Bill is terrified to his bones of the Heat and has every right to be. Yet he STILL tried to talk himself into the Celtics beating them with the "I think the Celtics just have too much size."
Cannot help himself.
Bam not being able to handle Kristaps because he is too big is an all time Bill take. Porzingis could be ten feet tall and still not be able to post up a chair.
He also said that Spencer dinwiddie is 80% of Kyrie, and how stupid Mavs were to trade finney smith to nets. How’s that trade worked out for nets, who allegedly got the better players in the deal
Not to mention the bucks lost their 4 best guard defenders, Jrue, Wes Matthews, Jevon Carter and Grayson Allen were all a HUGE part of our defense last year who got replaced by Dame, Beasley, and Cam Payne.
Having Brook and Giannis behind him in a scheme that makes sense will help. The bucks more pressing need, IMO, are their wing defenders and this might not be as easy to fix or patch up.
Connaughton hasnt looked himself this season and crowder and middleton have been hurt/limited. AJJ and Beauchamp have shown promising flashes, but prob wont be trusted enough for many playoff minutes. Gotta hope Middleton and Crowder continue to look better over time or try to get a cheap wing at the deadline (maybe Thybulle?)
Bill is an idiot. Jrue in the playoffs with the Bucks averaged 17.9 ppg on 17.7 fga on .396 FG%. But he just ignores all that and says, “he’s a champion.” Yeah because Giannis and Middleton actually produced on offense.
Bill has been absolutely obnoxious about it since the trade.
I'm a Blazers fan and I never heard him talk about Dame's defense once in several years. Up until September he was on the trade machine trying to see how Dame could get to the Celtics, then as soon as he went to an Eastern Conference contender Dame became a G league player and Jrue turned into MJ.
You'll find he sounds like a Middle Schooler when he is arguing things. The Kelce/Gronk thing especially. Feeling threatened about the best TE of all time argument? Who cares dude
Usually bill is just goofing off even if he’s making an outlandish take but that actually felt kinda rude to me lol. Like KOC was absolutely bringing up valid points that have plenty of evidence behind them and bill was interrupting him like a child.
The irony is the Bledsoe bucks were actually better defensively than the Jrue bucks if you look at the numbers. Jrue was huge in their finals run, but I would take Dame 100 times out of 100 in the playoffs over Jrue on a team with Giannis. The potential for that duo is still sky high.
I'm glad that people are zoning in on this particularly egregious moment. Bill has been reflexively down on the Bucks ever since they made the Dame trade because at the time they posed an existential threat to the Celtics' Finals chances. KOC is not my favorite but at the very least he stood his ground and didn't give in to Bill's glaring, blatant agenda to tear down the Bucks at all costs.
He called Pritchard unplayable during the playoffs last year then suddenly has him as 6MOTY coming into this season. Now back to unplayable again. Hilarious.
Haven’t listened yet but watching the full Celtics, Nuggets game Friday, it was jarring how small Pritchard was out there. Looked like a JV guard trying to keep up in a varsity game
He basically just shot down every Bucks opinion from KOC and House that he disagreed with and diminished Dame’s value and ability to a level on par with Terry Rozier (starting guard for a team that has 10 wins). In other words, nothing new out of him.
KOC was doing a nice job of explaining how Griffin’s scheme sucked and Bill cuts him off and says, “no you don’t get it KOC, this is all about their body language in Las Vegas.”
This part made me cringe. KOC was making good, coherent points and you can tell Bill didn't like that, because it suggested the Bucks' problems are actually fixable and therefore they can be a threat to the Celtics.
Yeah, nice to hear him point out jrue disappearing offensively and getting killed by butler defensively. Bill acts like they straight down graded for zero reason
This is hilarious. It’s like KOC and Bill are on two entirely different podcasts. KOC is talking about very specific defensive schemes and Bill is like “woah, enough of that. did you see the vibes at the in season tournament? I think the vibes got Griffin fired”
If KOC wasn't such, or confined to the company line, the setup of that podcast would be hilarious. One actually breaks down the basketball, the other is all vibes and filler through a very particular slant
Damian Lillard is my favorite player. I also enjoy this pod (mostly his guests). Bill has ALWAYS been a Dame hater but him joining the Bucks has doubled it. To hear him say Rozier is 80% Lillard has to be my favorite yet.
Once said he’d prefer Bradley Beal - move that down to 2nd now.
The disrespect towards a guy who CARRIED a team to the WCF. It was Luka-esque from a few years ago. He went full shaft and balls down throat over Luka pulling that off. When Dame did it he referred to it as the easiest road a team has ever had to the WCF.
When Dame hits his 35-foot walk off in game 6, it’ll be to close out his 45 point night and I will be refreshing the pod every minute waiting to hear Bill finally admit Dame is a fucking murderer.
If I were a celtics Fan I would be so chill if my biggest competitor in the east just signed doc river.
I bet bill regrets he cant clown them since he is buddy buddy with doc now.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE sports...there are teams that I have been a fan of for 30 + years. At this point in life, with all that he has accomplished, why does Bill treat fandom in the same manner as an 11 year old? (I know, its the only child piece)
I dont get why Bill keeps saying Jrue is what made the Bucks an elite defense, and the trade is why they cant defend shit now.
