← The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
NFL Free Agency Hits and Misses with Sheil Kapadia, Plus Chandler Parsons and How History Will View the SGA-Jokic MVP Race
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- [00:00]
Ryan Resilio
Foreign.
- [00:12]
Bill Simmons
Today's Pod Shield body at NFL free agency is cranking right now. We're going to get to a ton of names. Don't feel left out. We'll get to some of the quarterback stuff. What are the Seahawks doing? What's going on with Fields and just some of our favorite and not so favorite signings. NBA Open NBA players love some things that I don't necessarily love, how that applies to Denver and OKC and the MVP stuff, some of the long held historic claims by the guys that have played this game at the highest level. And we've got Chandler Parsons on just taking a look at where Cleveland is in the east, the other west teams, and then just gearing up for the playoffs, going back to a couple of his Houston runs over 10 years ago and life advice. One of our favorite NFL guests to talk to from the ringer it is Shield Capadia. What's up man? Good to see you.
- [01:02]
Chandler Parsons
Lots of, lots of signings, lots of this is my season off season better than in season as far as I'm concerned.
- [01:08]
Bill Simmons
Whoa, I thought only the NBA had that for you. So let's go through this barrage of signings, but I think the first thing you have to start with here is when we watch Sam Darnold Detroit game, the playoff game, potential blueprint games. What is Darnold worth on the open market? What is he worth away from Kevin O'Connell and this, this receiving core and the O line and all this kind of stuff? Well, he's worth three years and 100 million bucks from the Seahawks, 55 million guaranteed. I think I'm scared to death if I'm a Seahawks fan.
- [01:42]
Chandler Parsons
Totally agree. I would be bummed by this off season if I were a Seahawks fan. It just goes to a lot of the things we talk. It doesn't matter the sport where it's like a guy was bad, a guy was put in a certain situation, he played better for one year and then you're the team that pays him based off of that one year. I mean, I mean, to me so much of this is just about the environment and the infrastructure and the moves that the Seahawks made where, like you said, you don't have. Kevin O'Connell is not coming over with you. Justin Jefferson's not coming over with you. You have offensive line issues, he's playing outside and now you're expecting him to maintain his level of play from last year or improve. Can it happen?
- [02:21]
Bill Simmons
Sure.
- [02:22]
Chandler Parsons
Weird things happen all the time. You know, they surprise us. So it could happen. He's young enough I don't think that's the most likely scenario for Sam Darnold in Seattle.
- [02:33]
Bill Simmons
I think everybody felt great about a player we all really like. I mean, I don't know if you disliked him coming out of the draft. I liked him. Certainly NFL teams liked him. It seems like a lot of people in the quarterback community really like him, the dude. And, yeah, you know, we've heard all these different stories, and I don't need to recount all of them, but, you know, liner and I have talked about it all the time. Or liner felt like, I don't know, year six or something's when it's like the light went off. It's like, okay, now I kind of understand it. It's like, okay, but where. Where would a team. How could a GM ever sell that to his ownership? How could a coach, everybody, like, that's just. You got to figure it out sooner. And sure, maybe there's a couple quarterbacks that are out of football that, had they been given another chance, would have finally figured it out. I think people could hope that for Darnold, but there's so many factors. Based on everything you just said, maybe the last impression is too powerful, but you're like, this is what it looks like when it's disrupted, and that's with that team and with that staff. And now you look at Seattle, where are they? Are they looking at this as like, if we're right, we get him cheaper yet the three years, like, can we be right? But yet Seattle is a team that, you know, look, Gino did a really good job there last couple years. I'm not saying he's awesome, but he's done a good job. And it feels like they're in transition and that Darnold wouldn't be the guy that would match the timeline the rest of the roster is on.
- [03:52]
Chandler Parsons
Yeah, I think the case for it, and I've heard from smart people who are like, I get it, it is that he's young. He's way younger than Geno Smith. So if you hit, you hit for a longer period of time. I mean, if he plays well, like you said, not only on this contract, but he could be your guy for, you know, the next six, seven years. He's young enough to do that. So you've got that. I think he's going to be cheaper than Geno. You know, by all the reporting, Geno Smith wants between 40 and $45 million, and that's what he's going to get from the. From the Raiders and Darnold. Comes in way lower than that. So it gives you resources to spend on other parts of the roster. So if you're paying him 75% of what Gino's going to make, he he's younger and you get a third round pick, that's the process part of it where if you just took the name out of it and said, hey, what are they thinking? I think that's what they're thinking. I just have real concerns that it's going to work out for them. You know, I don't think this puts them closer to being a contender. When they traded DK Metcalf and Geno Smith, I thought, all right, if they go real cheap here at quarterback and are like, hey, let's we need a reset year, we need to improve the offensive line, let's get some draft capital, I could have understood that logic. But when you make those moves to trade DK Metcalf and trade Geno Smith and then you turn around and you pay Sam Darnold, that makes me a little nervous. And I just don't think, like I said, they're closer to contending now than they were at the end of the season.
- [05:14]
Bill Simmons
Do you like the DK deal for Pittsburgh?
- [05:17]
Chandler Parsons
I think it's okay. You know, I would have liked it for a contending team. I'm a little. The NFL trade market is so weird where, you know, you look at some of these and I can't figure out what they're going to go for. Like the going rate for a good wide receiver. A wide receiver, one who's like 27, 28 years old, has generally been a first round pick. So that gets thrown out there and people are like, no way. You know, and I'm like, I don't know that like DJ Moore was essentially treated like a first round pick in that big Bears Panthers trade. So I thought a team like the Chiefs or a contending team that need a little juice on the outside, I thought that would have made sense for them. Now the Steelers are again, they're kind of in this middle ground where we don't know who's playing quarterback for them. They've been looking for a wide receiver. And so I think teams look at it now that not only is it the draft capital, but when you have to give up the draft capital and then pay the guy, they're just really reluctant to do that. And so I thought it was a fine deal for the Steelers. You know, he's never hurt, he's been productive. He's what, 27, 28 years old? And it's a premium position that it's just hard to find those guys out there. So, yeah, I thought it was fine. I don't know that it changes my outlook on what the Steelers are going to be, but I thought it was a fine move for them.
