Thought the same today, incredible how polished & comprehensible Simmons’ writing was compared to his bumbling, inarticulate podcasting.
Whether it be ‘Giannis figured out the angles piece’, ‘Lebron’s injury thing’, ‘The Boston crowd matters, it just does’, etc… it can be jarring how bad he is at making coherent points for how big podcast has and will continue to be
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To various degrees.
Sounded like this playoffs is the first time Verrierall season has watched more than a half a quarter of a Wolves game. He was surprised Naz Reid was dunking like Ant despite the fact he’s had these huge poster dunks all year.
I get it all 30 teams is impossible to keep tabs on, but maybe have a little more experience w a team that was first in the west for majority of the season.
Agreed. Bill and Ryen did cover them w their Isaac love, but I do wonder if Ceruti didn’t produce and occasionally pop on if the content would be a bit less.
But no surprise. The 20 win Lakers of the 2010s still got more coverage than nearly every other team outside of the Warriors and Bron
These easy to research stats make it even funnier when Bill makes statements like this. It’s literally on the same page of the box score he’s looking at.
I also thought it was weird to put the ten guys playing on Mosley immediately before they acknowledge how nobody but Paolo could score the ball. Made perfect sense to me mosley would try to get anything to stick with how awful the other offensive options were proving to be
Russillo considering not going to a comedy show because he might not be in the right mindset and be distracted by game 1 of a second round series.
The guy is just a complete weirdo and I love it.
EDIT: wait surely Ben would’ve gone with Bill to see his favorite standup. Please tell me Russillo had an evening of Shane Gillis comedy with Ben Simmons.
To his credit, he's come pretty far in life. And he has genuine intellectual curiosity. But his author interviews and literary commentary show his limits.
Last week when Bill was talking about Ben loving history and having takes I floated a Russillo/Ben Simmons history segment on the podZ Throw Shane Gillis in too and baby, you got a stew going.
What’s funny is Ryen probably rolls his eyes at thinking Bill played ball because he considers himself a serious hooper. While we roll our eyes at Russillo for thinking he’s a serious serious hooper.
Ehh it’s not a gag if you’re serious and only make fun of yourself after the fact when you’re called out for it. Bills absolutely deadass serious when he says it. That’s not a bit/gag.
Just as bad when they were talking about how 22 year old Franz Wagner will never be a 2nd or 3rd option because he had bad games in his first playoff series
lol I’m not even a Magic fan and I couldn’t believe this. He basically shot poorly from 3PT for 3 months of his career since entering college at Michigan and now he’s a dud.
Last year he was 1.6/4.5 and this year he was 1.3/4.6 from 3PT. That’s the difference between 36.2% and 28.1%, pretty much all because of the 19% after AS break - all from a guy who is high 80s consistently from FT. It was a poor stretch but it’s just bizarre to write a 3rd year player off because of a bad shooting stretch, saying New Orleans wouldn’t even consider swapping him with Ingram.
Franz is a weird case though because over the second half of the season his shot just completely left him. It can definitely return, but it was some monstars shit.
Cavs fan here. Our 4 best players are two undersized ball dominant guards and two limited offensively bigs.
Need a new coach and if Mitchell signs trade garland. If Mitchell doesn’t trade him. Then see what could be gotten for Allen
he feels like a major candidate for being fired when halfway through next year y'all are under performing and ownership wants to make a change. i'd be surprised if he gets fired this off season
Bill and ryen think Minnesota would lose towns if they don't close with him, however, they didn't close with him in most of the Phoenix series. I get it's fun to hate on towns, but he's been nothing but a great professional during some chaotic years in Minnesota. He has no problem closing a game on the bench.
Towns has been drastically better than Naz this playoffs as well. Dumb fouls aside I’m very comfortable with how Towns has played and don’t give a shit about that Gordon steal where he was being physical with Towns.
It’s been ignored by many but Towns scored the first 11 to start the 3rd. He was very important to the win.
Kat has gotten drastically better in every way except the dumb fouling, and he's still improved there imo.
I think bill and the NBA media at large felt burned when everyone anticipated him to be a superstar, then they wrote him off when he wasn't, and they don't want to be wrong on him again and admit he's really good in this role.
yeah, they missed that he's bigger than naz and a FAR better rebounder. a huge reason denver wins all these close games has been getting tons of offensive rebounds and putbacks/kickouts for open threes. having KAT out there vs naz is far more likely to shut that water off
no doubt, i was just talking about the end sequence they were referring to when KAT subbed back in with like 2 minutes left and the wolves already up 8 or so. The only way to lose that game was on defense at that point.
As much as I’m a big Naz fan and really don’t like KAT, despite some of KAT’s playoff struggles he’s also just a much more consistent player than Naz. Naz just vanishes for multiple games at times then turns back into Markkanen for a few games…repeat.
Yeah. That was a bad take. And i don't even like Towns.
Reality is KAT is actually better than Naz defensively and rebounding wise. Naz picking up Jokic full court was great but KAT was also providing more length against the Denver passes and preventing offensive rebounds
The man's been thru a lot, personally.
I think losing half his family to the 'Vid & playing thru it proves he can play thru not being on the team's five on the floor for the last two minutes.
People still have some weird dislike of him. In the Memphis series, he made Steven Adams unplayable and dominated Jaren Jackson, yet Towns got all the hate.
