Part 2: The 76ers Fell Apart, Embiid’s Next Five Years, and Week 12 NFL Picks With Chris Ryan and Joe House

Summary

The Bill Simmons Podcast – Part 2: The 76ers Fell Apart, Embiid’s Next Five Years, and Week 12 NFL Picks With Chris Ryan and Joe House

Release Date: November 22, 2024

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Introduction

In the second part of this special Thursday podcast, Bill Simmons delves deeper into the troubling situation surrounding the Philadelphia 76ers, focusing on Joel Embiid's health and its implications for the team’s future. Joined by longtime collaborator Chris Ryan and Sixers enthusiast Joe House, the trio also navigates through their "Million Dollar Picks" for Week 12 of the NFL season.

Philadelphia 76ers: A Team in Crisis

The podcast opens with Bill Simmons addressing the dismal performance of the Philadelphia 76ers, highlighting their current record of 2–12. He questions the team's strategy and management decisions, particularly concerning Joel Embiid's role and health.

Bill Simmons [00:01]: "It's part two of the special Thursday Pod. Joel Embiid and the Sixers. What's going on there?"

Joel Embiid’s Health and Commitment

A significant portion of the discussion centers around Embiid's ongoing health issues and his commitment to the team. Both Chris Ryan and Joe House express concerns about Embiid's ability to consistently perform at a high level given his physical condition.

Joe House [04:07]: "I think Ballmer found out with Kawhi. I mean, I don't know what we're talking about. Well, whatever you get, we could."

Chris Ryan [04:02]: "They have to fucking give Joel Embiid a giant extension."

The conversation reveals frustration over Embiid's inconsistent availability and the team's decision to extend his contract despite these concerns.

Team Chemistry and Coaching Challenges

The trio explores the deteriorating chemistry within the team, attributing it to frequent roster changes and ineffective coaching. Nick Nurse, the Sixers’ coach, is scrutinized for his inability to unify the team and address internal conflicts.

Chris Ryan [08:30]: "No. But I think there's a, everybody gets a little piece of blame pie."

Joe House [09:43]: "The bench seemed like they were really trying to, like, cheer baskets and stand up and do the good chemistry thing, but on the court, it was a mess."

The lack of a cohesive locker room and Embiid’s leadership issues are highlighted as major factors contributing to the team's downfall.

Performance Analysis: From Expectations to Reality

Bill Simmons and his guests contrast the Sixers' high expectations with their current performance. They assess Embiid's statistical contributions versus his declining physical abilities, noting a significant drop in his defensive presence and rebounding capabilities.

Bill Simmons [10:43]: "When you get older, as you start carrying more weight, as you have some injuries and some injury history, not a lot of evidence like, we saw it happen."

Joe House [15:44]: "He shouldn't be on the basketball court."

The discussion outlines how Embiid's personal struggles are directly impacting the team's overall performance, leading to blowout losses and a plummeting net differential.

Nick Nurse: A Coaching Conundrum

The podcast critically examines Nick Nurse’s tenure with the Sixers, questioning his effectiveness in managing a star player like Embiid and fostering a winning culture.

Chris Ryan [28:32]: "I think everybody gets a little piece of blame pie."

Bill Simmons [28:44]: "Because it doesn't seem like he can 100% connect with Embiid, as we've seen basically from all of Embiid's resume this season."

The consensus is that Nurse has failed to address the underlying issues within the team, resulting in a lackluster season that deviates sharply from the Sixers' previous standards.

NFL Week 12: Million Dollar Picks

Transitioning from basketball, the podcast shifts focus to their "Million Dollar Picks" segment, where Bill and Joe analyze and place bets on various NFL games for Week 12.

Bill Simmons [58:16]: "So week 12, there's three games I like and a parlay I like. Which one do you want to hit first, the parlay or the three games?"

Joe House [63:05]: "I'm going to let you do it. We're not going to have a disagreement."

They discuss multiple matchups, including the Baltimore Ravens vs. LA Chargers, Arizona Cardinals vs. Seattle Seahawks, and others, providing their insights and betting strategies. The conversation is peppered with humor and camaraderie, reflecting their long-standing rapport.

Closing Thoughts

As the podcast wraps up, Bill Simmons reflects on the dire state of the Sixers and the bleak outlook for Embiid's immediate future with the team. He contrasts this with light-hearted discussions about upcoming movies and personal anecdotes, maintaining the engaging and conversational tone that listeners appreciate.

Bill Simmons [85:34]: "Don't forget about a new Rewatch what's coming on Monday. It is a movie from the 1980s."

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Notable Quotes

• Bill Simmons [04:07]: "They have to fucking give Joel Embiid a giant extension."
• Joe House [09:43]: "The bench seemed like they were really trying to, like, cheer baskets and stand up and do the good chemistry thing, but on the court, it was a mess."
• Chris Ryan [28:32]: "I think everybody gets a little piece of blame pie."
• Joe House [15:44]: "He shouldn't be on the basketball court."

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Conclusion

This episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast offers a thorough and candid analysis of the Philadelphia 76ers' struggles, particularly focusing on Joel Embiid's health issues and team dynamics. Coupled with their engaging NFL betting segment, Chris Ryan and Joe House provide listeners with both deep sports insights and entertaining discussions. Whether you're a Sixers fan distressed by the current season or an NFL enthusiast looking for informed betting advice, this episode delivers comprehensive coverage of both worlds.

Transcript

[Bill Simmons]

It's part two of the special Thursday Pod. Joel Embiid and the Sixers. What's going on there? Million Dollar Picks all 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 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 cause you're in them a lot cause you gotta 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 of the Bose Corporation. Intelligent All Wheel Drive cannot prevent collisions or provide enhanced traction in all conditions. Always monitor traffic and weather conditions. We're also brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network. If you missed part one of this podcast I did an NBA six pack and we talked to Peter Schrager for a long long time and it is already up and you can watch it as well on the Bill Simmons YouTube channel where we put clips and videos of all the stuff we do here. We also have a Ringer Movies YouTube channel where we put the Rewatchables where we did the Replacements on Monday. I was surprised how many people are excited in my life that we did this. A lot of people love that movie. So there you go. Coming up on this podcast, Chris Ryan, my longtime Grantland slash ringer colleague, my frequent co host on the Rewatchables and a die hard Philadelphia fan, we're going to talk about this Joel Embiid Sixers situation because it's getting really really grim and it's worth two segments. So we had them with Joe House who stuck around and did Million Dollar Picks with me after I like week 12. We're going to talk about that. Tried to figure out a way to squeeze Drake May into the podcast somehow which we did. A Million Dollar Picks. Can't wait for you to listen first, our friends from Pearl Jam all taping this early Thursday afternoon. Joe House is here because we're going to be doing million dollar picks a little bit later. Chris Ryan is here of the ringer. We've worked together 13 years. Die Hard Philadelphia fan. And Chris, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't ask you what it's like to be a Philadelphia 76ers fan right now.

[Chris Ryan]

You know what? It's actually not as bad as you think because it was a head on collision and it was dead on impact. It's 2 and 12. Yeah. Like they could probably scratch and claw their way out of this. But to me, this season they had a kind of like end of the season vibe in the second half against Memphis on Wednesday.

[Bill Simmons]

House, did you watch it? I couldn't look away. I watched the entire game. I think I watched every single minute of it.

[Joe House]

I was going back and forth, but it wasn't encouraging. I still want to know why Embiid is playing. I still would like to know why.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Cr Walk us through this. What's the upside of not so all right. They fuck up, he plays the Olympics. They don't talk him out of that. That was a mistake. They fuck up, they give him a giant extension before the season starts.

[Chris Ryan]

They didn't fuck up. Bill, come on. They have to fucking give Joel Embiid a giant extension.

[Bill Simmons]

I think they fucked up that he wasn't obviously wasn't healthy.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, but he hasn't been healthy his entire career. He's not been like a 100%, I feel perfect athlete.

[Bill Simmons]

So you were fired up when they gave him an extens.

[Chris Ryan]

I think that it's the price of doing business. I think. Like, like.

[Bill Simmons]

And I think Ballmer found out with Kawhi. I mean, I don't know what we're talking about. Well, whatever you get, we could. They put themselves behind the eight ball with the extension. Yeah, but then why throw him out there when he's obviously not healthy? Explain this to us.

[Chris Ryan]

I can't explain it to you because this has been a hallmark of like the entire beat experience where I think as fans, especially this generation of fans of the Sixers are completely like, okay with hey, we're going to have to take some losses to make some gains. That's the whole point of the process was that this was going to be this tear down to the studs and that we're going to then build up with homegrown talent and bringing in free agents from acquiring guys through trade to help that homegrown talent get to a title. We are exactly in the same place we were when Doug Collins left, which is basically a second round basketball team. And we're aging now. Like we have changed the kind of the sort of character of the team to where Joel Embiid is 30. He looks like he's 38. He might even look like he's 47 frankly. And like the guys that they have around him are largely veterans who are there on not necessarily mercenary contracts, but certainly like are there to win titles or get deep into the playoffs. McKinnon.

[Bill Simmons]

But then you have this whole other fun Sixers team where it's like McCain and Maxey and I abseli this is the thing.

[Chris Ryan]

If There was a 2 and 12 McCain and Maxey team, I think you would have been like, oh yeah, this is kind of weird and sucks and we're pretty much out of it. But who knows? Like we're feisty and McCain's great, but instead with George who's now hyperextended his knee and is back out again and Embiid doing the like daily and not even daily, like hourly updates on like, maybe I will, maybe I won't. I'm never going to be 100%. I won't play back to backs, but I will if it's rolling for me and I should be out, but I'm going to come back in. If they had just been like Joel Embiid tweaked something at the end of the Olympics. He's out for the first six weeks. I just think it's a completely different scenario.

[Bill Simmons]

You agree with that House?

[Joe House]

Of course. Of course it is. This is to me the singular most baffling aspect of this entire deal. I thought that the Sixers in terms of team building had a pretty successful summer. They put all their chips in the middle.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, we know you thought that cuz you took the over of 50 and a half wins. Remember that?