- [06:29]
Bill Simmons
Are you with me that you hope they sign Jameson Williams at some point and then add him to that Steelers wide receiver room?
- [06:35]
Chandler Parsons
Jameson Williams, DK Metcalf and George Pickens. Yeah. Let's find out what Mike Tomlin's really got. You know, I'm with you. Maybe Antonio Brown wants to come back on a one year, something like that.
- [06:48]
Bill Simmons
You thought Antonio Brown was ch. So actually, I don't know. I don't know if anything will compete with the end of AB's run. Speaking of trades, let's just touch on the tunel one here because Houston moves their left tackle, considered probably their best offensive lineman for a unit that wasn't very good. And just everybody got to see it firsthand in the playoff game where it's like a disaster. But it's tunel in a fourth for third and seven and obviously inheriting the next two years of that contract for Washington, 21 million at each of the next two years. So when a team does something like this, okay, and there's certain free agents that I understand, it's cap management, but like, maybe even Grady Jarrett's an example of this. Where you go, why would like, should you be worried about paying this much money for Grady? Jared, at this age, knowing Atlanta was like, we're good. Not to say that teams don't make mistakes, but if Houston has to figure out a way to fix this old line, what is it about Tunsil that would make them basically move out for? I mean, sure, they're off the money, but asset wise coming back, all they're really doing is moving from a fourth to a third round pick. They're not just, they're not even getting just a third. They moved a fourth out. It's.
- [08:05]
Chandler Parsons
I've gone back and forth on this in the last 24 hours. I'm with you, y'all. I always like to look at it from the other team's perspective. Like, what does. Houston has more information on Laramie Tunsil than anybody else. And they have a rookie quarterback and they have a bad offensive line and he's their best offensive lineman yet. They're trading him at this point for, like you said, it's. I mean, it's a, it's a decent haul, but it's not like they're not getting a first round pick or anything out of this. So I do wonder, what are they thinking now? It could be that Laramie Tunsil's contracts up at the end of 2026 and they're saying, all right, we would have to pay him after this year and we definitely don't want to do that. Let's go ahead and get ahead of this. But that would make me a little nervous. From the commander's perspective. It's like a Boomer bust move. You know, there's a scenario where Laramie, Laramie Tunsil is one of the five best left tackles in the NFL, you know, over the next three, four seasons. And you've got Jaden Daniels on a rookie contract. So I get the thinking from the Commanders. You know, he's entering his age 31 season, so you would think he's still got some time left where he can be a very good player. Even though he's coming off a year where I think he led the NFL in penalties last season and he's not a perfect player, but he is a very talented player. So I think I would do it if I were the Commanders. You know, again, it's a, it's hard to find left tackles that are that talented who can give you that kind of play when you have a quarterback on a rookie contract. But it definitely does come with risk because of what you're saying. Saying from the Texans perspective.
- [09:33]
Bill Simmons
Maybe you just look at the tackle market and you see the number that the Titans give to Dan Moore. 82 million. Yeah, and that. But again, that part of it makes more sense for Washington because they're thinking, well, at least we get Tunsil on the high side of this and contractual control. So on the Houston side of it, it's like, couldn't you have done this? Couldn't you flip Tunsil if you were worried about the contract after one more year is off the books? And do you think you couldn't have done better in the 26 free agency period moving Tunsil? But this is us flying completely blind. But then again, it would scare as much as I. If you're a commander, it's like, oh, this is awesome. You're like, why would they have done this, though? So, yeah, I don't know. I don't know what that one means. That one's a little tough to figure out. But if you look at some of the interior, like even Aaron Banks, 4 years, 77 million. I guess he's going to play guard for the Packers. Yeah, that's what he is. But when you look at some of those numbers, that part of it helps the Washington part. Like, we're below market on Tunsil in comparison to some of these other dudes. Again, we're talking about Banks playing a different position. But was there any deal you loved.
- [10:40]
Chandler Parsons
Deal that I, you know, I thought the Bucks did a great job. You know, they're, they're kind of underrated, where it's like they just sort of figure it out. They end up winning the division every year they get. Chris Godwin was one of my favorite signings. 22 million per year, which you're like, well, that's still pretty expensive. Not if you look at the wide receiver market. You know, he. That's not even in the top 15 wide receivers. And through seven weeks last season, the receivers who had more yards than Chris Godwin, Jamar Chase, that was it. And then he got injured and you know, he's coming back from an injury, but he's done that before and played well. So I thought for the Bucks to be able to bring him back at 22 million per year, that was a nice signing. And then they signed Hassan Redick at one year, $12 million, where that's a nice sort of buy low. He had a disastrous season last year. Gets traded from the Eagles to the Jets. Has one of the worst holdouts in NFL history, where the poor guy just cost himself a lot of money by what he did there with the Jets. But now you get him, and this is a guy who can rush the passer. He's 31 years old, I think was sixth in sacks from 2021 to 2023. So I thought that was a nice value signing. So, yeah, the Bucks are kind of underrated, sneaky in some of these moves that they make. I thought they did a nice job there.
- [11:51]
Bill Simmons
Okay, give me one you don't like. Give me a couple. Okay, good.
- [11:56]
Chandler Parsons
I've got more there. Yeah. Javon Kinlaw to the Commanders for three years, $45 million. You know, I do my top 50 free agents on the ringer.com and whenever a guy who's not even on there gets signed for like $15 million or more, I'm like, either I'm an idiot or that's a terrible signing. And maybe it's a combination of the both. But the Commanders let Jonathan Allen go, they release him at a similar number. And then they go out and they sign. Just sign Javon Kinlaw, who was a free agent last season and signed a one year, $7.25 million deal with the Jets. He hits the quarterback five times in 17 games last season. He was 118th in pressures last season. And now you sign him to a three year, $45 million deal. You know, I get nervous whenever there's a coach or a GM who brings in players who they're familiar with. And Adam peters, the commander's GM, was in San Francisco when the 49ers drafted Javon Kinlaw. And so there's some familiarity there with those two guys. And they decided, hey, he still got the upside. That was one of the biggest head scratchers I thought, so far in free agency.