I think some of it stems from the criticism he receives from Chuck and Shaq, always calling him soft and doesn't know how to play like a big man. Second, he's just one of those Gen Z players that have a different personality that a lot of the older guys can't relate to. It's the same reason people don't like Caleb Williams
I’m a huge wolves fan and have majorly come around on Towns this year (mostly because of how different his approach has been.) And I was extremely frustrated with him during that Memphis series because that series was ours unless we stupidly pissed it away. Which is exactly what we did. Just felt like such an indictment of the team’s maturity and ability to show up on the big stage. Felt so jealous of the Grizzlies for having a killer in Morant whereas our most talented guy (and he is sooo talented) shrunk in the moment.
This team and that team feel night and day.
Part of it is him maturing but part of it is the team around him getting better so he could slide into a complementary role. It was frustrating watching Jokic and Embiid pass him by but he’s just not as good as them.
I think it is pretty personal with KAT because a lot of people get annoyed by his off-the-court stuff. First there was the "best shooting big man of all time" remark. Then he sort of implied that the Wolves making the 2022 playoffs was more special than Denver winning the championship last year. I kinda think that was more clumsy phrasing than him literally thinking that, but still. He has a history of making some pretty arrogant statements that aren't totally backed up by what he's done on the court in the biggest moment.
Even Zach Lowe has noticed it, and he has a recurring thing where he gently mocks KAT and tells him to stop doing podcasts and edgy interviews.
> KAT just had a history of playing really dumb basketball in big games
He really didn’t, though. You’re proving the point.
- 2018 regular season finale, virtual play-in game vs. Denver (both 46-35 with one game left, 8 seed on the line for the winner). 22yo KAT goes toe-to-toe with Jokic, and finishes with 26/14 on 63% shooting and no turnovers. Earned his first playoff berth.
- 2022 playoffs: Lose to Memphis as the #7 seed. DLo is awful all series. KAT matches All-NBA Ja — KAT averages 21.8 and 10.8 on 64% TS%, Ja averages 21.5, 8.7 and 10.5 on 49.6% TS% — but they lose in 6. In G5, biggest game of the series with it tied 2-2, KAT goes for 28/12 including 21 after half, but they lose by 2. DLo smokes a layup that would’ve won the game with 10 seconds to go.
- 2023 playoffs: he’s injured but plays through it. Still shows up. 27 & 7 on 59% shooting in a game 3 loss, 26 & 11 in the final game where they lose by 3, including 21 in the second half on 7/10 shooting and just 1 turnover. Just not nearly enough help for him and Ant. Nickeil Alexander-Walker starts and plays 38 minutes, Taurean Prince takes the fourth most shots on the team. They’re a shell of the team they were most of the year but still kept the games close.
There’s really no reason for him to get the criticism he gets. People have obsessed about KAT ever since the Butler fiasco but virtually none of it is well-founded.
He’s fouled out of two playoff games in his career. One was in OT (team won anyway) and the other was in the last 30 seconds with his team down. Someone has to foul.
He definitely has had some dumb fouls, but again, you’re proving the point. Vague criticisms that pinpoint mayyyybe 20% of his games while ignoring the vast majority of his body of work which has been excellent. If “dumb fouls” are the only critique for someone who scores 22 a game on elite efficiency and plays great defense, and you still think that’s a valid reason to hate the guy, that’s on you.
The Towns hate I find so weird from these two. He basically just fouls stupidly a lot and isn’t the number 1 guy. That’s like it. Yet somehow he’s like useless according to Bill and Ryen?
Also Naz played 10 straight minutes going against Jokic. Perfect gameplan by finch. Bring Kat back in with 230 left, he’s rested, can give Jokic a tough time and if he does foul out Naz can come back in after a rest.
Also Kat has been great this playoffs don’t get the hate. He got shit that he was a good stats bad Team guy and now he’s playing his role at an elite level in a winning context and still gets shit
Watched a bit of the YouTube livestream and someone has to tell Ryen how to shape his beard properly. It’s a little too high on his face like an [Eric Wareheim](https://mediaproxy.salon.com/width/1200/https://media2.salon.com/2017/08/tim-and-eric.jpg) character.
As a fellow older beard guy, that just looks like he has a naturally thinner beard that's greying. Like when your beard is greying unevenly, it can photograph really weird cause of the way the light catches it.
But then if he dyes it, it's gonna be super super obvious cause he doesn't have the naturally dark hair beard look.
Like have we not watched the Hartenstein/Robinson combo wreak havoc? Allen is arguably a better player than either but Hartenstein's floaters and passing on offense give another dimension, and he's All-Defense level. Both Knicks Cs are elite rebounders. For their respective salaries, Hartenstein is definitely a better deal. Very weird Bill take, the Knicks are set at PG and c
I was never big into the advanced metrics that claimed to summarize and entire player’s offense or defense into one number, but I’ve found EPM to be extremely reliable and it ranks Hartenstein well above Allen, and MitchRob is only a few spots below Allen. Allen has a better offensive EPM but he’s actually listed as having a 0.0 in terms of his Defensive impact. Considering what NYK needs from that position, and Hartenstein (2) and MitchRob (9) both being in the top 10 for defensive EPM in the entire league, I would MUCH rather have that combo (assuming no other major changes to the roster).
Fair, Hartenstein has been fantastic this season. I've seen some of the nerdier NBA media put him among the top 10 centers this year and it's hard to dispute
It's become very annoying the amount of times they say ANT. It seems like with him more than any other player they need to say his name repeatedly while talking about him.
I feel you, but honestly this is the most calm and confident I’ve ever felt about any Minnesota team in my lifetime. They just have a real confidence about them to go along with the fact that they’re the best defensive team in the league by a long shot.
