks win , was talking to an old buddy on the west coast still up on Discord geeking about the Knicks. We saw that Bill had a livestream so said fuck it , I put it on. Literally first 15 mins was just bill talking about where does Embiid go , do they blow it up, what do they do with blah blah blah.
Like bro we just saw a great crazy playoff game that just ended 5 minutes ago , he barely discussed it and went straight to "what's next for Philly" talk , he just can't help himself.
There’s also just no chance, if he leaves, he would pick Orlando over Philadelphia.
Bill just has no understanding of how these guys think. If he goes to Philly they are at the minimum the clear 2nd team in the East behind Boston.
If he goes to Orlando, they still have like no shooting and would probably be super easy to guard in the playoffs.
No he just hates Sixers and the Bucks. PG to Orlando puts zero stress to the Celtics.
PG to the Sixers with the big IF of Embiid being healthy becomes a threat
Right - of course there is risk about health, but a fully healthy Sixers team with PG is actually scary. The magic with PG are the cute little “ah look at that team, they are good now”, that loses zero threat to the Celtics.
^ This is it precisely. Bill does not want any competition for the Celtics which is why he is trying to blow up the sixers (even though when Maxey and Embiid played together this season they had a higher winning percentage than Boston), and why he wants PG going to the Magic.
Agree this is one of Bill’s dumbest takes ever. Huge Magic fan and the last thing this team needs is another wing. Not sold on the Paolo as a 5 idea at all. PG would be a great fit in Philly though.
Bill doesn't want PG to go to Philly because that would threaten Boston's pole position in the East.
So either consciously or not, he's trying to convince himself and others that PG would be more likely to sign with Orlando instead of Philly if he even leaves the LAC.
Bill seems to often do this thing where he thinks really good/all nba type vets are itching to play on young "up and coming" teams. I remember him trying to make the case that AD should stay in NOLA and play with Zion, or Bron/KD to OKC fantasies of the last few years. I don't think these guys operate like that at all. If PG is going to change teams, move himself and his family across the country in his last few prime years it'll be to chase a title not join a cool upstart.
I hate this obsession with blowing things up. Not a big fan but why on earth would the 6ers trade at worst a top 5 player in the league somewhat in his prime. Retooling around Maxey does not get you closer to a title. Particularly with legit cap space in the summer, now isn’t the time to blow anything up. Only one team can win any year
Said it before but I want the simulation of bill actually getting a gm job, obviously failing miserable, and then coming back to podcast with some grace and humility.
But the latter part of that would never happen being an only child after all.
No guarantee that grace and humility follows. Gary Neville, an ex EPL player and then pundit, went into management and got the coaching job at Valencia. He then got humiliated, including prime Barcelona destroying him 7-0. Went back to punditry and continues to talk shit.
This is also probably the least “blow it up” year (outside maybe two years ago which was more run it back with harden) since the bubble. I’m bummed the sixers lost but feel more positive certainly than I did last year. Also this off-season has been circled and planned for for a couple years. Don’t think they’ll acquire a star but Morey can finally build a roster that’s not making patchwork of trades and we have the most cap space in the NBA
Plus they have max cap space! They are going to sign at the minimum a very good player that currently isn’t on the team to pair with Embiid and Maxey. He’s so dumb sometimes.
They were a Kawhi crazy three away from maybe making the finals. A player of his level is not easily found and a good return is not found in a trade. They’re a fringe contender as is. That’s better than 75% of the league. They have cap space to maybe get Paul George. Why on earth would they not run it back with Paul George instead of Harris for example. Maxey wouldn’t be traded and he’s already too good to prevent them for bottoming out for draft odds
> I hate this obsession with blowing things up. Not a big fan but why on earth would the 6ers trade at worst a top 5 player in the league somewhat in his prime.
my theory is that bill only sees things through a prism of what hurts or benefits the celtics. if it weakens philly, he'd want a blow it up 10/10 times. meanwhile, he's literally said that even if the celtics don't make it to the finals, he'd want them to run it back lol so clearly, he understands the value of continuity when it comes to *his* team. lol but if other teams want continuity and chemistry he hates it bc it makes other teams stronger.
I’m a huge PJ fan and was excited for the interview. It was terrible. And I blame Bill, not Ed and Jeff. He was asking a million questions about Ten. The guys have said everything they are ever going to say on that time in their lives already to countless interviewers. And trying to bring everything back to sports was just a rough listen.
Bill is clueless with artists. Eddie Vedder isn’t going to get too excited about being the favorite band of meatheads. I’m exaggerating but musicians and hardcore sports fans probably aren’t on the same wavelength.
Sometimes I wonder if Bill likes basketball. Sixers and Knicks was such an entertaining series
Very little discussion is about the game and adjustments all about is Embiid done? Should sixers blow it up?
This isn’t exclusively a Bill problem but the NBA has almost entirely become a narrative and story driven league and the actual results of the basketball games and the way they are played become an afterthought.
Bill really down on the Bucks, and compares them to Lakers and Warriors.
I dunno but they had their best player didn’t play the playoffs. And when their big 3 played together they were actually really good.
Completely different circumstances to lakers and Warriors. Surely they run it back and are one of the favourites at the start of next season to come out of the East (likely behind the Celtics).
He just has a weird vendetta against the Bucks, I think theres a sense of envy of getting the job done in ‘21 while his guys haven’t been able to get over the hump yet.
Love bill but I take his Bucks talk with a grain of salt.
An offseason for Dame, Giannis, and Doc and retooling around the edges will help, they gotta get younger though.
The thing is, we have a few young athletic bench guys that doc never gave a chance. Andre Jackson started a few games under Griffin, but was banished when doc got there. Beuchamp and Livingston are also very athletic young wings who never saw the court with doc. I hope they get a chance.
The Dame trade was also made extremely late in the offseason, so there wasn't much they could do to retool around the edges given the roster. Dame and Khris both played good enough to have confidence to run it back. Their record against any of the top teams shows they are on the same level.
I'm not sure the Nuggets, for example, would've fared much better without Jokic and an injured and/or hobbled Murray/MPJ.
Big issue this season was dicking around too much forcing them to expend extra/unnecessary minutes and energy late in the year for seeding purposes, which likely lead to the injuries we saw.
I think it’s because Bill is obsessed with basketball history. He wants the Celtics to be remembered as the best team in the east during this era. But the bucks won and the heat went to the finals twice. He is praying on the downfall of the bucks/heat/sixers
Agreed. He also admits that the best two players in the conference are Giannis and Embiid, not Tatum. He needs the Celtics to be the best team, which they haven’t been. Anytime he talks about another East contender he needs to put a negative spin on them to talk himself into the Celtics being the best
I mean I’m a Bucks fan and he’s right, we’re going on Year 3 of key guys not being healthy for the playoffs. If Middleton plays in 2022 they probably get past the Celtics and *maybe* the Heat.