- [13:09]
Bill Simmons
I love that you pick Kinlaw, because I'm just going to go for like full transparency. I've not broken down a ton of Kinlaw tape. All right. I understand the name recognition and I figured if San Francisco had brought him in, especially at the one year, like, yeah, there's probably something there. Like, let's, let's see what happens. That seems to be a really good front office. They seem like pretty smart guys and I never noticed them. I never noticed them. And then I thought, like, I must be. I just had a moment when I saw that news. I went, is Kinlaw even good? And then I just assumed, I didn't know what I was talking about because it's like, well, have you really locked in on whether or not he's winning his matchups? I'm like, I have to be totally honest, have a decent sized podcast, but I have not spent a ton of time on Kinlaw tape. I'm just so glad that you said it because I'm like, God, that seems like a ton of money for somebody that I'd never really noticed.
- [14:03]
Chandler Parsons
Yeah, that was a stunner. Especially they, like I said, they had a player in Jonathan Allen who was injured last year, but who has been a good player. And to release him for nothing and then go replace him for Kinlaw, that's a bit of a head scratcher for me. I do have one more for you.
- [14:17]
Bill Simmons
Is it Chase Young?
- [14:19]
Chandler Parsons
It's not Chase Young. You know, we can get.
- [14:21]
Bill Simmons
Speaking of Niner guys that hung out for a little bit. I just think three years, 51, like at least he's playing again. Yeah, but that seem especially for a New Orleans team that had to get real creative to even figure out how to make any cap space this year.
- [14:34]
Chandler Parsons
But yeah, Chase Young I thought was destined for the Devon Clowney, like just be a one year mercenary and rush the passer because some of his pass rushing stuff, like he had some high level reps. You saw the Talent overall, he's like you said, he stayed healthy. He was pretty good in pressures, but I didn't think they were going to commit to him for three years. But the Saints are just like, you know, not to pile on, but they're just so relevant that I almost am like, why do I. Why am I paying any attention to what the Saints are doing? But the other guy I have here, the Chiefs, you know, we. The. Our last impression of the Chiefs was their offensive line just getting steamrolled in the Super Bowl. And so you go into this off season, you say, all right, what are they going to do? What are they going to learn from that? How are they going to address the offensive line? They sign this guy, Jalen Moore. Trent Williams is backup with the 49ers, okay? He started 12 games in four seasons. They signed him to a two year, $30 million deal, and now he's going to be the left tackle as you try to get to the super bowl for the fourth straight year. So part of me is going like, I like it. You got to be creative. You know, you were. You were mentioning some of those other salaries, and it's hard to find a left tackle and all right, you know, but it's putting a lot of faith in your scouting to be like, this guy who the 49ers were not even playing for four years. And I think Kyle Shanahan is a pretty smart guy. We see something in him that nobody else sees. And it's not even like a lot like, if you signed him for a lower level deal and said, hey, we're going to try him as a starter that I could get. But two years, $30 million, and now you're basically just plugging him in. I don't know if the Chiefs offensive line is better now than they were in that Super Bowl. In fact, I think there's a strong argument that they're worse. And I just feel like they continue to be an interesting team to try to figure out. How hard are they going to make this on Patrick Mahomes? Because every year I'm like, it's not going to get harder than that for Patrick Mahomes. And then the next year starts and I'm like. Feels kind of harder than it was last year. And it's just the start of the off season, but it sort of feels like it's continuing that way.
- [16:44]
Bill Simmons
It felt a bit like the Matt Castle draft pick where the Pats took him and like, he just never plays. But he was going to be a backup to somebody else who Was already really good. If you look at Taylor, he started 12. Or, excuse me, if you look at Jalen Moore, he started. I was thinking to Juan started 12 games. That's. That's kind of shocking. But it might again factor into, like, the pricing of this stuff. But with the way, and I'm glad, like, Bill and I were talking about this a little bit at the very end of Sunday's podcast, I was glad that he brought up just what we're looking at with the scat, the cap spike based on revenue and the way it's collectively bargained and that the salary cap has gone up so much and just what, almost doubled in just over 10 years. So when you're looking at some of these prices, there can be this sticker shock of like, that guy's 20 million a year. It's like, yeah, but that's a $10 million a year guy. Not. I mean, I know a decade can feel like a long time, but as far as cap and the way that it's exploded, that's not a very long time to be at some of these cap numbers. And when you start looking at the. Where the projections are going to be two or three years from now, it's clear. General managers are like, even if I'm pricey, at least I'm fulfilling a need here, and I'm going to have all this extra space that I get to play with, because that just was not a guarantee the way that it used to be with GMs, you couldn't be. You couldn't make this many mistakes. And I think you can now.
- [18:04]
Chandler Parsons
Yeah, I think there. And there's two things that go along with that. One is the smart teams are saying, hey, let's give out these big signing bonuses. We can extend them into the future. And we know the caps going up. So it's not a big deal. If this guy's not even on our team and we've got $5 million on the cap three, four, five years from now, like, that's something that the Cowboys aren't doing enough of. And that's why they keep looking around going, how are these teams signing all these players and, you know, able to do it? It's because they're employing that tactic that you're not employing. That's one. And then from a player perspective, I think this has been less talked about, but there are more players who just signed a deal in the last two years who now look around and go, wait, that guy got what I'm way. I'm way better than him. And before it used to be teams would say, well, sorry, you're under contract. You know, when you get to your last year, we'll talk about it. But now teams have to kind of be like, if you really want the player and you're worried about locker room harmony and all that kind of thing, you have to revisit some of those things or guarantee some money or extend or, you know, what the Eagles kind of did with Saquon Barkley, like, that's the type of thing that teams were. Would not have been doing five, six, 10 years ago, where now they've got to figure out, who are we willing to do that with? Because these players are looking around just a year or two after they signed and the cap's going up and they're saying, I'm already underpaid.
- [19:29]
Bill Simmons
Do you like what Denver did with Greenlawn? Hunga Boomer Bust.
- [19:34]
Chandler Parsons
It feels like I did make a joke on a group chat earlier that the hundred snaps those two guys play together next year are going to be electric. It was mean. It was mean. It was me. I didn't know if I should have that for public consumption, but if it hits, it's going to be really exciting. I like the scheme fit because Vance Joseph is just like chaos, blitz, creative. Like, this is not a defense that just lines up and plays. They do all kinds of things. And I think those two players specifically thrive in that chaotic atmosphere, Greenlaw and Huanga. So I hope they both stay healthy. They're both very fun players, athletic. You know, there's a chance a year or two from now we're saying, all right, they didn't really get anything from that, but if it hits, I think it'll hit in a big way.
