Part 2: NBA League Pass Rankings and Million Dollar Picks With Chris Ryan, Rob Mahoney, Wosny Lambre, Sheil Kapadia, and Anthony Dabbundo

Summary

The Bill Simmons Podcast – Part 2: NBA League Pass Rankings and Million Dollar Picks

Host: Bill Simmons
Guests: Chris Ryan, Rob Mahoney, Wosny Lambre, Sheil Kapadia, Anthony Dabbundo
Episode Focus: NBA League Pass Rankings and Million Dollar Picks for Week Eight

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1. Introduction to NBA League Pass Rankings

Bill Simmons kicks off the episode by introducing the NBA League Pass Rankings, a continuation from Part 1. This segment evaluates NBA teams based on five key categories:

1. Relevancy to the Playoff Picture
2. Hurt Hoop Nerdgasm Potential
3. League Pass Experience (including team entertainment aspects like mascots and uniforms)
4. Individual Player Appeal
5. Unintentional Comedy, Irrational Affection, and Personality Intangibles

Bill Simmons: “You can’t just say Brooklyn’s my number one because literally, why wouldn’t you?” (03:30)

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2. Team Rankings and Selections

a. Minnesota Timberwolves – Big Woz's First Pick Big Woz selects the Minnesota Timberwolves as his top pick, mainly due to Anthony Edwards' entertaining play and the team's dynamic style.

Big Woz: “Ant is my favorite current professional athlete... hilarious content...” (05:04)

b. San Antonio Spurs – Rob Mahoney's Pick Rob Mahoney opts for the San Antonio Spurs, highlighting the excitement brought by DeMar DeRozan and De'Aaron Fox.

Rob Mahoney: “I'm going to take the San Antonio Spurs. Easy reason. Straightforward reason.” (11:25)

c. Oklahoma City Thunder – Chris Ryan's Choice Chris Ryan chooses the Oklahoma City Thunder for their young talent and the potential for weekly discoveries as the season progresses.

Chris Ryan: “They have the top to bottom talent and a sense that you're going to be learning new things.” (09:04)

d. Orlando Magic – Bill Simmons' Selection Bill Simmons ranks the Orlando Magic fourth, appreciating their fun gameplay, improvement in player performances, and vibrant crowd atmosphere.

Bill Simmons: “I'd just make a bunch of, bunch of reasons. One is I think they're really fun to watch...” (14:30)

e. Philadelphia 76ers – Chris Ryan's Pick Chris Ryan selects the Philadelphia 76ers, citing their talent and passionate fan base ready to support them violently in the playoffs.

Chris Ryan: “The entire fan base is ready to turn on these guys.” (17:38)

f. New York Knicks – Rob Mahoney's Choice Rob Mahoney picks the New York Knicks, focusing on their high minutes commitment from key players and the entertaining style of play.

Rob Mahoney: “I'm going to take the New York Knicks... 'Daddy A' can be literally anything for them.” (40:05)

g. Atlanta Hawks – Big Woz and Bill Simmons' Agreements Both Big Woz and Bill Simmons agree on selecting the Atlanta Hawks due to their unique playstyle, fan engagement, and potential for exciting games.

Bill Simmons: “I have a bunch of reasons... Clutch performances...” (43:17)

h. Sacramento Kings – Rob Mahoney's Final Pick Rob Mahoney chooses the Sacramento Kings for their exciting gameplay and the addition of DeMar DeRozan enhancing their performance.

Rob Mahoney: “They are going to be a really exciting team.” (29:30)

i. Brooklyn Nets – Round-Up by Bill Simmons Bill Simmons reluctantly includes the Brooklyn Nets despite reservations, acknowledging their star power and the entertainment value they bring.

Bill Simmons: “I love that guy... he’s going to be a great addition.” (76:06)

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3. Million Dollar Picks: NFL Betting Insights

Transitioning to NFL content, the hosts discuss their Million Dollar Picks for Week Eight. This segment involves betting strategies and predictions for upcoming NFL games, focusing on team performances, player injuries, and game dynamics.

Anthony Dabbundo emphasizes caution with teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars, citing their inconsistent performances and defensive struggles.

Anthony Dabbundo: “I feel like fading the Texans... probably a good play for the next, whatever, two, three weeks.” (86:22)

Sheil Kapadia highlights the unpredictability of teams like the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears, advising to stay away from certain high-risk bets.

Sheil Kapadia: “I don't really see the case for Washington... they have to play Philly twice and Dallas twice.” (94:43)

Bill Simmons and the guests engage in lively debates about the viability of various NFL teams, assessing factors like team morale, coaching decisions, and player health.

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4. Notable Quotes and Highlights

• Bill Simmons on Minnesota Timberwolves: “I have a better feel for the season... Category number one is relevancy to the playoff picture.” (03:30)

• Big Woz praising Anthony Edwards: “Ant is my favorite current professional athlete... he told Bronnie he didn't need to take a shower.” (05:04)

• Rob Mahoney on San Antonio Spurs’ excitement: “I'm going to take the San Antonio Spurs... I just have to watch if they can play tough every night.” (11:25)

• Chris Ryan on Oklahoma City Thunder's potential: “They have a sense that you're going to be learning new things each week.” (09:04)

• Bill Simmons on Orlando Magic’s improvement: “There's a real killer instinct with them... Palo is the X factor for a league pass.” (14:30)

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5. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Bill Simmons wraps up the NBA segment by reiterating the importance of team dynamics, player performances, and entertainment value in the League Pass Rankings. The Million Dollar Picks segment concludes with strategic betting insights for NFL enthusiasts, emphasizing the unpredictability and excitement of the sport.

Bill Simmons: “This is the toughest week of the year... We're up 163,000 for the year.” (126:30)

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Final Remarks

This episode provides an extensive analysis of NBA teams through the League Pass Rankings, offering listeners a blend of statistical insight and entertainment-focused evaluation. Additionally, the Million Dollar Picks segment caters to NFL betting aficionados, delivering strategic advice and predictions for Week Eight. Whether you're a dedicated sports fan or a casual observer, this podcast delivers engaging discussions and valuable perspectives on both basketball and football.

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Note: Timestamps correspond to the provided transcript and are approximate markers within the conversation.

Transcript

[Bill Simmons]

Coming up, part two of the Thursday BS Pod extravaganza. A lot of football and a lot of basketball next. This episode of the Bill Simmons podcast is brought to you by Ray Ban Meta Smart glasses. Built with meta AI Ray Ban Meta Smart glasses react to what you see so you can learn more about the world around you. You can also take hands free photos, videos, send messages, make video calls, even play music and podcasts straight from your glasses with Ray Ban Meta. This episode is brought to you by Simplisafe. While you're watching your team win or lose, get home security off of your holiday shopping list because Simplisafe is already having a Black Friday sale. How is that possible? It's an easy way to protect your home and loved ones. Their active guard. Outdoor protection is one of the reasons why I love using Simplisafe. It prevents crime before it even happens. Agents can see potential intruders in real time, talk to them, set off your spotlights and call police. And with Simplisafe, there's no long term contracts, no cancellation fees and it's around $1 a day. This week only you can take 60% off any new system with a select professional monitoring plan. Head to SimpliSafe.com BS to claim your discount and make sure your home is safe this season. Again, that's SimpliSafe with two eyes. Simplisafe.com BS there's no safe like Simplisafe. We're also brought to you by the Ringer podcast network. If you missed part one on this podcast, it's up. We talk basketball, we talk ufc, we talk Yankees with my buddy Jacko. Part two is coming up right now. League pass draft with Big Woz and Chris Ryan and Rob Mahoney. And then I brought in Shield Capadia and Anthony Debundo to help me with million dollar picks for week eight. We have a little momentum going. Can we keep it up? It is all next. First, our friends from Pearl Jam. All right, we're taping this. It is 1:30 Pacific Time Thursday here with Chris Ryan. The Charles Nelson Riley of The Ringer said 17 podcasts this week.

[Big Woz]

This is the one that counts though, man. This is the one that matters.

[Bill Simmons]

I appreciate that. Sierra, Big W. Yes, sir. How are you?

[Chris Ryan]

I'm happy.

[Bill Simmons]

Good to see you. Yeah, you love. This is your time of year.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, it is especially like hope springs eternal for all of these teams for at least the next month.

[Bill Simmons]

And the one and only Rob Mahoney. Hi. Who's somehow breaking down the NBA again. And not weird shows On Apple.

[Rob Mahoney]

It's getting weirder.

[Big Woz]

Can't you do both?

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah, we'll find out.

[Bill Simmons]

What's that new show with Kevin Klein? Where? Disclaimer. Yeah. My mom was like this. Best show in a while. My mom's 76.

[Rob Mahoney]

She hasn't gotten to episode five yet, I can tell you.

[Bill Simmons]

But she likes super weird. So anyway, it seems disturbing. So we're going to do league pass rankings, which is great because we're actually supposed to do this on Tuesday and fate intervened. I got super sick. But I'm glad we got to see two days of games because I feel like this is a better way to do it now. I have a better feel for the season. So shout out to Zach Lowe. Back in the day at grand lan, we came up with the league pass rankings, and they can 12 or 13. We had five categories. I went back and read what the categories were. They're gonna shape what we do for this. So you can't just be. You can't just say, brooklyn's my number one, because literally, why wouldn't you?

[Big Woz]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Who did you think would say, wait till we get to Brooklyn? All right. Category number one is relevancy to the playoff picture. Category number two is hurt hoop nerdgasm potential. Category number three is the league pass experience, which was a big passion of Zach's and still is announcing teams, sideline reporting uniforms. The mascot, like the Clippers last night just was a 10 out of 10 with how weird that was. Fucking guy came out of the rafters. What's that guy's name? Their mascot dropped from the Raptors.

[Big Woz]

I actually don't know.

[Bill Simmons]

Owen Hart style is terrifying.

[Rob Mahoney]

I didn't know that was going on.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, they have, like. They're all excited.

[Big Woz]

I was worried. I was mesmerized by the wall, but I didn't see that.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, the wall was cool.

[Chris Ryan]

All right.

[Rob Mahoney]

Sure it wasn't James Harden. He didn't come down.

[Bill Simmons]

Category number four, individual player appeal. And then category number the most important for all of us is unintentional comedy, irrational affection, and personality intangibles. I'm just gonna make this easy. Sierra. I'm giving you first pick.

[Big Woz]

Oh, you are?

[Bill Simmons]

And we'll just go around. And there's no snake fashion.

[Big Woz]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

There's no real way to win this.

[Big Woz]

So we'll just get started. You didn't want to do any headlines? You didn't want to ask any embiid questions? Nothing.

[Bill Simmons]

We'll get there. Philly will be mentioned at some point during the pod and as we Hit each pod, each team. We'll talk about variables, like is your best player ever going to play? So why did they give him an extension when he's not healthy? Those are questions we'll ask.

[Big Woz]

We're not there yet with the first pick. I'm going to go with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

[Bill Simmons]

Explain.

[Big Woz]

Ant is my favorite current professional athlete.

[Bill Simmons]

Wow.

[Big Woz]

I think even within over Angel Reese, in a day and a half, he has managed to already make like, hilarious content out of one game where he told Bronnie he didn't need to take a shower.

[Bill Simmons]

I love that so much.

[Chris Ryan]

He yelled at Vandel, said, you haven't played in two years.

[Big Woz]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh. And seemed angry about it.

[Big Woz]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Did Vanderbilt chirp at him? Like, what happened?

[Chris Ryan]

They used to be teammates. I think it's like a familiarity.

[Bill Simmons]

The Brownie thing killed me.

[Big Woz]

If there was a premium tier to pay $1,000 per season to have Ant miked.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Big Woz]

And it was just going into my AirPods. I don't even know if a thousand would be too high. Like, I would pay pretty much anything and I would just.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, there's a new level with swagger with him because now he played with all the best guys.

[Big Woz]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

So now he's on the court with LeBron and he's just like, ah, fine, I'll talk shit with him.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah.

[Big Woz]

And LeBron probably like edited him out of starting five a little bit so they didn't steal this show. Then you add the Dante piece, which is this weird revenge tour that he's on that seems to be metastasizing beyond even the Knicks, and it's like he's angry and playing hard. I think that they're just going to have like a tougher, more competitive, more fuck you team without Katie.

[Bill Simmons]

Don't forget the Go Bear piece.

[Big Woz]

And there's Go Bear. Yeah, there's Go Bear just going out there and getting choked out. So I think it's just a really exciting night tonight. Team that's going to be in the mix for the title just to tear.

[Rob Mahoney]

Down your team right off the bat.

[Big Woz]

Okay.

[Rob Mahoney]

How do you feel about the thing you love most? Watching Anthony Edwards play basketball? Being actively stifled every possession by Julius Randle doing jab steps, whatever it is that Julius Randle wants to do.

[Chris Ryan]

You don't like Julius Randle jab steps?

[Big Woz]

I actually, I'm like a big supporter of Kentucky alumnus across the board. So I'm excited, actually, because I also think Randall. Randall at least is saying the right things where he's like, you know what? I can pass. I've just been in situations where they've asked me to take 26 shots a game. So I'm sure it'll clog up the lane a little bit.

[Bill Simmons]

I told W before we started that I had Minnesota second and I moved them down six spots. After watching Randall for two hours, it's just like, wow. I just don't like watching. Forgot. I just don't like watching him play basketball. Nothing personal. I'm sure he's a great guy.

[Big Woz]

But I bet for all of us, Minnesota's towards the top of the board, right?

[Chris Ryan]

100%.

[Rob Mahoney]

They're fun, they're interesting. They're going to be good. And competing for things. And the Gobert part of it, like having a guy on your team that everybody else wants to dunk on rockets them up a ranking like this.

[Big Woz]

Also, speaking of Kentucky alumnus Dillingham, I'm like, already like, do we think he's gonna play when he does, I think he's jumping out of the building.

[Chris Ryan]

Got you.

[Bill Simmons]

It would be funny if there was like an actor or an actress like Gobert that everybody who did a scene with them just wanted to destroy them in the scene.

[Chris Ryan]

Maybe it was like Taye Diggs.

[Bill Simmons]

People are saying, I fucking destroyed Taye Diggs. Date. Gobert brings something special out of Everybody's.

[Chris Ryan]

Got a gripe with him.

[Bill Simmons]

There's like American foreign stuff with him.

[Big Woz]

There's defensive player of the US there's inter French beef.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, he's just despised. It's bizarre.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, he's the individual version of Memphis who everybody hates as a team. Rudy's just that individual. For every single NBA player, 450 guys hate him.

[Bill Simmons]

I didn't agree with the first pick, but I see you. I see you, cr. I see you. You've been put in the work crya. What do you have for number two? Wes?

[Chris Ryan]

My number, man. I didn't know I was going to be put in this position to draft. I'm going to go with Oklahoma City. This is the pick which I think everybody's really excited about watching them. It's not just Shay. It's J Dub is Chet for me specifically. I'm a big, big Chet guy. The new additions, Hardenstein got hurt. A lot of people said I jinxed it. Cause I said on our part, I said their depth was unbeatable. And then he got hurt the next day.

[Rob Mahoney]

What power you have.

[Bill Simmons]

We did the over under. We all did over lock 57.5. And I think he broke his hand listening to the podcast. But I Still think they can hit it?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, it's just young guys. My favorite thing about league pass outside of great teams is a sense of discovery. Watching guys week after week learn new things, beat or teams discover things about them and then they overcome that adjustment by other teams. And so I think OKC has it all. They have the top to bottom talent and then they have this sense that like you're going to be learning new things about their potential every single week.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah. In every single game. It's not even like, is this guy having a great week? It's oh, I didn't know Case and Wallace could do that. I didn't know these guys could pop off in that way. And they're so deep. They have so many interesting players. I'm not worried about the Thunder, to say the least. I think they're going to be awesome.

[Big Woz]

Do you think there's any like over. It's like too predictable how good they're going to be. Like, I was thinking about this love like a crazy mid season cokey presty move like trade for Kawhi, you know, like just do something nuts to like upset the apple cart. I think the Hayward thing also probably scared him off of doing that ever again too.

[Bill Simmons]

They've even elicited a terrible Kendrick Perkins take before the season started.

[Rob Mahoney]

What was that take?

[Bill Simmons]

How SGA needs to cut his scoring down to 24 points a game and get other guys involved.

[Big Woz]

It's very specific.

[Bill Simmons]

It's like other guys involved. He's. It's like one of the most inclusive stars we have.

[Rob Mahoney]

Entirely driving.

[Chris Ryan]

What is that famous Steph Curry?

[Bill Simmons]

Where are the producers on those shows? No, Kendrick, no, please don't say that. I like the Discovery thing, especially like with league pass day in, day out, when guys get scratched, guys aren't playing or you're just flipping around in second quarters. I like, I feel like for league pass you need kind of a bench that can either be really good or really weird.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Really weird is like there's a couple teams that we'll get to where you're just like, wow, this guy. Holy shit. Which I think is fun. Now that burns off what, by November, December, you're like, all right, but that's.

[Rob Mahoney]

Where them having all this stuff to trade, even if it isn't a Koki trade, like they could mix it up anytime they want to and they could have a slightly different team or a very different team by February. And I think that potential makes them super watchable too.

[Big Woz]

This is a good character for us to develop is Coke Presti coked up Presti and what he could do with all these picks.

[Bill Simmons]

So it's like Saul Rubinick and True Rob Romance.

[Big Woz]

Screaming at Gordon Hayward.

[Bill Simmons]

You stabbed me in the heart. All right. Okay. See, now you're up. Rob, this is. I feel like this is a easy pick, but you won't make it.