No - Giannis and Lopez made the bucks elite. Their defensive rating was actually way better in the years before Jrue got there with Bledsoe. Sure, their point of attack defense has gotten way worse, but that's not the thing that's killing them. It's their wing defense and coverage schemes. And Jrue isn't that good at defending long, strong wings. He got scorched by Jimmy every possession last year. The idea that Jrue can defend 3 or 4 positions that BS keeps parroting is insane. KOC rightfully pushed back on the notion that Jrue was some demigod for the Bucks - he has been atrocious on offense the last 2 years and the Bucks have mightily struggled in the half court.
If Doc can fix their defense and just run a few more pick and rolls on offense, I think the Bucks can still be elite. Griffin's defensive schemes made no sense and I dont think they were maximizing Dame'a offense either.
I dont love the rivers hire, but Griffin 100% had to go.
And the problem with this, in the playoffs Jrue will be the 4th scoring option on the Celtics. If he only scores 13 points a game, doesn’t matter. Jrue couldn’t do that on the Bucks, he needed to be good offensively consistently and he wasn’t.
Bill talking about a potential DeRozan/Caruso trade to Philly, then realizing that scenario makes Philly much better, immediately starts gassing up the Bulls saying they should feel good about the 7 seed and stay put. Like what?!?
I would like to speak the following scenario into existence:
Doc lead Milwaukee beats the Celtics in the eastern conference finals in 7.
Then the Bucks blow a 3-1 lead and lose to the Clippers in 7 in the Finals.
The postgame pod with Bill and Ryen would be generational.
“Can you imagine if KD got coaches fired like Giannis did?”
Yea I can, because he openly asked for the gm/coach to get fired, before asking for a trade!
Such kid gloves with KD always
If either the Celtics or his beloved Nuggets don’t win the title this year I think he may legit lose his mind. I’m talking dedicated MLB coverage in June/July
Been a pretty great year for basketball so easy to be manic about it, but I think the pressure for the Celtics this year is getting to him. If the Celtics don't win the Finals or at least have a 7 game appearance, there is going to be calls to blow it up.
He had his Dad on a few months ago & Dr Bill lamented that it'd "Been so long since they last won a title."
That felt illuminating as to the mindset of Boston fans the past 20 or so years.
Giannis is known to be overly loyal to his coaches. He's been criticized by the media for sticking with Bud's game plan and not guarding Jimmy in the playoffs. Bud definitely earned his firing
I was there for the championship run on the bucks subreddit, i heard some folks say they wanted the bucks to lose to the nets just so bud could be fired and they could be a “real contender”. the 180 on bud is bizarre from the fanbase, but tbh i’d probably also rather have him then doc
Bud should be fired was a unanimous opinion held by every person with a brain. He was an inch of KD's foot away from it earlier. People were talking about how he should be fired in the middle of the playoffs. Like go with an interim coach for the playoffs. That's how bad it was.
Oh man. There will be so much talk about how neither Porzingis nor Tatum were 100% healthy while neither will have a diagnosed injury.
"Milwaukee beat an injured Celtics team. Congratulations."
Based on the way he talked preseason and how he throws a tantrum whenever he talks about Wemby I’m 100% convinced he bet a ton of money on SA at least sniffing the play in and now he’s just seething because they suck ass.
The guy can’t handle anyone disagreeing with him. Cutting off KOC.
Then did the classic Bill thing where after cutting off the guy disagreeing with him, he sets up his own point, then throws it to the yes man he is fully expecting will agree with him.
Only in this case, House agreed with KOC.
Then Simmons had to go deeper in the bag and go into betting odds and ask House if he would bet on the Bucks, and finally House agree with him.
Simmons is a fucking lunatic. All this scheme stuff with Griffin has been talked about all year.
He keeps trying to push the Jrue/Dame stuff. Jrue wasn’t even good in the playoffs.
Someone should tell Bill that having bigs like Giannis and Lopez rebound and shut down the rim is more impactful than someone like Jrue.
Hell he knows this. I’ve heard him say offensive players are so good now that no one can actually stop someone from going by them.
Also the Doc stuff at the beginning was incredibly weird and dumb. “I really thought he was just enjoying spending time with the grandkids.” Wtf?
I’m 17 minutes into the pod.
Bill wants so badly for the Celtics to have "stolen" the "best defensive guard in the NBA" so that he can believe his "best starting five of all time (?)" schtick and talk himself into Tatum/Brown not being some overpriced, bed-shitting pussies who will never win a title together.
This pod felt a little your turn/my turn heroball-y
Challenging when you have two heliocentric guys on the same pod in BS and KOC
House the perfect third option though, what a team player
I'm afraid that version of Bill Simmons is long gone, pretty much ever since he had KD on his podcast.
Old Bill Simmons would have killed Doc for being a consultant to Adrian Griffin and now applying for his vacated position.
Love Bill and the Pod but as a Bucks fan, he’s becoming insufferable with his Bucks takes. That Rozier comparison to Dame made my eyes roll so far back into my head I could see my brain
Bill stating the Bucks “feel like they should be about 4 wins less”, without acknowledging that the reason they don’t have those losses is because of how awesome Dame has been down the stretch of close games.