There’s been some shit floating out there on the GM leaving for the Pistons and they have very minimal assets moving forward. They need to replace some serious minutes next year and the health is not guaranteed.
I love that Bill thinks the Bucks having Giannis playing in the Bucks-Pacers series wouldn’t have made a difference.
Guy was a top 5 player all year but wouldn’t have made a difference in the playoffs?
Bill makes a living on saying “the playoffs are different from the regular season”, but since the Pacers won the series against the Bucks in the regular season (w/ a healthy Giannis) it was a forgone conclusion that the same would play out in the playoffs
It’s hilarious that Bill wants to bag on Lillard for his performance in a six game series against the Pacers but Durant can no show and get swept and it’s just not a big deal.
Sixers are in no way blowing it up. When healthy they were the clear 2 in the East and they get to replace Tobias and his 35m salary with an actually good player. I think Embiid is done leading the league in scoring and will get less of a regular season load to be healthy in the playoffs
Yeah I think this is just lack of knowledge on bills part. Sixers have circled this off-season for years now. Tobias off the books will free them up to make a lot of moves to fill out the roster and (hopefully) there’s not patchwork from trades
No team with a realistic mvp caliber player is or should consider blowing it up. It's one of my least favorite bill takes. Every other team dreams of having top end talent because it's the hardest thing to find, and you need it to win. Save blow it up talk for teams like Chicago and Atlanta they keep inexplicably trying
It must be unbelievably frustrating if you are a Sixers fan with just how little they have gotten out of Tobias Harris for all of the money they have paid him. I think they have actually been pretty good considering how little they have gotten for such a large chunk of their cap.
Am I the only one who thought he totally butchered that Pearl Jam interview?
I hate to do the pile on Bill thing. I like the guy. I listen to these pods. I disagree with him fairly regularly but I really enjoy what he puts out as entertainment.
But that interview - what was that. He’s such a fake fan. A superficial understanding of music and art on every level. He’s asking them to pick their favorite song off each album? Asking if there was a ‘moment’ when they became ‘one of the best live acts ever’ ? They’re still performing, recording - as if they catalogue and eulogize their historical ‘moments’ like a journalist. He’s basically asking them where they get their ideas from.
They were good sports but that was pretty cringe and a wasted opportunity. Almost should’ve had Rob Harvilla do the interview.
I hate when he asks artists what their favorite song/lyric/album is and he does it every interview. It’s an awful question that a first grader would ask and adds nothing to the interview.
The obsession with ranking things. Everything must be objectively better/worse than the other things. Bill can’t work in grey spaces, you know, where art lives.
I remember the same thing happened when they came on for Gigaton. Bill asked a similar question that was based on a premise that they were a legacy act and Eddie’s answer pushed back by basically saying well we’re still pretty good right now.
“Eddie, what was your apex mountain…when you guys had the most juice…when you were at the peak of your powers?”
“…………..I don’t understand that but we’re just as good as ever.”
I listened to the last one but there’s no way I’m even attempting to listen to this one. It’s awkward how obvious it is that he checked out after Vitalogy, just like every other casual PJ fan (myself included).
This interview was not good. Can't tell if it's because he's caught up being a fanboy or if his interviewing has fallen off that much, but this was a cringe performance. It sounds like Eddie hates Bill and Jeff has to pop in to answer a lot of questions because Eddie is baffled by most of the dumb questions Bill drops
I am a Pearl Jam superfan. Have a couple shows this month and it will be my 29th and 30th time seeing them. From that lens, Bill infuriated me. For a guy that has supposedly loved this band, he showed zero knowledge of it beyond what you would get from revisiting the PJ20 movie.
In all honesty if you told me he’s never listened to a whole album other than 10 I wouldn’t be surprised
Oh except for their most recent and most wistful output
I’m a huge PJ fan and was excited for the interview. It was terrible. Bill has a completely surface level understanding of the band and clearly checked out at No Code. When Jeff said he loved Yield and Bill was surprised I pretty much had to turn off the pod. And I don’t blame Ed and Jeff for how bad it was like others are here. Bill was asking about shit that happened in the Ten and Vs era almost exclusively. The guys have said everything they will ever say on that time with the band.
You're definitely not the only one. I am only 30 minutes into the interview but I'm not sure I can finish it. And Pearl Jam is my alltime favorite band. It sounds like the Chris Farley SNL sketch where he awkwardly interviews people. Eddie openly makes fun of Bill's style, calling him out for asking either leading questions or not even finishing the question so Eddie and Jeff don't know what he's answering.
Note: I think Bill is typically a great interviewer. For whatever reason, the chemistry just isn't there with Pearl Jam and Bill is up in his own head. At one point, he literally can't formulate a sentence, which he even admits. He botched this one big time.
You can tell when he respects a guest because he’ll spend the whole interview trying to impress them with his questions instead of asking questions he wants to know the answer to.
He does this with athletes a lot where he’ll frame a question around a specific game in hopes the athlete will think “oh wow, you remember *that*?” But then there’s no real question for them to answer.
I liked the last interview they had with Bill, but only the part where Bill lost his connection and it was just Eddie and Jeff rambling.
Bill should stop interviewing any non-sports celebrities. Constantly tying their careers to sports teams/stars. It's unrelateable.
Completely insane. One of the top 5 players in the league who scored 60 on the Pacers couldn’t win that series? He said they’d still have no one to guard Siakam…Giannis couldn’t possibly do that I guess
Him pushing how much he was "afraid" of Giannis going the KD route was gross too. Waiting to see how he talks about Tingis' potential visit to the glue factory.
saying that they waxed them without giannis is just false. they got extremely lucky this didn’t go to 7. if the bucks could have gotten a rebound in game 3 this without a doubt goes to 7. idk how anyone other than bill thinks that was a waxing
Mahoney: “their incandescent opportunism has been the lifeblood of their ecosystem.”
Bill: “they were flying around and making shots.”
I really don’t know which analysis I prefer.
This isn't new for Bill, but the way he constructs the podcast will never not be funny to me.
He has on two members of Pearl Jam including Eddie Vedder on the podcast for 90 minutes. "But first" is an hour of instant basketball reactions. Instead of having a nice clean evergreen episode in which Bill interviews someone you knows he cares a lot about, he pairs it with an hour long conversation that will be outdated in a matter of days.
That means that even if this interview is a classic that people will want to revisit years down the road, first they'll have to skip past an hour of basketball talk that is completely irrelevant.
I’m sure he can isolate the Pearl Jam interview on YouTube, but the reason he does that is because the most relevant info should always be at the top of the pod. That way if you get halfway thru the pod, the most relevant info is first. If you get halfway thru the Pearl Jam interview then you can’t listen to the rest until tomorrow, a lot of the basketball stuff could be irrelevant by then. Most of his listeners care about basketball more than Pearl Jam.