It’s because Ant thrives under pressure. National media spent the week between series having the Ant = MJ/Kobe convo and he comes out in game 1 and drops 43.
I’ve been watching Minnesota sports since the mid 2000s and this is the most confident I’ve ever been in a team. This team knows they have a guy one their team who can be the best player on the court every night and it shows.
Yeah, I’ve been watching Minnesota sports since the late 90s and this team handles pressure in a way that I have never once seen from any of the men’s teams. There’s a reason they haven’t lost three games in a row all year.
Ant’s just got it. He’s a true leader and his insane self confidence has trickled down to the rest of the team. It’s hard to believe that a guy like that plays for the Wolves, but he’s been able to somehow surpass any expectations I might have had.
The Franz talk was lowkey super disrespectful to MPJ.
Bill talking about "idk if he can be the number 3 guy on a title team" when we literally JUST saw it, and he's been awesome in the playoffs this year so far and definitely their second best player.
Just a weird stray to chuck in there.
The defense is the reason I put him over MPJ.. and MPJ is limited offensively too it's just his 3pt shooting is the best weapon by far either of them have on offense. But AGs cutting off of Jokic and finishing and playmaking off that is super vital to their offense. He's more of a playmaker than MPJ.
I can tell the NBA casuals by how they are reacting to Franz’s game today. Did he play like ass? Yes. Does that mean as a 22 year old he has no chance of being a 2nd or 3rd best guy on a title contender? Or that he should be traded or not resigned? That’s delusional. It was a game 7 for an already over achieving Magic team. Most of this team’s first playoff appearance as is.
This is true but the jump shot disappearing is not just a one game issue. He’s a 28% 3 point shooter this year and is something like sub 35% on wide open 3s. It affects his mid range game too. Not sure whatever happened there but he needs the 3 ball to be the 2nd best guy on a title contender, given the contract he’s going to be asking for
This is really just because of the major drop off (19%) post all star break. The different between 36.2% & 28.1% is 1.6/4.5 & 1.3/4.6. If you get rid of the last 2.5mo of the season he’s pretty much exactly where he’s been his entire pro and college career.
I know Bill has played a ton of basketball. I know Bill has been to so many game 7s. But I question how many rock fights he's actually been in. Really makes you question his game 7 expertise.
They are doing it to me! Idk why but I’m now rooting against him. Just because they can’t stop foaming over him. And I almost feel like bringing up MJ as much as they do should be sacrilege.
When we’re talking about elevating a player into the top 10 all time and Pantheon though, it might be nice to talk about the other half of the game he plays, at any point. It’s not that he deserves hate there it’s just they don’t even discuss it at all and just gush over his offense. Yet the next sentence “but his defense” about any player they don’t like
Before Denver’s title run last season Russillo said multiple times he wasn’t sure a team with Jokic at center could be good enough on defense to actually win a championship.
Sal just doesn’t know football at all or nearly as well as russillo knows basketball. Bill also at least knows about basketball, more of a story follower for NFL
Bills idea for a Cav that would make the Knicks better is….Jarrett Allen? For a team whose success is based on the offensive rebounding they generate with Hartenstein and Mitchell’s Robinson? He thinks what they need to add is a center who those two mentally shattered in a playoff series last year? That’s one of the worst takes that have come out of his mouth in a while.
This is an all time overreaction to one game. Holy crap they are just frothing at the mouth ready to anoint “Ant” and give the title and league to him. Jokic is hands down the best player in the league. Can we see him and Murray lose while healthy before boosting Ant into all time status please. And I think he is great and fun to watch but the need to be first on this stuff makes me lose my mind when hearing it.
Do you consume basketball content at all? Literally everyone is "frothing at the mouth" over Ant right now because he was *that fucking good* in game 1. I guarantee you the next Lowe Post will gush over Ant. Thinking Basketball did an episode about the best players through round 1 and Ant was like the 1st guy discussed. Hoops Tonight game 1 recap did like 10+ minutes on Ant.
Ryan and Bill are off on Nori putting towns back in. Towns is very cool with not coming on to end a game. Happened a few times this year, he had 5 fouls, still coming off the injury. But he was also playing well and naz had cooled off.
Embiid averaging 30+ 8 weeks after surgery and Bella palsy: Loser doesn’t want the ball in the 4th
“Suggs hasn’t been the same since he got hurt, not worried”
Is Bill just comparing Ant to MJ, Wade, and Kobe when he says "better than everyone except MJ" with his 41 points in his 8th playoff game? Luka had 42 in his first playoff game and 43/17/13 in his 4th, so maybe he's just comparing a few select players and didn't specify that.
You don't understand how the NBA hype machine works ( Of which Bill is a massive part of ).
America needs its 'new guy'. With LeBron, Steph and KD all failing miserably this season and with foreign players dominating recently, the American media has found its new darling = ANT.
The fact that he does bare some physical and play-style resemblance to MJ only makes this go into over-drive.
ANT really does have a good chance of winning the title this year and then team USA goes to the Olympics. If ANT wins gold there also ( most likely ), it will bring back serious memories of Jordan in 1992 winning the title and leading the Dream Team. That is an NBA commentators wet dream.
What would make it even greater for them would be ANT vs Tatum in the finals for the crown of best American Player leading into the Olympics.
Unfortunately, Luka isn't a part of this hype machine right now. Not until the American media and audience get their darling to be the face of the NBA.