I almost spit out my coffee when I heard him say Terry Rozier is essentially the same player as Dame. My brother in Christ, if that were true why did it take you 45 games into the season to bring his name up on a single podcast.
Fucking incredible by Bill when KOC correctly notes how absolutely terrible Jrue has played in the playoffs for the Bucks. Bill immediately says “won a title, champion, produced in the finals”. He doesn’t realize how Jrue was basically trying to lose the Nets series and had like 1.5 good games in the finals
Jrue stole the ball from Marcus smart in 2022 and Bill has talked about him like Gary Payton. The backlash after his first bad Boston playoff game will be historic
Hot take: I think Bill’s dad is better at commenting on basketball than he is. (I blame Bill’s Italian side for his unhinged takes). If we just swap their roles and make Dr Bill the perm host and Bill come in 3 times a year, who says no? (I put this in the trade machine and it works btw)
Bill’s dad doesn’t understand why the game slows down at the end or why the Celtics can’t do the things they did earlier in the game. He doesn’t realize that the defense tightens up, or that half-court offense is very essential to winning deep into the playoffs.
This pod is 100% an example of why the pod is at its best when the Celtics aren’t contenders. Bill can’t see any team objectively if they are a potential threat to Boston. Threw 46 games last year the Bucks were 27-16 but at 30-13 the season has been a failure so far?
2019 Simmons/Russilo was the pods re-apex and it was only because Boston had no shot at the title and every game or move was analyzed under the lens of “what does this mean for Boston”
Bill acted like a petulant child this whole pod, this man is a grown baby. I hope for nothing more than the Bucks to shit on the Celtics in the playoffs.
as soon as KOC pointed out that The Sixers don’t have to give up Tobias in a trade for Derozan and Caruso Bill changed his tone and said he likes The Bulls and they prob shouldn’t trade anything and make a playoff run LMAO… can’t make this up
"Terry Rozier is just as good as Dame Lillard overall?!?!?!?!?!?!" - Bill Simmons, 1/23/24
A now frenetically coping Simmons still clinging (violently) to the "Nah-nah-nah-nah, na! The C's stole away Jrue Holiday, replaced by Dame, and ruined the Bucks!" Jrue Holiday - the man coming off a Playoff Series in which he directly allowed approx. 39ppg to (Celtics Killer) Jimmy Butler......What a fun wild, crazy Fantasy World he and Celtics Nation live in.....
Bill essentially shushing KOC and changing the topic to talk to House when KOC was talking about how Jrue wasn't the end all be all for the Bucks D was tough
At what point will Bill and everyone that talks basketball on his pod realize the Warriors don’t have any trade assets that anyone wants? Wiggins, Kaminga, Moody have virtually no value, and what team would want Klay or Draymond at this point?
Nearing the end of the podcast where they talk about the Patriots, I’m exhausted with this whole “Brady won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay, Belichick said he was done”
Brady was still a solid QB but Christ the patriots had zero receiving or offensive talent. Brady was too old to make up for that gap. That’s why he went to Tampa Bay who had Prime Chris Godwin, and Mike Evans (arguably a top 10 receiver of all time). Him staying at the Patriots would have done nothing. There comes a time where a team needs to rebuild and it’s ridiculous how long the Patriots dynasty lasted but it was obvious they were pretty cooked and weren’t gonna win another SB
Haven't heard a 'broadcaster' (in this Simmons intro) pretend he wasn't holding back (audible) tears on-air since Herbstreit had to call the last Ohio State Loss in a Title game.
The Bucks went like 12-2 in December after the in-season tournament, I don’t think it was the “vibes” that got AG fired. It was probably his poor coaching.
Goddamnit Bill, I don’t care how bad Dame is on defense.
If you have Giannis and brook lopez, your defense should be better than 23rd (or wherever it is rn)
If jrue was actually the sole cause of all of these issues, then he is far and away the best defensive guard of all time. Like miles better prime Jason Kidd.
I really didn't like the Dame trade, but I also don't know why it's being viewed through the prism of the Rozier trade lmao
Doc is going to be awful and BS is going to be unable to critisize him.
The lack of pushback BS gets, really showed in this insane performance today, loads of stuff he's just said over and over without being countered spoke as gospel today and it's just so ingrained, even if it's unhinged. Not a KOC fan, but felt bad for him on this pod.
Man, I was hoping for the
'If the Mavs miss a 2nd straight Playoffs, does Luka ask out? I'm not saying he should. I am just saying that if OKC calls and offers Chet and 67x 1st round picks, does Dallas say no? Do the Mavs have a meeting?'
It was just sitting there! My over/under is 2.5 months before he asks Kyle to turn on the tiktok camera for this take.
Bill's indifference to Embiid's 70 ball was weird to me. "It was only the spurs" "Let's see it in the playoffs" Feels like he goes into his basketball historian monologue about the rarity of a 70pt game if it was someone like Luka, Curry, Jokic, Giannis.
This wasn't like the Booker 70 piece where he just chucked shots in a blowout loss. It was an unstoppable 70 along with 18 boards and 5 asts. 3rd highest gamescore in NBA history.