[Joe House]

I stand by it. It wasn't wrong in the context of the information that was available. It was a simple idea. I do think it, it was then desirable for them to try and finish among the top four teams in the East. Desirable. Understanding of course that you're not going to get a full season out of Embiid or a full season out of Paul George. You, you hope for most of a full season out of Maxi and that you can weather the storm enough to get around 50 wins and finish in the top four in the East. Cause all things being equal, would be better to be half home court in the first round than not. But having said all that, the thing that's baffling to me still doesn't have an answer is, what's with the drama, mama? What are we talking about?

[Bill Simmons]

Just shut up.

[Joe House]

Well, like, you did a great job in the summer. You built the best team you could build. There is a closing window on Embiid. We all agree that Joe Ombi ain't going to be playing professional basketball for another mother effing decade. So you go all in and he's. There's something happened. Something. Either at the Olympics, after the Olympics, something happened before the Olympics or before. Yeah. So we got to shut him down. Okay, Shut him down. Shut him down and shut him up. That's it. There's nothing else to say. Why are we talking? What is who. Who benefits from the goddamn daily soap operas?

[Bill Simmons]

Who is the why are we talking thing? It's literally, why are we talking? Because all this stuff leaked out from that hour long meeting where we come to find out the least surprising piece of information CR in recent Sixers history, which is that Joel Embiid, that the other players were upset about his accountability, showing up late to meetings, his practice habits, and it was like, yeah, I'm not surprised by one aspect of this. Were you?

[Chris Ryan]

No. But I think that this is all about how it's getting framed, right? So, like, if you change over two thirds of your roster almost every season, you're not going to be able to control the culture of the locker room. And if you bring in new faces who maybe don't have the same allegiances or the same relationships with guys in that locker room, they might just have, like, more incentive to say something to their agent who says something to Shams. Whatever happened, honestly, it feels like that literal part of Maxie calling out Embiid seems like it was kind of blown out of proportion, you know, like there was like.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, because they're buddies, right?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, they are buddies. And it sounds like, at least from Embiid's side of things, he was like, that was 30 seconds of like a 30 minute meeting, you know, like, was you one person being like, you got to show up on time more and him being like, you're right, I gotta be better.

[Bill Simmons]

Why?

[Chris Ryan]

Joel Embiid is 30 and not showing up to shit on time. And that, that has become so detrimental to the team that it's getting out into an ESPN report and that other guys on the team clearly don't look at him as the alpha leader of the locker room and are okay with letting those details out of the locker room. Like, that's a whole other conversation. But yeah, like, the communication part of this has been awful from top to bottom.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, and then you have comparing his work ethic and ability to stay in shape versus some of the other best players in the league.

[Joe House]

Right.

[Bill Simmons]

That's where it really jumps out. And that's been the thing we've said on this podcast over and over again. He's competing against people like Giannis and Tatum, like LeBron in year 22. These guys that, you know, this is their life is to stay in shape and be ready for seasons and not make excuses about stuff. I think House and I are a little older than cr. We've seen a lot of centers hit this point and it usually doesn't end well. And that was the case I made before the season. As you get older, as you start carrying more weight, as you have some injuries and some injury history, not a lot of evidence like, we saw it happen. You had Andrew Bynum that year. I think he was an All Star in 2012, and two years later, he was out of the league. You just. When you're talking about these big seven foot, two seven three bodies with extra weight, House, that's where my mind went to. Some of the guys we've watched where it ends fast.

[Joe House]

Yeah. But the only thing that cuts against that is that it seemed like for the very first time in his career, it finally came out of his mouth that I think I should show up to the season in shape. I think this will be the season that I will choose. And there was a kind of logic thread to it. He just surrounded himself with the upper of upper echelon, highest performing, highest successful NBA players and staff.

[Chris Ryan]

Right.

[Bill Simmons]

Usually there's a bump from that.

[Joe House]

Right. The Olympic bump was somehow lost because he did get that experience. He was with all of those bright minds and very successful players with their own successful regimens. And he did say afterwards, I am going to be the skinny guy. It's going to be skinny and beat.

[Bill Simmons]

I want to be like Tim Duncan. I want to have a thinner body.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. The Tim Duncan part that he needed to internalize probably was just not saying anything. You know what I mean? Like, it's just they needed probably to put a cap on the narration and the interfacing with the press about, like, what his intentions are and where he is. And it's honestly, like, it's weird hero ball stuff for him to be out there right now. And it's really unfortunate because what happens to him when he's not feeling great Is his game becomes repulsive. It honestly becomes fucking nauseating to watch him play. Yeah, there's some guys where you're like, oh, look at him. He's gutting it out. You know what I mean? This is not Philip Rivers on a broken leg.

[Bill Simmons]

This is like, I think he fell down, what, eight times last night. He's just flopping around and.

[Joe House]

Right.

[Bill Simmons]

He wears all of his emotions on his face, good and bad. And this last night against Memphis was the all time worst case version of that.

[Chris Ryan]

And it's just, this is not a together team. It's not being coached in a way that seems like the coach wants to be there. Maybe he does, but this is not the Nick nurse that I thought the Sixers were getting, that it's not the Nick nurse that coached last year. And he seems super pissed about whatever the situation is. He seems disgruntled in every press conference. He seems supremely annoyed with the press corps. And then on top of that, welcome to Philly. Yeah, but like, honestly, man, though, like, it's every, every city is hard on a team that has expectations, though, right? Like, I mean, the thing that I think is so jarring about this is that I almost wonder if it would be worse if they were 4 and 7, you know what I mean? Because it would be like, well, you're not quite playing up to expectations. This is a disaster.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, I was looking at their schedule. They. They lose every game by 10 to 20 points. I think they've had one close loss. Every other loss is a blowout.

[Joe House]

Yeah, their net differential is. Is fourth worst at the NBA that.

[Bill Simmons]

Game yesterday, which, you know, they, they kind of fought back at the end because Memphis isn't good and also kind of fell asleep. Oh, by the way, even that game, they're down 20 in the fourth quarter.

[Chris Ryan]

By Luke Kennard and Aldama. And like, they didn't have Ja or Edie last night. So it's not like you can like be like, oh, well, we got taken out by three all NBA guys. It's like, no, you. You lost to the B team Grizzlies in a, like, kind of half full gym.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, the alarming thing about Embiid, like, House, what you said earlier about why. Why so much talking? Why telling us why you're feeling better, you're going to lose the weight. To me, it's like me and cr. One of our favorite movies, the Town. It's the Blake Lively character being like, dougie, I quit drinking shine and I get to get an apartment. It's going to be great. And it's like, I don't know if I trust this not to compare Bead to Blake Live in the Town, but I guess I just did. It's like, ah, that all sounds good, but can I see it for like a year? Can I see Skinny and Bead? Can I see you play some back to backs? I just feel like the ship sailed. What was crazy about last night, the body language. The team just doesn't seem together at all. The bench seemed like they were really trying to, like, cheer baskets and stand up and do the good chemistry thing, but on the court, it was a mess. And I noticed this last year with Embiid during the Knicks series, and I remember talking about it on the pod in house. I think you and I talked about it. He's just really slow to the ball now on rebounds and shop block stuff. And I don't know whether his knees are just like. He's carrying too much weight. They're shot. He can't move quickly anymore. He doesn't have quick burst stuff. This was. We also saw that in the Olympics, which is why I think they were so hesitant to play him in certain situations. He gets killed on the offensive boards now there's guys flying around. If you. If you put him in a pick and roll and he has to run out to a shooter, he can't. And over and over again, you watch. It's not just that they're losing the offense that these teams are getting, combined with the offensive rebounds that they can get, I think is the most alarming thing to me.

[Joe House]

It's.

[Bill Simmons]

He can still get his points. I feel like he can always get to 25 or 30. But the other side of the ball is the alarming part to me.

[Chris Ryan]

But on, honestly, dude, on paper, with all due respect, House, they're not the Wizards. Like, they shouldn't be 2 and 12 like Paul Ridge and Tyrese Maxey. I know they've missed time each, but, like, there have been stretches of time over the last five seasons with the Sixers where the Sixers have been able to weather three weeks, five weeks without. Indeed. And stay in the kind of, like, middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference.

[Joe House]

It's literally why I had them winning 50 games.

[Chris Ryan]

This is like a mutiny.

[Joe House]

Like, they'd be able to roll with it.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, how's that? They played Brooklyn on Friday night at home, and they play the Clippers on Sunday at home. The revenge of James Harden. I almost think they're better off not playing at home. Then they play the Houston Pit Bulls on Wednesday, which is just a nightmare game. Talk about a team that plays hard and has athletes and is relentless. That's a team I don't want to play. And then they're at Detroit on November 30th. Does Nick Nurse make it out of the month for you?

[Joe House]

Oh, of course. I mean, there would be.

[Bill Simmons]

Of course. Really?

[Joe House]

What's the thesis for getting rid of Nick Nurse? Like, how is that going to help? He's not the one.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, under the Rob Pelinka law of things are going wrong, it's gotta be somebody else's fault. Who else are you gonna blame? They can't get rid of Georgia.

[Joe House]

There's nothing to blame. It's November. You know, the. The. The season that matters starts in March. Their. Their forecasted win total right now is 38 and a half.

[Bill Simmons]

Is that on FanDuel?

[Joe House]

Yes, it is. You can.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, my God. That was 42 and a half two days ago.

[Joe House]

Well, it's 32 wins, but I'm telling you, there are only a couple slots out of the 10 seed. They're dead last in the Eastern Conference right now as we're taping, but only a handful of spots away and they right now have the seventh best odds to make the playoffs. It's minus 215 for the Sixers to make the playoffs.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, shit. So those odds weren't even on Fando, like three hours ago when I was taping.

[Chris Ryan]

So cr, the people demanded it. We have to short these guys.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Joe House]

No, to make the playoffs, though. Much better odds to make than to miss.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, but they're not. I don't think they're going to be in the top six. So.

[Joe House]

Agreed.

[Bill Simmons]

Basically the cutoff would be the 10 seed cr. Right. So you have to finish above five teams. So I'm going to list some teams like you'll finish ahead of Washington. No matter what happens, you have too much talent. That's happening.

[Joe House]

Sorry, House, way to go out on a limb.

[Bill Simmons]

You'll finish ahead of Toronto because I don't think Toronto even necessarily wants to be good. So that's the second one. I think you'll finish ahead of Charlotte.

[Chris Ryan]

I do, too.