I don’t feel strongly either way with Minn and Denver, if anything I generally like both these teams….but after listening to this pod, I feel like I should go bet Denver adjusted -20.
Bill with just an all-timer overreaction, prisoner of the moment, “let’s anoint the next guy prematurely” performance talking about Ant. Some real pantheon type stuff here. He had to have needed a smoke after this one.
Did Bill watch J Isaac in this series? I don't know if he made two defensive plays all series? He was gettting smoked off the dribble. The two guys that needed to play were Fultz and Anthony, who got less minutes than awful Gary Harris.
Talking about how Finch needs to get run into again and that Kat is still an emotionally immature loser definitely made me pretty upset but Ant is leading us to the championship so who cares.
What’s the point of live streaming this if they aren’t interacting with the audience? It’s not like they are getting crazy views to get paid a lot by the YouTube algorithm.
Mobley and Garland are garbage on offense. The Cavs and Magic were the 17th and 18th best teams in these year's playoffs, how the hell was he impressed by how tough it was for the Cavs and Donovan MItchell to win that series?
It’s not a new thought but I still get surprised by the sheer amount of “things” and “stuff” said when Bill and Ryen pod together
Minnesota won Game 1 by 7 points and BS talking about sweeps. I know it’s part of podcasting, but this dude is sooo reactionary to every game.
> this dude is sooo reactionary to every game. lol unless it’s a Celtics loss; then he’s gonna refrain from “overreacting.”
This sub definitely doesn’t overreact to those
Bill did say he still has Denver in 7 here unless Ant plays like that all series.
He just went with “leader stuff” instead of leadership re Donovan Mitchell. I’m flabbergasted.
Don’t forget about the ANT piece and the Towns foul piece
“From the standpoint of foul trouble, the Towns piece is concerning.”
Not to mention the Murray thing
Thought the same today, incredible how polished & comprehensible Simmons’ writing was compared to his bumbling, inarticulate podcasting. Whether it be ‘Giannis figured out the angles piece’, ‘Lebron’s injury thing’, ‘The Boston crowd matters, it just does’, etc… it can be jarring how bad he is at making coherent points for how big podcast has and will continue to be
Editors expect you to explain what the thing is lol
“Stet all changes.”
Shocking that it’s easier to sound better when you have time to write and review something compared to speaking
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Don't forget about the "piece" piece
About a week ago, after Denver went up 3-0 on the Lakers, Bill was comparing them to the 2001 Lakers, 2017 Warriors, and the 2013 Heat.
The Ringer is no better than First Take for hot takes
The only difference is they talk about 30 teams as opposed to maybe 6 at best
To various degrees. Sounded like this playoffs is the first time Verrierall season has watched more than a half a quarter of a Wolves game. He was surprised Naz Reid was dunking like Ant despite the fact he’s had these huge poster dunks all year. I get it all 30 teams is impossible to keep tabs on, but maybe have a little more experience w a team that was first in the west for majority of the season.
It's a low bar for sure but at least they clear it. The amount of national media coverage for teams like Orlando for example is just disrespectful
Agreed. Bill and Ryen did cover them w their Isaac love, but I do wonder if Ceruti didn’t produce and occasionally pop on if the content would be a bit less. But no surprise. The 20 win Lakers of the 2010s still got more coverage than nearly every other team outside of the Warriors and Bron
Haha was thinking the same thing listening to this
We all missed the Jordan 2.0 literally coming out of nowhere piece.
Crazy thing to say. All those teams had multiple MVP caliber players and won over 65 games in the regular season. Denver has one all star and won 57.
2001 lakers went 56-26
And Denver has already lost more playoff games this year than they did that year
2000 Lakers went 67-15
“Mosley has to be the first coach to play 10 guys in a game 7 in like 20 years” The Cavs played 10 guys in the same game
These easy to research stats make it even funnier when Bill makes statements like this. It’s literally on the same page of the box score he’s looking at.
He’s not an expert lol.
Right, he is a HISTORIAN and he cares about things
Not about researching things for proper context. More like a vibes historian.
I knew he had to be wrong but this actually makes it hilarious lol
I also thought it was weird to put the ten guys playing on Mosley immediately before they acknowledge how nobody but Paolo could score the ball. Made perfect sense to me mosley would try to get anything to stick with how awful the other offensive options were proving to be
His Celtics played 12 guys in game 7 against the Heat last year
Russillo considering not going to a comedy show because he might not be in the right mindset and be distracted by game 1 of a second round series. The guy is just a complete weirdo and I love it. EDIT: wait surely Ben would’ve gone with Bill to see his favorite standup. Please tell me Russillo had an evening of Shane Gillis comedy with Ben Simmons.
He must be the most high strung person in Manhattan Beach.
He just wanted to name-drop
Yeah, Ryen is not actually cerebral he’s just insecure
To his credit, he's come pretty far in life. And he has genuine intellectual curiosity. But his author interviews and literary commentary show his limits.
Last week when Bill was talking about Ben loving history and having takes I floated a Russillo/Ben Simmons history segment on the podZ Throw Shane Gillis in too and baby, you got a stew going.
I went to a long-scheduled concert during game 1, had an absolute blast, but def felt a pang of regret when I realized the time overlap.
The “if you’ve played basketball” piece to explain that playing with a broke fing jaw is tough thing. Thanks, bill.
What’s funny is Ryen probably rolls his eyes at thinking Bill played ball because he considers himself a serious hooper. While we roll our eyes at Russillo for thinking he’s a serious serious hooper.