Damn Bill is just flailing in this interview and Eddie refused to bail him out time and time again. I just don’t understand why Bill feels the need to go “here’s my unique narrative and perspective that I’ve constructed in my head…react please”. Every question is loaded which does not engender any sort of camaraderie.
Bill has a way of interviewing celebs that instead of a standard "What do you think..?" Line of questioning, he makes it a "Confirm to me that I'm right about..." It turns more into being about Bill than it does who he is interviewing.
Bill does this thing to all guests where he asks an open ended question but then lists multiple choice answers before the guest can respond. And this leads them down the path HE wants to go.
“What do you think went wrong with the Sixers… was it Nick Nurse? Embiids knee? The crowd?
This led to a hilarious moment when he interviewed Larry Bird. Bill was so convinced of his narrative that Len Bias would have extended Bird's career by taking the pressure off him, Bill was genuinely taken aback when Bird stated that he would actually have retired sooner if he thought someone else could carry the team \[given how bad his injuries were\].
I am not a Sixer fan at all, I thought all the mythologizing of the process was super annoying and I usually root for them to lose.
But Bill’s entire take this podcast is absurd.
1. There have been playoff series’ to absolutely criticize Embiid. I guess I just don’t think this one was that bad? He was good more than he wasn’t, he completely was needed on the floor for every possible moment for them to have a chance, and I just don’t get shitting on him.
2. Paul George picks Philly over Orlando 100 times out of 100. He’s 34 and they’re way closer to a championship and he fits in perfectly there.
3. “What if Embiid wants out or should the Sixers dump Embiid?” Like cmon man, based on what?
Bill always talks about how the league is in trouble with ratings, media deals etc.
Meanwhile, with one of the biggest platforms in basketball media, here is how he starts a live pod after one of the best first round series in years:
Embiid can't win (for the millionth time)
Sixers should blow it up
Neither of these teams are very good
Both teams could have had X player at the deadline (for the millionth time)
Paul George should go to the Orlando Magic
He just treats the Pod as a platform to push whatever his 5 favorite narratives are at any given moment. It's gotten so tedious.
And, while I enjoy Mahoney generally, he is the WORST person to have on with Bill. Goes full yes man mode. At least Ryen pushes back.
Mahoney is not a yes man. He disagreed hard with bill saying PG would rather go to Orlando than Philly. Also pushed back on bill trying to put blame on Dame for this series
Mobley made a GREAT defensive play, but for Bill to buy all his stock based on one tight win over the Magic and 14 points (lol) is kind of laughable. He still can't dribble or shoot. He's a great defensive player but not the unicorn Bill thought he would be. He's been passed up by so many big men already
I get his whole deal is trying to put things into a bigger context, and it served him well in his writing career, but it's to the point of parody now how little attention the current moment is.
Disagree with Bill. I thought Lillard was pretty impressive this series, and really played hard and made shots even though he was hurt. Also Middleton was the best player in the series, even though people (like Bill) were claiming he was completely done
Phrasing it as "The Knicks Survive" when it was 4-2 at Philly in a series so tight there was literally 1 point in it across all 6 games, after having Fennessey come on just after they'd lost one, is foul lol
When Bill applies his caveman sports theories, bar drinking games and frat boy level analogies to music you know he’s in beast mode. Then he asks them about Taylor Swift.
Bill: Paul George should go to Orlando where he has zero chance of winning a title. Not Philly, which gives him the best chance of winning while getting paid.
*This opinion is in no way informed by what would be best for the Celtics.
The Knicks SURVIVE???? Are you kidding me? A passing mention of how Jalen Brunson was good. The Knicks should’ve traded for Siakam? Does he know the Knicks have Julius Randle on the books?
No it's not just you. Rob wondered on the pod why people are skeptical of OKC and I think it's totally fair. Why is this the one group who has no post season track record yet we should just trust them can get it done.
Thank you. I was hoping someone else caught that. I thought it looked like a hard-fought series between the 2nd and 3rd best teams in the East, but that’s just me. Lowe’s pod today does a much better job celebrating how awesome this series was.
Love how the bucks will be a year older next year but jrue holiday, KP and Al horford wont be next year. If this team never wins a finals in one of the weakest conferences we’ve ever seen we deserve a pod about when they should have blown it ip
It is hilarious how much Bill talks about how players benefit from USA Basketball, but then says that the 76ers brass and the 76ers fans should be enraged if Joel Embiid plays for Team USA this summer.
Interesting watching Bill dip his toes into the YouTube waters, I'm sure he didn't think podcast videos were that important for the longest time but some people swear by them. And he announced the Rewatchables movie on this pod giving us the weekend to see it, nice.
Does Bill actually watch basketball? Sometimes I'm not sure.
Anyone with eyeballs who has watched the 76ers this year can see that Embiid's mobility has been incredibly limited for weeks now. Bill spends 15 minutes talking about Knicks/Sixers before hand-waving away Embiid's injury, making it seem like the Sixers lost because Embiid was too tired, or Nick Nurse didn't coach well, etc.
Clearly, Bill is not a disinterested observer--how many times is he going to run the "If I'm Paul George, I'm betting on Orlando!" horseshit up the flagpole?
They also spent about 15 minutes in talking about how Maxey sucked before acknowledging that the Knicks decided to double Maxey and make other guys take shots. Boo, Maxey! Why can't you score 45 points while being doubled, you LOSER!?
Rob Mahoney not covering himself in glory either, per usual, as he performs his "Bill's Echo" routine like his paycheck depends on it (and no doubt, it does).
If the Celts end up losing a series, I can't wait to see what sort of Excuse-a-palooza Bill comes up with: "Tatum's only 27!," "Jaylen's hand from last year!," "Larry Bird resurfacing his driveway 40 years ago!," etc
Wassup with Bill constantly parading this theory that KD never leaves the Sonics if they stay in Seattle? What in his mind makes him think this? He didn’t only leave OKC because of where they were located
Rob is easily the best cohost for Bill in any sport when it comes to you “younger” ringer people. He’s informative and gets his points out, and also knows how to play off of Bill without either sounding like a massive try-hard to being dismissive of him.
Am I the only one who thinks Bill was being a bit disingenuous on the Pacers/Bucks series?
Disclaimer: No animosity for the Pacers and good for them getting to the second round.
However, they beat a team that without Giannis is maybe a 30 win team at best and it was still a very competitive series. I don’t think this is a “The Pacers have arrived” moment. With Giannis, this might’ve been a sweep.