[Bill Simmons]

So there's three. Then it starts getting a little gamey. Like you have Chicago, that you catch Chicago on the right night and they can score. You know, they can score with anybody. They look okay, you'd have to pass Detroit and Brooklyn. You'd have to pass two of those three. And Detroit right now is seven and nine. And they're in these games. And Kade is Playing better than anyone on the Sixers. Can you get to a 10 seed?

[Chris Ryan]

I think you can get to a 10 seed. I think that that's going to be so far below the expectations of the franchise at this point that it's going to still be seen as an abject failure. This is not. I don't think that this team had Miami Heat expectations this season. Where it's like, what they do is basically use the regular season as experiment, you know, and weather all these storms and SPO is making guys from G leaguers into All Stars, and it's just going to. They're going to scrape and claw their way into the playoffs and then nobody wants to play them. I think this is a team that was really hoping to have some kind of home court advantage in the playoffs and also probably to be so safe in that that they could rest guys down the stretch and make sure Embiid was healthy.

[Bill Simmons]

Now it's the opposite.

[Chris Ryan]

Now it's the opposite. And I think, like, I think now what happened with that meeting coming out, becoming public is the problem, is that everything seems like a reaction to something else. So losing to Memphis, which sucked anyway, is now a failure of the meeting to galvanize the team. So instead of it just being like, ah, you lost on the road to Memphis. What a shitty start of the season. But hopefully everybody starts to get. Get it together. It's now like, that meeting didn't work right. Embiid looked miserable. He immediately comes out after the Memphis game and says whoever leaked that is a real piece of shit. Presumably the person in the locker. Somebody in the locker room did that. So that's what is happening in that locker room. George goes out. George does a podcast about the all hands meeting, the team meeting.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, he did that? I missed that part.

[Chris Ryan]

He did, apparently. Yeah. I haven't listened to it yet. I just saw House was just showing me the thumbnail from it.

[Bill Simmons]

Definitely getting podcast content out of it.

[Chris Ryan]

It's like, my recommendation would be for Joel Embiid to go out and not play for four to six weeks and get as healthy as he can. Because him being like, I'm going to try and drag my body through 35 minutes against Memphis.

[Joe House]

No, no.

[Chris Ryan]

Is not healthy.

[Bill Simmons]

They need to win like 34 games. So just send him packing and make sure he gets in shape. I thought he looked so miserable last night when the halftime hit and he just walked off and it was like he was like a tennis player. We had to take a break. I have a. I have a. So we're going to keep talking about Philly, but I have a take that I'm so excited to throw at house that I've been saving for the podcast that's next. 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. This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. It's football season and Uber Eats is dropping undefeated deals on all your game day favorites this week. Score buy one get one free famous bowls from KFC only on UberEats and if you're craving even more, we've got you covered with game game deals on pizza, burgers, tacos and more all season long. Uber Eats Official On Demand Food Delivery Partner of the NFL. Order now for game day terms, taxes and fees apply. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by the Home Depot. Whether you want to knock it out of the park gift wise or treat yourself to a little extra, the Home Depot's got you covered with the gift that keeps on giving. Pick up a select battery kit and get a select tool from top brands like Ryobi or Milwaukee for free. That's right, for free. Whether you're building out your personal workshop, or buying for someone else, you can choose from reciprocating saws, multi tools, circular saws and more. Get Black Friday Tool savings delivered from The Home Depot limit 1 per transaction exclusions apply. Full eligible tool list in store and online. Before we get back to talking about Joel Embiid a little bit more, guys, I love the NBA Cup. And you know what makes the NBA cup even better? A ringer profit boost token on FanDuel. I told FanDuel we wanted to celebrate the NBA cup, give out some profit boosts. We created the 30 on 30 Ringer PBT. You can boost any 30 point score or 30 on 30 special bet. On this Friday's NBA cup slate. For instance, CR, you can take Cam Thomas against your Philadelphia 76ers. Just like Cam Thomas. Cook. Right. How so? Are you a 30 point scorer bet guy? It's pretty fun.

[Joe House]

I haven't been, but I'm willing to jump in, especially with the profit boost.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. So yeah, on Fridays it pops up and they'll give you like four choices. So then you gotta do the matchups in your head.

[Joe House]

Will they give us Cam Thomas?

[Bill Simmons]

They'll give us Cam Thomas and it'll probably be like plus 140 plus. Last week on Friday, I gave out three, including Grady Dick was plus 750 against Detroit. I was very excited about it. He didn't get it, but it was a fun thing to monitor during the game. But just pick your 30 point score ride and there you go. You can even maybe take Joel Embiid if he ends up playing one of these games. Cr you an NBA cup guy?

[Chris Ryan]

I am an NBA cup guy. I love the different courts.

[Bill Simmons]

Sure.

[Chris Ryan]

You know, just visually stimulating. I love tournament basketball. So this the group stages or whatever. But I love the knockouts.

[Bill Simmons]

I like the concept of guys trying when they're down 8 with like 10 seconds left. It's super fun. And by the way, very good for the 30 on 30 as well. Hope you like the ring of profit boost. We'll be doing it each Friday during the NBA cup. Just look for 30 on 30 in the FanDuel sportsbook app. All right, here we go. House. Cr. Feel free to weigh in as well. Are we sure Nick Nurse is good? Can I just walk through? I'm willing to say yes, he's good, but can we just walk through it? So he takes over a Toronto team that went 59 and 23 in 2019. They went 58 and 24. They win on that Kawhi shot last second. Sorry, Chris. LeBron's in the West. It's the first year LeBron leaves. They play the warriors in the Finals. KD's hurt, doesn't come back till game five immediately blows out his Achilles. Klay Thompson gets hurt. Same game, they get this miracle Kawhi performance and they squeeze it out and we're like, Nick Nurse is a good coach. And I think he probably is a decent to good coach. Next year, 53 wins. Next year, 27 wins, 48, 41. Gets fired from there, goes to Philly the year after, has that really weird Knick series, and then looks completely miserable this year. I just, I wonder if there's like only four or five good coaches, period. And I thought maybe he was one of them, but I think what we're learning is he probably wasn't. How's your thoughts?

[Joe House]

I think what you're speaking to and I think is a fair criticism of him is his ability to rally, his ability to get guys on the same page with a common cause. Because the story about why Toronto fell apart had to do with a defensive scheme where they had a whole bunch of guys. They didn't have one tall guy on that team, on that roster. They all had to go baseline to baseline, side to side, full out defensive pressure extended way out to the three point line. And at some point they all got effing tired of it. And they went to coach Nick Nurse and said, God damn it, Coach Nick Nurse, you're. This is exhausting. We can't expend all of this energy playing all this defense in this way. And it fell on deaf ears. And they were like, hey, guess what? Nick Nurse, Fuck you. Right?

[Bill Simmons]

Then goes to Philly scene, you know, not like last year. And I was thinking about that Toronto team because it's such a weird outlier, right? They had great defense, right? They have Kawhi, who's actually healthy. They have Marcus, all rim protection. They have Kyle Lowry, they have Siakam. They have an Obia that didn't have them in the playoffs that year. Danny Green, they had Wings, they had Ibaka, but really they had Kawhi, who we left that playoffs thinking this is the best player in the world. And we've seen coaches that have great situations like that. And I just wonder like when they hired him, cr and we talked about it, I was like, wow, you got Nick Nurse. That guy's a great coach.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. Cause it was like there was. And it was like, is he, you know, aren't lose him to the Bucks. There was like a whole like, Nick Nurse is the hottest free agent.

[Bill Simmons]

There's sweepstakes.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Not sure there'd be a sweepstakes again, I guess, is my point.

[Chris Ryan]

I don't really Know, I don't really know. Would Eric Spoelstra just do a better job here? Like, probably not. What can a coach do when you're. When the main issue seems to be effort?

[Bill Simmons]

Well, the big issue is it doesn't seem like he can 100% connect with Embiid, as we've seen basically from all of Embiid's resume this season.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. But I think there's a. Everybody gets a little piece of blame pie. You know, Embiid talking about, you want.

[Bill Simmons]

To go blame pie. We're doing. We're doing an ESPN gimmick and bead deserves a slice.

[Chris Ryan]

Daryl deserves a slice. Paul George deserves a slice. Nick Nurse deserves a slice. You know, like, Embiid can't stop saying stupid shit. That's a huge problem. But that's probably more of a fan problem, I would imagine, than it is.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Than it is a player problem. I just think that this looks like a team that hates each other. And I honestly, I was trying to rack my brains. I mean, you can look up. It's like, oh, who's 2 and 12 and still makes the playoffs? It's like, not that many teams.

[Joe House]

6 out of 92. I look at it.

[Chris Ryan]

Right. But it's. Now that the playoffs have been expanded. But more than that, you just don't really see teams that clearly dislike each other this much doing anything like, yeah, there are teams.

[Joe House]

Do they really dislike each other?

[Bill Simmons]

They seem like a happy team, I think is a very fair point. Yeah. They don't seem happy playing basketball together.

[Chris Ryan]

Right. Right. And I don't think any of the guys. Nobody on that team except for Jared McCain is playing in the plus, they're not playing in. Wow. We never expected that. But Jared McCain, him and connect are like the two big success stories of the draft so far, it seems like. It's not like George looks terrible even when he's not being dragged off the court. Maxey's obviously hurt. Drummond looks old. You know, like the. Caleb. There's no.

[Bill Simmons]

No signs that Drummond might have been a bad signing.

[Joe House]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Kyle. No signs that Kyle Lowry might not have it anymore.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

But here's the thing. CR they, like, they crushed the McCain pick. They get Caleb Martin at a huge discount. He was the only guy who was flying around last. I actually thought he was really good last night. And Y baseli was a really good sign. They added three guys to the rotation.

[Chris Ryan]

That doesn't matter if awesome guys.

[Bill Simmons]

And it hasn't mattered at all.

[Chris Ryan]

Embiid.

[Bill Simmons]

Right.

[Chris Ryan]

The whole entire thing runs through Embiid, especially if Paul George is going to be this passive. That's one thing that's been sad is that, like, because he got hurt in the preseason and because, like, he's just re. Injured himself, there's been no opportunity to be like, hey, man, Paul, we're going to need you to carry us for the first 20 games of the season. You know, you're going to have to go out and get 25 a night. You're going to have to be the lead scorer. You're going to have to take the best player on the opposing team on defense, and he's just completely come. The terrifying thing is, like, this is why the Clippers let him go. They probably saw this coming.