- [20:16]
Bill Simmons
I liked it just because their defense was so good last year. Yeah, that, you know, you go, why not? Why not? Like, you know, it's just they weren't going to be complacent about it whatsoever. And, you know, Green lost 27. He missed that last year. I guess I just look at him. I mean, he'll be 28 at the start of the season. If you want to get real technical about it. I just think he was so good, and it's kind of hard to stand out next to Fred Warner. And he did, and he brings an attitude, so I like it. And, you know, you look at the numbers, three years, 35, 20, it's 27 guaranteed. And he's coming off the Achilles part of it. But at least it was like this one very clear injury, and then he's able to even come back. So if he didn't play the entire year, I don't even know what that number would be at the Colts. Obviously throwing some money into that secondary. I guess if you look at the Byron Murphy Contract, 3 years, 66 million, 35 guaranteed with Minnesota and bringing him back, is the trade area's Ward number supposed to be the same? Because that's kind of what it was. Even though I think I'd prefer Murphy.
- [21:23]
Chandler Parsons
Yeah, I had him in the same ballpark when I did my rankings. You know, I think Ward. Ward is more of like, just kind of line up on a guy and can really lock them down. Murphy's more of a playmaker. If you're playing zone, he can come up with turnovers and pass breakups. So there was a group of guys there, you know, with Charvarius Ward, it was Murphy, Carlton Davis, D.J. reed. There were kind of like four or five corners that I thought were in a similar range, depending on your scheme and your preference there. So I. Colts usually sit out free agency. I never know what the Colts are doing. I mean, again, they're sort of in that Saints thing where you're just like, what am I supposed to make of this team? You know, there was all this conversation about they're going to bring in competition for Anthony Richardson, and now they signed Daniel Jones, and it's like, oh, like, what do you have? If you have an Anthony Rich? Is that the. I mean, I don't want to say that's the saddest quarterback competition because there have been sadder ones, but I don't know how excited I would be if I were a Colts fan. And it's like, all right, Anthony Richardson or Daniel Jones here this summer, and we upgraded our secondary. Where does that really leave you going into the next season or the next three seasons? So some of these teams are just sort of stuck in the middle. I feel like.
- [22:31]
Bill Simmons
Would you rather have Daniel Jones as your backup or Zach Wilson?
- [22:37]
Chandler Parsons
I would rather have Daniel Jones if the price is the same. I would not even maintain a relationship with Zach Wilson's agent. Not to be mean about it, but I would be. Listen. I would just be like, listen, man, that was really nice. It's not happening here. Yeah, yeah. Hope everything's well.
- [22:52]
Bill Simmons
Hope the.
- [22:52]
Chandler Parsons
Hope the family's good, but no, that's not happening.
- [22:56]
Bill Simmons
I like the Josh Palmer signing. I know it's a lot. It's three years, 36. He's missed some games over the last couple seasons. I always felt like Palmer had a little More juice to him that was lost in the shuffling of all the different receiver options that were either healthy and a lot of times not healthy. With the Chargers, I. I just like him. And I think with Allen, not that, you know, it's not like Justin Herbert isn't one of the better quarterbacks in the league. Although we could save that debate. When he has a bad loss in a nationally televised game and everybody says he sucks again, I just feel like Palmer is a dude that has a little bit more to him that will fit. That fulfills more of a need for Buffalo being thin at that position.
- [23:38]
Chandler Parsons
Yeah, I thought it was fine. I mean, the wide receiver market is nuts. And so you look at it and say 12 million sounds like a lot. That's like wide receiver three money, really, when you look at what guys get in that role. So I think he'll fill a complimentary role. They kind of proved last year that they can have an elite offense without having that number one go to wide receiver. And so they extended Khalil Shakir, they've got Keon Coleman coming back, they've got two tight ends, they've got James Cook. And so Palmer just like, be where you're supposed to be, catch the football and fill that complimentary role. So, yeah, I thought that was a fine move by them.
- [24:15]
Bill Simmons
Okay, give us all my. Pats fans are excited. Milton Williams, four years, 104 million, 63 million guaranteed. That puts him at the third highest average average annual salary at defensive tackle behind Chris Jones and Christian Wilkins. I mean, Jones is debatable that he's even a defensive tackle, because he isn't. I mean, they line up all over the place. Now, one argument could be he played in Philly with all of these other studs, and New England now is going to have him be the focal point of what their defensive line is supposed to be. So give us the full Milton scouting report and expectation, because this is being celebrated quite a bit in New England.
- [25:00]
Chandler Parsons
Yes, I do get that sense from our friend Bill Simmons as well that it's getting celebrated quite a bit. I feel like with Milton Williams, it's sort of like the, you know, the band or whatever that you liked before, they were popular, and then they get. And now everyone's, like, discovered them, and you're like, all right, they were good. You know, they're not like, you know, the Beatles or. Or anything. So 20. I never thought this was within the realm of possibilities for Milton Williams. 26 million per year. Like, you could have told me at any point before last season. During last season. And I would have laughed at you if you would have said he's going to be the third highest paid defensive tackle in the NFL. He's never played more than 50% of the snaps. He had five sacks and 10 quarterback hits last year. And that was playing alongside Jalen Carter, who, I can tell you from the film was getting double teed. The center was sliding to Jalen Carter all the time. It was Milton Williams versus a guard. So that is if I want to, you know, pour some, you know, cold water on the Milton Williams hype. Having said that, I really like Milton Williams. I think he's really good. And I think if you're a team like the Patriots that had all this cap space, some of their other signings I wasn't sure about, but if you want to overpay for somebody, make it someone who's in their mid-20s, who plays a premium position, who has upside. And I think Milton Williams checks all those boxes. So if you told me he really develops and he thrives with a larger role here in the next few seasons, I would believe that. So I get the signing. I do get a little concerned when, like, teams kind of fall in love in the off season, you know, when it's just like, we have to have that player. And there were reports that Milton Williams was signing with the Panthers, and then the price just went up and up and up. And it felt like the Patriots got to a point where they're basically like, we're not taking no for an answer. Tell us what the number is that you need for him to be a Patriot and we'll get there. So he gets the $26 million per year. So I understand it. I don't know if he's going to be a $26 million per year player. I don't know if he's going to be a top five defensive tackle in the NFL. But I do think he will be a very good, useful player for the Patriots. And they need those guys up front.