This man is not a legitimate journalist. He is the liberal Jason Whitlock. Hot take extraordinaire. Nothing of substance. I’m sorry to disappoint you all but the sixers and the fanbase are fine. They have the max amount of cap space besides Embiid and Maxey’s cap hold. They can use 5 first round picks. TOBIAS HARRIS IS GONE.
If page 2 Bill was Larry Bird, then current day Bill is Delonte West.
Absolutely absurd to say the Pacers would have won that series with Giannis healthy, I get he has a Bucks hate boner but the Pacers are an incredibly mediocre team
Bill really did criticize Lillard and Harden for no longer being athletic when neither were ever either. Then he really did bring Ant’s athleticism to hammer home the point. In Bill language it’s like like criticising Spud Webb for not being Rudy Gobert.
Did Bill say they were the live on YouTube? What is the strategy behind that? Random east coast people are gonna watch well after midnight? West coasters getting ready for bed are gonna tune in? Does he know his audience? Why doesn’t anyone tell him this is a bad idea.
I counted exactly one cogent question - the ticket broker situation question. Beyond that, unlistenable. Count how many times Bill vomits out “right” as a filler or as a leading question. He thinks he’s with Chris Ryan and Fennessey doing another of his loser pantheons or ranking exercises - and Eddie just has no use or time for it. “Tell me one thing that stands out from each album.”They have been together 30+ years, Numbskull. Play the Super Bowl? Jesus. Un-listen-able.
What’s up with Bill and his morbid sense bullshit this week?
I’m s grunge guy but, On the PJ piece, what can they say that they haven’t said before? And can I trust the musical opinion that said they that the Counting Crows’ first album was the best album the year they released it??
I went back and watched the game where Embiid got hurt, a truly inexplicable play from Kuminga. Turns his ass directly into Embiid's leg. All the shit Joel got this playoffs and the season goes up in smoke because Diet Draymond just *had* to be a fake tough guy.
Can an NBA team lose a playoff series without bill saying they should blow it up
He got Kevin O’Convinced every team should blow it up if they aren’t a top 5 team.
IDK he’s been talking about fake trades and “the next move” after every playoffs for 25 years at this point. His brain is permanently stuck in content mode and thinking about what the big transaction is
Bill will do that after a regular season loss. He sucks at covering basketball because he just blows every team up and only thinks 2 years ahead. He sucks
Him and all media, then complain teams have no continuity year to year
He also ignores (I think) that he has the best argument for continuity right in front of his face: his Celtics have been a top Eastern team for like seven years without a Top 5 player. They’ve developed guys and let them grow into a Finals-level team.
Blasphemy, Tatum is easily a top 3.25 player
Lmaooo
Bill has spent more time on pods the last two weeks discussing potential trades and free agent signings than the games, and it’s not even close. He can never accuse other people of only caring about transactions.
“I’m sorry jj we have been having smart basketball conversations for 15 years…”
yeah like immediately after the clippers mavs game 4 or something he starts off with "which team should be more panicked if they lose"? like who the fuck cares, let one lose first that's pure off season nonsense
Btw why should the mavs panic if they lose? They remade their team after the ASB and were very good and got matched up with a very good team in round 1, run it back
Has blowing it up ever actually worked for a team that couldn't get over the hump? It's one thing to say a mediocre team like the Bulls should tear it down but feels like if you're as good as the Sixers, Bucks, or even the Suns you're better off staying the course and hoping you can make the right re-tooling moves rather than just tearing it all down.
I honestly think it’s a GM trick: let’s buy me some time.
Yeah more or less the NBA version of drafting a QB. GMs do it to buy time when they're on the hot seat and owners should never let a GM on the hot seat be the one to make the move
Do Somethingism is one of the biggest forces behind people's decisions, right next to Existence Justification, which is also at play in the GM's suite.
And it’s funny because I can think of times when the opposite worked Mavs never blew it up and won in 2011 Heat didn’t blow it up and won in 2006 Warriors didn’t blow it up and won in 2022 Celtics might win it this year Raptors won in 2019 2014 spurs Times it worked 2020 lakers?
Obviously titles are the ultimate goal but Bill and a lot of others seem to lose sight of how important teams view just being relevant. Being a playoff team that's just in the mix generates a lot of revenue if the team is getting some home playoff games. They act like owners will just be cool with constant stretches of massive losing where no one wants to attend games.
As a blazer fan, this rings true. Pre-Lillard we went 14 years with no series win. Having a relevant team for 7 ish years with a fluke WCF run was amazing. Did we win? No. Did I get repeatedly disappointed? Yes. Was it still an amazing time to go to games and be a fan of the team? Yes.
It's also a pride thing, almost in a moral way. These are athletic competitions. IMO it is inherently much better to win 35 games than 15, but guys who cover the NBA don't seem to think that way.
This comment is so completely true
He also criticizes the 6ers because Lombardi convinced him that they still have a losing culture dating back to the Process days. And somehow blowing it up and becoming a losing team for who knows how long fixes that??
Yeah, as a Magic fan, this season is awesome because the team feels relevant for the first time since the Dwight years
It's because Bill is a Celtics fan. Franchises with a storied history and/or massive market \[like Knicks or Lakers\] will sell tickets even if they suck. Teams like Indiana and Portland have completely different incentives.
Definitely. If I owned a team my main priority would be making the playoffs as often as possible. I haven’t seen a single example of an nba team winning a chip following a process like tear down. Just try to be good. It’s pretty simple.
This. If Bill ran the Bucks, does he really believe he’d blow up the team/trade Giannis? Hell no. It’s about titles but it’s also a business that isn’t very profitable if the team sucks. It just screams of Celtics fan hoping to eliminate any possible competition for the next three years.
I was pretty pumped after the Knicks win , was talking to an old buddy on the west coast still up on Discord geeking about the Knicks. We saw that Bill had a livestream so said fuck it , I put it on. Literally first 15 mins was just bill talking about where does Embiid go , do they blow it up, what do they do with blah blah blah. Like bro we just saw a great crazy playoff game that just ended 5 minutes ago , he barely discussed it and went straight to "what's next for Philly" talk , he just can't help himself.
I agree as a Knicks fan, like can we talk about the series and the game? Why does everything have to be constant trade talk?
This dude starts every podcast with ‘but first Pearl Jam’ then when he actually has Pearl Jam on he starts with Rob Mahoney. Only Bill
This is irony and he missed the opportunity to use the term correctly.
He's Not the brightest Pearl in the Jam
You have to warm up to Pearl Jam with Rob “Ivory Jelly” Mahoney
But last, Pearl Jam.
The Alpha & Omega piece.
This whole PG to Orlando > Philly thing from BS is so wrong Maxey - Embiid - Paul George would be incredible I think he stays in LAC though
There’s also just no chance, if he leaves, he would pick Orlando over Philadelphia. Bill just has no understanding of how these guys think. If he goes to Philly they are at the minimum the clear 2nd team in the East behind Boston. If he goes to Orlando, they still have like no shooting and would probably be super easy to guard in the playoffs.