[Bill Simmons]

Like, I covered this in part one. It's like buying the. Buying the used car from somebody who's really eager to sell it to you. It's probably a red flag, but.

[Chris Ryan]

Bill, have you ever had a Celtics season in recent memory?

[Bill Simmons]

We did. We had the second Kyrie season. You could see it the whole season. It's like, it's off. This is off. But I talked about this when I did the power poll a couple weeks ago about when the concept of sacrifice, when you're putting together a big three, and how, like, when people always point to the 08 Celtics, where it was like, those guys were at the point of their career where they were ready to give something up. This time around, you'd have to have Embiid. What's he given up? And does he want to get in shape? You, Paul George, who's probably the most likely candidate to be like, yeah, I don't care if I score all the time. I just want to win a title. And then you have Maxey, who's trying to prove he's a great player. He hasn't, you know, he doesn't want to sacrifice anything he shouldn't want to. He's a young player who's trying to prove that he's one of the best guards in the league. So that alone made me nervous. But then the Embiid conditioning and then the chemistry is, I think, the variables even House couldn't have expected as he went over 50 and a half wins, which I'm going to cross that off House for you already.

[Joe House]

I will take that. L. It's literally why it's called gambling. But it was exactly what Chris Ryan just described. It was Paul George holding down the fort through the first 20 games to Paul George, Ed Maxey in the east, you know, building a little something with McCain. Yeah, right. Right. A little something. But he showed up dead and. And he was hurt within days of us doing the over under podcast. And I. Maybe he's not. I mean, after last night's injury, maybe he's still not, you know, restored to full health.

[Bill Simmons]

I mean, well, can. Hopefully he can still podcast the thing.

[Chris Ryan]

I was going to say asking. The thing I was asking you about like the historical precedents or if you have this experience where it's been a very long time with the Sixers since a season started. I remember the first car I ever had was a 91 Ford Tempo. Used 91 Ford Tempo. And the transmission blew out on the drive home from the dealership.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

And it was just like, well, that is definitive. This is a lemon. Let's take it back to the lot. Like, they clearly there's gotta be some like 12 hour grace period. This wasn't like, oh, I'm driving it for a while and shutters a little bit when you make lefts, you know? No, there was no like warning signs. This thing died as soon as it left the season opening gate. And it kind of almost feels like a little liberating after all these years of like kind of coming up short is like, oh, there's something rotten here. And maybe this, this beginning is the beginning of a new chapter. We have to like, kind of new chapter.

[Bill Simmons]

You just signed a B2, an extension and Paul George has a four year deal. What new chapter are we looking at? I like this 2029 for the new chapter. What are you going to hibernate like a bear?

[Chris Ryan]

I was like me. I was like my post Sixers life.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, yeah. Maybe you'll have more. More time now to concentrate on other things.

[Joe House]

Isn't there a pathway or. It'll be fun to root for 39 wins. Isn't that going to become the new like. Okay, we understand. We take.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, there's another. There's another piece of this House.

[Joe House]

Bad luck. Let's be honest.

[Bill Simmons]

They have their pick, but it's top six protected. Yeah. So you can't even root for like, let's just bottom out.

[Chris Ryan]

Honestly, it would be really fun to root for McCain maxi and the. And, and, and the role players. It would be fine.

[Joe House]

You're too good to bottom out.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. McCain is. Is honestly worth watching the Sixers for, even if you also have to watch guys rolling around on the ground in agony house.

[Bill Simmons]

Do we. Do we need to convene the Ewing theory committee to just. Should I send them to Philly to watch what the Sixers might look like if they have to shelve Embiid for three weeks and all of a sudden that team is playing small ball and take it off, I don't know. It.

[Joe House]

It. Cause we had a pretty good sample size for that last season. They only played 39 games and they were bad. They were bad at the games that he didn't play.

[Chris Ryan]

How much better would you guys feel about this team or would we even be doing this segment if they had won like three more games? Still bad, but just a slow start.

[Bill Simmons]

So I think the two games this week warranted this statement because it wasn't just that words, this segment. It wasn't just the Memphis game last night, which was riveting. The Miami game was unbelievable. I mean, that was.

[Joe House]

They got blowed the F out.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Rossilla texted me. He was like, I'm not saying a hate watch pod of Sixers games would do well, but I do think it would get an audience. I think he's right. I think you can. You could basically take the Philly special and just make it like a venting session after every Sixer game. And it might. It might. And it rarely happens in basketball because it's the most naked sport. Right. In football, they have helmets on. They might not show some of the sidelines in basketball, you know, when guys are unhappy, you know, when guys are mailing in a play or a sequence, you can watch the reactions on the bench. You can watch how the bench reacts. You can see the coach in the post game, you know, press conference. There's like 40 checkpoints where you're like, ah, this doesn't look right. And they're hitting all of them. I can't think of a single one they're not hitting. Other than that, McCain seems super happy to be in the NBA. He's like, hey, guys. He's like a puppy running around. It's like when we got Murph and he was just running around the backyard.

[Chris Ryan]

I hope that a consequence of all this is not Maxie loses that joy, because that's. That's the other thing.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't think that's going to happen.

[Joe House]

Me either.

[Chris Ryan]

Over the last couple of seasons, I think that that's been really important for Sixers fans is to see somebody who plays with so much unbridled pleasure, you know, because it sometimes doesn't feel that way for Embiid. And honestly, like, to me, as much as the health stuff is obviously pretty disturbing with him, and the way he's talked about conserving his body for the playoffs and what it's going to take. And, you know, he's never 100% and all that. He has said multiple things about basically saying, like, the amount that I've given to this city, if. Because of how much I've done for this team, because of the amount I've given to the city. It's ridiculous that this is like the discourse on me. So I. I'm just. I'm. This is getting kind of dark. You know what I mean? I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know. Even Daryl. This would be the team that Daryl had always dreamed of. Right. It's like you take Embiid team.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

And you get the. On paper, like, yeah. Shooting and veterans who know what their role is. And a really astute coach. And if that doesn't work, I don't. I don't really know what the plan is here. You know, House.

[Bill Simmons]

They can't even trade Embiid until the summer if they wanted to. I don't think they do. But they're.

[Chris Ryan]

By the way, they're also trying to build a new arena. So keep that in mind with Embiid trades.

[Bill Simmons]

It's weird because LeBron did that whole thing this week about how social media is too negative and the whole discussion and apparatus around basketball has become too negative. I feel like it hasn't really been that different. I think the only thing that probably has been added the last couple years are these player podcasts where the players are, especially the ex players, they're like pro wrestlers. It's like Mick Foley talking about how the Undertaker was a giant pussy. Not that he did that, but just like these. And the NBA is kind of turning into that, where guys are just lobbing like. Iman Shumpert had a whole thing the other day about how LeBron ruined basketball when he teamed up with Wade and Bosh. And it was like, didn't. Were you on LeBron's championship team in 2016? What are you doing? But these pods are just crazy. And I do wonder if that's a sadded layer. I actually think people, compared to how this would have been received in the 1990s, have been pretty reasonable about this Embiid thing with some of the stuff he said. We've talked about a lot on this pod. There's been so many red flags. I thought the Olympics was a red flag. The. No back to back was a red flag. But CR. It feels like something has shifted now with the city and Embiid. Where it went from, like you are our favorite son. We would defend you. And Philly's like this in a lot of ways, where it's like, you're our guy, fuck everybody else.

[Chris Ryan]

Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

And that's what it is. And it feels like that's been lost, which I think is significant.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, I would say it's probably. I mean, to the extent that I can tell from Los Angeles, I would say that the fan base seems split, 50, 50 between, like, Joel, True believers. This is. He's just hurt. You guys aren't, you know, aren't being sympathetic to. I'm over it. I can't. I can't take the points.

[Bill Simmons]

Like, you can't do it anymore.

[Chris Ryan]

I can't take the. Like, I'm not gonna let myself feel anything because he's just gonna hurt his knee or get Bell's palsy or whatever, like, the litany of things that have happened to him over the course of his career. And then you go back to the origin story of his whole thing, where it's just like. It's kind of a. A little bit of a miracle that he's playing. Like, when he was drafted, it was like, if we ever get to see Embiid, he could be the best player in this draft, if we ever get to see him. And we did. And he has never really, really been a hundred percent. He's also had some really bad luck with injuries with, you know, running into faults or whatever, and all that stuff. That was like, not really, like, a muscle. Muscle damage thing, but to your point earlier, about, like, the Patrick Ewings of the world that just go downhill really fast. Like, there's just too many knee injuries now. You know, there's his knee.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, also, there's. You know what else there is? There's YouTube. And you can go back and you can watch him six years ago, seven years ago, and you can watch how he moves and watch him now, and you almost doesn't look like the same guy. And that's. That's the thing that is undeniable, and that's. We have. Unlike 20 years ago, where we didn't have the ability to just queue up whatever video we wanted, now we can. And you can go back and you can watch him in Kansas in 2014, even. You can watch him in the Sixers even during that regular season when he just seemed like this fucking crazy, unstoppable offensive force house. The thing that's crazy to me is he's still able to get to 30 points. That's how skilled and.

[Chris Ryan]

And how well crashed shot the lights out last night.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, he's from. From 15 to 18ft. It's going in 98% of the time. And he's figured out how to do that and have enough of like going downhill, lurching into people. He can still get his points, but I think the rebounding in the defense is what's falling apart. What else have you seen?

[Joe House]

Well, what I've seen is he shouldn't be on the basketball court. Like, I. I would like him to take off. I think it would be good for him, for the team, for the franchise, for him to just drop out. Come back after the new year. Get yourself right, get yourself. Give yourself the best chance. And you can after the new year, play the games at, you know, NBA speed, getting yourself back up into it. But really all of this dialogue is November dialogue. It doesn't matter for shit.

[Bill Simmons]

Just be ready in April.

[Joe House]

That's it. Unless it's so poisons where you might get to come April. And you really. The bar is so low. You just have to get to the play in. Where does this Eastern Conference cr.

[Bill Simmons]

Where does this go for you? Most disappointing Philly teams any sport.