[Rob Mahoney]

What does that mean?

[Bill Simmons]

No, I don't think you're going to make the pick you should make.

[Rob Mahoney]

I'm going to take the San Antonio Spurs.

[Chris Ryan]

Wow.

[Rob Mahoney]

Easy reason. Straightforward reason. Although, look, I'm also going to talk your ear off about Chris Paul and how much I'm looking forward to seeing him there. I just have no idea what Wemby is capable of, and I very much look forward to seeing what that is.

[Big Woz]

And Paul's already resting.

[Rob Mahoney]

No, don't worry about it.

[Big Woz]

Okay.

[Rob Mahoney]

Don't worry about it. He's gonna be fine.

[Chris Ryan]

Chris Paul is theoretical.

[Shield Capadia]

Theoretical?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. He's like Kawhi Leonard. Their bodies are shot.

[Rob Mahoney]

Incredibly rude.

[Chris Ryan]

They're not gonna play. These guys don't play. But the reason why. Look, I was quite idiotically skeptical of Wemby. Very vocally skeptical.

[Rob Mahoney]

Performatively, America First Skeptical.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

I was like, oh, what he did in the French league. Give me a break. Do it in the acc. Obviously, I was wrong. But my thing about the spurs, while they're lower on my list, I don't care about anybody else on that team. Like, not a one other player. Do I get geeked to watch, even though Wemby is. Yes. You know, he's transcendent. But, you know, I like to pick.

[Rob Mahoney]

You're not into Harrison Barnes like, that?

[Chris Ryan]

Harry Barnes doesn't do it for me.

[Bill Simmons]

Poor Harry Barnes.

[Anthony Debundo]

No.

[Rob Mahoney]

But Stefan Castle, though, like, they do have interesting young guys.

[Chris Ryan]

He's nice. Rookie year.

[Rob Mahoney]

So some pop, some intrigue. Obviously. Everyone at the point.

[Bill Simmons]

Come on. Yeah.

[Big Woz]

Stefan Castle. UConn. I hated the feeling last season when you would watch the spurs and Wemby would have, like, he'd be drawing, like, a triple double in the first quarter, and then Pop would just go against all vibes and just pull him out for, like, most of the second or, you know, sit him, like, with. Just, like, unrepentant.

[Bill Simmons]

Just like.

[Big Woz]

We're managing it. We're managing it. It's like, people want to watch this guy explode. Let's go.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I had them, like, in the 8 to 10 range because I'm with W. I really only want to watch Wemby. I don't know if Castle's ready yet, but the Thing with Wemby is anytime he gets going or makes some crazy play, I'm going to see it on my phone in five seconds. Right. So all the stuff that he did last year or when he had like the 17 points in six minutes in third quarter, like you start hearing about it as it's happening, just go over and get it. So I don't know. I still don't know what this team wants to be.

[Rob Mahoney]

They're not that good yet.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I don't feel like they will. And their over under I thought was pretty high, but there's some people really going in on them being good. And I just think Chris Paul's too old. I'm with Woz. Like all of the evidence in NBA history is against point guards. Little guys at his age being really good. I don't see it.

[Rob Mahoney]

He's not gonna play a ton of games, but when he is out there, he will actually throw the ball to Victor Wembanyama, which is something that they needed.

[Big Woz]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

And I think I hear your point about the highlights. I think it's well found. And the thing you will miss is Wembanyama trying shit that doesn't work. And he has some of the most elaborate and incredible like near highlights of any player in the league. The time he jumps at a ball but can't quite block it or goaltends it, the threes he'll attempt. Like I want to see all that stuff. In addition to the great highlight plays.

[Bill Simmons]

I have Orlando at number four.

[Rob Mahoney]

That's the team that I should have drafted. Well, I'm not talking down to him. I love the magic.

[Bill Simmons]

Here's why I have a bunch of, bunch of reasons. One is I think they're really fun to watch. Two, Cerrouti's here and I just wanted to make.

[Chris Ryan]

He's got a big smile on his face for those at home.

[Bill Simmons]

Three, I think they're the Discovery team this year. Along the lines of what OKC was last year where and we were banking on this when we did the over unders. I know you guys like them too. Like the 47 wins last year, it felt like of any team in the league, them or Cleveland had a chance to jump. But I loved what they did last night. There was a real killer instinct with them. Palo I is clearly just a level higher than he was last year. And I want to just watch them because I don't know what their ceiling is like. I watched last night and I know it's early. I'm not trying to overreact. After one game. And I want to see the Knicks game. 25.

[Chris Ryan]

Right.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm not going to judge the Knicks after one game. Let's wait till 25. Let's see when Mitch Robinson comes back. But Orlando's really fucking hard to play. And Cerudi made the key point when we were talking about it today. They can just play well for six minutes and go on like a 19 to one run. And you're like, what? You know, they're almost like a football team that can score points in bunches. They're just really scary. I was scared last night watching them for the Celtics. And then the Palo piece is the X factor for a league pass. Like he's just going to have nights where he puts up 38 and 20 and nine assists. So that's my fourth pick.

[Chris Ryan]

What I like about them too for league pass team is their style is very distinct. Like nobody's as physical as they are, nobody's as downhill as they are. Their entire core is young guys who are still trying to establish and prove themselves. That's what I really like about Orlando is like, I'm not. You're not going to watch a team that plays that style where they're just like hitting you the entire freaking game.

[Big Woz]

Several teams in the Eastern Conference, especially the favorites, are all kind of like on a almost organizational load management program. You know, you're like, oh yeah, you guys are going to build up to the spring. There's a couple like this one, the one that I might pick next that you're like, man, every single night. I bet you guys are going to go for it.

[Bill Simmons]

You're all, yeah, you're going to have to like protect these people.

[Big Woz]

Yeah. So I think that's a. That's a cool pick.

[Rob Mahoney]

There's also a version of a defense first team that is not that fun to watch. That's like a real slog. The Magic are not that like, watch Jalen Suggs play defense. He's flying around, he's hounding everybody. He's going to make every guard's life. Talking tons of shit, but great vibes on the Magic side. Like they have so many guys who are very physical but super watchable.

[Bill Simmons]

So one other thing with this from a league pass standpoint, because they did and they started this last year where they basically show the Jumbotron camera during the timeouts. So you just stay with the feed. Orlando's got one of the most lit crowds. Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

It's just cougars everywhere. Yeah. It's a lot of pro golfer season. Yeah. Weird celebrities like golfers and NASCAR drivers. There's older rich guys sitting in the front row with some wife that's like 40 years younger than him. I just. I actually really see Rob shaking and saying, I really enjoy their time out.

[Chris Ryan]

A trip to Disney World.

[Rob Mahoney]

I'm just trying. I'm just trying to get out of this room. Just trying to get away from this table right now.

[Bill Simmons]

Cougar Central, the Orlando Magic. It's pretty funny. All right, Chris, you're up. All right, number five pick.

[Big Woz]

So there's a extra element I'll just throw into one of Zach's criteria there, which is something that's more recent for me, but it is fantasy. And I got Mobley this season. And let me tell you, small. Small theater sample size.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Shield Capadia]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Mobley.

[Big Woz]

Mobley and the Atkinson program might be incredible, and we've been waiting for this, like, Tim Duncan next generation thing to happen. It's only one game.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Big Woz]

But I think that Cleveland looks like the kind of team you want to watch every single day.

[Bill Simmons]

My stockbroker is still hammering me about all the. My Mobley position.

[Big Woz]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Just like, we are just overextended.

[Rob Mahoney]

Is it considered insider trading for. I'm also incredibly over leveraged in Evan Mobley stock. If we talk him up on this pod, is that. Is that a crime of some kind?

[Bill Simmons]

I think it's very smart.

[Big Woz]

25, 8 and 3 in 27 minutes last night.

[Bill Simmons]

And that's the other team that kind of has the look a little bit, like, granted, one game sample size, but they did all the right things in the off season. They got Mitchell to commit. And.

[Big Woz]

And if you're Cleveland, you can't really afford to be like, we'll start playing hard in February. It's like, no, you guys gotta. Like, you guys gotta.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

They have to do it now. And I think Atkinson is bringing just a whole new dynamic. Rob mentioned it on the live stream yesterday, where he's like, yo, Mobley, we're gonna give you the ball and actually allow you to do something with it. We're not gonna treat you like some traditional big.

[Big Woz]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

And give it to you on the block and think you're gonna dream shake people to death. Like, that's not how he's doing. He's just more creative than the last coaches. And I think that's reason in and of itself. Even though, like, it's. The whole team is back from last year. If they're just healthier and more creative on offense specifically, then, yeah, they definitely worth a watch.

[Rob Mahoney]

I also don't Want to let the larger conversation about Donovan Mitchell cloud the fact that he's fucking watchable and electric every time he's on the floor. Super fun to watch.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Especially them against a good team.

[Big Woz]

Absolutely going to be entertaining on the West Coast. Those, those central time zone games are very in the sweet spot of you've gotten home from work. You can throw it on as you're making dinner. You can check in with them.

[Rob Mahoney]

Definitely.

[Bill Simmons]

Wow. Sixth pick.

[Chris Ryan]

This is easy for me. It's the Philadelphia 76ers for both sides of it. One, because I do think legitimately when everybody's available this can be a really good to great team. Just the talent that's available. The other thing. So just on a talent contender. We all know that on paper. The other thing that I like is that I know for a fact the entire fan base is ready to turn on these guys. The second ready the second that it's locked and loaded. They are ready to kill these dudes. So it's like both of those elements, like do they fulfill their potential? Do we just watch one of the worst car crashes of recent memory?

[Bill Simmons]

Paul George had an excuse. He has a bruised knee. Those hurt. That's a two week injury.

[Big Woz]

That was a real injury.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Like my daughter just had that in soccer. It fucking hurt. She was limping around for two weeks. You can't. There's no way to heal it. Embiid is for my daughter to Paul George. Huh.

[Chris Ryan]

He's recovering from the loss.

[Bill Simmons]

But the Embiid thing is where it's.

[Rob Mahoney]

Hard work losing 25 pounds.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Big Woz]

He lost too much weight.

[Rob Mahoney]

That's a lot of cardio.

[Bill Simmons]

Explain the extension to me. Cr m.

[Big Woz]

You gotta. I mean like I like you're gonna really play like show us. Prove it to us with yeah. Embiid.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't know. How about yes.

[Big Woz]

Show me another example in the NBA of that happening right now.

[Bill Simmons]

I as you know, I don't. I don't understand why the corporates did it with Kawhi. I don't understand the point of these extensions when you have no idea if the guy's going to be healthy three months from now. I'd rather be like, I think they're moving into a shit. He's healthy.

[Big Woz]

They're moving into a new building and they. To have like a stable face of the franchise. And Maxey for as much as he's beloved in the city is not there yet. Also.

[Rob Mahoney]

He's awesome. Are we just pretending Joel Embiid's not good. Like he's hurt A lot. The playoff concerns are what they are. But he's an excellent player who I like. I would be in business with that idea.

[Bill Simmons]

He didn't look healthy in the Olympics. He didn't look healthy in the playoffs, and now he's not healthy. That's six months.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah, but you're not playing for now. You're hoping that he's healthy by May.

[Big Woz]

Yeah, that's the example of what I was saying where it's like, do you really want to watch the Sixers in December? Probably not. Now I just listen.

[Bill Simmons]

No franchise has ever said this before as like a selling point to their fans. We only care about the playoffs. No fucking kidding. Everyone cares about the playoffs. Oh, whoa. This new theory. We only care about the postseason. Okay?

[Chris Ryan]

The problem with taking that stance if you're the Sixers is that you've never done anything right. Like, if Boston decided tomorrow, like, yo, we're chilling until the playoffs. It's like, yo, they. They've been going to finals, conference finals.

[Big Woz]

He didn't say chilling until the playoffs. He said, I want to be as healthy as possible for the playoffs. And that means I'm going to try and monitor my body. I don't care about mvp. I don't care about all NBA. The extension is done. It's all about being healthy. I'm just playing devil's advocate. He wasn't like, I don't give a shit until the playoffs start.

[Chris Ryan]

I just think it's a weird decision to treat the regular season like. You know, when you go to a restaurant, there's the 20% gratuity automatically. And then they're like, you could put a plus three if you want. And it's like, that's how. Treating the regular season like that. Plus three, it's like, it's optional. Like, I mean, it's not that important I've ever, you know, the gratuity is happening already. It's just like, I don't care. That's what it feels like. And it's with a brand new roster construction. Again, like, I bring up Boston cause they've had sustained success. It's like conference finals, finals all the time for six years. So they're like, look, we get the regular season. We're worried about getting to our final destination. There's credibility there for a team that just got constructed to be like, we're going to figure out what kind of team we are in the playoffs. That doesn't make any sense to me.

[Rob Mahoney]

From a league pass perspective. Here's what I'm not Looking forward to is this exact conversation every time I see a visiting or an opposing podcast.

[Bill Simmons]

Last night, they didn't make one of the three TVs for me last night. It's like, I don't remember it was a national game. No, thank you.

[Chris Ryan]

I'll be tuned in as long as two of the big three are in.

[Big Woz]

Did they get bumped off for 2B?

[Bill Simmons]

No, I had three other games. Okay. You can get League Pass on three different quad box. Rob, you're a conspiracy guy based on some of your TV watching.

[Rob Mahoney]

Wow. Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

This is like an Apple TV question. Is this just an excuse that Embiid's not healthy? And this is like they sat in a room for five hours and they were like, let's do a whole. We only care about the playoffs. We just want to get him ready.

[Big Woz]

This is one random quote.

[Bill Simmons]

Maybe he's just.

[Big Woz]

You guys are making it sound like.

[Bill Simmons]

Maybe he's not healthy.

[Big Woz]

They're not putting up billboards in Philly that say Sixers just wait for the playoffs.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm just. We're seasoned with this. With five years of Kawaii.

[Anthony Debundo]

Okay. I'm just saying.

[Big Woz]

Cause like, this is five years of Kawhi.

[Bill Simmons]

We're same blueprint of like, ah. You know, leading up to the Paul.

[Big Woz]

George injury, I would say that this has been the most enthusiastic people who have been about the Sixers in a long time. Like, where it was just like, holy shit, this actually worked. You actually did sign a guy into cap space. He actually might be the perfect third wheel.

[Bill Simmons]

People were enthusiastic for the Joker too.

[Rob Mahoney]

Were they?

[Big Woz]

He drafted him. You know what I mean?

[Shield Capadia]

Like, I feel like I have to defend these guys.

[Chris Ryan]

No, look, again, like I said, as long as Joel or Paul George are on the two of the big three maxi, I'm going to be interested to see how those guys work, particularly Paul George around Joel Embiid, because he's never played with that kind of player before. And Joel's never played. Well, he had the one season of Jimmy, but he's never played with a wing that's. That's.

[Big Woz]

He's never had a wing that's also like, I'm happy to be like the beta here. Like, Jimmy was obviously like, you know, he would go in and out of like, wanting to be like, the playmaker. I hate this.

[Rob Mahoney]

He's also never played with someone like Gershon, Yabu Saleh, and I'm not afraid to say it.

[Chris Ryan]

Yabu, Fun guy.

[Bill Simmons]

None of this is passing the spell test for me, okay? None of it. That Was.

[Rob Mahoney]

Was picked.

[Chris Ryan]

That's my pick.

[Bill Simmons]

And I think they're putting too much pressure on Maxey because now Maxey is becoming. It's like when this. I remember writing about this a million years ago. It happened with David west in New Orleans. Everybody talked about how great he was so often it was like he somehow became overrated by not doing anything. And Maxey, it's like, oh, Maxie. I love Maxie. Oh, he could be the face of the franchise. It's like, can we see Maxey, like, be the best guy in a team for three weeks in a row? Why?

[Big Woz]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

I just want the best guards in the league right now.

[Big Woz]

Picked them. And second of all, this is the league pass rankings draft. And now it's just been like unloading on the Sixers for five minutes.

[Chris Ryan]

Well, that's what we do here.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

And it's unloading them for them for, like, what they've done in the playoffs.

[Big Woz]

We were blaze the magic. We're just like these guys, fighters every single night.

[Chris Ryan]

That's right, that's right. That's right. But I think to me, again, I think the human interest of it appeals to me.

[Big Woz]

Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

Like Joel's story, Paul George's story, even, you know, Daryl's story. Right. Like, the way this team is put together and how all in it feels like that's compelling to me. So I'm paying attention.

[Big Woz]

It's a for sure.

[Bill Simmons]

Good luck. We're gonna take a break and let's see our regroup. Pick up a win this NFL game day on FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Right now, all customers get a profit boost every single NFL game day. That means you can pump up your gridiron winnings multiple times a week. FanDuel has tons of ways you can get on the NFL. Action Bet on moneylines, player props, game days, specials, fun parlays, whatever you want. Plus super simple live betting, lightning fast bet settlement and instant withdrawals. FanDuel makes betting on the NFL easier than ever before. Visit FanDuel.com BS and download FanDuel. Today must be 21/President select states 18 +President of D.C. opt in required bonus issue does non withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply including token expiration. See terms for Both [e-mail] Give them a problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com this episode is brought to you by SimpliSafe. It is football season, which means the holidays are coming up and actually Simplisafe is already Having a Black Friday sale. So if you're worried about the safety of your home and family, now is the time to get home security. I personally like to use Simplisafe because they can stop intruders before they break into your home. That's kind of the goal. I think. They take home security to the next level with their active guard outdoor protection. It's not an old school system. They only take action when somebody is already in your house. No, that's not Simplisafe. They take action before somebody gets in your house. There's no long term contracts, no cancellation fees. It's around $1 a day and it gives me peace of mind and helps me and my family feel protected. So take advantage of this Black Friday sale this week only. Right now you can take 60% off any new system with a select professional monitoring plan. Head to SimpliSafe.com BS to claim your discount and make sure your home is safe this season. Keep your home, your family and your peace of mind protected with Simplisafe. Again, go to simplisafe.com/bs that is SimpliSafe with two eyes. There's no safe like Simplisafe. All right, coming back. Somehow we've only done six teams. Rob Mahoney is up with pick seven.