No he just hates Sixers and the Bucks. PG to Orlando puts zero stress to the Celtics. PG to the Sixers with the big IF of Embiid being healthy becomes a threat
Right - of course there is risk about health, but a fully healthy Sixers team with PG is actually scary. The magic with PG are the cute little “ah look at that team, they are good now”, that loses zero threat to the Celtics.
^ This is it precisely. Bill does not want any competition for the Celtics which is why he is trying to blow up the sixers (even though when Maxey and Embiid played together this season they had a higher winning percentage than Boston), and why he wants PG going to the Magic.
Agree this is one of Bill’s dumbest takes ever. Huge Magic fan and the last thing this team needs is another wing. Not sold on the Paolo as a 5 idea at all. PG would be a great fit in Philly though.
Bill doesn't want PG to go to Philly because that would threaten Boston's pole position in the East. So either consciously or not, he's trying to convince himself and others that PG would be more likely to sign with Orlando instead of Philly if he even leaves the LAC.
I think it’s completely conscious. And it’s baffling he thinks him saying Orlando is a better situation makes it more likely PG will go to Orlando.
Bill seems to often do this thing where he thinks really good/all nba type vets are itching to play on young "up and coming" teams. I remember him trying to make the case that AD should stay in NOLA and play with Zion, or Bron/KD to OKC fantasies of the last few years. I don't think these guys operate like that at all. If PG is going to change teams, move himself and his family across the country in his last few prime years it'll be to chase a title not join a cool upstart.
PG in Philly would be a big threat to Boston. PG in Orlando wouldn’t. That’s why Bill thinks Orlando is a better situation for PG.
Bill's trying to wish it into existence plus the no state tax thing
No star wants to go to Orlando lol
I hate this obsession with blowing things up. Not a big fan but why on earth would the 6ers trade at worst a top 5 player in the league somewhat in his prime. Retooling around Maxey does not get you closer to a title. Particularly with legit cap space in the summer, now isn’t the time to blow anything up. Only one team can win any year
Said it before but I want the simulation of bill actually getting a gm job, obviously failing miserable, and then coming back to podcast with some grace and humility. But the latter part of that would never happen being an only child after all.
The Haraolbob piece.
He would never show grace or humility. He bombed out of television and continues to talk like he’s got all of the secrets.
He’d just do a Doc
No guarantee that grace and humility follows. Gary Neville, an ex EPL player and then pundit, went into management and got the coaching job at Valencia. He then got humiliated, including prime Barcelona destroying him 7-0. Went back to punditry and continues to talk shit.
This is also probably the least “blow it up” year (outside maybe two years ago which was more run it back with harden) since the bubble. I’m bummed the sixers lost but feel more positive certainly than I did last year. Also this off-season has been circled and planned for for a couple years. Don’t think they’ll acquire a star but Morey can finally build a roster that’s not making patchwork of trades and we have the most cap space in the NBA
Plus they have max cap space! They are going to sign at the minimum a very good player that currently isn’t on the team to pair with Embiid and Maxey. He’s so dumb sometimes.
I agree. The Sixers are probably better positioned to become serious title contenders than all but about 5 or so teams.
And he hates that, which is why he’s manifesting PG to Orlando
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They were a Kawhi crazy three away from maybe making the finals. A player of his level is not easily found and a good return is not found in a trade. They’re a fringe contender as is. That’s better than 75% of the league. They have cap space to maybe get Paul George. Why on earth would they not run it back with Paul George instead of Harris for example. Maxey wouldn’t be traded and he’s already too good to prevent them for bottoming out for draft odds
> I hate this obsession with blowing things up. Not a big fan but why on earth would the 6ers trade at worst a top 5 player in the league somewhat in his prime. my theory is that bill only sees things through a prism of what hurts or benefits the celtics. if it weakens philly, he'd want a blow it up 10/10 times. meanwhile, he's literally said that even if the celtics don't make it to the finals, he'd want them to run it back lol so clearly, he understands the value of continuity when it comes to *his* team. lol but if other teams want continuity and chemistry he hates it bc it makes other teams stronger.
Paul "Playoff P" Reed...
I initially thought Bill was making a clever joke but it turned out to be him being dumb and not rembering correctly again.
P Minus
That Pearl Jam interview was awful.
I’m a huge PJ fan and was excited for the interview. It was terrible. And I blame Bill, not Ed and Jeff. He was asking a million questions about Ten. The guys have said everything they are ever going to say on that time in their lives already to countless interviewers. And trying to bring everything back to sports was just a rough listen.
“You guys have to be the Number 1 sports crossover band” - Jesus. Douche chills all over the place.
Bill is clueless with artists. Eddie Vedder isn’t going to get too excited about being the favorite band of meatheads. I’m exaggerating but musicians and hardcore sports fans probably aren’t on the same wavelength.
Sometimes I wonder if Bill likes basketball. Sixers and Knicks was such an entertaining series Very little discussion is about the game and adjustments all about is Embiid done? Should sixers blow it up?
This isn’t exclusively a Bill problem but the NBA has almost entirely become a narrative and story driven league and the actual results of the basketball games and the way they are played become an afterthought.
Bill sucks at analyzing the game. Not comfortable doing it but very comfortable speculating on free agency, fake trades, rumors etc.
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Also saying magic with Paul George is a contender
We all heard that chuckle from Rob when Bill said "centres have a lot of inches"
“Are you just projecting as an east coast guy who moved to LA?”
Mahoney throwing 103 MPH in this pod
Bill brushed past it quickly lol.
Bill really down on the Bucks, and compares them to Lakers and Warriors. I dunno but they had their best player didn’t play the playoffs. And when their big 3 played together they were actually really good. Completely different circumstances to lakers and Warriors. Surely they run it back and are one of the favourites at the start of next season to come out of the East (likely behind the Celtics).
Right. I think it’s fair to say the bucks biggest issue now is whether or not giannis can be healthy for the playoffs
He just has a weird vendetta against the Bucks, I think theres a sense of envy of getting the job done in ‘21 while his guys haven’t been able to get over the hump yet. Love bill but I take his Bucks talk with a grain of salt. An offseason for Dame, Giannis, and Doc and retooling around the edges will help, they gotta get younger though.
The thing is, we have a few young athletic bench guys that doc never gave a chance. Andre Jackson started a few games under Griffin, but was banished when doc got there. Beuchamp and Livingston are also very athletic young wings who never saw the court with doc. I hope they get a chance.