- [27:04]
Bill Simmons
Okay, you mentioned Caleb Williams is the big winner. Why should he feel so good about this off season?
- [27:11]
Chandler Parsons
You get Ben Johnson as your offensive coordinator, who I really like. So that is an upgrade from whatever was happening with that scheme in that offense last year. And then I'm not positive that all their moves are going to work out, but I like when a team has a plan and they trade for Jonah Jackson, the guard from the Rams, they trade for Joe Tunney from the Chiefs, and then they sign Drew Dahlman, the center from the Falcon. So three new Starting offensive linemen on the interior again, it might not work out. We might be in week seven next year going, wow, we really overrated those moves that the Bears made. Those guys all stink. And he's getting hit all the time. That's possible. But I like that they had a plan where they said, we are focusing our resources on trying to protect this guy and give him a chance with the new play caller in Ben Johnson. So I feel like if you're Caleb Williams sitting around at the end of last season and Jaden Daniels getting all this hype and Drake May's getting all this hype and you're like, man, my situation sucked last year. Now at least you go into your second season feeling like you have a better chance to succeed again. It's not guaranteed to succeed, but I like that they at least had a plan.
- [28:18]
Bill Simmons
I got to talk about Justin Fields. I do not know who I can compare to him as far as the career arc, because what you would have to do is you'd have to be a top pick, right? You would have to be somebody that everybody's familiar with because of your college accolades. You'd have to be physically impressive, right, because of his athleticism, I think the arm. And then you go to a franchise like Chicago where they have no equity as far as their history at the position. So if Fields doesn't work out in Chicago like some other places in the NFL, you could, if you love Fields coming out or any like, quarterback with the same kind of thing we're talking about here, you could just blame that team, right? So then he goes to Pittsburgh. They have a good record because of the defense. He gets benched. Russell Wilson comes in. It's not great. They also fall apart because the defense falls apart. And then somehow Fields becomes even better because of the way the season ended when he wasn't even playing. There's a lot of record stuff in there with quarterbacks that we should always be fighting against. And even though there are moments I think with Pittsburgh where I go, ooh, maybe there's something there those first couple weeks, like, hey, that was a pretty good throw. There's a lot of numbers that if you really want to dig into, like his EPA and value on drop back and stuff, it's. It's abysmal. Like, some of those numbers paint a picture that even if I didn't love Fields, I'm like, wow, I didn't even realize it was that bad. And he gets a deal with the Jets. Now, granted, you know, the Money here is 2 years 40 million, 30 million guaranteed. The 20 million average annual salary puts him at 21st at the position, which is like a RE. Like 20 million. Now a year for quarterback is just weird. Anyway. If he's not on the rookie deal and this is being celebrated in a way that, I don't know, I can't come up with a comp. Like, I was thinking about Tannehill, but at least Tannehill, because it was a bit of the same things. High draft pick. He was more of an unknown coming out. Goes to Miami. Miami doesn't have the benefit of the doubt when it comes to quarterbacks at that time. Then he goes to the Titans, and he had a couple statistical years shield where I'm like, tannehill's this good, and yet I never really felt it. And then when it was over, it was kind of over quick, and it seemed like they wanted to move on from him. Yet there were some real arguments about Tannehill. Be like, no, you guys are disrespecting Tannehill. I'm like, I don't feel that I am. But yes, cool page on Pro Football Reference. Fields doesn't even have that. And yet that feels like it's the expectation. So it's his third team. I don't think he's been that good. And some people are convinced he's fucking awesome. I don't know if I can think of anyone in modern NFL history that matches that.
- [31:18]
Chandler Parsons
Between you seeing the Justin Field celebration and the Josh Powell, I think the football hipsters have gotten to you. We. We need to look at your. Your. Your feeds on who's getting to you. Yeah, you're getting the wrong influences.
- [31:30]
Bill Simmons
Wait, hipsters? Not like Palmer.
- [31:33]
Chandler Parsons
No, no, the hipsters love Paul. They do, I feel.
- [31:35]
Bill Simmons
And. But the hipsters. Field's a hipster guy.
- [31:39]
Chandler Parsons
Yeah. No, no. The hipsters are like, just get him in the right spot. I will not give up on. On Justin Fields. I think that the comp is hard. You're right. Is there's a little bit of the Sam Darnold story, though, I would say. What do you think? Like, when you were describing that and you said franchise who? Everyone's going to blame the franchise if the quarterback's not good. Jets, Bears. That fits. Everyone knew him from, you know, college, celebrated college player, talented arm. Hey, just get him in the right situation. He was screwed by his environment, and it's going to work out. I feel like that might be the best case scenario for Justin Fields if it works out now Justin Field is going to the jets the team that had Sam Darnold. So I don't know that it's going to work out and they're paying more. You know, the Vikings took a flyer on Sam Darnold last year. One year $10 million. The jets are going two years 40 million with 30 million guaranteed. I mean, I'm with you. Like I don't get the NFL sometimes. A year ago, literally any team in the NFL could have had Justin Fields for a sixth round pick. The Bears were giving him away and no one would give up a fifth so they took a sixth. Like I just need to recap what you said. Then he goes to Pittsburgh, gets benched after six games, they're four and two. He gets benched for the corpse of Russell Wilson and now his reputation is like better than it was a year ago and you're paying him 30 million guaranteed. So it is very confusing to me sometimes how much our opinions of these guys change year over year when it's like, was I watching something different than it? Like you said, if you look at the advanced stats last year with Justin Fields, he was like, you know, 33rd in drop back success rate which just measures like every time you call a pass play does something good happen? He was one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL. Where he improved was he didn't turn the football over. Now do you buy a six game sample of him not turning the football over or do you look at his previous history where he was a turnover machine. So I like, like I like to watch Justin Field sometimes. He's exciting, he's talented, he's athletic. Maybe it will work out. But yes, I would tend to agree with you that the most likely scenario is that you're getting, you know, below average starting quarterback play. If you're the New York Jets.