[Rob Mahoney]

I'm going to take a team that is in close games all the time, usually because they're blowing lots of leads. At least that was the case last season. Also, crucially on the league pass side of things, as Chris pointed out, I'm going the other side of the time bracket.

[Bill Simmons]

Right.

[Rob Mahoney]

West Coast's kind of a tough slot this year. Not a lot of teams I'm super invested in. Except the Sacramento Kings. Give me the Cardiac Kings. They found every way to blow games last year. Now let's put DeMar DeRozan.

[Big Woz]

Let's have a closer.

[Rob Mahoney]

Let's have two of the best closers in the league between him and De'Aaron Fox. It's a weird basketball fit. I wanna see if it works. They have an overall alignment that I think if they put two other stars on the floor at all times could be resulting like really high level baseline play all the time. I'm excited to see it.

[Chris Ryan]

I'll be committed to watching them all season for the fun factor. And again, cause their style is so distinct. Even though I know that they will not do anything in the playoff as constructed.

[Bill Simmons]

Just.

[Rob Mahoney]

They may not even make it, to be honest.

[Chris Ryan]

Right. But it's just the visceral, like feeling of watching these guys play. So Fast and be committed to that style that like every single team every year says, yeah, we're going to play with more pace this year. And like, never does it, but Sacramento's going to actually do it and deliver while playing absolutely no defense. But I'm still here for it.

[Big Woz]

They might be the most entertaining team on the West Coast, Right.

[Bill Simmons]

Incredibly, they were entertaining last year.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

And now the DeRozan thing makes it even better. I feel like we can't lose with the Kings because if it doesn't go that well, then it just becomes De'Aaron Fox trade machine time. Oh, yeah.

[Big Woz]

Cause he didn't sign an extension, right?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Let's go. Let's start making up trades with him.

[Big Woz]

Coke Presti on the phone.

[Bill Simmons]

Coke Presti is like, hello.

[Big Woz]

What's the Scarface thing? Where they're like, ah.

[Bill Simmons]

Tony. But I actually think they're going to go be more entertaining. Would be my pick for them. I like their team.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

I thought, you know, they won 48 and 46 the last two years. I don't know why they would go backwards.

[Big Woz]

Also pretty fun arena. And when it's close games, that gets pretty.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. From a league pass standpoint. A lot of good stuff from that. Like, I like light the beam. I like their fans. Their games always have a good atmosphere. So strong pick. I'm taking the Celtics eight. And this sucks.

[Big Woz]

Well, you're picking your own team.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, they're really fun to watch. They shoot a shitload of threes. They have two of the best.

[Big Woz]

Can I tell you, on behalf of our. Our nation, who all love you and love your podcasting, they're not that fun to watch.

[Bill Simmons]

They're fun to watch. They have some of the best players in the world show.

[Big Woz]

Does anybody find the fucking Celtics fun to watch?

[Rob Mahoney]

They're like, in the middle of my ranking. Okay, well, here's my question.

[Bill Simmons]

It's my pick.

[Rob Mahoney]

Is there anything left to discover that we don't know?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. So here. So I'm going to make the case why this?

[Big Woz]

You had to ask this?

[Bill Simmons]

I think there's a chance. I have my fingers crossed. Sometimes when a team wins the title the next year, they come back and they actually go up a level. Like, and Steve Kerr has talked about this because I remember talking to him about this from my book. There's a weird confidence that comes into play, and I felt like they had that in that Knicks game. So I'm intrigued by how hard they go this season. I think they're going to have a lot of blowout wins. I Think Tatum is really motivated.

[Rob Mahoney]

Is a lot of blowout wins good for league pass?

[Bill Simmons]

Well, it's good for you. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. But it's interesting to watch these teams try to figure out. They're just bouncing around the schedule. Every team has these weaknesses. And then they come in and The Celtics have 40 threes in the first half. These teams, they almost don't know. It's almost like in football when you play those teams that are just throwing it every down, sure. It's like, what's happening. No other team plays like this.

[Chris Ryan]

I don't know.

[Bill Simmons]

There's a vibe. I think the atmosphere is good. I like the announcers and I don't know, I just think they're really good to watch.

[Big Woz]

I'm more interested in them for non basketball reasons. I'm interested in them for Missoula post game quotes.

[Rob Mahoney]

Absolutely.

[Big Woz]

I'm interested in them for who's the worst person they could possibly be sold to, who will bankrupt the team. And.

[Bill Simmons]

That is a conversation topic right now in Celtics nation.

[Rob Mahoney]

Six months are gonna be on here, like defending sovereign wealth funds.

[Big Woz]

Yeah. You're like, look, Abu Dhabi. You take the phone call.

[Bill Simmons]

You can't judge.

[Chris Ryan]

Shouts to mbs. But no, I actually on our show yesterday, I think the Celtics could win 70 games this year. I really do. I think there's enough fuck you factor to Tatum with the Olympics, Brown with the Olympics. Joe Missoula, who nobody respects still, even though he just won a championship. I think legitimately, these guys, you know this, like, nobody believed in us and nobody respects us. Like, Jordan just completely made it up out of thin air. It wasn't true with the Celtics. It's true. Like, they've been legitimately disrespected, especially on an individual level. So I could see them chasing 70 wins or even trying to break the record. And they got the talent, they got the continuity to do it. I really do see them as like a 2016 warriors type.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

If they hit that streak in the middle of the season where it's like the Heat when they were on their run or even the Rockets were, that'll be interesting. 18 regular season wins in a row. Like, we're locked in for 19. Like, we want to see if they can pull that kind of stuff off.

[Bill Simmons]

One thing I forgot to mention, in my league pass case, they've mastered the regular season. I think out of all the teams where they'll just rest one guy and then it'll be like, Sam Hauser, it's your night.

[Big Woz]

So this is.

[Bill Simmons]

But this is cool wrestling.

[Big Woz]

Cool in the soldiers.

[Bill Simmons]

Here you go. No, but they have an infrastructure where they fit these people in and they actually make sense in the game versus like, oh, Embiid's playing.

[Big Woz]

Well, there's no reason Ricky Council can't be getting blooded by Nick Nurse. It's just all part of the plan.

[Bill Simmons]

But I like as a fan, it's like, oh, it's going to be a Peyton Pritchard. Let's. Let's cut him loose game anyway.

[Big Woz]

See how you're up for pure aesthetic reasons. And we were talking a little bit about like, everybody wants to push the ball. Nobody pushes the ball like the Pacers.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yep.

[Big Woz]

So I'm going to go with them. Matheran's back. Which is, you know, the kind of thing you say on a podcast. But I actually love Benedict Matheran. He brings a little bit of that crazy fuck you energy to the games. Halliburton presumably does not have a hamstring injury right now.

[Bill Simmons]

And.

[Big Woz]

And they're just a really exciting team.

[Bill Simmons]

Is he going to be good again or are we just. That's never happening again.

[Chris Ryan]

Here comes Justin Verriotte.

[Bill Simmons]

They just went to the conference finals.

[Big Woz]

Yeah, but that was kind of like a flukey Blazers ride.

[Rob Mahoney]

See, there's some flukes involved. But he was still good. Like their offense was still good.

[Big Woz]

Yes.

[Rob Mahoney]

And he's driving their offense.

[Bill Simmons]

So when we. Is he going to be good again, though?

[Chris Ryan]

When we saw him at in season tournament, like he was in, he was MVP level. And that's when I was really like, when I saw it in person, I was like, damn. Like, that's when I really joined the Halliburton train. But ever since he came back from that injury, he has not been that dude that was like doing the dame time to Milwaukee and like showing everybody up and just destroying people. So I think. But I think the level that he got in certain games against the Knicks is still a high quality all star level guy.

[Big Woz]

This might not be every single night, right?

[Chris Ryan]

MVP level. Like he was very early on.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. His first two months he was one of the four best guys in the league. Last year it was crazy even yesterday. So I was watching Mather and had a look in his eye like, I'm here, guys. I was the missing piece last year. Clear out for me.

[Big Woz]

He really is. What was the video over the summer of him like dominating Carmelo's son and like talking shit to him? I was like, this is the sicko stuff that I love is what Emmy put like, I'm not even gonna let you get, like, an Instagram reel off me.

[Chris Ryan]

No, he's one of those guys who takes, you know, he takes the.

[Big Woz]

Oh, no, it's Gilbert Arenas. This kid.

[Chris Ryan]

He takes the challenge of being, like, really good seriously. He dealt with a lot of nagging injuries last year, but, you know, a lot of times these guys, we think in the second year is gonna happen, and then it doesn't. Then, you know, ultimately the third year becomes the year that they take that proverbial leap.

[Rob Mahoney]

They also have so many young. Like, is Matheran gonna pop? Is Nem Hard gonna take a step forward? Is Jarris Walker gonna give them anything? Like, I want to see what all.

[Bill Simmons]

This is, or is Jairus Walker a bust? What's going on with him? Two other things with them. They're a good opponent. They bring out really fun games from the other team. And I like their home court, like, for league pass. It's just fun to watch games there where the fans seem really close to the court.

[Big Woz]

It's like the only thing. It's like the field house. It's almost like this throwback thing. And so it also goes along with McConnell pressing guys for the entire full court. It's like, they're fun games to watch.

[Bill Simmons]

Fun time out stuff, too. With them. It's like, pacer fans, let's honor Bob from Bob's Hardware Store. Shout out to Bob, available for 60 years, selling the best hardware in Gary, Indiana.

[Chris Ryan]

Bill, your heartland voice is perfect. Thank you, dude.

[Bill Simmons]

Appreciate it. All right, you're up, Wes.

[Chris Ryan]

I can't believe they've lasted this long. It's Luka Doncic, the favorite to win the mvp, the Dallas Mavericks. I just. I think Dallas is going back to the finals. I think Luka's gonna win the mvp. I think they've constructed an even better roster around him this year, around the edges. Klay Thompson is one thing, Najee Marshall is another, but I think also just going that far in the playoffs and learning what it takes to actually win, you know, at that level. I think Dallas is going to level up this season. And, you know, I'm excited about Derrick Lively. I think I'm over the moon for him in terms of his potential. And I just, you know. And the Kyrie thing, of course, is fun. You know, the twisty layups and the handle and all of that stuff every single game. But really, it's Luka who, you know, I was joking to rob the other day. Like, my first next LeBron was Giannis, then it was Jokic. Now It's Luka. I really do think Luka is the next LeBron and is poised to, like, really make this thing happen.

[Bill Simmons]

I have nothing to add.

[Rob Mahoney]

I think there are. Guys, look, there's. Some people I think are turned off by Luca's style, like, how much he has the ball in his hands, how much he creates.

[Big Woz]

I am turned off by Lucas, though.

[Rob Mahoney]

I can't connect with that. I think in part, for me, it's like the longer his possessions go, the more dramatic they feel. Like his passes are so exceptional that I'm just waiting to see how he gets himself out of the straitjacket a little bit.

[Big Woz]

I think it's awesome in the playoffs. It's a little bit of a tough beat on a Tuesday night.

[Rob Mahoney]

I hear you. And that's where you hope that the Kyrie factor, like, the space they'll have with Clay, everything lively, is going to be popping off this season. That stuff will help.

[Bill Simmons]

It's a tough beat for PJ Washington, Year two, now that it's not a new team anymore. Yeah, it's like, oof, six months. I'm going to just be in the left corner, hoping I get passed.

[Big Woz]

So are you kind of, like, completely neutral on this team?

[Bill Simmons]

I don't. Listen, I've talked about it before. I don't love the heliocentric. Harden, to me, is like, my idea of hell to watch. Like, I didn't go last night. Granted, I was sick last night, but I just. I just don't want to drive 45 minutes to watch James Harden have the ball for two hours straight. It just sounds horrible. Nothing against him. Some people like it. I just. That's what I like.

[Chris Ryan]

Nothing against him, but I just don't.

[Bill Simmons]

Like that style of basketball. But Rob makes a good point. Like, other people see it as, like, this is amazing to watch this person solve all these machinations off the same thing over and over again. I just don't personally like it.

[Big Woz]

They've made a lot of advances at the Intuit Dome. It's like a new experience. I would love it if James Harden got a notification every time you're coming. So he's like 23 seconds at the.

[Bill Simmons]

Top of the key to lunging into people. I just.

[Chris Ryan]

Bill got up to go to the bathroom. I could pass you.

[Big Woz]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Every time Bill goes to the bathroom.

[Big Woz]

Harden's like, all right, I'll sit now. When he comes back, let me know and I'll dribble for a while.

[Bill Simmons]

Who do you have?

[Rob Mahoney]

This team would have been very high for me, except for Opening night. I'm going to take the New York Knicks a lot to figure out. Yeah, I think the fact that they don't have a bench makes them a better regular season team in some ways. Like, I'm not going to get a lot of bad minutes from guys who can't play. Like, I think we're going to find out pretty quickly if, like, Daddy A can be literally anything for them. If campaign can be literally anything for them. But Jalen Brunson has to play.

[Bill Simmons]

No.

[Rob Mahoney]

Well, but Jalen Brunson has to play huge minutes. Like, their best players have to play huge minutes every night. And so it's almost. The Knicks are the opposite of the Sixers problem, where their best guys are going to be out there. Like, they're going to run themselves into the ground to try to get this thing through. And I want to be there to watch it, and I want to see if they can solve some of the clutter that they had on opening night. For sure.

[Bill Simmons]

I agree with Ralph.

[Big Woz]

I want to watch. Just to watch McKilbert just shoot. It's like, really should be a Sixer with that shot.

[Bill Simmons]

His last three was good, though.

[Big Woz]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

You know, this one looks smooth.

[Chris Ryan]

It looks.

[Big Woz]

It was looking pretty gamey for the last couple of weeks.

[Bill Simmons]

W. Where'd you stand on Bodega Cat?

[Chris Ryan]

Look, my thing is the same. I like that he's the seventh most important voice in the room, that he's coming into a situation where, like, nobody's ever called you the savior of the Knicks. You've never been the golden boy here. You're coming here and people are looking at you like, you gotta assimilate to this culture. I love that aspect of it. He's not being asked to lead anybody. Cause let's face it, he couldn't do that. But, like, I think he's old enough, and I don't want to say wise enough, but, like, I think he'll get the hint that he has to conform to what they're trying to do. And I would hope that it's impressed upon him the sort of magnitude of what they're trying to accomplish there. Like, what it would mean to the people in New York, the fans of that team, for them to actually live up to their expectations. Like, you know, Jalen Brunson so obviously gets it. Like, truly gets it. Like, what this Nick thing is. I just hope that Carl Towns gets to that point. I think if he does, he's gonna learn how to be additive to what they're doing. I don't think he's gonna be Wilt Chamberlain or anything stupid like that. But I think he can be very complimentary to Jalen Brunson, what he's trying to do in the in between game. And I think he could be, obviously, way better than Julius Randle. So, like, yeah, that's where I'm at with Katt.

[Bill Simmons]

I thought Brunson looked pretty good in the first game, considering he was still covered in Dante G. Vincenzo's blood after the ruthless training of his college buddy. Oh, my God, would I ever trade Joe House? It's like, sorry, House. If we had a chance to get so and so. Yeah, you're now working over there. Sorry, buddy. We're still gonna hang out. It's fucked up.

[Big Woz]

Can you imagine if I was just screaming at Cerudi, like, this is what happen when they let you run things. Ceruti, we have to talk about the Magic before the Sixers.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, my goodness.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, this draft has been too predictable, and I'm about to uproot it. And it's genuine, too, because I love this team, and I almost picked them four picks ago. They were on the big screen last night for me. There's a lot to love. The Atlanta Hawks.

[Chris Ryan]

Wow.

[Bill Simmons]

I have their over 36 and a half. I like watching them. Trey is just like, thank God Dejounte Murray's not here anymore.

[Big Woz]

Yeah, the vibe change was crazy.

[Bill Simmons]

Incredible vibe change. Lob's galore. Multiple six, nine, six, ten. Skinny guy. You have to really look. You can almost not tell them apart, but you have to, like. I'm still getting used to, like. Oh, is that. No, that's Johnson. That's. And they all like. It's just like, interchangeable length and weirdness. And I'll be honest, man. Woz, we haven't talked about this. I have property on Risherchet Island.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, man.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm fucking in on Risachet. Like, I'm legit in on him. I like that guy. You have a chateau. I liked him in the preseason. Listen, it was not expensive. Yeah.

[Big Woz]

Is there a vineyard attached to it?

[Bill Simmons]

Expectations were down. I like that guy. I like how even his box corps last night didn't really show what he was doing, which is fucking hustle.

[Chris Ryan]

Can you read the ESPN headline here? It says, number one pick, Rishache, opens with three, goes two for eight.

[Bill Simmons]

That's Mr. Lamp in traffic.

[Big Woz]

That's clickbait right there.

[Bill Simmons]

I thought he was good. I think he hustles, and he makes sense to me as somebody who will be a valuable person on a really Good NBA team. And they have him. They have Dyson Daniels, and they have Johnson. They're just weird. They're fun to play. They have two big guys. The conglook came in, Bogdanovich comes in and just takes over the offense for six. I think they're pretty good. I gotta say.