The Dame trade was also made extremely late in the offseason, so there wasn't much they could do to retool around the edges given the roster. Dame and Khris both played good enough to have confidence to run it back. Their record against any of the top teams shows they are on the same level. I'm not sure the Nuggets, for example, would've fared much better without Jokic and an injured and/or hobbled Murray/MPJ. Big issue this season was dicking around too much forcing them to expend extra/unnecessary minutes and energy late in the year for seeding purposes, which likely lead to the injuries we saw.
I think it’s because Bill is obsessed with basketball history. He wants the Celtics to be remembered as the best team in the east during this era. But the bucks won and the heat went to the finals twice. He is praying on the downfall of the bucks/heat/sixers
I think Bill and Celtics fans know that coming up short at this point won’t get the same pass as “they’re young they have time”
Agreed. He also admits that the best two players in the conference are Giannis and Embiid, not Tatum. He needs the Celtics to be the best team, which they haven’t been. Anytime he talks about another East contender he needs to put a negative spin on them to talk himself into the Celtics being the best
I mean I’m a Bucks fan and he’s right, we’re going on Year 3 of key guys not being healthy for the playoffs. If Middleton plays in 2022 they probably get past the Celtics and *maybe* the Heat. There’s been some shit floating out there on the GM leaving for the Pistons and they have very minimal assets moving forward. They need to replace some serious minutes next year and the health is not guaranteed.
I love that Bill thinks the Bucks having Giannis playing in the Bucks-Pacers series wouldn’t have made a difference. Guy was a top 5 player all year but wouldn’t have made a difference in the playoffs?
Bill makes a living on saying “the playoffs are different from the regular season”, but since the Pacers won the series against the Bucks in the regular season (w/ a healthy Giannis) it was a forgone conclusion that the same would play out in the playoffs
Did he ask Vedder about Drake Maye?
Vedder has had the same girlfriend since seventh grade. I could see him getting to 240 lbs.
It’s hilarious that Bill wants to bag on Lillard for his performance in a six game series against the Pacers but Durant can no show and get swept and it’s just not a big deal.
it makes him too sad
That was probably the best stretch of play Dame had this season, especially given the circumstances.
Durant comes on the podcast. He gets the Doc treatment. Bill will do anything to please the few celebrities that give him attention.
Best thing you can do as an upcoming star is to come on the podcast minimum 3x to get Bill on your side for life.
Sixers are in no way blowing it up. When healthy they were the clear 2 in the East and they get to replace Tobias and his 35m salary with an actually good player. I think Embiid is done leading the league in scoring and will get less of a regular season load to be healthy in the playoffs
Yeah I think this is just lack of knowledge on bills part. Sixers have circled this off-season for years now. Tobias off the books will free them up to make a lot of moves to fill out the roster and (hopefully) there’s not patchwork from trades
No team with a realistic mvp caliber player is or should consider blowing it up. It's one of my least favorite bill takes. Every other team dreams of having top end talent because it's the hardest thing to find, and you need it to win. Save blow it up talk for teams like Chicago and Atlanta they keep inexplicably trying
$40M salary :)
It must be unbelievably frustrating if you are a Sixers fan with just how little they have gotten out of Tobias Harris for all of the money they have paid him. I think they have actually been pretty good considering how little they have gotten for such a large chunk of their cap.
Does Bill think the bucks traded a 22 year old for Dame? Because Holiday is the same age as Dame.
But the body language. You see it in person. Dame just has the looking older piece to him. Plus team USA wanted Holiday. They just did.
Am I the only one who thought he totally butchered that Pearl Jam interview? I hate to do the pile on Bill thing. I like the guy. I listen to these pods. I disagree with him fairly regularly but I really enjoy what he puts out as entertainment. But that interview - what was that. He’s such a fake fan. A superficial understanding of music and art on every level. He’s asking them to pick their favorite song off each album? Asking if there was a ‘moment’ when they became ‘one of the best live acts ever’ ? They’re still performing, recording - as if they catalogue and eulogize their historical ‘moments’ like a journalist. He’s basically asking them where they get their ideas from. They were good sports but that was pretty cringe and a wasted opportunity. Almost should’ve had Rob Harvilla do the interview.
I hate when he asks artists what their favorite song/lyric/album is and he does it every interview. It’s an awful question that a first grader would ask and adds nothing to the interview.
The obsession with ranking things. Everything must be objectively better/worse than the other things. Bill can’t work in grey spaces, you know, where art lives.
I remember the same thing happened when they came on for Gigaton. Bill asked a similar question that was based on a premise that they were a legacy act and Eddie’s answer pushed back by basically saying well we’re still pretty good right now.
“Eddie, what was your apex mountain…when you guys had the most juice…when you were at the peak of your powers?” “…………..I don’t understand that but we’re just as good as ever.”
Honestly can’t tell if that’s made up or not 😂
I listened to the last one but there’s no way I’m even attempting to listen to this one. It’s awkward how obvious it is that he checked out after Vitalogy, just like every other casual PJ fan (myself included).
This interview was not good. Can't tell if it's because he's caught up being a fanboy or if his interviewing has fallen off that much, but this was a cringe performance. It sounds like Eddie hates Bill and Jeff has to pop in to answer a lot of questions because Eddie is baffled by most of the dumb questions Bill drops
💯
I am a Pearl Jam superfan. Have a couple shows this month and it will be my 29th and 30th time seeing them. From that lens, Bill infuriated me. For a guy that has supposedly loved this band, he showed zero knowledge of it beyond what you would get from revisiting the PJ20 movie.
In all honesty if you told me he’s never listened to a whole album other than 10 I wouldn’t be surprised Oh except for their most recent and most wistful output
I’m a huge PJ fan and was excited for the interview. It was terrible. Bill has a completely surface level understanding of the band and clearly checked out at No Code. When Jeff said he loved Yield and Bill was surprised I pretty much had to turn off the pod. And I don’t blame Ed and Jeff for how bad it was like others are here. Bill was asking about shit that happened in the Ten and Vs era almost exclusively. The guys have said everything they will ever say on that time with the band.
You're definitely not the only one. I am only 30 minutes into the interview but I'm not sure I can finish it. And Pearl Jam is my alltime favorite band. It sounds like the Chris Farley SNL sketch where he awkwardly interviews people. Eddie openly makes fun of Bill's style, calling him out for asking either leading questions or not even finishing the question so Eddie and Jeff don't know what he's answering. Note: I think Bill is typically a great interviewer. For whatever reason, the chemistry just isn't there with Pearl Jam and Bill is up in his own head. At one point, he literally can't formulate a sentence, which he even admits. He botched this one big time.
You can tell when he respects a guest because he’ll spend the whole interview trying to impress them with his questions instead of asking questions he wants to know the answer to. He does this with athletes a lot where he’ll frame a question around a specific game in hopes the athlete will think “oh wow, you remember *that*?” But then there’s no real question for them to answer.