- [33:57]
Bill Simmons
The Darnold thing works where it's the top pick, it's the big time program, it's a franchise. There's no, there's no equity in. Right. The hipsters love Sam Darnold too. They did. Like I even felt like just like I put on a shirt for that weekend where I fit in going, I can't wait to see like if he gets a chance to play for the Niners. Darnold, maybe it's the reverse there because Baker was there in 22 and then Darnold finishes out the season. So is that the same? But I guess I don't know that there was the hype in anticipation of Darnold going into this past Minnesota year that I feel like I've Already seen. I don't even think it's close for the hype that like people, some people think the jet like app, they fixed it, like fixed it. Like, I look, maybe it works okay, but just the same way it was for Donald to have kind of like an MVP discussion type season. Granted he wasn't going to win the mvp, but you, hey, look what this guy's doing. They drafted another quarterback. They drafted J.J. mcCarthy so high not knowing that he was going to be hurt. So we weren't really even sure. So yeah, I mean, maybe people were holding out hope for Darnold, but I don't know that going into this year with Minnesota it was like, man, this is going to be awesome the way it already is with Field. So I, I don't know. I guess it's not that I'm sitting here saying, I think, well, yeah, I guess I am. Fuck it. He hasn't been good, he hasn't been good for a really long time. So to have this level of anticipation for him seems to be completely misguided. I'm trying to think now I'm on this, you have something to say, but I have a follow up to this, so just go.
- [35:36]
Chandler Parsons
Yeah, I mean, I was just going to say like, I'm not crushing the jets for this. To me it's a matter of expectations. Like you said, if you're someone who thinks they fix this, then I think you're wrong and you're going to be disappointed. If you, if you want to look at it and say they had to find a starting quarterback, they had to buy some time where they could potentially draft over Justin Fields or find someone else. It's a reasonable move in that respect. You know, the quarterback market is so weird in that he's the only quarterback in the NFL right now making between 15 and and $30 million. This is not like a middle ground that exists. Either you are, hey, you are a starter and you're over 30 million or it's, hey, you're a backup like Daniel Jones or competing and you're under 15 million. So it's not a crazy amount of money when you look at the quarterback market. So if you say, hey, he's going to go in there, they're going to run the football a lot, they're going to include him in the run game, they're going to try to win with defense and they're going to continue to look for their quarterback of the future. That to me is reasonable. If you think, hey, he's, you know, he, he got screwed by Mike Tomlin last year because, yeah, Mike Tomlin doesn't know what he's talking about and he chose the, you know, the quarterback who was not going to give him a better chance to win. And you think Fields is going to thrive with the Jets? I mean, maybe, but that part would actually would really surprise me.
- [36:51]
Bill Simmons
You're right, though. I mean, after Justin Fields 20 million number. If you look at. And there's still some dust. It has to get worked out here, whatever happens with Gino. But it's Gardner Minshu and then rookie contracts. Yeah, Minshew at 12 million when the Raiders were like, hey, we're going to be really creative and. And have two guys that are inexpensive before they decided. No wonder they wanted Geno so bad. But yeah, I'm. I'm with you on this because I'm trying to think of the top hipster quarterback because I feel like the hipsters were trying to tell me Anthony Richardson was going to be really good because he ran it into the end zone because his OC didn't trust him to throw it on goal to go situations. It's like, well, no. Shitty. Ran it all the time and it worked. But it also was alarming. Like, oh, you guys gonna run it again? Okay.
- [37:37]
Chandler Parsons
Yeah, he was up there. I'm trying to think of who else.
- [37:39]
Bill Simmons
Was also a big fantasy thing. So I don't. But I feel like the hipsters liked Anthony Richardson coming out into the draft a lot too.
- [37:47]
Chandler Parsons
Yes.
- [37:48]
Bill Simmons
Were you one of those guys? Shield. It's okay. I get it wrong sometimes, too.
- [37:52]
Chandler Parsons
I said, if you watch the first 15 plays, I get it. But I would probably let someone else figure out if it's going to work or not. With. I don't understand why the Colts didn't try to. And maybe they did try to trade Anthony Richardson. They clearly hate the guy and don't want him to be their starter. But they're like, yeah, let's see. Let's run it back. Him and Daniel Jones. So I was trying to get Anthony Richardson to Pittsburgh and just have them run the football 45 times a game and see what it looks like. But my plan to Trevor Lawrence is definitely on that list by the way of the.
- [38:22]
Bill Simmons
The hipster.
- [38:23]
Chandler Parsons
So I don't know where you're at with him, whether you're confident that. I didn't even feel like.
- [38:27]
Bill Simmons
I didn't feel like I was even being a hipster liking him coming out. I mean.
- [38:31]
Chandler Parsons
Yeah. No, now. Now I'm even after. Yeah. Coming out. Everyone I think liked Trevor Lawrence I.
- [38:36]
Bill Simmons
Think everybody's if you had confidence in Trevor Lawrence, all of us are rattled at this point because then when he had the bad year, you go, well, he can't be that bad again. And then he was like, yeah, yeah, you sure about that? Because it was easy to blame Urban. You're like, all right, yeah, you get, you get the right guy in there. I think that's good. More signings to come, but I think we covered it. Man, that was great.
- [39:00]
Chandler Parsons
Sounds good. Thanks for having me.
- [39:01]
Bill Simmons
What do you have to promote?
- [39:03]
Chandler Parsons
Just the ringer.com we got. I'm analyzing every big signing on there so you can see them out daily. We'll analyze those Ringer NFL shows and then the ringers Philly special.
- [39:13]
Bill Simmons
All right. Good stuff, man. Talk to you soon.
- [39:15]
Chandler Parsons
Thanks.