[Big Woz]

There's a. It's a good question when you say, like, you know, you have league pass when. Dot, dot, dot. Dyson Daniels is trending on your for you, whereas Dyson Daniels is locking guys up. Alcatraz, let's go.

[Rob Mahoney]

Well, last night it was. He was almost murdered in real time by Nick Claxton. That was.

[Bill Simmons]

Nick Claxton was trying to get suspended for the season so he doesn't have to play with Cam Thomas anymore.

[Rob Mahoney]

Who can blame him, honestly?

[Bill Simmons]

He was like, this is my one shot to get out of here. That game was super fun. There was almost two fights. It got super feisty. It was close to the end. Atlanta's also not good enough to close games, which is great for league pass. They're up by eight with a minute left. Somehow Brooklyn had a chance at the end. Thumbs up. That team seems like a 43 win team to me.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, I'm a Jaylen Johnson believer. I really love his. Just his package of both physical gifts, but he has a nose for the game. He has genuine feel. He's not just, like, out there some robotic, athletic guy. I like that. And I think, like you guys said, the Dejounte Murray thing was a clarifying trade. Like, the team now has an obvious focal point and it's more organized. Instead of this sort of, your turn, my turn nature that they were doing last year. And, you know, for league pass purposes, Trae Young is going to get on people's nerves, and that's always fun. And he's going to make a point of it. Plus, he went to Istanbul, y'all. I seen the hair. I see the new beard. We know what's going on with that. So we can't put that past.

[Rob Mahoney]

You can tell soccer coach.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Big Woz]

He was like, give me the Antonio Conte.

[Chris Ryan]

Come on now.

[Rob Mahoney]

You had me at they could be fun to watch. You lost me at 43 wins. Like, this team is not winning that many games.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, that would be like 6 over the over under. I think they can get to, like, 43 and 39. Because it looks like Miami might be worse than we thought.

[Rob Mahoney]

Or they got magic.

[Big Woz]

I thought you saw.

[Bill Simmons]

Did you see all those sucks?

[Rob Mahoney]

They got a case of the Palos over.

[Bill Simmons]

Did you see all those Sucky Eastern Conference teams yesterday.

[Chris Ryan]

There's a lot.

[Bill Simmons]

It's brutal.

[Big Woz]

Yeah, it is.

[Bill Simmons]

Like, somebody is going to have to win 43 games that we don't like. Could it be Charlotte? I don't know.

[Chris Ryan]

I think the Hawks are, like, way better than, you know, Washington and Chicago. Like, Detroit. Detroit. They're way better than that group. But I don't know that they're that close to the Miamis and the Indies and, you know, I think there's a.

[Bill Simmons]

Level below that somebody's going to be in, and I would. It's either them or Miami.

[Rob Mahoney]

You could step on Rakes all season and make the east play in. So, like, I'm not ruling out that.

[Big Woz]

They could be there. There's going to be a Bulls, Hawks, kind of, like, race to the bottom there.

[Bill Simmons]

I kind of like their team, man. If Reese turns out to be good right away, which I think there's a chance he's a little bit impactful, I don't know. Watch out for the. All right, C.R. we got to move faster.

[Big Woz]

Okay. I'm going to go with the Rockets. There's very few teams who market themselves as tough, so it's kind of fun to watch them on any given night get into people's shit. It's more of a preseason thing, but the Reed shepherd experience so far has been delightful. You didn't get as much of a look last night, but Sangun did and basically did Baby Jokic all night. And I still have.

[Bill Simmons]

And they lost.

[Big Woz]

And they lost. I know. Which is kind of the fun part is because there isn't, like, the Boston thing where you're like, can you win 70, though? It's like, no. Are these guys going to actually pick a rotation, pick an identity, pick like a sort of hierarchy? And are they going to play tough every night? Which I think they will. This is very foreign for me because I usually traditionally do not like the Rockets, but this is a collection of guys that I like and a collection of guys that I hate.

[Bill Simmons]

Watch.

[Chris Ryan]

I hated Ver Maxwell.

[Bill Simmons]

Back in Violent agreement with you. I watched a lot of them last night, same thing. And I don't think they have any idea what their rotation is. No, they played their top five a lot. Whitmore barely played, but he played, which.

[Rob Mahoney]

I thought was a pleasant surprise.

[Bill Simmons]

They tried to play 10, and then Shepard. It's just. He just seemed tiny to me. Yeah, people were talking about him coming.

[Chris Ryan]

In as soon as he came in. I'm still a Reed Shepherd.

[Bill Simmons]

No, I'm in, too, but it was.

[Big Woz]

Like this guy's, I think once it slows down a little bit. But like the preseason it was like, is this Pete Maravich? And now it's like, now it's like.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, this guy's little. Like they're going to hunt him on defense. Yeah, yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

Well, in the holy war that is developing. Chris, do you identify more as a Shangoon guy or a Jalen Green guy?

[Big Woz]

I think I really way preferred watching them on that run. They went in after Sengun, but they are aesthetically way more pleasing to watch with Shang.

[Bill Simmons]

Isn't the question are you a Sengun guy or a Jabbari Smith guy? Because that seems to be the fundamental. Like, Jabbari was invisible last night and I thought what made them special was him as the stretch five, like in that kind of pseudo towns role. And then that opened up the paint.

[Chris Ryan]

If he's not playing five, he has to like apply some basketball, like feel. And that's not what he does.

[Bill Simmons]

Where do you think Miami is going to play him when they trade for Jimmy Butler?

[Big Woz]

This is the thing is that I feel like Houston, even though they haven't really proved anything, are almost at a point where they have to do some subtraction. You know what I mean?

[Bill Simmons]

I did this in part one of the pod. I think it's a three for one trade team and I don't know what the trade was. Could it be Jimmy Butler? Could it be somebody on that level where they just kind of cash in? Because I think they have too many guys.

[Rob Mahoney]

They have like six players who could have. Could deservingly play 10 more minutes a game than they will probably.

[Bill Simmons]

Well. And also Thompson seems like he might actually be special.

[Rob Mahoney]

He really.

[Bill Simmons]

He looks really good and he's almost like, I can't keep him off the court guy. Yeah. So I don't know what that means either.

[Rob Mahoney]

He's maybe the biggest quirk in the Shangun part of that because, like, playing Jabari at the five is the clearest way to make Amen Thompson really, really good really, really quickly or at least give him lots of opportunities. And maybe it's like a first line, second line thing where the second unit.

[Big Woz]

Is the time where he needs to cook hockey subs.

[Bill Simmons]

Like I floated this in part one. Brooks Adams expiring and Thompson for Jimmy Butler is like a really interesting. Who says no. And I don't know if I would do that if I was Houston. I think I would rather because I don't think that guarantees me round three.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, like, what's the point of phrase?

[Bill Simmons]

I Think we're in the. I think we're in the same phase.

[Chris Ryan]

We'Ve been in the whole time of the team. So. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, what do you got, wise man?

[Chris Ryan]

This is tough. It's not that tough, actually. It's the Los Angeles Lakers for me. And the tier that I put them in is like, you know, Steph, KD, LeBron, like, it's like your favorite bar just announced that they're about to close in a few weeks. So you go for a few less times. You go a couple more times, I.

[Bill Simmons]

Gotta steal a glass.

[Chris Ryan]

That's why I'm tuning into the Lakers. Like, LeBron is 40 years old. Right. So, like, for that reason alone. And then quad has kept. The Lakers have been one of the most hilarious teams to watch in the league for like two and a half years now. Like a bunch of blown leads, like dissing the coach for no reason after both Vogel and Darvin Ham. Even though we lose that element with jj, the players won't be sniping at him. But the JJ media interactions are going to be entertaining.

[Bill Simmons]

Would you see his first in coach interview in game coach interview?

[Big Woz]

I did not.

[Bill Simmons]

He gave like a minute and a half long answer. It's like, jj, one sentence. Like, here are the four things I thought went well the first three quarters.

[Big Woz]

Then he did the post game thing where it was like he had just gotten out of the shower and he was like, I'm writing a letter to the league requesting that we use Warren footballs.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Big Woz]

I was like, you gotta fucking take it easy, man. Like, I gotta say, long year creative.

[Bill Simmons]

We're watching on tv. I was pretty impressed by him. I mean, their team, he seemed locked in. He was locked in on the refs. They ran good plays out of timeouts. I thought he handled the Bronny thing as well as you could have possibly handled.

[Big Woz]

He did a really good job. Just being like, we're doing this, we're getting it out of the way.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, let's get LeBron out of the way.

[Big Woz]

There's not gonna be any LeBron watch.

[Bill Simmons]

They really ran through Davis like they weren't beholden to. All right, LeBron a terrible time and they're using connect in the right ways. I thought he did a good job. We also with league pass standpoint, you get the celebrities and the shots during the timeouts and just you get a taste of how fucking weird LA is every time out.

[Big Woz]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

Do they count as a league pass team if they're going to be on national TV every day?

[Big Woz]

It's an interesting.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, it's a soap opera because you know they're going to have. They're going to lose three in a row. The first passive aggressive. D'Angelo Russell. Yeah.

[Shield Capadia]

Oh, he's available.

[Bill Simmons]

That's going to happen. LeBron.

[Big Woz]

First time. LeBron's like, I just work here, you know?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't know why I took eight shots. You have to ask jj. Yeah. So we'll have all the roller coaster ride of that stuff. I love that stuff. Who do you have? Mahoney.

[Rob Mahoney]

Easy one for me. Memphis Grizzlies.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Big Woz]

Memphis is next for me.

[Rob Mahoney]

Love watching John Moran play basketball. I'm a simple man. Simple pleasures. He does incredible shit down the stretch.

[Chris Ryan]

Last night was nice.

[Rob Mahoney]

The up and unders, the dunk attempts, the ways to intercept. Who the fuck? Which guy?

[Bill Simmons]

Huff. Where'd he come from? I cover basketball for a living. I was like, who's this? And he was on two teams the last two years, but never really played well.

[Rob Mahoney]

I know wasp.

[Bill Simmons]

He was in crunch time.

[Rob Mahoney]

Huge Santi Aldama game, too.

[Bill Simmons]

I know.

[Rob Mahoney]

We're locked in on that. Wasp.

[Bill Simmons]

Of course.

[Chris Ryan]

Yes, we.

[Big Woz]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

Huff.

[Bill Simmons]

You could have told me 30 countries. Yeah. And I would have believed any of them. But I think he's from here.

[Rob Mahoney]

I think he is from here.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. I'm with the jab parts. Fun to see how it's going to play out, whether he can get to where he needs to go.

[Chris Ryan]

Scottie Piven Jr. 22 minutes last night.

[Rob Mahoney]

He's legit.

[Bill Simmons]

I think he's a legit basket.

[Rob Mahoney]

He's a legit guy. I really like a lot of their players. And especially once Gigi Jackson and Vince Williams get back, there's just like a lot.

[Chris Ryan]

Probably gonna have a little bit less Jay Huff, though.

[Bill Simmons]

I wish he didn't have a first name. I just think he should go.

[Big Woz]

Huffington Jersey. A Huff jersey.

[Bill Simmons]

Huff. Marcus Smart. Looked a little doughy to me. Just going to mention that. I don't know if it's age or what.

[Big Woz]

They were playing 13 guys who is.

[Chris Ryan]

Marcus Martin not going to be in the Celtics ring of honor.

[Big Woz]

Oh, yeah. You guys are not going to retire his number.

[Rob Mahoney]

No.

[Chris Ryan]

You guys are going to. Is he going to get like.

[Bill Simmons]

We all have a lot of affection for Marcus. I just thought he looked big, like he put on, like, weight. I'm not saying he looked fat. I'm saying he looked like.

[Big Woz]

Celebrating that Celtics title muscle.

[Rob Mahoney]

Also Memphis barbecue. Not to be trifled with. Let's all be honest about it.

[Bill Simmons]

Would like him a Little leaner. I'll make this quick. I'm taking Denver because of Jokic.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, that's easy.

[Bill Simmons]

We don't need to discuss that. Although it is fun to watch whatever the hell's going to happen with their bench and see if they can figure out whether they can find eight guys who can play consistently. But Jokic, this will make me mad this year that his team around him isn't better because you have this incredible asset and he has no bench. And they were trying to do the thing where they were much smarter than everybody and we're going young and length, and it's like, you know what helps some fucking players that could come in and play well for 15 minutes. Can you just find a couple of those?

[Chris Ryan]

The thing about Jokic, too, like, he doesn't. He doesn't strike me as a guy who's like, reading the press clippings and is like, oh, Denver's gonna stink this year. He doesn't care. He's just gonna go out and do what he does.

[Bill Simmons]

He's like, people write about this.

[Big Woz]

You guys like this.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

I just have a bad feeling. We may get to the point in January where it's like, the Faku Compazzo Nuggets vibes. It's like, why is this guy out there?

[Big Woz]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

Why is this guy in the rotation?

[Big Woz]

The Michael Malone, like, performance art of, like, refus play. Anybody under the age of 26, Julian.

[Rob Mahoney]

Strother, Hunter, Tyson, like, let one of these guys play.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, it could be like, an amazing yoga chair where he's just like, all right, get on my back, everybody. I'm just going to make chicken salad out of chicken again. C.R. you're up.

[Big Woz]

I'm going to go. Pelicans, aka Philadelphia South. Dejante. I think he had 10 assists before he fractured his hand last night. Zion Williamson out for these guys.

[Bill Simmons]

Probably should have gone higher.

[Big Woz]

Bill Simmons flew. But as far as, as, like, watching on league pass goes, Zion still is one of the top five reasons to watch basketball. When he's on and when he's playing, it's just so fucking fun and interesting.

[Bill Simmons]

They have fun bench guys. They have fun bench guys. I like Hawkins.

[Big Woz]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Hawkins. Trey Murphy obviously is really good.

[Big Woz]

And, yeah, I think when Murray comes back, the fact that they don't have a center might be an issue at some point at the season.

[Rob Mahoney]

Seems like it could.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah.

[Big Woz]

But I love how, like, freestyle it can be. And Willie Green can throw all these different combinations. And if you get Zion out there, it's worth watching along.

[Chris Ryan]

Plus, we're on Brandon Ingram watch.

[Bill Simmons]

That's right. Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

It was good last year, entering year six of it.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, no questions.

[Chris Ryan]

Obviously, he wants a new deal.

[Bill Simmons]

Good luck.

[Chris Ryan]

He was so clearly on the trade trade block this entire summer. Well, last year, too, but yeah, I'm interested to see how he responds to that.

[Big Woz]

Could that be a Coke presty phone call?

[Rob Mahoney]

No, no, no, don't do it.

[Bill Simmons]

He's too bomb stopper. Yeah, I think he's more of a. Somebody's had a chance to compete at a really high level and their best player got hurt or their best scorer got hurt or.

[Chris Ryan]

Or like Sacramento's like, oh, desperate.

[Rob Mahoney]

Now, listen, why would you get Brandon Ingram when you have Demar at home?

[Chris Ryan]

Is my problem.

[Bill Simmons]

Like, from a league pass standpoint, I just want to point out the New Orleans is kind of a bummer sometimes. Yes.

[Big Woz]

Sometimes there's 14, the crowds are awful.

[Bill Simmons]

Sometimes where you're just like, Jesus Christ. Guys like, Minnesota's in town.

[Big Woz]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Jose Alvarado is a guy that's a soft spot. Christ the King guy, Puerto Rican guy. If you grew up in New York City, Olympic hero, you absolutely know a Jose Alvarado. And so, you know, love that guy, roof him.

[Rob Mahoney]

What I love about the Pelicans is we're talking about all these other teams in the sense that, like, we're all going to watch the same version of the Sixers, whether they're healthy or not. When you watch the Pelicans, there's, like, your version of that team within them. The five guys that you like playing together, they may not actually get that much time on the floor as one unit, but. But everyone has their version of that roster that they like. It's just a matter of who's. Whether they get enough run or not.

[Bill Simmons]

This is another team that feels like it's not going to be the same team in February. Like something will be the same.

[Rob Mahoney]

Something will have gone very wrong if it is.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, we're going to take one more break, and then now we're entering the most exciting part of the podcast. There's only seven rounds, and two teams will not get drafted. Who are the two teams that are going to live in ignominy not getting drafted in the league pass draft? That's coming up next. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. Now, I know what you're thinking. Peloton doesn't look that tough. Well, let me tell you, Peloton is way more challenging than most people think. Whether you're on the Peloton, tread or diving into their All Access membership. They've got a wealth of running and strength training programs that will really push you to your limits. And these instructors, they're not messing around. We're talking military trained sub three hour marathoners and former college athletes who know how to bring out your inner beast. With tons of options to choose from, you can gear up for race day with seasoned marathoners leading the charge. Plus custom strength workouts to keep you accountable and crushing those goals. Peloton is all about the details too. Want to up your game as a runner? Well, their pace targets let you tailor your workout so you can truly challenge yourself every step of the way. Find your push, find your power with [e-mail] this episode is brought to you by the all new reimagined Nissan Kicks. From the bold new exterior to the performance and tech features like intelligent all wheel drive and a Bose Personal plus sound system. Cars where I live, I live in the Los Angeles area and cars are one of the most important things you can have because you're in them a lot. Because you got to drive around all over the place. You know what's fun? To have a nice car for an everyday commute, to have music and the ability to do hands free stuff and just to feel safe, you can do it. Drive the all new reimagined Nissan Kicks today. Head over to Nissan USA to learn more. Bose Personal plus sound system is an available feature. Bose is a registered trademark in the Bose Corporation. Intelligent all wheel drive cannot prevent collisions or provide enhanced traction in all conditions. Always monitor traffic and weather conditions. All right, come back. Rob Mahoney is up.