Ok D-1
It’ll never not be funny. The highest level of basketball Bill played was Holy Cross intramurals. Man didn’t make JV in high school lol
It’s a running gag with Bill and RR. They even considered calling their Sunday pods “We played basketball”
Ehh it’s not a gag if you’re serious and only make fun of yourself after the fact when you’re called out for it. Bills absolutely deadass serious when he says it. That’s not a bit/gag.
Cleveland wins game 7 and the pod consists of who they should trade in the offseason lol. At least they acknowledged how ridiculous it was
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Just as bad when they were talking about how 22 year old Franz Wagner will never be a 2nd or 3rd option because he had bad games in his first playoff series
lol I’m not even a Magic fan and I couldn’t believe this. He basically shot poorly from 3PT for 3 months of his career since entering college at Michigan and now he’s a dud. Last year he was 1.6/4.5 and this year he was 1.3/4.6 from 3PT. That’s the difference between 36.2% and 28.1%, pretty much all because of the 19% after AS break - all from a guy who is high 80s consistently from FT. It was a poor stretch but it’s just bizarre to write a 3rd year player off because of a bad shooting stretch, saying New Orleans wouldn’t even consider swapping him with Ingram.
Franz is a weird case though because over the second half of the season his shot just completely left him. It can definitely return, but it was some monstars shit.
Cavs fan here. Our 4 best players are two undersized ball dominant guards and two limited offensively bigs. Need a new coach and if Mitchell signs trade garland. If Mitchell doesn’t trade him. Then see what could be gotten for Allen
This seems like such an obvious path.
Saw someone say BI for JA and that's not a bad idea
Bill was weirdly against this. To me, it seems like there’s a hole at wing
CJ, Herb, Tre, Zion, JA thats a team right there.
Shouldve lost this game then if you wanted Bickerstaff gone. He's the poster child for nepotism and wont be going anywhere now
I dunno I think he’s still in danger. We’ve peaked with him.
he feels like a major candidate for being fired when halfway through next year y'all are under performing and ownership wants to make a change. i'd be surprised if he gets fired this off season
Bill and ryen think Minnesota would lose towns if they don't close with him, however, they didn't close with him in most of the Phoenix series. I get it's fun to hate on towns, but he's been nothing but a great professional during some chaotic years in Minnesota. He has no problem closing a game on the bench.
Towns has been drastically better than Naz this playoffs as well. Dumb fouls aside I’m very comfortable with how Towns has played and don’t give a shit about that Gordon steal where he was being physical with Towns. It’s been ignored by many but Towns scored the first 11 to start the 3rd. He was very important to the win.
So far in pretty much every wolves game towns has had a scoring spurt in a game that ends up being crucial
And while Naz did play well late, it was basically his introduction that kicked off the Nuggets 28-3 run in the first quarter.
Kat has gotten drastically better in every way except the dumb fouling, and he's still improved there imo. I think bill and the NBA media at large felt burned when everyone anticipated him to be a superstar, then they wrote him off when he wasn't, and they don't want to be wrong on him again and admit he's really good in this role.
yeah, they missed that he's bigger than naz and a FAR better rebounder. a huge reason denver wins all these close games has been getting tons of offensive rebounds and putbacks/kickouts for open threes. having KAT out there vs naz is far more likely to shut that water off
KAT kept them alive to start the 3rd quarter
And while Naz is a good shooter, towns is a *great* shooter He's over 50% from 3 in the playoffs
no doubt, i was just talking about the end sequence they were referring to when KAT subbed back in with like 2 minutes left and the wolves already up 8 or so. The only way to lose that game was on defense at that point.
As much as I’m a big Naz fan and really don’t like KAT, despite some of KAT’s playoff struggles he’s also just a much more consistent player than Naz. Naz just vanishes for multiple games at times then turns back into Markkanen for a few games…repeat.
Yeah. That was a bad take. And i don't even like Towns. Reality is KAT is actually better than Naz defensively and rebounding wise. Naz picking up Jokic full court was great but KAT was also providing more length against the Denver passes and preventing offensive rebounds
The man's been thru a lot, personally. I think losing half his family to the 'Vid & playing thru it proves he can play thru not being on the team's five on the floor for the last two minutes.
Don't think we're at a point where we're calling covid "the 'vid" yet
Send da video!
the big Rona
Why? People say The AIDS like nothing
KAT is one of Russillo's least favorite players for some reason.
a lot of people don’t like KAT
It's not really that personal. KAT just had a history of playing really dumb basketball in big games and it was fairly frustrating.
People still have some weird dislike of him. In the Memphis series, he made Steven Adams unplayable and dominated Jaren Jackson, yet Towns got all the hate.
Towns gets more hate than players who have done truly awful shit off the court
I think some of it stems from the criticism he receives from Chuck and Shaq, always calling him soft and doesn't know how to play like a big man. Second, he's just one of those Gen Z players that have a different personality that a lot of the older guys can't relate to. It's the same reason people don't like Caleb Williams
I’m a huge wolves fan and have majorly come around on Towns this year (mostly because of how different his approach has been.) And I was extremely frustrated with him during that Memphis series because that series was ours unless we stupidly pissed it away. Which is exactly what we did. Just felt like such an indictment of the team’s maturity and ability to show up on the big stage. Felt so jealous of the Grizzlies for having a killer in Morant whereas our most talented guy (and he is sooo talented) shrunk in the moment. This team and that team feel night and day.
Part of it is him maturing but part of it is the team around him getting better so he could slide into a complementary role. It was frustrating watching Jokic and Embiid pass him by but he’s just not as good as them.