[Chris Ryan]

Extraordinary. Extraordinarily high. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

What was that Eagles team when you had all those guys?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, that was Dream team. Yeah, that was. That sucked. But in almost. That was like pride comes before the fall. Like there was just way too much hubris about that team.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

And as soon as this team. Yeah, maybe you're right. I mean, like I did. I thought that this team was really wisely assembled. You know, like, it seemed like Eric Gordon and Caleb Martin Drummond was Embiid's best backup that he's ever had. It just seemed like this was a very, very expertly wisely assembled team. And so to have this be quite the opposite.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. And not only that, but it would be one thing if they were just like physically not there. To have it clearly be a culture problem within the locker room and a huge amount of distrust and a huge amount of like, forget what the Philly fans think about Embiid. This was kind of repudiation of him from within the team. So whether it was like a towel guy who told somebody, who told somebody who told Shams. That article came out very soon after the meeting and it had quotes. So someone wanted to get a point across and embarrass him.

[Bill Simmons]

And it worked very similar to that Celtic team, which was such a disappointing team coming off the Eastern Finals, getting Hayward back Year two Kyrie. It seemed like he was going to sign and it Felt off from the get go. But it had a couple similarities. One was the circus around Kyrie game to game, which he's since then admitted. He's like, yeah, I was in a really rough spot in Boston that second year, and you could feel it. There was like an emotional rollercoaster that the players were on, the team was on, even the fans were on watching it, like, what are we getting today? What version of him? You have that. But you also had people at different points of their career that were the wrong points for the team.

[Joe House]

Right.

[Bill Simmons]

And Jalen Brown talked about that recently. He was on that team. Or Tatum talked about it. He wanted to prove that, you know, he could do this. And it's like, no, you're actually going to be standing in the corner for a lot of these plays. You're going to be the number four guy. So the Sixers have a little of that, too. As you get older, you start seeing the signs of where it's not working. Whereas you look, I don't know if the Lakers are going to be good or not, but the way connect fit in just with what they needed. And I don't think that team's going to be able to get stops. But Reddick's got AD playing well, and you can see like, okay, this makes sense. And, you know, you watch different basketball teams, like, all right, Houston, these guys make sense. There's an identity. Maybe it's not perfect. And then I watch Philly, and I'm like, wow, I don't. I don't know what this is.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, it's also, with that Lakers team, the thing that impresses me the most is just how they immediately came into the season with an identity and a sense of purpose, where you could have had the last few years of LeBron's career been at, like, a victory lap, and it could have just been a showcase. And even the Bronny thing in retrospect now, like, has become a footnote to this season, where everybody's like, this is going to be such a huge distraction. Doesn't seem to matter. They handled it perfectly. Like, Reddick obviously commands that locker room to some extent, which is incredible given the personalities. And it's the exact opposite with the Sixers. They came into the season, we'll see.

[Bill Simmons]

What happens when they have a couple of tough games in a row.

[Chris Ryan]

Sure, the schedule's been pretty easy. The Sixers came into the season unprepared, which I don't know. I don't know whose responsibility that is.

[Bill Simmons]

Ultimately, my Nick Durst question, but to.

[Joe House]

Be fair, how could they prepare? They couldn't have Joellen Bede and Paul George healthy.

[Chris Ryan]

Then they were for the eventuality that these guys weren't going to be ready and that they should just maybe they should maybe tell the fan base, tell the team. This is what the first six weeks of the season are going to be like. Don't look at the record.

[Joe House]

You know, I agree. It's tough though when you're, you know.

[Bill Simmons]

When you're clocking a championship from July on and victory lap and the whole summer, it's tough to just pivot. That was why it was so, it was so shocking when they did the back to back stuff. House, what was your most disappointing team? I mean, other than the last 35 years of bullets, Wizards teams, right?

[Joe House]

What are you talking about?

[Bill Simmons]

But did you have a high expectations.

[Joe House]

Team that I can't pick one? I mean, honestly? No. Like, you know, the Nationals, it took them a little while, but they won the World Series in 2019 and it was a new franchise, you know, here in 2005. So, you know, like, oh, that, that, that team with Jason Worth, that should have been the one. Like not really the OV getting, you know, over the Penguins getting past Crosby finally, like that. That was going to be this real disappointing, you know, career. But he got, he got his one and we'll, we'll see what, what the story is with this knee injury. He may yet get Gretzky's.

[Bill Simmons]

It's getting close.

[Joe House]

Yeah, yeah, he's. He is very close.

[Bill Simmons]

Most disappointing team is the Wizards not being able to beat Kelly Olenek in a game seven. That's the one that keeps him up.

[Joe House]

I can't say Washington, anything having to do with the basketball team because they haven't won 50 games since 1978. There is no one most disappointing other when you're in that kind of a street.

[Bill Simmons]

We had a couple really awful Red Sox teams that were super disappointing. Like there was like a Carl Everett season. There was the chicken and beer season. But you kind of, you kind of know early when it's happening. And that would be my favorite season for you.

[Chris Ryan]

For the Red Sox, the last couple of seasons. Haven't you been like ever since Mookie, your basic, yeah, but you.

[Bill Simmons]

But I didn't have expectations. I think in this case, I was thinking they were talking about the Sixers as a possible 60 win team and a two seed and all that stuff.

[Chris Ryan]

I was thinking about the conversation you had with W and Vannen last week. I think it was. Yeah, um, I think sometimes basketball moves on before NBA fans are ready for it to happen. And I think that the sad truth here is that it just might. This might not happen for this team or for at least for Embiid's version of this team. And you just look around and I feel this way often once the NBA Finals comes around, I'll watch after the Sixers have been eliminated in the second round or the first round, and I'll be like, this is a different sport. Like, the Sixers are not close to this. And now that he is very clearly on the downside of his career and in kind of like a physical decline, it's really hard to look around and watch the way some of these other teams are playing and moving and be like, oh, yeah, I feel like this is, this is a month long break away from the Sixers. It's not. It's not. It's like, this is probably not going to happen for this guy. And it's really sad.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, there was, there was one play yesterday when Jaren Jackson fell down with his legs out and Embiid was dribbling toward him. And I was just like, this is going to be. You talked about the car crash at the beginning. I was like, oh my God, this is going to be. Something horrible is about to happen. And Embiid, of course, tripped over him, but he got up. But that's another piece of watching these games where there's three times a game where you feel like something horrible happened to him or maybe that was it, or, you know, it just feels like he's carrying the weight on his world. It's. It's both not that fun to watch and incredibly riveting to watch with the expectations that this team had. Cr. What December movie are you the most excited about that you've either seen or you want to see?

[Chris Ryan]

The December movie I'm probably most excited to see is honestly the Bob Dylan movie Complete Unknown. I just, I just, I can't wait to see what the hell they do with this. But yeah, I'm mostly caught up at this point. Gladiator 2 was the one I was looking forward to the most.

[Bill Simmons]

Gladiator 2 Denzel is having quite the press tour.

[Chris Ryan]

He's loving life.

[Bill Simmons]

15 years. He was drinking two bottles of wine a day and, oh, I might have tried heroin.

[Chris Ryan]

So he's got to get Denzel his own player pod.

[Bill Simmons]

Cr.

[Joe House]

Am I going to like Gladiator 2?

[Chris Ryan]

You'll like it.

[Joe House]

Okay, good.

[Bill Simmons]

Perfect.

[Chris Ryan]

I do not think it matches the first one.

[Joe House]

Fine, fine. I can Live with that.

[Chris Ryan]

Do you want to claim Landman for a minute? Can I.

[Bill Simmons]

Can you cheer me up? That was the other reason you came on. House hasn't seen it, but he could just nod. Land man. Taylor Sheridan. First two episodes up, Billy Bob Thornton as the lead. Jon Hamm playing a seemingly evil, rich oil guy married to Demi Moore, even though I think she's probably, like, eight years older than him. Whatever.

[Chris Ryan]

She also has had one line in two episodes so far. Even though she's in a bunch of.

[Bill Simmons]

Scenes, I think the line was, are you paying me in cash? Billy Bob Thornton's daughter, for some reason, is comfortable with her body. I think it's comfortable talking to Billy Bob Thornton about sex in ways that I promise you, fathers and daughters don't discuss. There's that. And then our guy. Who's our guy who. Spoiler luck got blown up at the end of the first episode.

[Chris Ryan]

Pena. Michael Pena.

[Bill Simmons]

Michael Pena. Who they did the red herring of. Here's a name actor. He's gonna be part of the cast. But then if you looked in the credits, it was like they. What was that other show where they killed Kyle Chandler in the first.

[Chris Ryan]

Kingstown Mayor of Kingstown.

[Bill Simmons]

This is cr. If we ever create one of these shows, we're just killing off somebody famous in the first episode. Cause that's what you do. But I liked it. We enter a world, and Billy Bob Thornton's just. Chef Billy Bob.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. It's basically how, if I have to pitch it, it's Billy Bob Thornton driving around West Texas from crisis to crisis. He's basically like the Michael Clayton of this oil company. And every time something goes wrong, he's got to call Jon Hamm, who's somewhere where he's like, hold on, I got to.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm at a polo match. Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

And he's like, I'm at a TCU track meet or a polo match.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

And they have an awesome conversation where he's just like, I'm your fucking boss. Don't yell at me. And he's like, all right, well, we got to stop this leak. And then. It's great. It's just.

[Bill Simmons]

It's a lot of Jon Hamm on a cell phone. It looks like there's a couple people who look like they all film their scenes in one day. Possibly Jon Hamm's a candidate.

[Chris Ryan]

Well, Ali Larder.

[Bill Simmons]

So. Ali Larder, Varsity blues, whipped cream sundae. Fame, and then heroes. Fame, and everybody loves her, and she just kind of comes and goes every seven years. So now she's in and all of her scenes are on FaceTime. And I don't know, does she not have legs anymore? CR what's going on here?

[Chris Ryan]

It's unbelievable because it's like, did she get paid, like a million dollars to stand in a pool and be on FaceTime or does she have, like an incredible character arc coming and this is just the setup for the character. But she has been.

[Bill Simmons]

Or she couldn't do the first two episodes she's been in pre planned Flaming vacation. Yeah, yeah. So can you do. Can you do your scenes on FaceTime? She's like, I can. Taylor Sheridan breaks all the rules. That's why he makes the big bucks. Do actors have to be in the same location when they shoot scenes? No, apparently not. But what's the point of this show? C.R.

[Chris Ryan]

I think it's just supposed to be, you know, like, about the sort of cynical world of oil production where, I mean, you want to know what the point of, like, why would anybody like this? Or you want me?