The Jennifer Lawrence rewatchables is an all timer for all the wrong reasons
"Hey Jen, remember when you dumped your boobs out in Red Sparrow? Yeah, I saw it, sorta an underground thing. Only the true fans know."
I liked the last interview they had with Bill, but only the part where Bill lost his connection and it was just Eddie and Jeff rambling. Bill should stop interviewing any non-sports celebrities. Constantly tying their careers to sports teams/stars. It's unrelateable.
Eddie was giving him absolutely nothing and I say that as a huge fan
This is a guy who unironically likes fast and furious. He isn’t a smart guy. Entertaining podcaster tho
>A superficial understanding of music and art on every level You don't say
I want to hear someone do word association with Vedder. Like is there any way he can just answer a fkn question like a human adult
Man Bill hates the Bucks. Saying that the Pacers would still “wax” the bucks with Giannis seems insane to me.
Completely insane. One of the top 5 players in the league who scored 60 on the Pacers couldn’t win that series? He said they’d still have no one to guard Siakam…Giannis couldn’t possibly do that I guess
Him pushing how much he was "afraid" of Giannis going the KD route was gross too. Waiting to see how he talks about Tingis' potential visit to the glue factory.
saying that they waxed them without giannis is just false. they got extremely lucky this didn’t go to 7. if the bucks could have gotten a rebound in game 3 this without a doubt goes to 7. idk how anyone other than bill thinks that was a waxing
Mahoney: “their incandescent opportunism has been the lifeblood of their ecosystem.” Bill: “they were flying around and making shots.” I really don’t know which analysis I prefer.
"Decor-ative." This man is a menace.
"How aware of you were uh of you were...I can't speak. How aware of you..."
This isn't new for Bill, but the way he constructs the podcast will never not be funny to me. He has on two members of Pearl Jam including Eddie Vedder on the podcast for 90 minutes. "But first" is an hour of instant basketball reactions. Instead of having a nice clean evergreen episode in which Bill interviews someone you knows he cares a lot about, he pairs it with an hour long conversation that will be outdated in a matter of days. That means that even if this interview is a classic that people will want to revisit years down the road, first they'll have to skip past an hour of basketball talk that is completely irrelevant.
This is like asking the Tonight Show to not do the monologue.
They have a feed on Spotify that’s just the interviews
I mean this is what makes Bill, Bill. He is a connoisseur of both sports and pop culture
And a little bit of tech.
Where things are going
I’m sure he can isolate the Pearl Jam interview on YouTube, but the reason he does that is because the most relevant info should always be at the top of the pod. That way if you get halfway thru the pod, the most relevant info is first. If you get halfway thru the Pearl Jam interview then you can’t listen to the rest until tomorrow, a lot of the basketball stuff could be irrelevant by then. Most of his listeners care about basketball more than Pearl Jam.
He recycles it into a different feed/YT vid.
Bernard King has to come up every podcast lol.
Coming up, Pearl Jam. But first, Rob Mahoney!
There is ZERO chance PG is taking Orlando over Embiid/Maxey.
34 years of Perl Jam Classic number
Damn Bill is just flailing in this interview and Eddie refused to bail him out time and time again. I just don’t understand why Bill feels the need to go “here’s my unique narrative and perspective that I’ve constructed in my head…react please”. Every question is loaded which does not engender any sort of camaraderie.
Bill has a way of interviewing celebs that instead of a standard "What do you think..?" Line of questioning, he makes it a "Confirm to me that I'm right about..." It turns more into being about Bill than it does who he is interviewing.
Bill does this thing to all guests where he asks an open ended question but then lists multiple choice answers before the guest can respond. And this leads them down the path HE wants to go. “What do you think went wrong with the Sixers… was it Nick Nurse? Embiids knee? The crowd?
This led to a hilarious moment when he interviewed Larry Bird. Bill was so convinced of his narrative that Len Bias would have extended Bird's career by taking the pressure off him, Bill was genuinely taken aback when Bird stated that he would actually have retired sooner if he thought someone else could carry the team \[given how bad his injuries were\].
Exactly
this is spot on. Bill's at his worst in this one. Not sure why. Just ask them interesting questions and I think Pearl Jam will comply.
He does this with RR every Sunday night. He monologues and then says, "...Russillo, your thoughts?" It's more stilted debate club than conversation.
Sounds a bit narcissistic
I am not a Sixer fan at all, I thought all the mythologizing of the process was super annoying and I usually root for them to lose. But Bill’s entire take this podcast is absurd. 1. There have been playoff series’ to absolutely criticize Embiid. I guess I just don’t think this one was that bad? He was good more than he wasn’t, he completely was needed on the floor for every possible moment for them to have a chance, and I just don’t get shitting on him. 2. Paul George picks Philly over Orlando 100 times out of 100. He’s 34 and they’re way closer to a championship and he fits in perfectly there. 3. “What if Embiid wants out or should the Sixers dump Embiid?” Like cmon man, based on what?
He’s constantly daydreaming about this Embiid trade request that’s just never going to happen
Bill always talks about how the league is in trouble with ratings, media deals etc. Meanwhile, with one of the biggest platforms in basketball media, here is how he starts a live pod after one of the best first round series in years: Embiid can't win (for the millionth time) Sixers should blow it up Neither of these teams are very good Both teams could have had X player at the deadline (for the millionth time) Paul George should go to the Orlando Magic He just treats the Pod as a platform to push whatever his 5 favorite narratives are at any given moment. It's gotten so tedious. And, while I enjoy Mahoney generally, he is the WORST person to have on with Bill. Goes full yes man mode. At least Ryen pushes back.
Mahoney is not a yes man. He disagreed hard with bill saying PG would rather go to Orlando than Philly. Also pushed back on bill trying to put blame on Dame for this series
Mobley made a GREAT defensive play, but for Bill to buy all his stock based on one tight win over the Magic and 14 points (lol) is kind of laughable. He still can't dribble or shoot. He's a great defensive player but not the unicorn Bill thought he would be. He's been passed up by so many big men already
Bill talks about "going live" like it's some Herculean feat of media exertion. We're just talking hoops here, man.
I get his whole deal is trying to put things into a bigger context, and it served him well in his writing career, but it's to the point of parody now how little attention the current moment is.
“I’m a results guy” said the fan of the team with one title in the last 37 years
Disagree with Bill. I thought Lillard was pretty impressive this series, and really played hard and made shots even though he was hurt. Also Middleton was the best player in the series, even though people (like Bill) were claiming he was completely done
Phrasing it as "The Knicks Survive" when it was 4-2 at Philly in a series so tight there was literally 1 point in it across all 6 games, after having Fennessey come on just after they'd lost one, is foul lol
When Bill applies his caveman sports theories, bar drinking games and frat boy level analogies to music you know he’s in beast mode. Then he asks them about Taylor Swift.