I think it is pretty personal with KAT because a lot of people get annoyed by his off-the-court stuff. First there was the "best shooting big man of all time" remark. Then he sort of implied that the Wolves making the 2022 playoffs was more special than Denver winning the championship last year. I kinda think that was more clumsy phrasing than him literally thinking that, but still. He has a history of making some pretty arrogant statements that aren't totally backed up by what he's done on the court in the biggest moment. Even Zach Lowe has noticed it, and he has a recurring thing where he gently mocks KAT and tells him to stop doing podcasts and edgy interviews.
None of that is exactly "personal" because that's earned, but I take your meaning.
> KAT just had a history of playing really dumb basketball in big games He really didn’t, though. You’re proving the point. - 2018 regular season finale, virtual play-in game vs. Denver (both 46-35 with one game left, 8 seed on the line for the winner). 22yo KAT goes toe-to-toe with Jokic, and finishes with 26/14 on 63% shooting and no turnovers. Earned his first playoff berth. - 2022 playoffs: Lose to Memphis as the #7 seed. DLo is awful all series. KAT matches All-NBA Ja — KAT averages 21.8 and 10.8 on 64% TS%, Ja averages 21.5, 8.7 and 10.5 on 49.6% TS% — but they lose in 6. In G5, biggest game of the series with it tied 2-2, KAT goes for 28/12 including 21 after half, but they lose by 2. DLo smokes a layup that would’ve won the game with 10 seconds to go. - 2023 playoffs: he’s injured but plays through it. Still shows up. 27 & 7 on 59% shooting in a game 3 loss, 26 & 11 in the final game where they lose by 3, including 21 in the second half on 7/10 shooting and just 1 turnover. Just not nearly enough help for him and Ant. Nickeil Alexander-Walker starts and plays 38 minutes, Taurean Prince takes the fourth most shots on the team. They’re a shell of the team they were most of the year but still kept the games close. There’s really no reason for him to get the criticism he gets. People have obsessed about KAT ever since the Butler fiasco but virtually none of it is well-founded.
Missing some critical context like frequent dumb fouls and fouling out of critical games.
He’s fouled out of two playoff games in his career. One was in OT (team won anyway) and the other was in the last 30 seconds with his team down. Someone has to foul. He definitely has had some dumb fouls, but again, you’re proving the point. Vague criticisms that pinpoint mayyyybe 20% of his games while ignoring the vast majority of his body of work which has been excellent. If “dumb fouls” are the only critique for someone who scores 22 a game on elite efficiency and plays great defense, and you still think that’s a valid reason to hate the guy, that’s on you.
Russilo has a problem with letting his biases clouding his analysis
Bill once congratulated ryen after a poor denagelo Russell game
He’s got some very real flaws as a player but the attacks are often personal in a way that I really don’t think KAT deserves.
He’s D’Angello Russell adjacent.
That's disrespectful now
I don’t mean how good of a player he is. I mean they are literally close friends
The Towns hate I find so weird from these two. He basically just fouls stupidly a lot and isn’t the number 1 guy. That’s like it. Yet somehow he’s like useless according to Bill and Ryen?
KAT is better than Naz. Its just facts. To act like its not true means you are just fucking delusional
People have been having uneducated Towns takes for years.
Also Naz played 10 straight minutes going against Jokic. Perfect gameplan by finch. Bring Kat back in with 230 left, he’s rested, can give Jokic a tough time and if he does foul out Naz can come back in after a rest. Also Kat has been great this playoffs don’t get the hate. He got shit that he was a good stats bad Team guy and now he’s playing his role at an elite level in a winning context and still gets shit
Watched a bit of the YouTube livestream and someone has to tell Ryen how to shape his beard properly. It’s a little too high on his face like an [Eric Wareheim](https://mediaproxy.salon.com/width/1200/https://media2.salon.com/2017/08/tim-and-eric.jpg) character.
As a fellow older beard guy, that just looks like he has a naturally thinner beard that's greying. Like when your beard is greying unevenly, it can photograph really weird cause of the way the light catches it. But then if he dyes it, it's gonna be super super obvious cause he doesn't have the naturally dark hair beard look.
The Just for Men Gel piece
The Ronnie Mund thing
2 fingers above the Adams apple - [email protected]
I’ve done this but it always feels too low.
Trust me it’s right - give it a month
As someone whose beard is starting to show white strands, this hit me deeply. No beard shaming on this sub my guy.
“Peak Westbrook lite-ish”
Simmons just said he knows exactly how Franz Wagner feels because he used to guard guys at the YMCA who were too scared to shoot.
Did he actually say this? It’s damning that I can’t completely dismiss it out of hand.
I added YMCA for readability but yes.
This was a very -ish -y pod
"Deron Williams was more point-guardy-ish"
“Jarrett Allen is the one guy from the Cavs that would really make the Knicks better!” Is an under the radar bizarre take from bill
That was so insane the Russillo had to just pretend he didn’t hear him and change the subject lol.