[Rob Mahoney]

I feel like we're in a very simple part of the ranking now in the draft. I'm taking the Milwaukee Bucks. They have Giannis on their team. I will watch him play every game that he can play. Watch him run through the wall every time he wants to run through the wall. I know they have their issues as a contender, but as a regular season product like Dame and Giannis is pretty great where I stand.

[Big Woz]

Dame with a summer workout regimen too.

[Bill Simmons]

Dame can Dame go from being once a week to twice a week as having good games, which is if he does, they're going to be fun to watch.

[Chris Ryan]

He started off slow and there was little grumblings in the room that we were watching again. Like can you believe they gave up jrue Holiday for this? And then he drained like four threes in a row from 30ft away and it's like oh yeah, that's why they traded.

[Rob Mahoney]

Those were also. Those were partisan gripes that were being made.

[Chris Ryan]

We know they're partisan gripes.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. We don't need to do too much Milwaukee, but. Yeah, the doc. The doc. Coach interviews are always fun, too.

[Shield Capadia]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Doc, what happened out there? Oh, you tell me. We were terrible. Not sure we. Apparently we're not playing defense tonight. He just doesn't give a shit anymore. So I'm up then. Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

Who do you think?

[Bill Simmons]

All right, I got to write. I just got to keep track of this. Okay. Oh, man, I really want to. Do I want to throw the draft out of whack again? No, I'll take Phoenix. Guess what? Kevin Durant still really fun to watch.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

I thought it was interesting that they still don't seem like they have chemistry yet.

[Rob Mahoney]

A little rough on that end so far last night.

[Bill Simmons]

Booker was the one that suffered, but it seems like they can't get all the guys going at the same time. But I like seeing Coach Bud, who just seems like he was on Ozempic or Atkins or something or both. Kind of. The Arizona sun was really getting him. But yeah, Phoenix for me.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. I hope that Coach Bud could get them to be more elastic in their games, man, like kd, Bradley, Bill are just so used to playing one way. Like, I hope he could coax some elasticity out of them, but, you know. Yeah, it's still KD when he's just like dribbling people at middle mid range and just draining it. Super fun.

[Big Woz]

For my next pick, I'm gonna go Steph and the Dirty Dozen.

[Chris Ryan]

Yep.

[Big Woz]

Just gotta watch Steph while he's still here.

[Chris Ryan]

It's just crazy that we get this far in the.

[Bill Simmons]

Wow, you sound like you're talking about like, grandpa. Well, no, we gotta go visit grandpa while he's still here.

[Big Woz]

I honestly weirdly feel like the extended twilight of LeBron has overshadowed. This is probably also the twilight of Stephen. Do you know what I mean?

[Bill Simmons]

Or has it? Because I feel like Steph can play until he's like 48, but, like, literally.

[Rob Mahoney]

No guard has ever done this before. No one his size has ever played this well this late.

[Big Woz]

So they were. I mean, I think were they at the Blazers last night? That was pretty quick and they played like 14 guys. But it's a weird.

[Bill Simmons]

Would you see what Kerr said? What? I mean, he literally did a 12 man rotation and talked about it after. He's like, I just wanted to see if we could figure this out.

[Rob Mahoney]

I mean, how did you feel about that? As someone who watch Absolute Violations Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Especially at the Olympics. But, no, I just don't think. I think you can play 12 guys during a season, but during an actual game. It makes no sense. You've played basketball. Okay, so you're just not. You're just not playing enough. It's too good. I don't get it.

[Big Woz]

As an experiment, I think it's interesting. But, yeah, I'll go with. Well, I'll go with warriors and, you know.

[Bill Simmons]

No, Clay Curry has to be. He can't be in the bottom 10 of a draft.

[Rob Mahoney]

No.

[Chris Ryan]

My team is Charlotte.

[Rob Mahoney]

God damn it.

[Bill Simmons]

That was the one I almost took. Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Charlotte. And, you know, Brandon Miller, I feel very heavily invested in. I watched him play two games in the SEC tournament and declared him the rightful number two pick in the draft.

[Big Woz]

Seed investor.

[Chris Ryan]

And I just been holding on ever since when I put my scout hat on. But no, like, I just really love his, you know, his, like, fake Paul George routine that he's doing, especially early on in his career.

[Rob Mahoney]

Aspirational. Paul George, Okay.

[Shield Capadia]

Oh, I like that.

[Chris Ryan]

Aspirational. See, that's.

[Rob Mahoney]

We're reaching for the dogs.

[Chris Ryan]

Rob Mahoney. And then, of course, Lamelo Ball, man. Like, he dropped 34 last night. I think it's. You know, everything has come sort of, like, as a given, right? Like, they gave him that big extension just automatically, just as a given. I think it's now finally time for him to actually put this stuff on tape and show, like, why he.

[Bill Simmons]

You think so? Year five, maybe it's time.

[Chris Ryan]

I think so. Yeah. Yeah. I think he's. I think he's.

[Bill Simmons]

I thought he was awesome last night. I watched that whole game. That was one of the three TVs, and that team. So Verno talked about this on the mismatch. He sat next to the bench. This is the Celtics. Love, Charles Lee. And this was, I thought, the hardest over. Under for me because it was 29. I really like the over. I also don't know what incentive they have to be like, we made the play in. But you watch them last night, and it's just. They're a good team. Like, I mean, a good bad team. But they had, you know, they have Curry, they have Grant Williams, Miles Bridges, they have rebounding. And lamelo was awesome. And then out of nowhere, Tre Mann.

[Rob Mahoney]

I know he can hoop.

[Big Woz]

If they can say mildly healthy, that's the thing. I think it's gonna be.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Big Woz]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

But I think the team I watched last night was well coached. They had a specific style. They had an identity. They were tough. They Were like walking around with their chests out and I was like, oh, this is. I might have bet on them, too. So I was enjoying that part. But I think for the first month, they're a team to kind of watch as a frisky, dangerous. Oh, my God. Charlotte beat Cleveland in Cleveland last night. I do think they might be one of those teams.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah, they're not as good as the Pacers, but they play a similar uptempo style. Lamelo has a similar kinetic energy to him that's really watchable. And when he's healthy, they win a lot of games. So I hope he can be healthy.

[Bill Simmons]

He puts up big stats.

[Rob Mahoney]

Puts up big stats. That's fun to watch in like a. No, no, no. Yes. Kind of way. Like the steps back.

[Bill Simmons]

The killer he shot, he took like a 30 footer to close the game yesterday.

[Rob Mahoney]

There you go. That's what you need on a league past, like, Thursday, like Tuesday night, I.

[Bill Simmons]

Guess I should say I thought that. I thought that team. And we haven't talked about Detroit yet, but same thing where they just seemed like they weren't rudderless anymore. Detroit seemed more professional.

[Chris Ryan]

It wasn't.

[Big Woz]

Monty Williams, bench.

[Bill Simmons]

Like, what's going on here? It's like, all right, they have Malik Beasley, but at least he's an adult.

[Big Woz]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

You know, Anyway. All right, what do you have, Rob?

[Rob Mahoney]

This is where I feel like there's a chasm. Like, the Charlotte was kind of the embankment. Couldn't agree. There's a drop. I am going to take the Pistons here. I just. I want it to be true so bad. I want them to be fun and watchable. I'm not even hoping for good yet. Just, can they be an entertaining basketball product? Because they have a really exciting playmaker in Cade Cunningham. They have, in theory, better spacing. I don't know that those guys will actually hit shots. Like, I see a lot of, like, one for seven.

[Chris Ryan]

They're going to take them.

[Bill Simmons]

They will take them.

[Chris Ryan]

Tim Hardwood Jr. And that's the thing.

[Rob Mahoney]

Like, is Tobias Harris enough of a shooter that people will kind of guard him in ways that they wouldn't guard Pistons of seasons past? And if so, I think the Pistons are going to be at least watchable.

[Chris Ryan]

He's a better shooter than Beef Stew.

[Bill Simmons]

I thought they were watchable last night.

[Big Woz]

I mean, we. It seems like I enjoyed Indiana to JR Overestimate how bad Monty was for that team.

[Bill Simmons]

Very bad.

[Big Woz]

The Monty Williams experience was. I mean, Jaden Ivey was one of my favorite guys coming out of college that year. So it's really exciting to see him score 17.

[Chris Ryan]

It's almost like you shouldn't beg a guy to coach your team or GM your team like the Knicks did.

[Rob Mahoney]

Phil Jackson, he was supposed to professionalize them. And for all their flaws last night, they still couldn't close it. They did look more professionalized.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. New hair for Cage. He's like, I'm a new man, new team. Thought I took note of that in the trae.

[Big Woz]

Young sense of new hair.

[Bill Simmons]

New hair. I took beef stew. Was out there.

[Big Woz]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Always enjoyed him. Yeah, they're interesting. It's either going to be Charlotte or Detroit for that 10th play in spot and we'll see who gives a shit more about the season. Wow, this is getting dark, man. I really want to take Brooklyn here, but I'm not going to. I know that's stupid.

[Rob Mahoney]

Why would you want to?

[Chris Ryan]

No way.

[Rob Mahoney]

What is the urge you're feeling to take Brooklyn?

[Bill Simmons]

Maybe I'll take with my last pick. So, Utah, I have no. They have to be the next pick. I have no idea what they want to be. I assume they don't want to win and they're just stockpiling picks, but you watch them last night, especially when in crunch time, and it's like, these guys are pretty good. Like, they're well coached. They have a score at the end of games. They have rim protection, they have guards that can go by people. They seem like they're trying on defense and they're just going to be a lot of fun west coast games.

[Big Woz]

So I feel like I'm not going to. I won't get fooled again with the Jazz because they know what's going to happen, which is that the trade deadline are right.

[Bill Simmons]

22 and 21 record to start.

[Big Woz]

Just going to come make the phone call and it's like, look, we need to get in the Cooper flag business. Stop fucking winning these games.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, the guy to trade is Kessler then, if they're going to do that because he's so. Well, just like. You want to start weakening your team with like, let's get rid of our shop walking.

[Chris Ryan]

Or you can.

[Bill Simmons]

They're not going to trade market and they're not allowed to.

[Chris Ryan]

Or you can continue to empower Keontae George to take 18 shots and Colin Sexton to take eight. I know that's one way to ensure that you get the number one pick.

[Bill Simmons]

They do have two of, like, the 12 guys you probably wouldn't want to play with if you were like a swing man.

[Rob Mahoney]

Oh, no, I think. I think Sexton's a guy that contenders should call about.

[Chris Ryan]

He's not as, he's not as ball hoggy as he used to be when Kevin Love was like beaming him in the back of the head.

[Rob Mahoney]

Honestly, I think he's been a boy scout over there. Yeah, I think he's really turned his.

[Chris Ryan]

Career and I want to, I hope by the deadline that he's able to go to a contender that needs like some scoring pop, some ball handling.

[Bill Simmons]

But he likes to see he's a six man on.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what.

[Bill Simmons]

He's not a.

[Rob Mahoney]

Or, or the point guard on a team that has like, like we were talking about him for the Magic, like wing playmaking that needs maybe an alternative look at a scoring guard. Like he could make sense for a team like that.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, I don't know if you noticed during the Nets game, Dennis Schroeder was actually wearing an Orlando Magic jersey with a Brooklyn logo taped over it. Just praying for them to trade for him. All right, Cr. I think this is it. We only have six teams left.

[Big Woz]

Oh, okay.

[Bill Simmons]

This is our last round, so I can't wait to see who doesn't get drafted. All right.

[Big Woz]

This is in the spirit of 2012 era, real heads kind of league pass, like possibly stoned, watching on your couch looking for almost abstract art in your basketball. So I'm going to pick the Blazers.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Big Woz]

Because is. Is Scoot high on his couch watching abstract art while he's playing? Who are these guys? Is Denny for real? Like, how many centers do they have? Is Clingen going to be like what he was in the preseason?

[Bill Simmons]

Also they might go 0:15 to start the season.

[Big Woz]

Yeah. How many player pods is Chauncey Phillips going to do where he's like just being like, I hate all these guys. So I'm, I'm excited for the Blazers experience. And it's like often the last game ending on the west coast, so it's kind of fun to just be like, yeah, it's just me and seven other dudes watching this Blazers Kings game.

[Bill Simmons]

Shotzi's agents like, yo, if you can get out of your contract right now, NBC and Amazon are looking for guys. You gotta get out now. So I'd play scooter 48 minutes a game and just tell them to clear out.

[Chris Ryan]

I'm a big Anthony Simons guy, so I'll always enjoy those minutes. Particularly on this team. Dominating, just being happy to be wildly overpaid.

[Bill Simmons]

I love what he takes.

[Chris Ryan]

Finally got a match.

[Big Woz]

See, I think you have to pick one complete shit team, and it's. For me, it's the place.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, I have a different shit team. But Simon's, I think, is another fun contender piece. Yeah, I'd like to see him on Orlando. I don't know if they need somebody.

[Chris Ryan]

Like that year and a half now. Yep.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, Wes, who do you have.

[Chris Ryan]

We disrespected this team by not picking them. I'm picking the Miami Heat. Like, come on, man.

[Anthony Debundo]

It's.

[Chris Ryan]

Jimmy Butler is. Bam. Jaime Hawkez, you know, don't you feel.

[Big Woz]

Like this is like, season 11 of this team?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, it's.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, I know.

[Big Woz]

It's like Virgin river still on.

[Chris Ryan]

It's Gray's Anatomy at this point. I get it. But I'm gonna watch them when they're on. Right. Especially over of the teams that are left on this list. So, yeah, Miami, you know, they're going to be well coached, if not very fun. And, yeah, I can't in good conscience pick any of these other teams left.

[Rob Mahoney]

That's the thing. The alternatives are very, very bleak. So thank you for that. I appreciate it was.

[Bill Simmons]

It's fair and they'll get going at some point. But I probably. My least favorite stadium announcer timeout. Situation of the crowd, people showing up at 8:25.

[Rob Mahoney]

You don't pop that off.

[Chris Ryan]

No.

[Bill Simmons]

The Heat culture, like, the. It's like an infomercial. It's not a very fun experience. It's fun to have them on a small TV with no sound. Rob, who do you have?

[Rob Mahoney]

I feel terrible about all these teams. I will take by default the Toronto Raptors.

[Big Woz]

Oh, interesting.

[Rob Mahoney]

The RJ Barrett renaissance is upon us, my friends. Yes. I'm eager for him to get back. Back in the mix. I think it's like, week to week right now, which is not what you want to hear coming into the season. But. But I identify as an Emmanuel Quickley guy.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

Serious. I love watching him with a little more room to work. I think we're all eager to see what Scotty Barnes can become.

[Chris Ryan]

Are you one of those hipsters who think Scotty Barnes is, like, the prototypical NBA player?

[Rob Mahoney]

I'm not.

[Bill Simmons]

Okay.

[Rob Mahoney]

But I am invested. I'm invested in the greater project.

[Chris Ryan]

Got you.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't want to watch them at all.

[Big Woz]

So this is the Mr. Irrelevant pick you've got here.

[Bill Simmons]

You're telling me you would take. Here's the thing. I fucked up. We skipped a Woz pick. I'm going to blame the fact that I'm still on cold medication. We skipped a Woz pick. C.R. took New Orleans. It skipped to Rob, who took Milwaukee, and I took Phoenix. Oof. So w. I'm sorry, I have to pick another team. You have to take another team.

[Big Woz]

Come on, man. Take the Wizard.

[Bill Simmons]

Are we sure we don't want to make fun of Are we sure we want to make fun of Toronto for another second? Because what the Did Messiah Harry, like, he won the title and that he got another job? What's he doing?

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah, I don't know.

[Chris Ryan]

But I think he got equity in the team.

[Big Woz]

So why is he then trying to.

[Bill Simmons]

Equity in the team means you just.

[Chris Ryan]

Put together a bad team, make them a less valuable property. That's a great question.

[Bill Simmons]

That is like a brutal team to watch.

[Big Woz]

Jakob Podol say, like, it's not like we're trying to win every game.

[Bill Simmons]

Like his quote, I had them in my bottom too.

[Big Woz]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

Oh, I'm.

[Chris Ryan]

I think you really underestimate them. I think R.J. baron, Scottie Barnes.

[Bill Simmons]

I just don't like watching that team that can.

[Big Woz]

Well, you get to watch them and be. This is basically like what it was like watching the Knicks five years out.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, it is. I want to see the RJ thing get, like, where it goes. I want to watch where that story goes to go from the guy that got picked directly behind JA and Zion and what those guys have become. Bonafide all stars where. When ZION plays well, ja2 to like RJ who's just like, eh, you know, he was so disappointed in that counter.

[Bill Simmons]

Not that interested wise. There's four teams left. Chicago, Brooklyn, the Clippers and Washington. Listen, those are our big four.

[Chris Ryan]

Listen, I pick is Chicago and it's for Kobe White alone. He's one of my favorite guys to watch in the NBA. His elevation of his game from like just this volume sort of shooter guy to like, legitimate ball handle. Turned a corner on guys firing up, pull up threes. He's one of the most fun guys to watch. And so I'll be watching for that alone. I don't care about, you know, the freaking Josh Giddey thing. I think he stinks.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Big Woz]

But if Giddy and Lonzo are both playing, you could have, like, pretty fun.

[Bill Simmons]

Lonzo thinks fun. I feel like we shorted them a little bit unfairly.

[Rob Mahoney]

I don't know. You guys think this team's gonna be fun to watch.

[Big Woz]

Poor league past Stacy Kings.