- [39:19]
Bill Simmons
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Just visit FanDuel.com Ryan R Y E N to download America's number one sportsbook today and and back your dog of the day with a profit boost. Because after all, anything can happen in March. Must be 21 and older and present in select states or 18 plus in present in D.C. opt in required wager of at least plus 100 odds required bonus issued as non withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply including any token expiration and max wager amounts he terms@sportsbook.fanduel.com gambling problem. Call 100 GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com foreign denver win in okc last night. Nice for the Nuggets to be able to split this really fun games. Just enjoy the hell out of these two teams playing each other. So hopefully we get to See it in the playoffs. So you look at the split and Denver did it with offense last night. A couple different things that I want to get to here, but there's a bigger picture thing, of course that I've been thinking about, I think about a lot. But Denver scores 33 points. What? 34, 33, 34, 39 in each of the quarters. They do that against a Thunder defense. We've been telling you all season long on this historic pace based on where the rest of the league is offensively. So it's a really good split for Denver because it looked like at least in the first matchup, perimeter wise, just not a lot of answers for sga. Now Gordon only played seven minutes in game one. He's incredibly important at what they do doesn't play in game two. And to be fair, the Thunder lose Jalen Williams, the good one, after 14 minutes. So worth mentioning all of these things, but especially for okc. Once Jalen Williams is not there to cover the non SGA minutes and then more importantly, Denver can then start trying some other stuff to slow SGA down. They were running some two man traps at him. There was one play, it looked like it was actually like a two man zone. It wasn't. But you get the point, like two men waiting for him to cross mid court to try to trap him that soon. Not to get the 8 second violation but to get the ball out of his hands. I think when you get gimmicky like that, NBA players figure it out, they get wide open looks. There was one play where Arnstein got it and you know he was wide open because there was two players almost 50ft away from the basket. But the point is, is like that was the gamble that Denver was willing to make, especially with Jalen Williams is out of the game. And also limiting the free throw attempts is a huge part of this. OKC tried to counter by bringing SGA off the ball a little bit, which smarter teams will do. Hey, this is really simple. If they're doing this to our main guy, let's not have him bring the ball up the court. Other teams are just, I can't believe that NBA teams at certain levels will just not figure that part of it out. OKC is too smart, but it didn't really matter because like even if we're talking about what Denver's doing defensively to Oklahoma City, they're willing to give up the open threes. And OKC hit the open threes door hit eight of them. They were 40% on threes last night. OKC scored 1:27. So it wasn't really about some defensive strategy. Even though I'm pointing out some of this stuff. It's that Denver going to go 18 to 32 from 3, 56% for the game. You're going to win a lot of games there. So looking at the Thunder and kind of the way they've been talked about and just revisiting a few of the moments of just great resume and I know I'm not supposed to be doing this after they just lost, but I don't care. I think they're awesome. All right. OkC's 53 and 12. Last night's only the third time all season that they've lost a game by double figures. 4 if you want to include the loss to Milwaukee in the in season tournament. So we've talked about this lack of fear for okc. I don't know if it's youth. I don't know if it's the newness. I know that I personally, when something is new and great in sports, specifically basketball, I have a hard time with it too. Golden State's one of the only teams going back to that 2015 season where pretty early on I was like, I think they are going to be this good. Which is tough. It's tough to buy in with a young group that's never really done it before. But I, I just have a hard time thinking of any like real good basketball arguments other than that. So it seems to be kind of a general statement and I don't know if it's because of what current and former players fear. Could it be something as simple, as great as SGA is, there isn't that second motherfucker, that dynamic scorer that may already be Jalen Williams. Okay, it could be him in the playoffs, but because he isn't that necessarily right now. Is that what players are using as they're arguing to be like, ah, cool regular season dude, but I'm not into it. I think about this constantly. I bring it up, you know, a couple times a year where here's something that I talk about for a living, something that I've watched for 40 years, something that I've talked about professionally for over 20 years. And yet there seems to be so many times where the guys that actually did it versus me that never did it, like we're completely divided. Like, how could you watch Oklahoma City all year long and you played and think they're meh. Well, let's go back a bit because if we, we think about the origin of like your journey if you've ever played any basketball, like the first thing you've ever done, whether you were terrible at it or you were a Hall of Famer, the first thing you ever did or you ever cared about was scoring, right? Mom and dad, maybe they go to the games, maybe they don't come home. How many points you score, you tell them how many, you don't tell them anything else. Nobody's even keeping track of anything else. All you care about is scoring. So I think this is incredibly important to the guys that played and how dismissive they can be of maybe it's not even being dismissive of players or teams, but I have a couple examples. But how enamored and sometimes even blinded they can be by just the visual players that like the way Kobe has talked about, right? And I understand Kobe's great, he's one of the all time greats. But the way that he's talked about this reverence, maybe it's because of Kobe's story and an awful end to it, but the way that he has talked about, you can see the former players freak out about it. And at no point have I ever thought that I would want Kobe more than Tim Duncan on my basketball team. There's another one that comes up all the time, and that's the Kyrie Irving stuff. I've seen countless former players, current players, talk about Kyrie. They've said what you already know what I'm going to say. Most talented player to ever play basketball. I resist that. Kyrie's handle is incredible. Is his handle so good? Is his handle so much better than Steph that it makes up for the gap between Steph shooting and Kyrie shooting? If Steph is considered the greatest shooter of all time and it's about baskets, shouldn't that matter more? You want to get in a handle, Fine. But it's not like Steph's isn't awesome. Steph's a better passer defensively. I think Kyrie's had better years. I think he's had much worse years. So Steph's a little steadier. And I've also watched Steph enough. As you know, I've never seen defenses make as many mistakes against one player just because they're that freaked out by his movement. So how is Kyrie actually more talented than Steph? Like, if you really want to get into it, I feel bad because he's out with the ACL right now. But if Kyrie's the most talented player ever, is his career a little disappointing? But maybe it's because the players see what Kyrie can do with a ball in his hands and they know how special it is, his creativity, those slow motion moments where you watch Kyrie and you see his body control and then taking off from an angle where it's like, how did he even think of that? And I would agree, and I've said this for years, I think Kyrie's the best small finisher that I've ever seen in the history of the game. And maybe that is admired more by the former players. Maybe that visual part of it is so exciting that that outweighs just