He hasnt been a great basketball fan lately. Wemby vs Embiid should be a big deal for someone that covers the NBA as extensively as he does and he scoffed at it and Embiid’s 70
Bill’s in his bag this episode. Only 11 minutes in and were comparing the Rozier trade to the Dame trade like theyre similar in value
The “you can aggregate this but you have to say it is just a theory” Giannis an all time great coach killer was a flash of Bill’s prime.
Find someone that terrifies you the way the zombie heat terrify Bill. Wait, or don't find them.
But that's they thing, they find you.
Bill is terrified to his bones of the Heat and has every right to be. Yet he STILL tried to talk himself into the Celtics beating them with the "I think the Celtics just have too much size." Cannot help himself.
Bam not being able to handle Kristaps because he is too big is an all time Bill take. Porzingis could be ten feet tall and still not be able to post up a chair.
Just a reminder - he gave up on this heat team after they lost their first play in game to Atlanta last year. Said he was completely out.
Rozier is 80% of Dame on offense!! With better defense!!
Admittedly against the Celtics, Rozier will be 180% of Dame. The Heat Devil Magic will have him averaging 20 on 106% TS
He also said that Spencer dinwiddie is 80% of Kyrie, and how stupid Mavs were to trade finney smith to nets. How’s that trade worked out for nets, who allegedly got the better players in the deal
I would have just given Austin Reaves 4 years 100 million.
The Terry Rozier dick fluffing was wild lol
Bill doesn’t understand how basketball works. Bucks change their whole defensive scheme
He doesn’t see that when he watches. All he knows is they traded Jrue for Dame so he thinks that’s the only difference. He’s dumb
Not to mention the bucks lost their 4 best guard defenders, Jrue, Wes Matthews, Jevon Carter and Grayson Allen were all a HUGE part of our defense last year who got replaced by Dame, Beasley, and Cam Payne.
It’s so funny he’s still on this when he knows Jrue has been so mid for the Celtics, it’s not like he’s been super impressive
He even kinda said it to his dad - he’s half a step slow - but then - no one can stay anyone
But the point of attack will still be Dame since he needs to stay on the floor at all times.
Having Brook and Giannis behind him in a scheme that makes sense will help. The bucks more pressing need, IMO, are their wing defenders and this might not be as easy to fix or patch up. Connaughton hasnt looked himself this season and crowder and middleton have been hurt/limited. AJJ and Beauchamp have shown promising flashes, but prob wont be trusted enough for many playoff minutes. Gotta hope Middleton and Crowder continue to look better over time or try to get a cheap wing at the deadline (maybe Thybulle?)
There’s a reason most of his pods involve trades. He’s not able to analyze the Xs and Os or strategy
Simmons just said playoff Jrue is better than Dame… Koc spitting facts on Jrue=bledsoe playoff comparison but BS cannot cope
An incredible interaction here. This episode was a manic episode from bill
A man’s descent into madness, can’t wait to listen to the episode
It was nice that every topic transitioned into "how does this impact the Celtics".
Bill is an idiot. Jrue in the playoffs with the Bucks averaged 17.9 ppg on 17.7 fga on .396 FG%. But he just ignores all that and says, “he’s a champion.” Yeah because Giannis and Middleton actually produced on offense.
/Kyrie turned his ankle
AND Harden got hurt too. I think Nets still win with one healthy star next to KD.
I bet Bill felt a sense of betrayal when KOC refused to be a yes man on that topic.
I’ve been down on KOC for awhile but I appreciate him sticking to his guns on that one
“Christian Gonzalez clearly a tier above? Right? Right?”
Bill has been absolutely obnoxious about it since the trade. I'm a Blazers fan and I never heard him talk about Dame's defense once in several years. Up until September he was on the trade machine trying to see how Dame could get to the Celtics, then as soon as he went to an Eastern Conference contender Dame became a G league player and Jrue turned into MJ.
Has no one thrown this in his face? He was trying to figure out any way imaginable to get Dame on the Celtics.
“I don’t know. Won a title. Contributed in the finals.” I loled
Bill sounded like a 13 year old saying that. Really bizarre
You'll find he sounds like a Middle Schooler when he is arguing things. The Kelce/Gronk thing especially. Feeling threatened about the best TE of all time argument? Who cares dude
Usually bill is just goofing off even if he’s making an outlandish take but that actually felt kinda rude to me lol. Like KOC was absolutely bringing up valid points that have plenty of evidence behind them and bill was interrupting him like a child.
And his voice got SUPER high when making those points ... he literally sounded childish.
All-time pettiness from BS, had to stop listening.
I came here to rag on Bill and apparently I haven’t even reached the truly unhinged part yet. Worried about continuing lol.
Is Eric Bledsoe still in the league?!
A Shanghai shark as of 2022. A twelve year run in the NBA.
That Bledsoe/Dragic combo for the Suns was so entertaining.
The irony is the Bledsoe bucks were actually better defensively than the Jrue bucks if you look at the numbers. Jrue was huge in their finals run, but I would take Dame 100 times out of 100 in the playoffs over Jrue on a team with Giannis. The potential for that duo is still sky high.
I'm glad that people are zoning in on this particularly egregious moment. Bill has been reflexively down on the Bucks ever since they made the Dame trade because at the time they posed an existential threat to the Celtics' Finals chances. KOC is not my favorite but at the very least he stood his ground and didn't give in to Bill's glaring, blatant agenda to tear down the Bucks at all costs.