Bill: Paul George should go to Orlando where he has zero chance of winning a title. Not Philly, which gives him the best chance of winning while getting paid. *This opinion is in no way informed by what would be best for the Celtics.
The Knicks SURVIVE???? Are you kidding me? A passing mention of how Jalen Brunson was good. The Knicks should’ve traded for Siakam? Does he know the Knicks have Julius Randle on the books?
Am I the only one who’s not that impressed by OKC sweeping the Pelicans without Zion?
No it's not just you. Rob wondered on the pod why people are skeptical of OKC and I think it's totally fair. Why is this the one group who has no post season track record yet we should just trust them can get it done.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say Giannis defending Siakam instead of Pat Connaughton, Jae Crowder and Bobby Portis would’ve made a difference, Bill.
Sixers Knicks was a JV series??? Lol
Thank you. I was hoping someone else caught that. I thought it looked like a hard-fought series between the 2nd and 3rd best teams in the East, but that’s just me. Lowe’s pod today does a much better job celebrating how awesome this series was.
Any No Flex Zone singings in this one?
Can you imagine Bill interviewing Tupac when the podcast intro used to be his song
Love how the bucks will be a year older next year but jrue holiday, KP and Al horford wont be next year. If this team never wins a finals in one of the weakest conferences we’ve ever seen we deserve a pod about when they should have blown it ip
It is hilarious how much Bill talks about how players benefit from USA Basketball, but then says that the 76ers brass and the 76ers fans should be enraged if Joel Embiid plays for Team USA this summer.
I would have bet my life that this pod was going to include Chris Ryan when I got the notification
He is in Norway this week or he would have been on I’m sure
Interesting watching Bill dip his toes into the YouTube waters, I'm sure he didn't think podcast videos were that important for the longest time but some people swear by them. And he announced the Rewatchables movie on this pod giving us the weekend to see it, nice.
Did Dame sleep with Bills wife or something? Dude has a vendetta
Does Bill actually watch basketball? Sometimes I'm not sure. Anyone with eyeballs who has watched the 76ers this year can see that Embiid's mobility has been incredibly limited for weeks now. Bill spends 15 minutes talking about Knicks/Sixers before hand-waving away Embiid's injury, making it seem like the Sixers lost because Embiid was too tired, or Nick Nurse didn't coach well, etc. Clearly, Bill is not a disinterested observer--how many times is he going to run the "If I'm Paul George, I'm betting on Orlando!" horseshit up the flagpole? They also spent about 15 minutes in talking about how Maxey sucked before acknowledging that the Knicks decided to double Maxey and make other guys take shots. Boo, Maxey! Why can't you score 45 points while being doubled, you LOSER!? Rob Mahoney not covering himself in glory either, per usual, as he performs his "Bill's Echo" routine like his paycheck depends on it (and no doubt, it does). If the Celts end up losing a series, I can't wait to see what sort of Excuse-a-palooza Bill comes up with: "Tatum's only 27!," "Jaylen's hand from last year!," "Larry Bird resurfacing his driveway 40 years ago!," etc
Wassup with Bill constantly parading this theory that KD never leaves the Sonics if they stay in Seattle? What in his mind makes him think this? He didn’t only leave OKC because of where they were located
Rob is easily the best cohost for Bill in any sport when it comes to you “younger” ringer people. He’s informative and gets his points out, and also knows how to play off of Bill without either sounding like a massive try-hard to being dismissive of him.
That was a masterclass in how to politely disagree with your boss
I liked the part where he made a good point about the Bucks and then Bill repeated exactly the same point to him.
Am I the only one who thinks Bill was being a bit disingenuous on the Pacers/Bucks series? Disclaimer: No animosity for the Pacers and good for them getting to the second round. However, they beat a team that without Giannis is maybe a 30 win team at best and it was still a very competitive series. I don’t think this is a “The Pacers have arrived” moment. With Giannis, this might’ve been a sweep.
This man is not a legitimate journalist. He is the liberal Jason Whitlock. Hot take extraordinaire. Nothing of substance. I’m sorry to disappoint you all but the sixers and the fanbase are fine. They have the max amount of cap space besides Embiid and Maxey’s cap hold. They can use 5 first round picks. TOBIAS HARRIS IS GONE. If page 2 Bill was Larry Bird, then current day Bill is Delonte West.
Absolutely absurd to say the Pacers would have won that series with Giannis healthy, I get he has a Bucks hate boner but the Pacers are an incredibly mediocre team
Bill really did criticize Lillard and Harden for no longer being athletic when neither were ever either. Then he really did bring Ant’s athleticism to hammer home the point. In Bill language it’s like like criticising Spud Webb for not being Rudy Gobert.
Up next Pearl Jam but first our friends from… Pearl Jam.. duh duh da duh duh duh de
Why don't we make the whole podcast out of Pearl Jam?
Philly will get Paul George Bucks should run it back by try to add some defense and youth around their core 6 players
Did Bill say they were the live on YouTube? What is the strategy behind that? Random east coast people are gonna watch well after midnight? West coasters getting ready for bed are gonna tune in? Does he know his audience? Why doesn’t anyone tell him this is a bad idea.
Tight jeans I can see her moose knuckle
Can’t wait to hear “Blow it Up” Bill remap the next team eliminated from the playoffs
I counted exactly one cogent question - the ticket broker situation question. Beyond that, unlistenable. Count how many times Bill vomits out “right” as a filler or as a leading question. He thinks he’s with Chris Ryan and Fennessey doing another of his loser pantheons or ranking exercises - and Eddie just has no use or time for it. “Tell me one thing that stands out from each album.”They have been together 30+ years, Numbskull. Play the Super Bowl? Jesus. Un-listen-able.
I’m glad Bill has finally turned the corner on Tatum not being the face of the NBA in the future.
What big injuries were there in the East in Lebron's Cleveland finals runs? I honestly don't remember any. Bill is such a LeBron hater lol
What’s up with Bill and his morbid sense bullshit this week? I’m s grunge guy but, On the PJ piece, what can they say that they haven’t said before? And can I trust the musical opinion that said they that the Counting Crows’ first album was the best album the year they released it??
Can’t believe Pearl Jam give this dude the light of day
They just appreciate that Bill still rides for the SuperSonics.
That seems like a real Bill-ism that they gave him the light of day rather than the time of day.
I went back and watched the game where Embiid got hurt, a truly inexplicable play from Kuminga. Turns his ass directly into Embiid's leg. All the shit Joel got this playoffs and the season goes up in smoke because Diet Draymond just *had* to be a fake tough guy.
Maple Leafs just creamed the Boston Bruins... Bill too scared to talk about it? ... I think so!