[Bill Simmons]

No, I think ultimately, like, when we leave season one, what's Taylor Sheridan trying to tell us? Or is he just like, oil actors, things blowing up? It's going to be Yellowstone oil.

[Chris Ryan]

This is about, like, what happens to characters when they dedicate their life to something that is very morally complicated. So, like, in the same way with Yellowstone is about, like, everything it costs to keep a ranch like that going. This is about, like, hey, like, without this stuff, the world stops running the way we want it to, but what we have to do to get it out of the ground and everything is, like, pretty complicated.

[Bill Simmons]

Obviously not enough of an important theme to get House to watch an episode, I'll tell you that much.

[Chris Ryan]

We find.

[Joe House]

Where is it? Where do I.

[Chris Ryan]

It's on Paramount.

[Joe House]

Yeah, I have to pay for that.

[Bill Simmons]

If it was Taylor Sheridan's massage parlor, House would have. House would have already seen the first episode. The massage parlor industry.

[Joe House]

I'm watching sports. I'm here for the.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, that's true. It is football, basketball season. I'm really happy for Ali Larder. I'm happy for Billy Bob Thornton, who seems to have more hair every time we see him. He was completely bald 30 years ago now. Now it's like. It's like a Michael Landon type of.

[Chris Ryan]

Thing, how he drinks Michelob Ultra the entire show.

[Joe House]

Yeah, I love it. With the balls. That's fantastic.

[Bill Simmons]

He has a scene where he. His hand got fucked up, so he went to the doctor and he didn't have time to wait for surgery. And the guy's like, we got to get a hand specialist. And Billy Bob's like, I'll just cut the pinky off. Let's save the time and just cut carves pinky off. Because he's a tough motherfucker. What's his name on the show? Billy Bob.

[Chris Ryan]

His name is Tommy Norris.

[Bill Simmons]

Tommy. Tommy Norris is a tough motherfucker. Yeah, I really had a good time. I loved it. My wife fell asleep, like seven different times. It was great. It was perfect experience.

[Chris Ryan]

You didn't wake her up. For the daughter scenes to be like, get a fucking load of this.

[Joe House]

I have a question I want to ask, but I can't ask it on the pod. So I'll wait.

[Bill Simmons]

You want to ask it during the break?

[Joe House]

During the break. Yeah, whatever. We're together. I have a question.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, C.R. i'll see you tomorrow because we're taping a rewatchables and it's a movie from the 1980s, and that's all I'm going to say. But we're both very excited about it. Been circling for a while. Thanks, C.R.

[Joe House]

See you, Chris Ryan.

[Bill Simmons]

Taking a break now. It's time for a special part of today's episode brought to you by NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV, where you can find Joe House on the ringer Sunday pregame show that we do on Sunday mornings. It is a very fun show and it's right there on YouTube TV. House, we passed the halfway point in the season. NFL Sunday ticket now only 89.

[Joe House]

Oh.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, yeah. For the stretch.

[Joe House]

This is when it matters. Yeah. Get it now.

[Bill Simmons]

Bundle NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV together, which I would highly recommend. And you can watch every game, every Sunday. I wish I had known this last year, but Now I love YouTube TV. It's great. You know what YouTube TV does to me, House? It tapes the challenge. Oh, just puts it in my library because I always forget. And then all of a sudden it's like, oh, it's the challenge. And I just zoom through. It's great. It also allows you to thank yourself this holiday season. NFL Sunday Ticket for $89. Offer ends December 2nd. Local National Games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday Ticket for out of market games excludes digital only games. Terms and embargo apply. And as you know, House, YouTube TV has crowned me their CMO. They have the chief multi view officer to help pick the top four games of the week that you should watch with multiview. It's the early games this week. Minnesota, Chicago has to be on there, I think. Nice little NFC North Battle Classic.

[Joe House]

NFC north divisional rivalry.

[Bill Simmons]

Lions Colts. I want to see Richardson. It's a home game for the Colts.

[Joe House]

Me too.

[Bill Simmons]

The Lions are a really fun multi view team cause their offense is good. That's on there. And then I think we throw both of our favorite teams in here. New England at Miami and then Washington. Washington hosting Dallas. Hopefully we'll get two wins. We should parlay those together.

[Joe House]

Oh, I like that.

[Bill Simmons]

Yes, let's do it. So that's our multi view choice. Thanks again to our friends at NFL Sunday Ticket YouTube TV for sponsoring this part of today's episode. Don't miss a moment of the action when you bundle NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV again. How much is it, House?

[Joe House]

89 bucks.

[Bill Simmons]

That's it. And you can sign [e-mail] BS and get it. Offer ends December 2nd. Local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday Ticket for out of market games excludes digital only games. Terms and embargoes apply. Device and content restrictions apply.

[Joe House]

All right.

[Bill Simmons]

Million dollar picks week 12. I'm not happy with how we did last week considering we love the Broncos and Chargers. Both of those hit. We really liked the Colts and the jets and somehow did the wrong bet. We did a bet with the Colts plus three and a half with Richardson's rushing and then he had the ball a ton rushing and somehow didn't hit the 38 and a half and then we had the Chiefs in a tease. Chiefs up to plus eight and Chiefs plus three and a half. Another tees and that game was a one score game and they didn't win. I have no regrets about putting the Chiefs in the tees.

[Joe House]

No, no, you can't.

[Bill Simmons]

I do regret listing you on the Browns. That was a mistake, House.

[Joe House]

That was a mistake.

[Bill Simmons]

We don't talk about it. We're. We're moving on. So week 12, there's three games I like and a parlay I like. Which one do you want to hit first, the parlay or the three games?

[Joe House]

Let's. Let's save the parlay for last. Parlay is like dessert, right? It's like the nice Sunday at the end because we're taking all these nice parts and put them together.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, so Schrager and I in part one of the podcast talked about this Packers Niners game. Packers are minus one and a half at home. They almost beat the Niners last year in the playoffs and really could have. They've been a team that we all kind of like from a talent standpoint that has not really totally put it together again, but what we have always seen perennially with the NFL, right around Thanksgiving time somebody starts making a jump and some people would think that's going to be the Niners and I just don't see it. I think it's been a year from hell. I didn't like the way McCaffrey looked last week at all. Kittle's banged up, their defense isn't the same. And from a narrative standpoint, House, I could see this being a game where the packers take care of business. We officially realize it's not the Niners year and we start thinking about this packers team as a possible all right, maybe they'll give the Lions a good game in the playoffs game. What don't you like about that narrative.

[Joe House]

Theory that the packers don't look like a team to me that can take care of business. They are messing around, playing around, effing around with their food, playing with their food every week. And I think it is because Jordan love is not 100% healthy. We haven't had that real Jordan Love breakout game that became the hallmark of that packers team the second half of last season. That also coincided with Aaron Jones ripping off a bunch of hundred yard. So they don't have. They have the back. It is Jacobs. But you know they, we haven't seen the sort of that two headed monster. They get vertical with Jordan Love because he's got all the time to get to those receivers. The receivers. That core is still great. The receiving core is still great and Jacobs will get his yards sometimes in certain circumstances. But we haven't really seen the full red.

[Bill Simmons]

Can I give you the game that we where we did see it because it was a while ago.

[Joe House]

Let's hear it.

[Bill Simmons]

Week six, Arizona Love threw four TDs. They beat Arizona 34 to 13. We chalked it up to like ah, wow, it's Arizona. Arizona's been really good since that game.

[Joe House]

Since then. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

And now I look back to that Week six and I think ah, that was a pretty good win. Cause then after that they play Houston, they win by two. They play at Jacksonville, they win by three. Kind of a stupid game. They play home against Detroit, they lose by 10. But Detroit's the best team in the league.

[Joe House]

Much worse than that.

[Bill Simmons]

And then they play last week against Chicago and it was a play your with your food game against a team that had a new offensive coordinator. And I thought the Bears played really well in that game but they did get it done at the end. So I guess my theory is they're a little undervalued. I think San Francisco is still A little overvalued because I think people keep waiting for the real San Francisco to show up and I'm not sure it's there. And maybe this is the week I think they should be favored by two and a half or three. So I feel like I'm getting like a free point or point and a half.

[Joe House]

So the crazy thing is the line was two and a half earlier this week, but I think that was a hedge because the reports of Purdy. Purdy was doing limited practice and he's got a sore shoulder and there was, you know, some speculation of about whether or not he was going to play in this game. The fact that it's moved down to one and a half seems like some money has come in on the Niners that suggests that Purdy's going to. Going to play. And if that's the case, injured George.

[Bill Simmons]

Kittles, who said he's going to try to play. Yeah, well, that makes me nervous.

[Joe House]

What do we know? What do we think about Bosa?

[Bill Simmons]

Juwan Jennings, Bosa. A little compromised.

[Joe House]

Bosa. I mean, it seems like it might be game time decision whether he plays or not.

[Bill Simmons]

And then in Lambeau against a team that feels like they should have beaten him last year and has something to prove. I like the spot for the Packers. I'm in on this bet.

[Joe House]

I'm going to let you do it. We're not going to have a disagreement.

[Bill Simmons]

You're afraid, but you're not afraid. You're still like a little afraid of the Niners.

[Joe House]

Yeah, because they have all that talent. We haven't seen McCaffrey yet and that they.

[Bill Simmons]

But that's my point is I don't think McCaffrey is healthy.

[Joe House]

He may not be.

[Bill Simmons]

So it's like you saying, like, I don't. We haven't seen him beat yet. It's like I don't know if we're seeing him beat for a while. Like, I don't think to me McCaffrey doesn't look like McCaffrey yet.

[Joe House]

I think that's kind of fair. I'm worried about seeing him this week.

[Bill Simmons]

Packers minus one half. I'm marking that down. Cardinals, Seahawks. Cardinals are getting one and a half in Seattle. There's some. Some weather stuff maybe with this game that makes me a little nervous with Kyler Murray in bad weather in general. The Seahawks going from seeming like their season was over last week. They get the huge drive from Geno against the Niners, which is another bad sign with the Niners that they gave up that long. Geno Drive. And now they're playing the Cardinals at home this week, and they have a chance to really reinsert themselves in this race. We have Seattle bets from before the season. I think I might even have them to win the NFC west, which could be still alive. But they win this game. I'm a Cardinals believer. I think they're good. They really won me over the last few weeks. And the thing I like about this house is you have Seattle's defense 27th against the run, and Arizona with this physical, pounding running game they have with James Conner. I just feel like they can run the ball, run the ball, run the ball. And even if you're going to like Seattle in this game, then maybe it's an Arizona first bet Seattle for the game, like plus 800 type thing. But I think Arizona can beat them. I think this. This is another narrative game to me where we come at him and go, Arizona. I think they're for real. At the same time, Seattle's ability to throw the ball and run the ball and come from behind, which they did last week, scares me a little. So where do you stand?