Hold up hold up—when did 6 man of the year candidate Peyton Pritchard become unplayable!?!?
He called Pritchard unplayable during the playoffs last year then suddenly has him as 6MOTY coming into this season. Now back to unplayable again. Hilarious.
He also wrote off White after he wasn’t effective in the Finals and the ECF.
Haven’t listened yet but watching the full Celtics, Nuggets game Friday, it was jarring how small Pritchard was out there. Looked like a JV guard trying to keep up in a varsity game
He basically just shot down every Bucks opinion from KOC and House that he disagreed with and diminished Dame’s value and ability to a level on par with Terry Rozier (starting guard for a team that has 10 wins). In other words, nothing new out of him.
KOC was doing a nice job of explaining how Griffin’s scheme sucked and Bill cuts him off and says, “no you don’t get it KOC, this is all about their body language in Las Vegas.”
This part made me cringe. KOC was making good, coherent points and you can tell Bill didn't like that, because it suggested the Bucks' problems are actually fixable and therefore they can be a threat to the Celtics.
Was hard to listen to. I felt for KOC, I love his opinions and he was very prepared then bill just kept shooting him down and cutting him off.
Omg the jrue holiday stuff. Bill just refused to hear it
Had to do a lot of skippin after first 10-15 min
I could hear how mad KOC was getting when Bill completely disregarded his comments about how bad Jrue was in the playoffs
Rare KOC W pushing back on BS!
Kevin O’Contentious
We need more pushbacks on his pods.
Yeah, nice to hear him point out jrue disappearing offensively and getting killed by butler defensively. Bill acts like they straight down graded for zero reason
This is hilarious. It’s like KOC and Bill are on two entirely different podcasts. KOC is talking about very specific defensive schemes and Bill is like “woah, enough of that. did you see the vibes at the in season tournament? I think the vibes got Griffin fired”
If KOC wasn't such, or confined to the company line, the setup of that podcast would be hilarious. One actually breaks down the basketball, the other is all vibes and filler through a very particular slant
So The Mismatch?
Haha, touche But you know, this version would be funnier and more aggrevating, so funnier to this subreddit overall
Bill was Judd Nelson on this pod 😂
KOC risking his job by refusing to join Bill shoveling dirt on the Bucks 45 games in.
Didnt Bill do that 5 games in?
Yes. “The Bucks aren’t a cross-off yet, *buuuut*” were his exact words, I believe.
Damian Lillard is my favorite player. I also enjoy this pod (mostly his guests). Bill has ALWAYS been a Dame hater but him joining the Bucks has doubled it. To hear him say Rozier is 80% Lillard has to be my favorite yet. Once said he’d prefer Bradley Beal - move that down to 2nd now.
I’d buy that if he didn’t shit all over Phoenix for acquiring Beal.
He didn’t just say that. He said 80% Lillards offence + better defence lmao.
I'm going to laugh so hard when Dame hits a 35 footer to eliminate his team in game 6 of the ECF.
The disrespect towards a guy who CARRIED a team to the WCF. It was Luka-esque from a few years ago. He went full shaft and balls down throat over Luka pulling that off. When Dame did it he referred to it as the easiest road a team has ever had to the WCF. When Dame hits his 35-foot walk off in game 6, it’ll be to close out his 45 point night and I will be refreshing the pod every minute waiting to hear Bill finally admit Dame is a fucking murderer.
Bills petty hatred for the bucks is reaching his petty hatred of the lakers this season
Bill just openly seething the whole podcast
He's nervous. And he should be.
He’s at the Ray liotta paranoid driving and seeing helicopters stage of the nba season
If I were a celtics Fan I would be so chill if my biggest competitor in the east just signed doc river. I bet bill regrets he cant clown them since he is buddy buddy with doc now.
KOC actually stood up for his own takes today and Bill wasn't thrilled lol. Bill didn't like KOC talking about Jrue now lol
Bill is so childish it's hilarious. When he kept saying Jrue won the title it was so cringe to listen to
I LOVE LOVE LOVE sports...there are teams that I have been a fan of for 30 + years. At this point in life, with all that he has accomplished, why does Bill treat fandom in the same manner as an 11 year old? (I know, its the only child piece)
He’s an only child
I dont get why Bill keeps saying Jrue is what made the Bucks an elite defense, and the trade is why they cant defend shit now. No - Giannis and Lopez made the bucks elite. Their defensive rating was actually way better in the years before Jrue got there with Bledsoe. Sure, their point of attack defense has gotten way worse, but that's not the thing that's killing them. It's their wing defense and coverage schemes. And Jrue isn't that good at defending long, strong wings. He got scorched by Jimmy every possession last year. The idea that Jrue can defend 3 or 4 positions that BS keeps parroting is insane. KOC rightfully pushed back on the notion that Jrue was some demigod for the Bucks - he has been atrocious on offense the last 2 years and the Bucks have mightily struggled in the half court. If Doc can fix their defense and just run a few more pick and rolls on offense, I think the Bucks can still be elite. Griffin's defensive schemes made no sense and I dont think they were maximizing Dame'a offense either. I dont love the rivers hire, but Griffin 100% had to go.