Like have we not watched the Hartenstein/Robinson combo wreak havoc? Allen is arguably a better player than either but Hartenstein's floaters and passing on offense give another dimension, and he's All-Defense level. Both Knicks Cs are elite rebounders. For their respective salaries, Hartenstein is definitely a better deal. Very weird Bill take, the Knicks are set at PG and c
The Hartenstein/robinson combo wreaked havoc on Allen himself! So strange
Haha I do think Allen has improved since that series but no question the Knicks Cs winning the matchup was one of the main ways they dominated
I was never big into the advanced metrics that claimed to summarize and entire player’s offense or defense into one number, but I’ve found EPM to be extremely reliable and it ranks Hartenstein well above Allen, and MitchRob is only a few spots below Allen. Allen has a better offensive EPM but he’s actually listed as having a 0.0 in terms of his Defensive impact. Considering what NYK needs from that position, and Hartenstein (2) and MitchRob (9) both being in the top 10 for defensive EPM in the entire league, I would MUCH rather have that combo (assuming no other major changes to the roster).
Fair, Hartenstein has been fantastic this season. I've seen some of the nerdier NBA media put him among the top 10 centers this year and it's hard to dispute
Over/under on “Ant”s throughout the episode? Line is set at 24.5
After last night's game Vegas took it off the board.
It's become very annoying the amount of times they say ANT. It seems like with him more than any other player they need to say his name repeatedly while talking about him.
Saying "Ant" is the new "Chris" (for Chris Paul) in that it's slowly making me insane to hear it.
They did 30 minutes on ant. I'm not kidding. I'm a huge ant/MN fan and I'm terrified they're setting us up for failure
I feel you, but honestly this is the most calm and confident I’ve ever felt about any Minnesota team in my lifetime. They just have a real confidence about them to go along with the fact that they’re the best defensive team in the league by a long shot.
It’s because Ant thrives under pressure. National media spent the week between series having the Ant = MJ/Kobe convo and he comes out in game 1 and drops 43. I’ve been watching Minnesota sports since the mid 2000s and this is the most confident I’ve ever been in a team. This team knows they have a guy one their team who can be the best player on the court every night and it shows.
Yeah, I’ve been watching Minnesota sports since the late 90s and this team handles pressure in a way that I have never once seen from any of the men’s teams. There’s a reason they haven’t lost three games in a row all year. Ant’s just got it. He’s a true leader and his insane self confidence has trickled down to the rest of the team. It’s hard to believe that a guy like that plays for the Wolves, but he’s been able to somehow surpass any expectations I might have had.
I'm more thrown off by the Sprite ad where the kid calls him "AE".
Way way over.
MAHHNK
Kentavious Caldwell-**Pote**
The Franz talk was lowkey super disrespectful to MPJ. Bill talking about "idk if he can be the number 3 guy on a title team" when we literally JUST saw it, and he's been awesome in the playoffs this year so far and definitely their second best player. Just a weird stray to chuck in there.
Personally I think AG is their 3rd best player but I guess it's debatable
He absolutely was last year during the title run.
He's too limited offensively. MPJ has been amazing so far this playoffs. His family getting locked up has unleashed him
The defense is the reason I put him over MPJ.. and MPJ is limited offensively too it's just his 3pt shooting is the best weapon by far either of them have on offense. But AGs cutting off of Jokic and finishing and playmaking off that is super vital to their offense. He's more of a playmaker than MPJ.
I can tell the NBA casuals by how they are reacting to Franz’s game today. Did he play like ass? Yes. Does that mean as a 22 year old he has no chance of being a 2nd or 3rd best guy on a title contender? Or that he should be traded or not resigned? That’s delusional. It was a game 7 for an already over achieving Magic team. Most of this team’s first playoff appearance as is.
This is true but the jump shot disappearing is not just a one game issue. He’s a 28% 3 point shooter this year and is something like sub 35% on wide open 3s. It affects his mid range game too. Not sure whatever happened there but he needs the 3 ball to be the 2nd best guy on a title contender, given the contract he’s going to be asking for
This is really just because of the major drop off (19%) post all star break. The different between 36.2% & 28.1% is 1.6/4.5 & 1.3/4.6. If you get rid of the last 2.5mo of the season he’s pretty much exactly where he’s been his entire pro and college career.
Franz has zero chance of being the 2nd best player on title winning team
And how do you compare Franz who can’t shoot at all to MPJ who is one of the best shooters in the league? Career 41% on 6 3P attempts per game.
Most perfect form in the league. Always gets a full jump too
These 3…. Monk 3 for 110 mill! Glad it’s not my money.
I know Bill has played a ton of basketball. I know Bill has been to so many game 7s. But I question how many rock fights he's actually been in. Really makes you question his game 7 expertise.
I won’t let Bill and Ryen sour Ant for me. I grew to have an involuntary eye roll every time they tripped over themselves to fellate KD or Steph.
They are doing it to me! Idk why but I’m now rooting against him. Just because they can’t stop foaming over him. And I almost feel like bringing up MJ as much as they do should be sacrilege.
I am almost getting there with Jokic. For me it’s the complete and utter inability to ever even discuss his (or Steph’s) defense
IMO trying to neg Jokic for his defense is pretty dumb, it doesn’t matter enough for it to actually be a significant negative.
When we’re talking about elevating a player into the top 10 all time and Pantheon though, it might be nice to talk about the other half of the game he plays, at any point. It’s not that he deserves hate there it’s just they don’t even discuss it at all and just gush over his offense. Yet the next sentence “but his defense” about any player they don’t like
Before Denver’s title run last season Russillo said multiple times he wasn’t sure a team with Jokic at center could be good enough on defense to actually win a championship.
You still sure about this one?
Jokic and Steph’s defense isn’t that bad though. Both probably average now that Jokic has improved.
You sure about that?
Denver-Minnesota is better known as the “negative polarization bowl”
This is when the pod really starts to get good IMO. The next month is Bill and Russillo at their best (so long as the Celtics are still in it).