[Joe House]

It's a 5050 game. We talked about this on. On East Coast Bias. Raheem Palmer and I went were heads up. I preferred Arizona. And the dream is on Seattle. My issue with Seattle is that is the least trustworthy offensive line in football. Each of the times that I've tried to come up with a basis for Seattle, you know, taking advantage of somebody, it's born out of the idea that they can establish the run and they sometimes can and sometimes can't, and most of the time can't. Part of the reason to prefer Seattle would be the return of DK Metcalf. And really, I mean, Smith and jig was been incredible both from a fantasy perspective, but most importantly from a chemistry perspective with Gino. So the question for Arizona is can they put pressure on Gino? Because the splits are crazy with Gino when he has time. And that really was the thing that Seattle was able to take advantage of down the stretch against the Niners. No, Bosa and Gino, you know, got really comfortable with the lanes he could run in and the lanes he could see to throw the ball in. I. It's a. I don't. I don't really have a strong feel. I express a preference for Arizona, but I certainly could see Seattle dream said that in his model, these teams are dead even.

[Bill Simmons]

So interesting.

[Joe House]

It really does. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

I just want to point out Seattle's last five of their last seven.

[Joe House]

Sure, sure.

[Bill Simmons]

And Came within one. San Francisco stop with that being six to seven.

[Joe House]

Yep.

[Bill Simmons]

I. I'm happy to be wrong on this and if so, lose some money. But I like this Arizona team. I think they know who they are and I think they can run the ball and I think they'll be able to pressure Geno and make a couple mistakes and I just think they're better.

[Joe House]

It's just a defense for Arizona, that's all. They've been on the right side of like, variance. A bunch of like games that They've won by one or two points.

[Bill Simmons]

21St pass defense and Seattle second with the pass. And as you mentioned, Smith, Najigbo has been a revelation the last few weeks. He was awesome in that last game. Like they were going over and over again. I'm going to mark the Cardinals down.

[Joe House]

That's fine.

[Bill Simmons]

Ravens, Chargers. My first instinct was I really like the Chargers. And the more I stared at it and the more I stared at it, I keep coming back to this question. Are the Ravens really going to go 7 5? That's going to be their record. After week 12, they'd be 7 and 5.

[Joe House]

I don't want to do this because we had a conversation the very beginning of the season. We were looking at teams after week one and said, here's the list of teams. You know, we were looking for some, some. There were some giant lines out there and we were like, are the Ravens really going to go 02? Are the Ravens going to lose to the Raiders?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. And the mother.

[Joe House]

They did it, the sons of bitches. So I don't want that to be the rationale.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, can I give you this? They have four losses. They lost to Kansas City and Isaiah likely stepped on 6 inches of the line game. They blew that Vegas game where they're up 10 in the fourth quarter. And that's the weirdest result of the year. I would put it against any other game. They dropped the game winning interception in Cleveland. The fucking guy dropped it. And Jameis ends up going down and getting it. But he just threw them an interception. They didn't catch it. And the Pittsburgh game was stupid. I mean, I loved it because I had Pittsburgh but missed multiple field goals like it was just one of those games.

[Joe House]

What happens, It's. That's what happens in those games.

[Bill Simmons]

And then I look at the Chargers, who I think are a really good team for, you know, as a home team. I get it. I had them last week. But I feel like the Ravens can just run on them and move the ball and you think about how easily Burrow was able to just move the ball in the second half against the Chargers. Why wouldn't Baltimore be able to do that?

[Joe House]

That's the thing to me. So I don't think the Chargers are really good team. I think they are.

[Bill Simmons]

Maybe I should set a really good surprise team.

[Joe House]

Exactly. Perfect. Perfect way to put it because it is incredible. They tried their God damnedest to charger the F out of that game, but hardball and whatever's going on inside the locker room with those guys, they just did enough to not charger the outcome of that game. But I thought that what we saw in the second half when Cincinnati, I mean, it really was a game where like, whoever has the ball at the end of this game is going to win this Epping game. And they could not, under any circumstances, slow down that Cincinnati offense, slow down Joe Burrow. And I really think that. Which one's the younger? Who? Which is the coach?

[Bill Simmons]

I thought Jim was older. Jim's older, I think.

[Joe House]

And Jim is the Charger coach, right?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Oh, my God, House, really?

[Joe House]

No, I think John's older. That's why you're confusing me. I'm pretty sure John's older.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm confusing you. You thought Jim Harbaugh was maybe not the Chargers coach. That was a Harbaugh older brother.

[Joe House]

Uh, I think it's John.

[Bill Simmons]

John Harbaugh is older. Good call.

[Joe House]

There we go. Try to make fun of me because I don't know which was which. Big brother. Little brother. I like it. It's a rematch of the Super Bowl. Big brother had his way. I.

[Bill Simmons]

So you're saying if you coached against either of your black sheep brothers.

[Joe House]

Oh, my God.

[Bill Simmons]

It's a guaranteed win. Just back House with any money line.

[Joe House]

Not only that, but I would be looking for an opportunity to put my nuts on their forehead. Absolutely positive. There be no doubt.

[Bill Simmons]

We might have to have both of the House brothers on at some point. Just so people know they exist.

[Joe House]

I can assure you they're available.

[Bill Simmons]

Wait, would Dick House ever come on? Or would we have to put him on a 7 second delay?

[Joe House]

Definitely with delay. Yes, yes, for sure.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, Baltimore, I love the Ravens.

[Joe House]

I mean, you know, we can cut to the chase.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Because they have the 32nd pass defense. But what we saw from the Chargers last week, their receivers, they're okay. They're really getting. They're eking out the most they can get out of it. But there's still some moments where like, oh yeah, that's right, you're Josh Palmer.

[Joe House]

And oh yeah, that's right. You're Justin Herbert. Remember, like for a quarter and a half, like, yeah, right. We know who you are, buddy. We know all you've got. The great.

[Bill Simmons]

Wow.

[Joe House]

I don't want to make nerds mad now.

[Bill Simmons]

Don't make the nerds mad.

[Joe House]

I actually like him. I think he's, like, terrific. And all the reports, like, he's a golf guy. Like, I'm into Justin Herbert.

[Bill Simmons]

I like that shot they had before the game of him, Harbaugh pounding his pads and just yelling at him. And he was kind of like, I like Herbert.

[Joe House]

But he'll. He'll disappear for a quarter in a heartbeat. Let there be no doubt.

[Bill Simmons]

I just can't get past the Ravens. Going 7 and 5 seems crazy to me. And I think they're going to be able to move the ball up and down. The Chargers Mac didn't play last week. The Chargers defense doesn't seem as crazy good as it was five, six weeks ago to me.

[Joe House]

I agree.

[Bill Simmons]

All right. That's our third one.

[Joe House]

I like the race.

[Bill Simmons]

And then I really want to work the Broncos into something. The Broncos are. That line is now up to six and a half in Vegas.

[Joe House]

No way. No, can't do that. That's way too many points.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, we're going to put them in a parlay.

[Joe House]

Thank God. That's a relief.

[Bill Simmons]

Vegas offense, this is really something. So Amir Abdullah was trending as a roster trend in fantasy leagues this week because he has a chance to be the running. And I was like, amir Abdullah feels like he's been around. He's 31.

[Joe House]

Wow.

[Bill Simmons]

I would have thought. I would have guessed like 25. So he's like almost Zeke Elliot's age. He's going to be the running back. Their quarterback situations, the debacle, they have no receivers. It's just Brock Bowers over and over again, which I'm pretty sure Sean Payton is aware of. Brock Bowers, I don't know how the Raiders, Denver's defense, it's first yards per play, second sacks, third hits. Vegas can't block. I get that it's in Vegas, but. And you also have Denver coming off a big win last week, but I just don't see how. I think Vegas might be done. They might be a short for the rest of the year until we get to some sort of weird Christmas situation. So Broncos with the Chiefs in Carolina, they're favored by ten and a half.

[Joe House]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

Chiefs coming off a loss.

[Joe House]

Yep.

[Bill Simmons]

Carolina's defense, 32nd against the run and 31st on first downs. Just feels like The Chiefs will move the ball and do chief stuff. So Chiefs down to minus two and a half. Broncos money line. And then your team, the Washington Commanders, AKA the C words.

[Joe House]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Favored by ten and a half against the Cowboys. Can we. Can we just have them win by three? Can we have Casey win by three? Washington wins by three and the Broncos win. That is plus 103 on FanDuel. And I would like to do it.

[Joe House]

I love it. That's a. That's a dessert parlay. Three nice ingredients pulled together to make beautiful harmony in our. In our mouth, in our mouths. If it was a. What are you doing for your. For your dessert? Are you a pumpkin pie guy for Thanksgiving dessert? What are you putting in your mouth for that?

[Bill Simmons]

I love pumpkin pie, but I also really love pecan pieces.

[Joe House]

Oh, great.

[Bill Simmons]

And what I like to do is get a slice of each and then eat both and even mix the bites.

[Joe House]

Let me recommend that you add one more, because this is. Oh, have you had sweet potato pie?

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, sweet potato pie is great.

[Joe House]

Magnificent.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I would totally add that. So you got a menage pie.

[Joe House]

Yeah. Forget it, man. We can do this in proper Thanksgiving style.

[Bill Simmons]

That sounds great.

[Joe House]

I want to give out all of my thanks to those beautiful sweet potato.

[Bill Simmons]

Pie, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie. And pecan pie all together.

[Joe House]

I want to f bomb that one.

[Bill Simmons]

Call that one the Joe house is asleep on the couch pie. Because that's what would happen about 14 minutes after.