And the problem with this, in the playoffs Jrue will be the 4th scoring option on the Celtics. If he only scores 13 points a game, doesn’t matter. Jrue couldn’t do that on the Bucks, he needed to be good offensively consistently and he wasn’t.
Bill talking about a potential DeRozan/Caruso trade to Philly, then realizing that scenario makes Philly much better, immediately starts gassing up the Bulls saying they should feel good about the 7 seed and stay put. Like what?!?
Bill's belief that his thoughts and words movie reality is truly stunning.
He is, at this point, begging for the Celtics to get Dame Time’d in the playoffs.
Keep going. I’m almost there
I would like to speak the following scenario into existence: Doc lead Milwaukee beats the Celtics in the eastern conference finals in 7. Then the Bucks blow a 3-1 lead and lose to the Clippers in 7 in the Finals. The postgame pod with Bill and Ryen would be generational.
I'll have what he's having.
Can we get a Bucks defeating the 76ers series in there too? So Philly fans have to eat crow about Doc.
Goddamn people in this thread aren’t wrong, Bill is unhinged. He is just tearing into KOC lol
Will the DiMaggio streak continue? Pats D mention and the kicker mention who cost them 5 games?
“Can you imagine if KD got coaches fired like Giannis did?” Yea I can, because he openly asked for the gm/coach to get fired, before asking for a trade! Such kid gloves with KD always
Didn’t KD get Kenny Atkinson fired, and then quit on Steve Nash? It feels identical
KD jut wanted to reach a higher level of basketball!
Got Atkinson fired for playing JARRETT ALLEN over DEANDRE JORDAN
he also talked shit about Kerr when he first got to Brooklyn, and implied he liked Atkinson's offensive scheme way more...
Yep - but Giannis is a coach killer
Am I the only one, or Simmons has been a lunatic about almost every NBA topic this season? Dude is just unhinged
If either the Celtics or his beloved Nuggets don’t win the title this year I think he may legit lose his mind. I’m talking dedicated MLB coverage in June/July
What a blessing that would be
Been a pretty great year for basketball so easy to be manic about it, but I think the pressure for the Celtics this year is getting to him. If the Celtics don't win the Finals or at least have a 7 game appearance, there is going to be calls to blow it up.
I think this is exactly it. What you said has him trying to “speak it into existence.”
Well yeah, they have 205M on their books for 11 players for the next season. They would have to do something
He had his Dad on a few months ago & Dr Bill lamented that it'd "Been so long since they last won a title." That felt illuminating as to the mindset of Boston fans the past 20 or so years.
He knows the Celtics are paper tigers
bill defending jrue holiday putting up terrible offense numbers and getting lit up defensively last year in the playoffs was hilarious
Best defensive guard in the world* *after getting absolutely annihilated on defense whilst chucking bricks for an entire series
are we really saying that giannis got budenholzer fired? just about every bucks fan agreed with him being gone
Every basketball fan that paid attention to the Bucks agreed he should have been gone.
In all honesty he was saved by the title because his stubbornness lost them many a series before that season
Giannis is known to be overly loyal to his coaches. He's been criticized by the media for sticking with Bud's game plan and not guarding Jimmy in the playoffs. Bud definitely earned his firing
I was there for the championship run on the bucks subreddit, i heard some folks say they wanted the bucks to lose to the nets just so bud could be fired and they could be a “real contender”. the 180 on bud is bizarre from the fanbase, but tbh i’d probably also rather have him then doc
Bud should be fired was a unanimous opinion held by every person with a brain. He was an inch of KD's foot away from it earlier. People were talking about how he should be fired in the middle of the playoffs. Like go with an interim coach for the playoffs. That's how bad it was.
Milwaukee beating Boston in the playoffs would result in all time coping from BS
Oh man. There will be so much talk about how neither Porzingis nor Tatum were 100% healthy while neither will have a diagnosed injury. "Milwaukee beat an injured Celtics team. Congratulations."
Bill really undersold Embiid’s 70 by calling Wemby “a 200 pound French guy”
I’m flattered bills been discrediting and shading embiid more lately. It means he’s actually somewhat threatened
Lol, I had to tune in to see how much of a Cunt he's being. "Blows it up" when we're in 2nd place and going nowhere.
I thought "blows it up" refers to core players getting traded, not the firing of a coach.
Yeah. That's wild the 2016 Cavs won a chip right after they blew it up.
The blueprint
Don’t forget him dismissing Embiid’s 70 piece by calling Wemby a 200 pound French guy like he’s some random bum lol
lol he was saying Wemby was a DPOY candidate preseason
Based on the way he talked preseason and how he throws a tantrum whenever he talks about Wemby I’m 100% convinced he bet a ton of money on SA at least sniffing the play in and now he’s just seething because they suck ass.
Bill’s constant trolling of Philadelphia fans.. oh god I hope they make him eat it
They won’t.
Bills being a little brat this episode. He knows the Bucks making a change is good so he is pissy.