[Bill Simmons]

Compared to the other alpha, Stacy Kings.

[Big Woz]

Are pretty fun and announcer to watch or listen to. So it's good.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, I was hoping they'd still be there. Pick 28, do it. And they are do it. The Brooklyn Nets.

[Chris Ryan]

How many shots did Ken Thomas.

[Bill Simmons]

I was absolutely riveted by them last night. Ben Simmons, who actually looked pretty good. I did. I did something on part one about. I think I. You know, there's a little showcasing. Um, Nick Claxton was like, I got paid. I also don't want to be here anymore. Maybe if I. Maybe I can get ejected right away. The Cam Thomas thing is the funniest league pass subplot of the season.

[Big Woz]

Why does this hap. Why do they let him win?

[Bill Simmons]

He. This is. This is like the NBA I grew up with in the late 70s where guys were like, I'm coming in and I'm shooting every time. I'm shooting every time. He. He might actually lead the league in scoring this year if Luca decides not to score less. They were FanDuel odds on him. Really? Yeah. He might score 30 points a game.

[Rob Mahoney]

He will not score 30.

[Bill Simmons]

He shoots all the time.

[Big Woz]

Whose idea was.

[Bill Simmons]

Nobody else shoots him this game?

[Rob Mahoney]

Thomas's idea, I can assure you.

[Big Woz]

Why is this happening? He could literally. He could lead the league in scoring and not make the All Star team.

[Rob Mahoney]

There's zero chance he makes the All Star team.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, not only will he not make the All Star team, um, I. He might. They might just have to send him home so other guys can shoot.

[Big Woz]

Isn't this basically, like, why, like, how many Nets have just been like, please get me out of here because of this?

[Chris Ryan]

Nobody wants to be there.

[Bill Simmons]

So Rob scoffed.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yes. I can't even feign for this team. I can't.

[Bill Simmons]

No. You scoffed at the Cam Thomas scoring title.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

Right now he has the seventh highest odds on FanDuel out of all the players in the NBA. I feel legally 34 to 1 to.

[Rob Mahoney]

Inform everyone listening to this podcast, do not.

[Anthony Debundo]

Do not make that bet.

[Big Woz]

Are you sure, though?

[Rob Mahoney]

I'm so sure.

[Bill Simmons]

Let me go through it. Lucas, the favorite, plus 145 and beads plus 390. He's not going to play 55. He won't qualify. Shay, Giannis, Brunson, Edwards, and Cam Thomas. He's literally on FanDuel right now. Cam Thomas.

[Big Woz]

How many coaches now have gone through the process of, like, I'm here now and, like, I've taken over for Jacques Vaughn or whatever, and, like, they still just let him have green light.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, the other piece of it, when he doesn't get the ball late, he gets visibly mad on the tv, which I love. This is the NBA. This is. Hey. All these latecomers. And, like, it's A friendlier brand. This is the NBA that. These are my roots. These are my roots. This is the 90s coming back where guys just being like, I'm shooting 30 times. This is JR Ryder in Minnesota being like, I'm fucking shooting. Every time I get the ball, I love it. And the Simmons thing is really fascinating because there's moments where, you know, he was all NBA four years ago, and there's moments where you think, that guy's a real basketball asset. Will somebody talk themselves into him?

[Big Woz]

Coke presti.

[Chris Ryan]

Not enough.

[Rob Mahoney]

There's not enough coke in Oklahoma.

[Bill Simmons]

And then I like their swings. And there's a lot of trade bait on the team, too. All right, so that was the last pick not picked. The clippers and Washington, 100%. Now, we knew Washington was going to get picked, but the Clippers.

[Chris Ryan]

Clippers are depressing.

[Bill Simmons]

Clippers did it themselves.

[Rob Mahoney]

They gave the Suns a fight at least.

[Big Woz]

You would only watch for the arena, Basically, if you've had the Harden experience, you would only watch the arena.

[Chris Ryan]

And it needs to be said again. Harden said he watched the Mavericks go to the finals and Luka was playing his brand of basketball. What he saw was that. That his brand of basketball is a winning brand of basketball. Confirmation by powerful drug was from last year's NBA playoffs. The James Harden brand of basketball is championship quality.

[Big Woz]

If we have one wish to make to the NBA gods, it's that the Clippers trade for Cam Thomas.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, my God.

[Big Woz]

And then Harden and Thomas get to go bottom and bottom from each possession.

[Bill Simmons]

I actually think he's one of the great tanking assets any team's ever had.

[Rob Mahoney]

He's not that bad.

[Bill Simmons]

No.

[Rob Mahoney]

Okay. Are you talking about Cam Thomas?

[Chris Ryan]

Cam Thomas?

[Bill Simmons]

Cam Thomas?

[Rob Mahoney]

I thought you were piling that on James Jones.

[Bill Simmons]

No, Cam Thomas puts up points, keeps you in games. Casual fans think he's a baseball and.

[Big Woz]

Ruins your locker room.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, you're definitely going to lose if he's your best guy and he's going to shoot every time he gets the ball. I think it's wonderful to watch. I'm just glad that guys like this still exist in the league. The league was getting pretty like San. Everyone comes in very quickly. All the swings can shoot threes, all the point guards play certain ways. And Cam Thomas is like, clear the fuck out. I am scoring.

[Chris Ryan]

It's my time.

[Bill Simmons]

It's my time. Oh, they're gonna. They don't even send doubles at them. Cause they're like, yeah, go ahead, Cook camp Thomas, take a shoot.

[Big Woz]

We'll give you 70, man. It's okay.

[Bill Simmons]

I love that. I really enjoyed watching them last night. Anyway, that's it for the league pass draft. You can hear W and Rob on group chat on the NBA Ringer NBA feed. Where are you gonna be, Charles Rather.

[Big Woz]

I don't really have podcasts anymore.

[Bill Simmons]

You're gonna be on car chat.

[Big Woz]

This is it on MDR. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Card sharks 20,000 pyramid.

[Big Woz]

I'll be on MSNBC election, family feud.

[Bill Simmons]

You're gonna go in that? Yeah, Family Feud, CNN Election Show. Good to see you guys. This episode is brought to you by PayPal. Sports fans, I know going to the big games can get expensive. So let's talk strategy. Let's talk how PayPal has changed the playbook. Now you can pay everywhere online, in store, either or both with the PayPal debit card. That's right, earn a 5% cash back up to $1,000 every month in the category you choose, like apparel and groceries. Think about it. That's like getting cash back when you're picking up your game day snacks or grabbing a drink with the crew after the big game. I'm talking about real savings like that energy drink you keeps you hyped for the big game. Cash back. 17th purchase of merch from your favorite team. Cash back post game extra large pizza. You order like clockwork. You get the idea. Every payment everywhere, every time. Don't just pay PayPal terms and cash back limits apply. See PayPal app. The PayPal debit card is issued by the Bancorp Bank N A pursuant to a license by MasterCard International Incorporated and may be used everywhere. MasterCard is accepted. This episode is brought to you by Cintas. In sports, you're always thinking of that next play. It's the same with business. Cintas can help you stay a step ahead. Cintas dedicated service reps make sure your team has what they need when they need it. Cintas has workwear for almost any job imaginable and they deliver fresh uniforms back to your business every week. Cintas also delivers restroom products and cleaning supplies and they even provide first aid supplies, safety training and AEDs as well as inspecting and testing your fire protection systems. Visit cintas.com and get ready for the workday. All right, we're gonna do some million dollar picks. We have all the ringers in town this week, so I grabbed Shilka Patia, Anthony Debundo. They're doing this with me in person and I'm super happy that you're here because this is the toughest week of the year. The lines are super weird. They're like old school high lines, huge home dogs. There's teams that I feel like we've either given up on or we're too bullish on. And it has all the makings of a zigzag week. And I'm scared and I might actually. We did really well on million dollar picks last week. Although we should have swept lost by the half point in packers game. And then I still don't know how the Chargers didn't beat the Cardinals. Yeah, but when. When you have a guy on the team you bet on that fumbles the ball out of bounds for the touchback. Has that team ever then covered every time?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

That's an L. You just immediately know. It's like a black hat gets thrown on the tv. What. What are you the most afraid of from this week?

[Anthony Debundo]

I think you said it. The big Lions. Like you have the Lions. I'm like, the Lions are awesome. The Lions can get to the Super Bowl. They're eleven and a half point favorites. I'm looking at the Panthers who Andy Dalton gets in the car accident, Bryce Young back. I'm like, do I want to take Bo nicks to cover 10 and a.

[Bill Simmons]

Half points so those can The Broncos score 10 points? Yeah.

[Shield Capadia]

Ravens, Browns, 20 on Carolina by halftime though, right?

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah. So the big lines are the scariest.

[Bill Simmons]

What are you the most scared of?

[Shield Capadia]

The bad teams are worse than they've been in years according to DVOA. That's scary. And road favorites are 16 and two in the last three weeks.

[Anthony Debundo]

Wow.

[Bill Simmons]

It should have been 17 and one if the Chargers beat the Cardinals. Right.

[Shield Capadia]

Jalen Rager elevated from the practice squad to Unbelievable.

[Bill Simmons]

So you're the most scared of that?

[Shield Capadia]

I mean, it just. Things never last forever in NFL, not for long. So I feel like there has to be some mean reversion. The first four weeks I came on the pod, we talked about it. Underdogs were crushing it. And now the spreads are really, really big. There's six games with at least a touchdown spread. And I don't. There's a couple I like and a couple I want no part of.

[Bill Simmons]

So I'll walk you through a couple of the games that I ultimately decided to stay away from before we get to the ones I liked. And then I want to hear what you guys like. I was looking at the Seahawks all week, plus three against Buffalo because I still feel like you can throw on Buffalo. And that's the one thing I really believe Seattle can do. And I actually think their offense might be a Little better than people realize. And then ultimately Metcalf being hurt not knowing what's happening with him. And then I realized, like, I just hate betting against Josh Allen. I just don't like it. And you just feel so stupid with. And so I was like, I think I'm out. But you guys could also talk me back into that.

[Anthony Debundo]

I like the other side quite a bit.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, good.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah, I like the Bills minus three is one of my favorite favorite picks of the week. I'm looking at it. That Seahawks team last week against the worst pass rush in the NFL in Atlanta. Geno Smith was pressured on 50% of his drop backs. Now he played awesome. He's able to play under pressure and he did that in that game and they won. But the Bills defense has overachieved this year. I mean, they've got a good pass rush. Their offense is top five in the NFL against that Seahawks defense. That has not been great. I feel like the Seahawks, I don't want to call them the good bad team, but I do feel like they're the. If you lose to the Seahawks, you probably stink. But against good teams, they played what, the 49ers, the Lions, those have both been double digit losses this year. So I think the Bills are really good actually with that Amari Cooper edition. He played well last week and so in kind of a three spread. Yeah, they can run the ball. Their offensive line is good. So I like the Bills minus three in that game.

[Bill Simmons]

You think the Colts are the good bad team or would you go with.

[Anthony Debundo]

Are they good enough? You're he's the Colts guy. Are they good enough to be the good bad team?

[Shield Capadia]

Maybe they're the coin flip. Every game team, every game. Just decided in the last five minutes this year.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I was looking at their point point for every game and every game was like two points, three points, six points.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, the Colts, I think the Seahawks are better than the Colts. I think the Seahawks will surprise some teams, but they're not healthy, they're not good on the offensive line. And it's like if Geno turns into a magician and has one of those games against a bad defense, they can win. But I think if I, if I see a team that I think can get to the super bowl playing the Seahawks, I feel pretty good about that. That team taken care of them.

[Bill Simmons]

Any other Seahawks thoughts?

[Shield Capadia]

Buffalo has been running the ball a lot all year. Until last week, they actually got more pass happy for the first time. And it is interesting to me because they have now More options with Cooper in the lineup to throw. And the one concerning thing with me for Buffalo is it's always been that they play the two high. They never give up big plays. This year they are giving up more big plays. And so I do kind of think Seattle could stay in this with some explosives if they had Metcalf. But without him, who's the explosive threat on this offense now?

[Bill Simmons]

Seattle 27th against the run. Their defense feels like Buffalo can run on them.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah, they should.

[Bill Simmons]

If Metcalf was playing, I'd be a little more bullish on Seattle, but. So that was one. Can we. I guess we got to talk Packers Jags. I can't believe the Jags are even the conversation. But this line is offensive. I mean the packers are four and a half point favorites in Jacksonville. It's probably going to be hot. The Jaguars are probably going to be able to move the ball on them, I'm guessing. And then conversely, I haven't liked the way Jordan loves. Look, I like that packers team, but they have a big game next week. Coming off they had a big game last week. This just feels so trappy to me.

[Anthony Debundo]

I know we're going to go to.

[Bill Simmons]

The Jackson bow and beat the shit out of them. And it just scares as somebody who.

[Shield Capadia]

Likes to kind of follow where does the lines move on certain teams throughout the year? Because you'll see that big groups, people with a lot of market influence, they will bet certain teams repeatedly throughout the year. And there's no team in the NFL that has gotten more of that support than the Jags. If you look at the spreads week three, week four, week five, week six, somebody has come in and said we love Jacksonville. I don't know who they are. If you're betting Jacksonville every week and you're listening to this podcast, call me. We can talk about what you see that I don't. But Green Bay has some real red flags.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, talk about them. Give us three.

[Shield Capadia]

So their early down numbers are terrible. Their success rate numbers are very mediocre. It's a very boomer bust team and they forced a ton of turnovers. They've hit a ton of explosives. That's good. But how sustainable is it Is a question that I have about Green Bay.

[Anthony Debundo]

This would be a stay away from me. I'm not. We've had interventions on this podcast about the Jaguars before. I'm not doing it again against Matt LaFleur who wins what, 70% of his games or whatever it is. And you're right about Jordan Love, but we saw him the second half of last year, like, there was some boomer bust to him and then he put it together and he was sensational. I think that stretch is coming. Like, if you're looking at sleeper MVP candidates, I think Jordan Love has like a seven, eight game stretch coming up where he's going to be one of the best players in the end in one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. I just don't think those turnovers are going to last. I can't take Jackson. They win. They won by what, running it 18 times in a row? Like, how often is that going to happen? So I understand sort of the analytical.

[Bill Simmons]

They beat the soft Patriots.

[Anthony Debundo]

That's right, the soft Patriots. I don't know that that formula is going to work against the Packers.

[Bill Simmons]

You know, you should put this in your column. You write an excellent betting column for every week. Every year there's an I hate myself team where you bet them and then you just. You literally hate yourself halfway through the game. And that's the Jaguars this year. I don't even know who's even in the running against them for that.

[Shield Capadia]

I mean, if you bet the Browns at any point this year, you bet. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

You're just ignoring obvious signs. Well, the Cardinals are just like the zigzag team. Like, it's like, oh, they're the. And then all of a sudden they're losing by 30.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

And certain defenses just seem like they can shut down Kyler completely and then other ones just let them run around. And I never understand how teams don't just defend Kyler the same way.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah, Giants are probably in that. I hated myself for picking the Giants last week. You had the Eagles and I was like, I don't know, you know, kind of like the. I hated myself one, you know, eight minutes into that game.

[Bill Simmons]

So if I gave you a parlay with the jags up to plus seven and a half and the over up to 39 and a half and it was minus 120. You're not intrigued at all because there's probably going to be points in this game, right?

[Shield Capadia]

I know you don't like team totals. House. You got mad at House about that, but why not just bet the Jags team total?

[Bill Simmons]

I just had bad luck with team total. So I'm not saying I'm right or wrong.

[Shield Capadia]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

I just stink at them.

[Shield Capadia]

I like the Jags. I think there'll be points. So I generally agree with that.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, I'm going to cross them off this next game. I might not cross off Colts, who As we said, they might be the good, bad team. Catching Houston in a really interesting spot where they've already played them. The game was close.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Out of every game they're in is tight and they're getting five and a half at home. And I don't understand without Nico Collins why I wouldn't tease the Colts backwards and play around with the over under. Why wouldn't I do that?

[Anthony Debundo]

Every Advanced stat and DeBundo and I have talked about this, every advanced stat on the Texans is suggesting they're a fraud. And I like the Texans coming into the season, but if you look at any of the offensive stuff and what they're doing on early down, they're what, plus six on the season, Their point differential, like their offense has underachieved maybe as much as any offense in the NFL.

[Bill Simmons]

But they didn't have Mixon for half of that.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah, but I don't know. Like, Joe Mixon's fine, but I'm not. If Joe Mixon means that much to your offense, then you might have some issues. So I know they don't have Nico Collins, but yeah, I like the Colts a little bit in that game. I don't totally trust it, but I don't trust that Texans team. I think fading the Texans, while their record's really good and all the numbers suggest they might not be that good, is probably a good play for the next, whatever, two, three weeks.

[Bill Simmons]

Do you believe in the second game thing?

[Shield Capadia]

I think it's fascinating how much these. The perception of these two teams has even changed in the last seven weeks. Like both have overperformed relative. If you just look at their records. Right. If you told a Colts fan before the season, we're going to be 4 and 3, they would have taken it. Texans 5 and 2. They feel great and yet I feel like under the hood and both are kind of worse. Like, Richardson has been worse than I think most expected. It's very boomer bust. And honestly, Stroud has been very boomer bust. And the whole Texans offense is okay, it's third down. Stroud drops back. He looks, where's Nico Collins? He throws in the ball and they move the chains. That's the whole offense. And the last two weeks they did it to your team. Everybody has. They can't score in the second half. Every game it's like 3.2-second half, 3.2-second half against Buffalo, against every, pretty much every team they played this year. Last week, Stroud couldn't get to 100 pass yards. So I don't really trust this offense.