[Joe House]

That's the full pie parlay. That's what that is. We're getting the pies ready. Everybody's getting the ingredients. Everybody's, you know, going to the store this weekend to pull it together. We'll be going to the store this weekend with all the extra money in our pockets from that delicious parlay, baby.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, that's our. We'll make that the pie parlay. I was thinking I watched the Sopranos every night before I go to bed because my wife's asleep. And so I finished season 4, 5, 6, 7, and then I was like, you know what? I'm going to stay with these guys. I circled back, started with one of them. So Pine Barrens was on last night.

[Joe House]

Oh, my God.

[Bill Simmons]

Which was the legendary Sopranos Go to.

[Joe House]

Bed after you watched.

[Bill Simmons]

No, I was so far away.

[Joe House]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

And I was like, I'll watch 20 minutes. I end up watching the whole thing. But they're in the car, and Chris finds the ketchup packets and then gives them the ketchup packets. And there's relish. Pauly, wallets. Who's the funniest character of all time? I think he's funnier than any comedy guy. And he's eating the ketchup and he's like, mix it with the relish. Mix it with the relish with the ketchup packets and the relish packets. And that's what made me think of the pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, pecan pie is the poly walnuts. Mix it with the relish dessert extravaganza. Mix it with the relishing.

[Joe House]

It's outrageous.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm going to lose my foot.

[Joe House]

Before we go, before we move on. You don't have any interest in this Philadelphia LA Rams game because folks are, you know, I've seen some arguments on both sides that people are really arguing. You know, be careful. It's a be careful situation. And you know, especially Jalen hurts these nuts. You, you know, you want to, you don't want to be stitching me to me.

[Bill Simmons]

I had it marked down as a stay away.

[Joe House]

Okay. Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

Because I thought the Pats absolutely could have beaten the Rams last week. And they did some of the dumbest shit. We blitz Stafford the whole game. There were stats afterwards, after Sal and I did the pod that they single covered cup and Nakua basically all game. Which guess how that turned out terribly right. Mayo is just couldn't have been less aggressive in the worst possible situations. And, and yet the Pats had the ball with a chance to win the game. I just didn't think the Rams look that good.

[Joe House]

I'm. I'm with you and I don't keep waiting for it. Well, that, that, that's it. Especially, you know, the Jalen hurts these nuts has not been as accurate. He is running great. His. His legs look, look great. But here's the thing, the test and why I understand why people are advocating in favor of the Rams. Well, they're home.

[Bill Simmons]

They're home dogs. First of all, they're plus two and a half.

[Joe House]

And the Eagles secondary deserves the plaudits that's receiving from, from the draft or those two rookies. They've been playing very well. But this is an entirely different class of offense if this offense really gets going that the Eagles are up against. So I just wanted to make sure we talked through it. Didn't have a conviction.

[Bill Simmons]

So the case is they, they kind of went straight forward last week because they knew they had the Pats game. Knowing this Eagles game was coming. McVeigh against Fangio. This is a kitchen sink game. I, that's one of the reasons I like the Ravens I think the Ravens. It's a kitchen sink game.

[Joe House]

Love it.

[Bill Simmons]

Because you're seven and five. You're out of the AFC north now. You might be like a six seed, you know, and you kind of need to. You need the game and the.

[Joe House]

Because the six seed is going to get either Buffalo or the Chiefs in the first round of that playoffs. Lord have mercy. So.

[Bill Simmons]

And the Rams need every game because they're in a dog fight with all those NFC Westerns. So I do wonder if, like, that's why it's a. Stay away, though. Cause I can talk myself into each side. There was one other game I really liked. You're going to make fun of me. The pats are plus 3. 10 in Miami.

[Joe House]

I'm not making fun of you. I think it's funny. I think that line's crazy. I understand it, but, man, I'm not betting against Drake May. Let me have Drake May in a touchdown. That's fine. Is it seven or seven and a half?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. So I was wondering, is there. Is there? I mean, they're. They're so stupidly coached that I almost feel like you should take the money line and just.

[Joe House]

Wait. Which team the.

[Bill Simmons]

But. Well, both teams. But there's like. You can get May for 200 plus yards the Pats to win the game. And Drake may two passing touchdowns is 6 to 1. Drake may one passing TD, 200 yards passing. Pats win the game is plus 411, which doesn't really buy that much value from the plus 3.

[Chris Ryan]

10.

[Bill Simmons]

I just didn't know if there was some sort of Drake May with the Pats bet that we wanted to think about.

[Joe House]

I'll let you think about it. I'm going to. I know that. I'll just play the side on the Pats. I'm not laying those points with the Dolphins. It's crazy.

[Bill Simmons]

You're not laying the seven. Do you like the seven with the Pats or do you like the plus three ten? Fuck it.

[Joe House]

Bet? No, no, I prefer the points.

[Bill Simmons]

The Plus 7?

[Joe House]

Yeah, I prefer the Plus 7.

[Bill Simmons]

All right.

[Joe House]

All right.

[Bill Simmons]

It's time. Million dollar picks, week 12. Heading into Thanksgiving, House's favorite day of the year. Does anything even close to Thanksgiving for you?

[Joe House]

No. Nothing rivals it.

[Bill Simmons]

I think you. I have a lot of people in my life who love Thanksgiving, including me. Including nephew Kyle. You're number one. You love it the most. I've seen you be worried that you might have to be driven to the hospital because you ate too much. You passed up multiple times, you drink too much. You eat too much. If you, if you die from overeating over drinking, it will be on Thanksgiving.

[Joe House]

Everybody will understand.

[Bill Simmons]

Since they're like, House died. Was it Thanksgiving? It was Million dollar picks week 12. We lost $355,000 last week and it was really because of the Chiefs, because they didn't cover a couple of teases. I'm fine with it. It was. Did you say it was the fifth time in 124 games that the Chiefs have lost by more than eight points? It's fine. We were on the wrong side of a historic event. We are still up $413,000 for the season, House. And we're going to put 200K on the following bets. The Baltimore Ravens minus three on the road against the LA Chargers. Are the Ravens going to go seven and five? I don't think so. Can they throw all over the place? The Chargers? I do think so. Is there a big brother getting revenge on his little brother? House, you're a big brother.

[Joe House]

I mean, it's not even getting revenge. It's just taking advantage of what's rightfully yours. That's it. Right? You were first with your little brothers. Exactly right.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. You were first and that's it. Chargers great win last week. Some holes, some things that we saw we didn't love. I just think the Ravens, they're not going seven and five. It's too ridiculous. They've already had four dumb losses. They're not going to have five. Ravens minus three. That's our first one. Cardinals plus one and a half in Seattle. Seattle, a great, somewhat lucky win against a banged up Niners team that last week to save their season. I think the Cardinals run the ball all over the Seahawks. I like their defense. I think they lose that game in Week 6 to the packers and since then. I like the way they look, House. I think they're going to win the division we're both in.

[Joe House]

Yeah. Cardinals coming off the bye week. And if you look at the last 10 games of the Seahawks at home, their against the spread numbers are not very good at home. The 12th man might need to step it up a little bit.

[Bill Simmons]

12Th man in trouble maybe. Roommates with Joel Embiid. Packers at home, minus one and a half against the Niners. Almost beat them last year in the playoffs. Couldn't do it. Catching a Niners team. Had a really nice time. I think this is a shell of the Niners team. We think it is.

[Joe House]

You're on your own on this one. You're on your own.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I know you're not against it, but you're letting me. You're letting me do a guitar solo.

[Joe House]

That's it.

[Bill Simmons]

I believe in the talent on this packers team. They killed Arizona in week six. I think they're due for another really good game. Fans are going to be fired up. Atmosphere is going to be great. Weather won't be awesome. I like the spot. Packers minus one and a half. So we're putting 200k on all three of those. And then we have a little parlay for you. Bringing the Chiefs in Carolina down to minus two and a half. Bring in your Washington Seawords against the carcass of the Dallas Cowboys down to two and a half at home. And then the Denver Broncos, a team that did us really nicely last week, that we've won some money on this year, that we really appreciate. Bo Nicks making a run at offensive player of the year with your guy, Jaden Daniels.

[Joe House]

Fine.

[Bill Simmons]

We are going to take the Broncos money line in Vegas against a terrible Vegas team. You put those three together. Broncos moneyline. Chiefs minus two and a half. Washington minus two and a half. Plus 103.

[Joe House]

Good.

[Bill Simmons]

200K in that.

[Joe House]

200K on that. Yes, sir. It is the pie parlay after all.

[Bill Simmons]

And then last but not least, because it's Thanksgiving and House is feeling generous, he's allowed me to do a Drake May parlay because I love Drake May.

[Joe House]

He's playing in my Drake May podcast. He doesn't need a player pod. This is it.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, the line's too high. And this Pats team might. Might be deficient in certain areas. They might be poorly coached, maybe. They might make dumb mistakes every week, but they almost beat the Rams last week. And I think it's worth a flyer. Pats plus seven and a half.

[Joe House]

Good. Like the extra hook. That's a nice one.

[Bill Simmons]

Drake May, 200 plus passing yards. Drake May over 26.5 rushing yards. That's two scrambles. Yeah, roll them out.

[Joe House]

Maybe in the first half.

[Bill Simmons]

Drake May, one passing touchdown. Just one.

[Joe House]

Okay, okay.

[Bill Simmons]

Plus three, 41. We are putting 50K on that.

[Joe House]

50K. Good number. That's right. Good number.

[Bill Simmons]

It's a little sprinkling.

[Joe House]

It's a Drake May's full facial.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, it's the Drake May. Almost like the pie parlor you talked about earlier. Pecan pie, sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie. That's Drake May. 200 plus yards over 26 and a half rushing yards. One plus passing touchdowns. Hop on the Drake May bandwagon right now. Those are the million dollar picks for week 12. House happy weekend before Thanksgiving. Great to see you. And we'll see you on the Ringer Sunday Pregame show on Sunday on YouTube TV and FanDuel TV before of the action. Thanks for being on.

[Joe House]

Can't wait. Thanks, buddy.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, that's it for the podcast. Thanks to Steve Cerruti and Kyle Creighton. As always, thanks to Joe House and Chris Ryan. Don't forget Ringer Sunday pregame. That show is going on on YouTube TV and FanDuel TV on Sunday. Maybe I'll even pop on for a second. Who knows. And don't forget about a new Rewatch what's coming on Monday. It is a movie from the 1980s. I'll give you some hints over the weekend on the Rewatchables Twitter feed. Enjoy the weekend. I will see you on Sunday night.

[Joe House]

On the front side.

[Bill Simmons]

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