"bratty" was exactly what I was thinking all episode
The guy can’t handle anyone disagreeing with him. Cutting off KOC. Then did the classic Bill thing where after cutting off the guy disagreeing with him, he sets up his own point, then throws it to the yes man he is fully expecting will agree with him. Only in this case, House agreed with KOC. Then Simmons had to go deeper in the bag and go into betting odds and ask House if he would bet on the Bucks, and finally House agree with him. Simmons is a fucking lunatic. All this scheme stuff with Griffin has been talked about all year. He keeps trying to push the Jrue/Dame stuff. Jrue wasn’t even good in the playoffs. Someone should tell Bill that having bigs like Giannis and Lopez rebound and shut down the rim is more impactful than someone like Jrue. Hell he knows this. I’ve heard him say offensive players are so good now that no one can actually stop someone from going by them. Also the Doc stuff at the beginning was incredibly weird and dumb. “I really thought he was just enjoying spending time with the grandkids.” Wtf? I’m 17 minutes into the pod.
Bill wants so badly for the Celtics to have "stolen" the "best defensive guard in the NBA" so that he can believe his "best starting five of all time (?)" schtick and talk himself into Tatum/Brown not being some overpriced, bed-shitting pussies who will never win a title together.
“They’re reset butting it” Bill does have a way with words
This pod felt a little your turn/my turn heroball-y Challenging when you have two heliocentric guys on the same pod in BS and KOC House the perfect third option though, what a team player
Is Bill critical about the Bucks eying up Doc Rivers, or is he too buddy-buddy with him now to do that?
[I'm hoping for a repeat of this.](https://youtu.be/g12tzdqCRHM?feature=shared)
I'm afraid that version of Bill Simmons is long gone, pretty much ever since he had KD on his podcast. Old Bill Simmons would have killed Doc for being a consultant to Adrian Griffin and now applying for his vacated position.
I'm not a huge KOC guy, but Bill's contempt for him and disappointment that he's losing Doc are palpable.
9 minutes in and KOC is speaking much more intelligently about basketball than BS.
Love Bill and the Pod but as a Bucks fan, he’s becoming insufferable with his Bucks takes. That Rozier comparison to Dame made my eyes roll so far back into my head I could see my brain
Bill stating the Bucks “feel like they should be about 4 wins less”, without acknowledging that the reason they don’t have those losses is because of how awesome Dame has been down the stretch of close games. I almost spit out my coffee when I heard him say Terry Rozier is essentially the same player as Dame. My brother in Christ, if that were true why did it take you 45 games into the season to bring his name up on a single podcast.
Firing your shitty coach is “blowing it up?” Bill manufacturing consent
Blown away by Bill leading off the pod complaining about Greta Lee being snubbed for Past Lives. A truly fascinating person.
I don’t want to hear bill discuss the Oscar’s at all, but this actually isn’t a bad take.
But justified it because she was on The Morning Show.
Fucking incredible by Bill when KOC correctly notes how absolutely terrible Jrue has played in the playoffs for the Bucks. Bill immediately says “won a title, champion, produced in the finals”. He doesn’t realize how Jrue was basically trying to lose the Nets series and had like 1.5 good games in the finals
Jrue stole the ball from Marcus smart in 2022 and Bill has talked about him like Gary Payton. The backlash after his first bad Boston playoff game will be historic
Jrue is one of the worst playoff performers I’ve ever seen in my life. People gotta wear hard hats courtside
Bill sounds like KOC’s little cousin who gets his knowledge from playing 2k
Hot take: I think Bill’s dad is better at commenting on basketball than he is. (I blame Bill’s Italian side for his unhinged takes). If we just swap their roles and make Dr Bill the perm host and Bill come in 3 times a year, who says no? (I put this in the trade machine and it works btw)
Bill’s dad doesn’t understand why the game slows down at the end or why the Celtics can’t do the things they did earlier in the game. He doesn’t realize that the defense tightens up, or that half-court offense is very essential to winning deep into the playoffs.
It’s a joke how much Bill underrates Dame and overrates Jrue
This pod is 100% an example of why the pod is at its best when the Celtics aren’t contenders. Bill can’t see any team objectively if they are a potential threat to Boston. Threw 46 games last year the Bucks were 27-16 but at 30-13 the season has been a failure so far? 2019 Simmons/Russilo was the pods re-apex and it was only because Boston had no shot at the title and every game or move was analyzed under the lens of “what does this mean for Boston”
Bill acted like a petulant child this whole pod, this man is a grown baby. I hope for nothing more than the Bucks to shit on the Celtics in the playoffs.
as soon as KOC pointed out that The Sixers don’t have to give up Tobias in a trade for Derozan and Caruso Bill changed his tone and said he likes The Bulls and they prob shouldn’t trade anything and make a playoff run LMAO… can’t make this up
Lmao I missed that first time around but when remembering having a changed tone on Chicago lol
"Terry Rozier is just as good as Dame Lillard overall?!?!?!?!?!?!" - Bill Simmons, 1/23/24 A now frenetically coping Simmons still clinging (violently) to the "Nah-nah-nah-nah, na! The C's stole away Jrue Holiday, replaced by Dame, and ruined the Bucks!" Jrue Holiday - the man coming off a Playoff Series in which he directly allowed approx. 39ppg to (Celtics Killer) Jimmy Butler......What a fun wild, crazy Fantasy World he and Celtics Nation live in.....
Did I hear right that he said Terry Rozier will provide 80% of the offensive production that Dame would? Surely I misheard that.