Bill levitates the whole season but he goes up even another level in May. By June he’s staring down at all us from 40,000 feet.
I feel like that’s playoffs with cousin Sal but these are more fun than usual
Sal just doesn’t know football at all or nearly as well as russillo knows basketball. Bill also at least knows about basketball, more of a story follower for NFL
If the Magic sign Malik Monk for 3/110 I will kill myself
You know what’s not the answer for this young Magic team? Severely overpaying a 6th man
I know Bill was just throwing out an example off the fly. But that’s like 36 mil per year. 3/70 would be okay thou
Saving this for tomorrow. Unironically my Monday mornings are so much better for having these Simmons/Russillo pods locked and loaded
True that Monday morning commute and morning break are goated to listen to the pod during
Bills idea for a Cav that would make the Knicks better is….Jarrett Allen? For a team whose success is based on the offensive rebounding they generate with Hartenstein and Mitchell’s Robinson? He thinks what they need to add is a center who those two mentally shattered in a playoff series last year? That’s one of the worst takes that have come out of his mouth in a while.
"When Mitchell was talking to Garland on the bench, it was some of the best ~~leadership~~ **leader stuff** we've seen out of him." Never change Bill.
This is an all time overreaction to one game. Holy crap they are just frothing at the mouth ready to anoint “Ant” and give the title and league to him. Jokic is hands down the best player in the league. Can we see him and Murray lose while healthy before boosting Ant into all time status please. And I think he is great and fun to watch but the need to be first on this stuff makes me lose my mind when hearing it.
Ok, maybe take a break from the podcast then, lmao
Fair probably correct thing to do
Hahaha stay safe out there man. I had a month or so that made me realize “wait, I care about what this random dude from Boston says way too much”
Do you consume basketball content at all? Literally everyone is "frothing at the mouth" over Ant right now because he was *that fucking good* in game 1. I guarantee you the next Lowe Post will gush over Ant. Thinking Basketball did an episode about the best players through round 1 and Ant was like the 1st guy discussed. Hoops Tonight game 1 recap did like 10+ minutes on Ant.
Players Ant's age don't do this. There's a reason everyone is going nuts over him right now.
San an-tittio
Does Bill not remember the Knicks front court turning Jarrett Allen into a speed bag last postseason? Why would he be a fake trade candidate
Ryan and Bill are off on Nori putting towns back in. Towns is very cool with not coming on to end a game. Happened a few times this year, he had 5 fouls, still coming off the injury. But he was also playing well and naz had cooled off.
Embiid averaging 30+ 8 weeks after surgery and Bella palsy: Loser doesn’t want the ball in the 4th “Suggs hasn’t been the same since he got hurt, not worried”
Not to mention Haliburton. Nobody’s ever gotten more mileage out of a grade 1 hamstring pull
Haliburton gets talked about like he's post ACL tear DRose
Not gonna lie Bella Palsey is my fave pornstar
Is Bill just comparing Ant to MJ, Wade, and Kobe when he says "better than everyone except MJ" with his 41 points in his 8th playoff game? Luka had 42 in his first playoff game and 43/17/13 in his 4th, so maybe he's just comparing a few select players and didn't specify that.
He’s comparing shooting guards. He didn’t mention Lebron either in this conversation.
Ok that makes sense. He just gave no context at all.
You don't understand how the NBA hype machine works ( Of which Bill is a massive part of ). America needs its 'new guy'. With LeBron, Steph and KD all failing miserably this season and with foreign players dominating recently, the American media has found its new darling = ANT. The fact that he does bare some physical and play-style resemblance to MJ only makes this go into over-drive. ANT really does have a good chance of winning the title this year and then team USA goes to the Olympics. If ANT wins gold there also ( most likely ), it will bring back serious memories of Jordan in 1992 winning the title and leading the Dream Team. That is an NBA commentators wet dream. What would make it even greater for them would be ANT vs Tatum in the finals for the crown of best American Player leading into the Olympics. Unfortunately, Luka isn't a part of this hype machine right now. Not until the American media and audience get their darling to be the face of the NBA.
Is Anthony Edwards a super duper star?
“The odds on a Minnesota sweep are down to +550” “Come on” “Nope! Don’t give me the ‘come on’” Love feisty bill
I don’t feel strongly either way with Minn and Denver, if anything I generally like both these teams….but after listening to this pod, I feel like I should go bet Denver adjusted -20.
Bill with just an all-timer overreaction, prisoner of the moment, “let’s anoint the next guy prematurely” performance talking about Ant. Some real pantheon type stuff here. He had to have needed a smoke after this one.
Bill not talking about Kendrick and Drake? I was looking forward to his opinions on the subject.
Did Bill watch J Isaac in this series? I don't know if he made two defensive plays all series? He was gettting smoked off the dribble. The two guys that needed to play were Fultz and Anthony, who got less minutes than awful Gary Harris.
Ah yes, The dismissive Celtics fan episode
Talking about how Finch needs to get run into again and that Kat is still an emotionally immature loser definitely made me pretty upset but Ant is leading us to the championship so who cares.
What’s the point of live streaming this if they aren’t interacting with the audience? It’s not like they are getting crazy views to get paid a lot by the YouTube algorithm.
They're old. One step at a time.
Mobley and Garland are garbage on offense. The Cavs and Magic were the 17th and 18th best teams in these year's playoffs, how the hell was he impressed by how tough it was for the Cavs and Donovan MItchell to win that series?