[Bill Simmons]

Colts to 11 and a half and the under up to 52 and a half. I don't.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

The only way I lose that is if Anthony Richardson just loses his mind and throws like a pick six and has a fumble. I haven't liked what I've seen from him at all. It doesn't seem like he's ready to be able efficient starting quarterback yet. And the fact the thing that made him special was the running, which they seem a little more hesitant for him to do now. So now it's like, well, what is this then? Cause we were being promised like this Cam Newton, Josh Allen, physical threat, who's gonna run the ball and now they're seemingly afraid to do that. This is your favorite team, but don't you feel like they have them on the Shackles?

[Shield Capadia]

Basically we were sitting in the movie theater in the Spotify office on Sunday and at one point Danny Kelly turned around and said so like, are you still a believer? And I'm like, yes, but I have to be a little quieter about my belief now. It's harder for me to like pick, you know, put my chest out and say we got the QB one in the draft because obviously Stroud's been as good as he's been. And you know what? I would still happy they took him over Levis because that was basically the option.

[Bill Simmons]

Right. And you know, I'm going to say.

[Anthony Debundo]

Low bar to clear.

[Shield Capadia]

It's a low bar to clear. But you had to take the swing and I'm still not out yet.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, they're in a weird spot because they're four and three in a conference that's not that good. Right.

[Shield Capadia]

When you haven't stinks.

[Bill Simmons]

Right? Yeah, but I like your receiver weapons and it seems like whoever's in the game can run the ball. So I don't know. I'm going to mark this one. I like the. I don't think these two teams can get to like their first game was 56 points. That was with Nico Collins and with Richardson hitting some bombs. I don't see that happening again. All right, I'm going to mark that one down. And then the. The I just. The Chiefs Raiders game is a stay away to me. As much as I want to be like, oh, they talk shit to my homes. I just think those home teams getting that many points, the history of that is a nightmare with teases. And we have the Browns in that situation and we have the Raiders. I think the Raiders are awful. I just don't. I. To me, that's an automatic no play.

[Anthony Debundo]

It's probably a stay away division game line that high. I, I'm with. I am tempted a little bit though with the Chiefs with the way they've played the last two weeks. They've had double digit wins in each of those games. And I agree with you that Mahomes narrative thing is kind of a factor. I'm sure that's it. He's looking for anything. Last week, look how we play, you know, they're underdogs and I know we had the two interceptions but he was treating that game with the way he was running like that was a big game. And that Raiders team just, I mean they're just waiting to. I mean they've already collapsed. They're just waiting to collapse more. They traded their best wide receiver. They've got nothing to look forward to. They have no players.

[Bill Simmons]

They can't run the ball or stop.

[Anthony Debundo]

The run and they turn it over. Their defense isn't good. Their defense was good last year when they played the Chiefs and upset them. Their defense this year is like a bottom five unit. So if I had to pick a side, I would pick the Chiefs. But I'm kind of with you. I like to stay away when it's a division game. That, that line, that high.

[Bill Simmons]

So if I gave you this eight point TE which is even money on FanDuel, Ravens minus nine and a half, Lions minus ten and a half and Chiefs minus nine and a half and you could tease all those under three and all of them have to cover, who would you be the most worried about? Ravens, Lions or Chiefs?

[Shield Capadia]

To be the Ravens. Right. The first game with Jamis.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, who. Which could go either way but.

[Shield Capadia]

Right, but that's, that's. You're introducing.

[Bill Simmons]

I think that Brown's defense has been. Okay.

[Anthony Debundo]

I agree.

[Bill Simmons]

You know, and Schwartz. The problem is the Ravens are rushing for 200 plus yards a game.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. I just, I can't. The Ravens betting against James seems smart.

[Shield Capadia]

The Ravens have given up the most 20 plus yard plays in the league. So if James wants to get in there and lob some balls up, see what happens. Could get. Could get dicey. This feels like the kind of game that we look, we look late in the fourth quarter and you're looking at it and you're like wait, Baltimore's up three with the ball.

[Bill Simmons]

I know it seems too easy. I think that teases us. Stay away. But I looked at it long and hard. Dolphins against the Cardinals with TUA coming back. And the Dolphins actually played pretty well last week considering they don't have a quarterback. Like I thought their defense kept them hanging around. But I just. This to me seems like an all time zigzag. Stay away 100%.

[Anthony Debundo]

I didn't even.

[Bill Simmons]

I want no part of this.

[Anthony Debundo]

I want no part of the game. I agree.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't know what to expect. Arizona might be a no bet team for me now. I don't know how the Chargers didn't beat them. I don't even really know what the Cardinals did. And then. You guys. Can you guys have a minute to talk me into the Cowboys plus four and a half against the 49ers? Go.

[Anthony Debundo]

I'm not doing it. I like the other side. This Cowboys defense stinks. I don't care who's out for the 49ers. Give me Kyle Shanahan against a Cowboys defense that probably still won't have Micah Parsons. That can't stop anybody. And I like the Niners in that. I'm not a believer in this Cowboys team at all. I think the Niners actually bounced back in that game.

[Shield Capadia]

I've been a Dak guy forever, but there's one team he has never solved and it's the Niners. Their defense even, no matter who the coordinator was. That personnel, like Warner's ability to take away the middle of the field has really, I think, hurt. That hurt Dak. And he's always had problems in that matchup. That's what scares me the most. More than any of the Niners stuff. I mean, offensively, they look a mess. You guys talked about on the ringer NFL show all yak now it's no more easy button plays for Purdy to just kind of get guys in space and just dominate. The Monstars are no longer. But I. I don't know.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't. Kind of a must win for the Niners too. And Dallas, they'd be 3 and 5. Well, Dallas isn't good. I mean, that's the reason to pick the Niners over everything else is. I just don't think Dallas is good.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

But I also don't know who I'm scared of of the Niners if Debo doesn't play. So now it's just like, I got to stop George Kittle.

[Anthony Debundo]

This feels like all the nerds after this game are like, oh my God, Kyle Shanahan. Look at what he did on this run play. And oh my God, he had this linebacker in a blender. That type of game.

[Shield Capadia]

The Ronnie Bell game somehow.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Stay away. Okay, let's go to the picks that I actually liked. So. And you guys can feel free to throw your body in front of any of this. Oh, first of all, before I do that, what's your favorite? Other than the Bills?

[Anthony Debundo]

I like the Bears at all.

[Bill Simmons]

Right. I have them. They're coming up. What's your favorite?

[Shield Capadia]

I'm going to go with the Jags.

[Bill Simmons]

Wow.

[Shield Capadia]

Yeah. I hate it. I hate every part of it. But give me. Yeah, Jacksonville. I'm going to hate this on Sunday.

[Anthony Debundo]

But at least it's not a London game. You won't feel terrible until, like, you know, 2:00 Eastern.

[Bill Simmons]

You and Raheem just cannot resist. You just can't. And Austin Gale is the worst. Like, he was like deshaun's last fan. So, no, this is the week I think he can get it going.

[Shield Capadia]

He needed desean to keep playing so he could have the content on Twitter where he could say desean is the worst quarterback in the history of football.

[Bill Simmons]

He just would not give up on him. Okay, my first favorite game. Sorry, Shield the Bengals down to minus one and a half against the Eagles.

[Anthony Debundo]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't think you can stop passing offenses. And I mean, you, like you're on the Eagles. I just don't think you're going to be able to stop Higgins and Burrow and. And Chase. And I think that Tampa game a couple weeks ago was more of a snapshot for who you are on defense.

[Anthony Debundo]

It could be now, the last two weeks they haven't allowed a touchdown. I know they've played. They've played bad offenses. It's true.

[Bill Simmons]

Bad offenses. You played desean. You played Danny Dimes.

[Anthony Debundo]

Listen, Dimes was carving up some defenses earlier in the season. No, it's true. This is a test for them. I will say their corners, though, have played really well. When they were struggling against the Bucks, a lot of it was the pass rush, wasn't getting home. They had eight sacks last week against the Giants. Again, I know it's the Giants, but their corners, the rookie Quinon Mitchell and Darius Slay have been having awesome seasons here. So it's going to be a lot of one on one, I think on the outside with those corners versus the Bengals receivers. And can the Eagles pass rush get home without blitzing? So I actually took the. Took the Eagles this week minus now. I was against them last week, but yeah, I was on the Eagles this week because I think Saquon can have a monster game here against. That's the fear. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Cincy, some bad defensive stats with them. They're actually higher on dboa than Philly is, but we're just staying to bundo.

[Shield Capadia]

So, you know, you want to guess how many points the Eagles have in the first quarter this year?

[Bill Simmons]

It's not many. It's.

[Shield Capadia]

It's not any. Zero. They still have not scored in the first quarter. I mean, Kellen Moore, I don't know what to make of that.

[Anthony Debundo]

I mean, the offense looks, you know, very similar to what it looked like last year. The passing game is a mess. If there's a reason to take the Bengals, it's because the Eagles, they had 21 drop backs last week and seven of them were a scramble or a sack. They can't. They throw goal balls to A.J. brown. There's literally nothing else with this entire passing game. So I understand that reason to take the Bengals. I actually like the under in this game. I think both defenses are going to play pretty well and it's going to be a little low scoring.

[Bill Simmons]

I was looking at my favorite bet on Fando, the first half game bet, and I thought I'd get more value on Bengals win first half, Bengals win game. But it's only plus 130. It's not worth it. Maybe.

[Shield Capadia]

Maybe Shield should do the cousin south special. Do Bengals first half, Eagles game come back.

[Bill Simmons]

Maybe that is plus 750.

[Anthony Debundo]

Oh, oh.

[Shield Capadia]

Lean into the little bit.

[Bill Simmons]

Sprinkle, where are you on Hertz mentally these days?

[Anthony Debundo]

He hasn't played well. I mean, their passing game is a mess. He's turning down throws. They're playing like they did his that 20, 21 when it was just run the ball, run the ball, run the ball, hit a couple deep shots and that's the offense and they've got nothing else, so he's got to play better.

[Shield Capadia]

There's jokes about how they're like a service academy. Just run, run, run. But even Navy and Army have more interesting offenses than the Eagles do.

[Bill Simmons]

Now, my fear with taking the Bengals is their offensive lines banged up and your defensive line could just take over the game and Burrow would be running around for his life. But I think the Bengals can move the ball and throw on them. I think Burrow's 70% completion this year, it's either leading the league or second, which is basically the Tampa recipe of just the chains are moving. Ball's going six yards here, 15 six. And they take the lead early, and then you're in a spot you don't want to be in if you're the Eagles.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah, that absolutely could happen. I think you're right. The left tackle injury for the Bengals against the Eagles pass rush. Can they get home? That'll probably determine the game.

[Shield Capadia]

Bengals run defense has been a little better since Rankins and Hill came back the two defensive tackles but they also played some bad run offenses so I'm not sure where I stand on Cincinnati run defense.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah, they play the same two teams right? The Giants and the Browns the last two weeks same same two teams as the Eagles.

[Bill Simmons]

Are you ready to see the Bengals go 3 and 5? That seems improbable to me, especially for.

[Anthony Debundo]

Someone like me who picked them to win the Super Bowl.

[Bill Simmons]

So yeah, I think I'm going to keep that.

[Shield Capadia]

I picked them in the division so.

[Bill Simmons]

I heard all the warning flags. I think I might keep that. Next one is the Bears which it sounds like we all like. That's up to two and a half. I'm going to do the rare thing of if Daniels somehow plays. I almost feel like that bet should be scratched.

[Anthony Debundo]

I agree with that.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, yeah, I don't think that's fair to be stuck with that line if Daniels is playing but it doesn't seem like he's going to play. I think I would have liked the Bears anyway in this game. Their defense, the stats are pretty good. They're third against on first down, seventh on third down. They're fifth yards per play, third turnovers. They're good in the havoc stuff. I like that havoc ranking. And then Caleb looked really good against some bad teams and some bad defenses. Guess who doesn't have a good defense? Washington. So whether Daniels plays or not, I think they can move the ball. He's got all three receivers. This feels like a get everyone's hope up in a real way. Bears win followed by their schedule gets harder.

[Anthony Debundo]

Well they've got the hardest remaining schedule in the NFL if you look at the betting markets and win totals. But my big, I mean I don't know if I would like it if Daniels was playing but Mariota, I think people are looking at that game last week and oh Cliff Kingsbury created this quarterback proof offense. It was the Carolina Panthers. We've seen enough.

[Bill Simmons]

They're by far the worst team in the league.

[Anthony Debundo]

We've seen enough of Marcus Mariota over the years. Like I want a three game sample of Marcus Mariota and this offense is going to be trash. So that's the reason this bearish defense, you mentioned it, they don't give up 20 points against good offenses. So against Marcus Mariota I think after this game we're being like wow, Jaden Daniels was a big reason why that Commander's offense is you lose all the.

[Bill Simmons]

Explosive plays with Mariota. Yeah, he's going to have a dumb turnover and there's a reason. You know, he's been in the league for a long time and nobody's ever really been happy with the experience. Like he got benched when he was on the Netflix show.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah, that was an amazing. He just left the show and yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

He'S like, I'm out. And I'm out on the show as well. What do you have to add?

[Shield Capadia]

This game for me, I wrote the least on it just because I don't have a strong opinion. But I don't really see the case for Washington. They. There's one thing that they've gained and no team has gained more win probability from turnovers than the Commanders this year. That tends to be kind of fluky.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Shield Capadia]

And this is the Bears off the buy.

[Bill Simmons]

Right.

[Shield Capadia]

So if we're going to see any imagination from this offense, which we have seen very little of thus far, maybe this is the spot we see it from Chicago because I still have major questions about their offense. Like you said, they beat up on some of the worst defenses in the league.

[Bill Simmons]

It would be a horrific Bears loss. Like, wow, we just lost to Marcus Mariota and our schedule is about to get harder. Conversely, Washington wins. They're fine. It's like, hey, we're. Our record is still awesome. We still have the NFC East. Like, we still have control over it. We didn't have Daniels for this game. We're fine.

[Shield Capadia]

Yeah, the Commanders still have to play Philly and Dallas twice each. So the NFC east is going to be decided much later than this week for sure.

[Bill Simmons]

They have to play Philly twice and they have the privilege of playing Dallas twice.

[Shield Capadia]

Not sure how Dallas gets any stops, but I'm still not. Dak has just dominated the NFC east in a way that I refuse to give up on them. Stealing a bunch of division games and.

[Bill Simmons]

Somehow sneaking in Falcons bucks is my next one. I don't understand this line at all. And I do understand it, but I also don't the Falcons. This line moved to Falcons minus two and a half. They looked awful last week against Seattle. Chris Godwin and Mike Evans are no longer playing for the Bucs. We're just skipping over this. Yeah, like, that was the whole reason they were successful. And Bucky Irving's pretty good too. But Baker had last Thursday, Bucky Baker had these two great receivers that he had real chemistry with and was just moving the ball left and right. And in one game, both of Them went down. I just picked up Jalen McMillan in two of my leagues for big money. By the way, he's the new number one. He's 22 years old. Feels like a little must win ish for the Falcons coming off an awful loss. I get it, they can't rush the passer, but I just find it hard to believe they're not going to be able to beat the Bucs without any star receivers.

[Anthony Debundo]

I've got the Falcon. I mean, you nailed it. I've got the Falcons. You watch that Bucks offense. It's not just like, oh, they lost good play, like that was the offense. If those two guys can't win one on one or create explosive plays or yards after the catch, I don't know, are they good enough to scheme stuff out and you lose both of them? It's not like you lost one of them.

[Bill Simmons]

You know what it's like if you had opening night for the Sixers and then beat Paul George didn't play.

[Anthony Debundo]

Who's Yseli? Who's going to be playing? Jalen McMillan is Yseli.

[Bill Simmons]

Atlanta's offense, fifth against the fifth passing. Tampa's D 29th against the pass, 28th, first down. Like their defense isn't that good. And they do. They try to do a lot of gimmicks with the blitzes and stuff, which might work against Cousins because the offensive line has been great. But I just, you know, first game, Atlanta stole it. So there's a revenge spot.

[Shield Capadia]

Kirk threw for 500 plus yards in that game.

[Bill Simmons]

Right.

[Shield Capadia]

And Tampa Bay's secondary has given up more explosives than anybody them in Baltimore giving up the most explosives in the league.

[Bill Simmons]

Also, what's so Atlanta is I'm looking up the standings.

[Shield Capadia]

I did tease Tampa for the record up to eight and a half. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

So Atlanta's four and three and Tampa's four and three.

[Shield Capadia]

This game's for the division.

[Anthony Debundo]

For the division in Week 8.

[Shield Capadia]

If Atlanta wins, they're going to be two games up with the tiebreaker and Tampa's not going to have their best receivers. Atlanta wins, this division's kind of over. Well, more amazing, New Orleans isn't coming back.

[Bill Simmons]

One of these teams might have five wins after week eight. Like, what the fuck? I almost feels like this has to be a tie, but I mean, if Atlanta loses this game, that's embarrassing. Yeah, you can't beat the Bucks without Mike Evans and Chris Godman. That's literally their whole team.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah, that's my only. Is it a little rat Liny? I mean, I'm with you. I saw minus Atlanta lost by 20.

[Bill Simmons]

To Seattle last week, so I don't. And Atlanta, they're four and three. But literally could be every game. One in six, one. Yeah.