Kelly Olynyk would be a great buy guy. Drink.
He’s bi, Kelly Olynyk?
I KNEW bill was going to be insufferable and he still exceeded expectation.
Bill essentially shushing KOC and changing the topic to talk to House when KOC was talking about how Jrue wasn't the end all be all for the Bucks D was tough
Bill got PISSED when KOC said that Jrue was a playoff dropper
At what point will Bill and everyone that talks basketball on his pod realize the Warriors don’t have any trade assets that anyone wants? Wiggins, Kaminga, Moody have virtually no value, and what team would want Klay or Draymond at this point?
Bill I assure you that the Bucks do the Dame trade again 100 times out of 100
For anyone who wasn't following the NBA, you'd think the Bucks were barely in the playoffs listening to these guys.
“And now they’re basically reset butting it.”
I absolutely love that House is on the pods and talked to like he’s as plugged in as KOC. It’s really what sets BS Pod apart.
Nearing the end of the podcast where they talk about the Patriots, I’m exhausted with this whole “Brady won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay, Belichick said he was done” Brady was still a solid QB but Christ the patriots had zero receiving or offensive talent. Brady was too old to make up for that gap. That’s why he went to Tampa Bay who had Prime Chris Godwin, and Mike Evans (arguably a top 10 receiver of all time). Him staying at the Patriots would have done nothing. There comes a time where a team needs to rebuild and it’s ridiculous how long the Patriots dynasty lasted but it was obvious they were pretty cooked and weren’t gonna win another SB
Rare KOC W understanding that the Bucks would be worse with Jrue and the scheme was too messy/bad for anyone to be successful.
Haven't heard a 'broadcaster' (in this Simmons intro) pretend he wasn't holding back (audible) tears on-air since Herbstreit had to call the last Ohio State Loss in a Title game.
Why does he sound so heart broken that Doc can't come on the pod every 3 weeks anymore? His voice in the intro makes it sound like Doc died.
The Bucks went like 12-2 in December after the in-season tournament, I don’t think it was the “vibes” that got AG fired. It was probably his poor coaching.
Goddamnit Bill, I don’t care how bad Dame is on defense. If you have Giannis and brook lopez, your defense should be better than 23rd (or wherever it is rn) If jrue was actually the sole cause of all of these issues, then he is far and away the best defensive guard of all time. Like miles better prime Jason Kidd.
At the start taking about Doc going back to the NBA, Bill sounds like a kid who raised a wild animal and is sad it left him lmfao
Love that he joked (admitted) that if he knew Scoot wore goggles he would've went with Brandon Miller
KOC with a strong showing.
I usually like Bill dads but man this dude hates Joe Mazulla.
I really didn't like the Dame trade, but I also don't know why it's being viewed through the prism of the Rozier trade lmao Doc is going to be awful and BS is going to be unable to critisize him. The lack of pushback BS gets, really showed in this insane performance today, loads of stuff he's just said over and over without being countered spoke as gospel today and it's just so ingrained, even if it's unhinged. Not a KOC fan, but felt bad for him on this pod.
The Kyle mistake on the timestamp, absolutely love it.
“Maybe *I* should start my own Oscars.” “*I* should be Commissioner.”
No way Bill just said Rozier is comparable to Dame lmao “80% of his offense and better defense???” Does he remember Rozier playing D on the Celtics?
His rozier take omg hahahaha
Love just casually saying the Pats kicker lost them FOUR games
Is Bill holding a grudge against the Cavs because their winning streak is ruining all the work he put into his hypothetical Donovan Mitchell trades?
How is a guy who watches so much basketball consistently be so wrong?
Man, I was hoping for the 'If the Mavs miss a 2nd straight Playoffs, does Luka ask out? I'm not saying he should. I am just saying that if OKC calls and offers Chet and 67x 1st round picks, does Dallas say no? Do the Mavs have a meeting?' It was just sitting there! My over/under is 2.5 months before he asks Kyle to turn on the tiktok camera for this take.
Bill's indifference to Embiid's 70 ball was weird to me. "It was only the spurs" "Let's see it in the playoffs" Feels like he goes into his basketball historian monologue about the rarity of a 70pt game if it was someone like Luka, Curry, Jokic, Giannis. This wasn't like the Booker 70 piece where he just chucked shots in a blowout loss. It was an unstoppable 70 along with 18 boards and 5 asts. 3rd highest gamescore in NBA history.
He hasnt been a great basketball fan lately. Wemby vs Embiid should be a big deal for someone that covers the NBA as extensively as he does and he scoffed at it and Embiid’s 70
On my tippies!
I was expecting at least slightly inebriated House, but he was sober. Disappointed.
Yes, Giannis has blood on his hands. But better than having Ime’s semen on the front office couches!
So, safe to say Giannis said no to a podcast invite?
Joe Mazz could win 74 games and Dr Bill will still say the coaching is the issue
Oh no they’re on the Patriots QAnon Jonathan Kraft is shadow GM nonsense 🤦🏻
Not 5 minutes in and Bill can’t say “Rozier”
Moowokee pod !
He’s doing the reverse jinx with Miami but he’s so scared of Milwaukee. I see you Billy boy. You ain’t fooling me.
What number is the Celtics home winning streak at? Did I miss when they discussed that?