[Shield Capadia]

Atlanta's had one game that wasn't down to the final possession basically or two games now with last week. Every other game is like two minutes to go. They're within six either way. And Kirk's got to lead a drive to try to win it or lose it. And they got a couple home. They didn't get others home. But yeah, these division games at home, catching eight and a half in a tease. I love, I love Tampa. You love Tampa and a tease.

[Bill Simmons]

Can you name four Tampa receivers?

[Shield Capadia]

Do I get to count the running backs?

[Bill Simmons]

Jalen McMillan. Name four running.

[Anthony Debundo]

That's the thing though.

[Bill Simmons]

Who do they run in a four.

[Shield Capadia]

Receiver set they use? They're not going to. That's the one concern. So they run a lot of 11 personnel. Yeah, they don't have three full receivers now, so they got to go a little heavier.

[Bill Simmons]

But kd, KDOT and big games, young, inexperienced, youthful exuberance. We just got to keep them in the ring or fold.

[Shield Capadia]

Trey Palmer's going to be pissed off. He's going to get a big, big game for him.

[Bill Simmons]

Last one. I'm marketing the Falcons down. If they lose that game, they should give up the team. By the way, S.H.I.E.L.D. who, if they didn't take Penix after having seen all the rookies, who should they have taken that would have had a huge impact for them at number eight.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah, I'm trying to think of who was taking. I mean I don't want to be a homer, but Quinon Mitchell would be looking very good as a corner in that secondary. And just look at like the last three years, the guys they could have had, I mean three or four years they really could have built on the lines of scrimmage very well. But yeah, that was one name that, that, that came.

[Bill Simmons]

Byron Murphy. I know he got hurt, but I think he would have been really good for them too.

[Anthony Debundo]

Jared Verse. I mean there were, there were definitely good defensive players that they could have taken and added to that group.

[Shield Capadia]

One of the stories is that none of the defensive guys have really taken the leap.

[Bill Simmons]

Like but we knew that in the draft, right. Nobody was taken till pick 15.

[Anthony Debundo]

Right?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, people were pretty down on. But yeah, you're right that the cornerback that you got, the guy Detroit got the D back.

[Anthony Debundo]

Arnold.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, it seems like those have been kind of the winners.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah, there hasn't been one Dominant guy yet for. You're looking at the defensive rookie of the year odds, I can tell.

[Shield Capadia]

Yeah, Jared Verse is the favorite and.

[Bill Simmons]

Verse was good last year.

[Anthony Debundo]

He's probably the guy they, you know, if you had to pick one guy if they could redo it, that'd probably be the guy.

[Bill Simmons]

All right. Last one that I really liked and I try not to start. Kyle. Kyle. Try not to bet against the Patriots. Oh, Kyle's sad.

[Shield Capadia]

You're playing seven with the Jets.

[Bill Simmons]

No, I'm not. I'm going to tease the jets with the over of 35 down to 35 and a half. The overs 41 and a half. Tease the jets to one over 35 and a half. The Pats are a sneaky the lot. The over under Lions have not caught up to the team. They have. Their defense sucks. It's awful. The quarterback actually makes some plays. May's pretty good and they're a garbage time threat. Right. They're an end of the half, two minute warning. They can actually get a field goal. They're not. Offense isn't terrible and it's also an all time must win for the jets like their their season's over if they don't win this. They beat them already and the only fear would be like a 24 to 3 type game like what they had on the Thursday night. But I had this Pats team is going to be able to put up like 14. So 35 and a half seems right. Is there any way the Pats actually win this game?

[Anthony Debundo]

Wait, what's the. What's the teaser?

[Bill Simmons]

So jets down to minus one. Minus one the over to 35 and a half. I just need to get to 37 points. Jets can win 2017 and I win.

[Anthony Debundo]

Is it a good sign that Devonte Adams had to give a fiery post game speech when he had been in New Jersey for like three days after last week's game. Did you see this story?

[Bill Simmons]

I did.

[Anthony Debundo]

So you have that. I mean everything that can go wrong has gone wrong with the Jets. You mentioned it. The Drake May will push the ball downfield. The jets defense has actually been the bigger story over their offense. They're 21st in defensive DVOA. The offense ranks exactly the same. 21st. You thought you were getting a mediocre offense with a great defense and their defense isn't good.

[Bill Simmons]

But Rogers basically said that he's like our offense needs to take care of our defense. We need to score points, give them lead. He's basically saying our defense sucks. Yeah, which I was surprised by. But as usual, Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, as usual, Aaron Rodgers said something.

[Anthony Debundo]

I think you're on the right side. I would be afraid to have any wager depending on the New York jets. With the way this is.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't think you understand and nobody does because nobody cares about the Patriots, nor should they. This was a pretty traumatic week in Patriots Nation. I've been following the mayor soft thing following. First of all, they were. And we talked about it Sunday night in the pod, so I'm not gonna rehash that. They were so bad on Sunday night and so poorly coached and just everything was mismanaged and they looked awful. And then the quotes after the game from him, which, as usually Mayo took no culpability for anything and just blames everybody else, says he's soft. And that really went badly. And then Belichick said fuck it and just started, like doing little sniper shots out of him at eight different shows he's on and just escalated the stakes. And there's like a real conversation now in Massachusetts because God knows they love. The media, loves this stuff there. It's like, could this guy be one and done? Would Kraft do this? I personally don't think he would. I think he'll give him more time, but it's a fucking mess. The wide receiver room, they've had like three different guys have complained publicly. No other team has this.

[Anthony Debundo]

I feel like this is an under the radar, like, like, huge story for week eight with everything you said. And I've been following it all week long. Like, if they come out and are just get blown out by 35 at home, what are you doing after that with the head coach now? Is there a chance that it's not as bad on the inside as it seems on the outside? And they come out and they play well and some players actually like Gerard Mayo and they figure some things out. That's the other thing. You know, maybe you come out of this saying, oh, my gosh, everything last week was so overblown with the way they played in London. And they're competitive in this game, but they're a sneaky big story. I feel like in this week, I.

[Bill Simmons]

Always listen the player podcasts are, for the most part ridiculous. And player interviews, explorer interviews, you always have take with a grain of salt. I was shocked by how many people who talk or have platforms were like, wow, you don't call your team soft. That's never worked. That's never motivated anybody. That's the number one thing you can't do. Like, people were pretty horrified by it. And he tried to walk it back the next day. He's like, I wasn't saying the team was soft. I was saying we played soft. It's like, no, you said the team was soft. That's actually what you did. And it's one of like many huge mistakes he's made. But they just seem really poorly prepared and poorly coached, which every year there's two teams. Right. Like Carolina last year with Reich. You knew something was like way off. It's like something. Monty Williams and the Pistons.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

It's like this seems off, something's wrong. And that's the vibe I'm getting from the Pats.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Like it just doesn't seem right. What do you see when you're watching?

[Shield Capadia]

Maybe they could try a different former linebacker as their head coach next year.

[Bill Simmons]

Mike Vrabel.

[Shield Capadia]

He would. He is available, I believe. Yeah. I think the offense is kind of interesting early in the game and then the second half offenses have not been as inspiring. Like once they get off the script.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Once they try to establish the run, it's a disaster because they can't run.

[Shield Capadia]

But the one stat I like, they were 31st in explosive pass rate the first five weeks. With Brissette, they're up to 15th the last few weeks.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Shield Capadia]

Kyle hitting some big plays down the field. They finally hit some 10, 20 plus yard plays. And that's when you don't have a good. You've talked about this. When you have a good offense, try to hit some big plays and see what happens.

[Bill Simmons]

We had a Drew Bledsoe season. I think it was the second season, the same thing. Couldn't run the ball. Team wasn't very good and they were just like, Drew aired out and he did and it was kind of. It. It kind of worked a little bit. And he's just flinging the ball. They've been coates that year. I have a feeling if they're actually going to try to win this game, which I would assume they'd want to because it's the jets, like, that's it for the run game. They can't run the ball. The line sucks. So I just generally like the over because I don't think they're going to be able to stop the Jets. The tackling linebackers, they've said they've made history with how bad the tackling is. I've never seen anything like it. So I think Breeze hall could have a big game. But. So I like jets minus one with the over 35 and a half. So. All right, so we have four on the fence with Colts plus 11 and a half with the under 52 and a half in Houston. Oh, you guys vote on that? You like that one?

[Anthony Debundo]

I like it. I like it, too.

[Bill Simmons]

Okay.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

So add that cardiac Colts and then Bills minus three in Seattle. What are your thoughts?

[Shield Capadia]

I'm completely passing on this game. I'm excited to watch it.

[Bill Simmons]

You like it?

[Anthony Debundo]

I like it. It's one of my favorite. Let's listen. I thought the Bundo, you know, we had a nice dinner last night, but I thought he would come in, support me by pick. But that's okay. Listen, you gotta. You gotta speak. Speak with whatever you're feeling at the time. I do like the Bills minus three at Seattle.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, maybe what I can do is do little half bets. Or we could do a parlay with all three of those. This is Bill's minus three Jags plus seven and a half in the overall. Or maybe just Bills minus three with Jags plus seven and a half.

[Shield Capadia]

I do feel like Charlie at the wall. And it's always sunny, and I know that they filmed it right outside the office. I'm trying to keep track of all the teasers that have just been thrown at me in the last 10 minutes.

[Bill Simmons]

What if. What if we teased Jacksonville up to. Or not teased. Nudged it up to plus seven and a half. So we get that touchdown buffer with Bills minus three and it's a debundo shield parlay.

[Anthony Debundo]

All right, you're responsible for the Jags part of that.

[Shield Capadia]

Let's do it.

[Chris Ryan]

All right.

[Anthony Debundo]

There you go.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, so we just looked this up. Bill's minus three and then the jags up to plus seven and a half. That parlay is plus one.79, so I think we'll sprinkle something on that, too. I also need an anytime touchdown scorer, preferably a tight end because FanDuel is running a very cool touchdown bonus. What is. What are we getting for that one, Kyle?

[Chris Ryan]

30% profit.

[Bill Simmons]

30% profit boost.

[Shield Capadia]

Has to be a tight end.

[Bill Simmons]

Does it have to be a tight end? No.

[Shield Capadia]

I was going to say Kate Otten's looking real good this weekend.

[Bill Simmons]

Kate Otten for the Bucks?

[Shield Capadia]

Yeah.

[Anthony Debundo]

Tucker Kraft.

[Shield Capadia]

Somebody's got a score.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, my God.

[Anthony Debundo]

You're against emotional hedge.

[Bill Simmons]

No, no, we're not emotional hedge.

[Shield Capadia]

I do Brian Thomas often, so maybe he could score for the Jags. So you got K, the only reliable receiver.

[Bill Simmons]

K.in/180 anytime score.

[Shield Capadia]

Sure. I love it. Yeah, somebody's got a score for the Bucks. They will get eventually get points in the game.

[Bill Simmons]

Right.

[Shield Capadia]

So.

[Bill Simmons]

All right.

[Shield Capadia]

Hopefully.

[Anthony Debundo]

What a performance by you. Kate Otten and the Jags just coming in on fire. What a performance.

[Bill Simmons]

This is the NFL and we're definitely doing Colts under. Okay. All right. We're gonna do million dollar picks in a second. But first we're gonna do who's Delivering? Presented by Uber Eats where we break down the NFL players who have delivered so far this season. From household names to out of nowhere surprises. No surprise that Lamar Jackson has been delivered. I feel like he has the MVP in his hands now. Right. Is there. Who would you even put against him at this point?

[Anthony Debundo]

No, he's the favorite. He's never played better. Their offense has been so much better than any other offense in the NFL it's crazy. He's coming off an MVP and he's playing better than he did last season.

[Shield Capadia]

Have you seen the Steven Ruiz updated QB rankings?

[Bill Simmons]

No.

[Shield Capadia]

There's a new number one, Lamar Jackson.

[Bill Simmons]

He wasn't number one before.

[Shield Capadia]

Well, Mahomes has had the number one spot for I think a few years now.

[Bill Simmons]

Mahomes has took the year off. He's un sabbatical and yet undefeated. Six touchdowns, eight picks. No, I'm kidding. Mahomes don't listen to me. Five years from now he's going to come back to haunt me. Another one who's delivered the Derrick Henry trade. Slash how awesome he's been. It's just fun to watch those dudes together. Any receiver. I would have said Nico Collins here, but you know, now that Nico.

[Shield Capadia]

You say Mike Evans, but now he's.

[Bill Simmons]

So all the receivers who have been delivering are basically out.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

I feel like St. Brown could get going with no Jameson Williams for two games. He's been right on the cusp of having an awesome game.

[Shield Capadia]

But Brian Thomas Jr. Brian Thomas Jr.

[Bill Simmons]

Another one who's been overthrown for a couple touchdowns too. What's your favorite defense for delivering?

[Anthony Debundo]

My favorite. It's got to be the Vikings, right?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Anthony Debundo]

With Brian Flores. They've had the best defense in the NFL even though their team isn't great. I feel like their coaching has been unbelievable.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, they're staying. I'm always scared to go against them now.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

I didn't even feel good taking the Lions against them this week, but I did it. Pittsburgh's defense has been pretty good too.

[Shield Capadia]

Pittsburgh's been good. I think we.

[Bill Simmons]

This is the year of Spagnola Casey's defense. Yep. All right. That was who's Delivering? Presented by Uber Eats, where you can get the best deals on Game day food all season long. We didn't talk about a kicker. Who's delivering. Brandon.

[Anthony Debundo]

Aubrey.

[Shield Capadia]

Aubrey delivering for society too.

[Bill Simmons]

Aubrey just delivering all over the place. Uber eats. The official on demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order now. All right, Kyle, it's time. The million dollar picks for week eight. Coming off a $580,000 windfall last week that really should have been more. We're up 163,000 for the year. Mainly because I don't bet on Desean Watson. Do some of the stuff your buddy Austin Gale does on paper chasers. I'm glad we came up with a name finally for the piece. I've got some fun. We had a bunch of trademark violations before we got to paper chasers. Million dollar picks. Week 8. We all love the Bears minus two and a half against Marcus, Mariota and Washington. Do we put the caveat that if Daniels plays this is a no bet or do we just ride it?

[Shield Capadia]

I would be shocked if Daniels played that.

[Bill Simmons]

Okay, let's just ride it. You know what? We're gambling. Let's go. Bears minus two and a half. Washington doesn't need this game. This is the last easy Bears game before it gets hard. Washington D is terrible. The Bears can move the ball on them. So that's our first one. Falcons minus two and a half against the depleted Bucks. DeBundo doesn't like it. But you like the Bucks and the Tees a little bit. Even though you could have named three receivers on the team. Sheila and I like the Falcons and it bounced back minus two and a half. No Mike Evans? No Chris Godwin Just played on a Monday night. These teams have already played. This feels like Atlanta gets their team, right? That's two. The Bengals minus one and a half against the Philadelphia Eagles. Shield doesn't like this one.

[Anthony Debundo]

Debundo likes it.

[Bill Simmons]

Debundo likes it.

[Shield Capadia]

Yeah, a little bit. You mentioned havoc. I'm a little scared because the Bengals do not create much.

[Bill Simmons]

They do not create much havoc. The havoc might be on the Philadelphia sideline with people throwing stuff. I just think we saw this game a few weeks ago, a version of it with Tampa where they just threw on Philly the whole game. Philly's defense wore down. The Bengals. I think can do that again. I don't think the bengals are going three and five. So that's three. We're going to put $200,000 on each of those. We are also putting 200,000 on the jets. Teased down to minus one with the over of 30. Down to 35 and a half because Drake May can get cheap points and I think the jets win. If the jets lose this game, this becomes one of the dark moments in jets history. They lose this dysfunctional Pats team that's turning on the coach.

[Anthony Debundo]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Come on. And we all like this one. Another tease. Colts up to 11 and a half against Houston. They've already played the under up to 52 and a half, 53 points. Needs to beat this. No Nico Collins.

[Shield Capadia]

Yeah, he's dominated the Colts in this head to head.

[Bill Simmons]

The fear would be the Anthony Richardson pick six. Like to start the first quarter where it's all of a sudden it's seven nothing. You're like oh my God. All right. And then last but not least, we're doing a little 100k on a DeBundo Shield parlay. She'll love the Bills minus three against Seattle. DeBundo likes the Jags. We're going to bring them up to plus seven and a half. That is plus 179 on FanDuel. So we'll put actually we'll put 120K on that. So to get that over 200. And then last but not least, FanDuel's 30% touchdown scoring boost.

[Shield Capadia]

You in on?

[Anthony Debundo]

I can't wait. This is all I'm going to be watching.

[Bill Simmons]

Kate Otten +180.

[Shield Capadia]

I'm going to have a touchdown to have a screen on Falcons bucks.

[Bill Simmons]

Now for some reason we'll throw 25k on that just to respect ourselves. Yes. Chill, Capati. We can hear you on the ringer NFL show. The bundle you're on the ringer gambling show. You pop on Phillies special from time to time, right?

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Shield Capadia]

We had a short lived Phillies playoff run to reminisce.

[Bill Simmons]

I didn't have a playoff run at all. So I'm jealous. Good to see you guys.

[Anthony Debundo]

You too.

[Shield Capadia]

Good to see you too.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, that's it for the podcast. Thanks to W and Mahoney and CR and Capadia and DeBundo and Kyle Creighton and Steve Sergey for producing as well. That's it for the two part pod. I will see you on Sunday unless I'm dead of an illness.

[Chris Ryan]

On the wayside.

[Shield Capadia]

On the.

[Bill Simmons]

Must be 21 plus in President select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 + in President D.C. gambling problem. Call 100 Gambler or visit rg-help.com call 1-887-897777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplionma org or call 800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support Massachusetts or call 1-87-7-8, hope NY or text hopeny in New York.