the sheer impact that Steph shooting has had and really at a much more successful level. I think this reminds me a little bit of the Jokic Embiid MVP debate going back two years ago. It got weird and I think a lot of it had to do with the visual part of it. Embiid looks more powerful. You could argue he is more powerful than Jokic. Right. He is physically so impressive. So that Embiid had the game that looked like it backed up the numbers, where Jokic has a game that looks like it maybe doesn't back up his numbers. And if you want to do a little MVP stuff again, I'll do it right now. I've talked about Jokic and I talked about it on Sunday with Bill, where I'll never watch any other player at least right now and think somebody's better than Jokic. SG and him are the only guys that are in their own class. And the MVP kind of stuff, I think SGA is going to win the vote. I think that the former players and the current players, the way they kind of talk about it, I guess I'm focusing more on the former players that have a platform. I can already see it like they're going to go with SGA and maybe it's because they, instead of being respectful of the entire OKC thing, are disrespectful of the team, but respectful of SGA because the scoring numbers that he's put up, knowing that he's going to go get his buckets when the Thunder need it. Where when you look at Jokic, it's like, does he even want to shoot it all the time even though he's still pretty high for shot attempts per game when you look at his career. But if you're looking at Jokic just this season, his per. Yep. Trust me, trust me on these numbers here. I know some of you don't like these, but his PER is the second highest ever for a season In NBA history, behind only Jokic's NBA record per going back to 22, the win shares are 48. This is a career high for Jokic. This is the best he's ever done in this stat, which usually tells you who the special players are. Don't believe me? Jokic's number this year is 10th all time. The other players that are ahead of him, this guy Kareem a couple times, Wilt Jordan a few times, LeBron a couple times. Including that 1213 season where he just looked like the best version of him. Steph's got one in there. So as I'm watching last night and I'm thinking about the MVP stuff a little bit more as an aside, you know, Jokic is like, I guess I'll shoot it. He passed up at 3, I think at 99.93, where I couldn't believe he didn't take it. I was, like, sort of pissed that he didn't. And then he took the next one and then he made it. And then he's waiting to see what you're doing on defense, and he's lumbering into you, and then he's just kind of throwing it up with the softest touch for a guy his size that we've ever seen. And next thing you know, he's got an incredible stat line again, and he completely took over the game. You're like, did he even want to take some of those shots? Where other guys. There's no question, like, you know, when Kyrie wants to get a bucket. You knew when Kobe was like, okay, I'm not. I'm not giving this up to anybody. This is my time. And I think that players that know how hard that is respect that and respect that approach. Where some guys, it's a little bit easier to overlook. When I was thinking about the rotations last night, and granted, Gordon isn't playing, so that's maybe extra minutes out there for some Denver players that wouldn't normally play, but not really. Think about how many players played for Denver last night. Ask yourself this question. How many would crack the OKC rotation? Would Pickett crack the rotation? No. Zeke Najee? No. Peyton Watson, by the way, great block on Chet last night out of him. Comes down, hits three, a couple nice possessions there, some good minutes. He wouldn't play last night for the Thunder. Would you play Christian Brown or Russell Westbrook over Alex Caruso? I know what you're going to say, Nuggets fans. I'm trying to help you, by the way, but I don't know Christian Brown had a really nice year. Some good numbers in there. Flame over Caruso. They had Caruso trying to defend Jokic last night.
- [51:11]
Kyle
I don't.
- [51:11]
Bill Simmons
I'm. There's a. There might even be a Michael Porter Jr. Aaron Wiggins conversation if you get a couple beers in me. But the point is, it's like, yeah, that's. That to me, is part of the conversation now. I know what you're going to say. Thunder fans, you're going to say what Going to say, well, Look, Ryan, they're 11 games behind. SGA has to be rewarded. They're the one seed that has to matter in the MVP race. And I think a lot of former players are going to same. The same. The exact same thing. And I can imagine, at least the Thunder fans are going to argue that, because I remember how adamant, how passionate you were that you thought Westbrook shouldn't win the MVP in 2017 because he was eight games behind the Houston Rockets and James Harden. I remember when you guys did that. So I'm kind of gearing up for it. I feel like I'm going to be a bit on this Jokic island, which doesn't seem like it's been that desolate the last few years. This is not. Hey, solicit. Jokic is good. You hear the intro that he did on the pod the other day? Good stuff. Riveting. But I. I just. It's going to be wrong. The SGA vote's going to be wrong. And I think a lot of the former players are going to be like, I'm psyched. SGA1. And I will have moments, whether it's the Kyrie conversation or some of the Kobe Duncan stuff or what's going to happen with mvp. What's happened with MVP in the past? Because I do actually care. And I'll have moments where I'm like, how could I sit here as somebody who's never played and think these things and be in such a massive disagreement with the guys that did this for a living and have these positions right. They'd be watching. I used to love the Deadliest Cat shows. Watch it all the time. Can you imagine being at some dive bar with a guy from the show and being like, here's something I don't understand with how you guys. Your pot dispersal. I think you're fucking this up. And I've watched a lot of episodes. You wouldn't do that. You feel pretty stupid. So when I have these internal disagreements where I'm like, could I be getting this wrong? And then Tim Hardaway Sr. Says that he thinks Bol Bol has the same abilities as Wembanyama and I'm totally fine. Again, foreign home for us here. Chandler Parsons joins us after I was able to jump on with he Michelle Beetle Lou Williams on Run it back weekdays at 10am Eastern on FanDuel TV or stream live on YouTube at Run It Back FDTV. What's up, man? Good morning.
- [53:35]
Ryan Resilio
How we doing? Thanks for having me on.
- [53:37]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, I appreciate it. All right, so look, the Thunder split this Denver thing, and I know we were talking a little bit last week, but it just, it continues to feel like. And again, I don't really care about the loss necessarily last night, but it feels like. I don't know if it's the newness, it's the lack of like a real scary dude is the second score. But I guess I'm just surprised how many former players don't look at the Thunder as like a scary out in the playoffs.
- [54:04]
Ryan Resilio
Yeah, you know, I think it's just the youth, right? It's just how young they are. They haven't done it before. They're inexperienced and as good and calm and cool as SGA is, you don't, you don't really trust the Jalen Williams yet. You don't know if Chet is going to be healthy and they're extremely deep and they're well coached and they defend and they have all the pieces. We just want to do. We just want to see him do it on a big stage before we go and trust them as much as we trust, you know, a Jokic and the Nuggets or, you know, a more experienced poise team that's been like that. But that doesn't mean we can just write them off. I think they have no chance just because they haven't been there and they're young, they're a great team and obviously the way the landscape of their franchise is set up for years to come is one of the best in sports. But I think this year will be a tell all of how they handle the playoffs, how they handle adversity, how they handle going on the road and closing out a series. We'll learn a lot about the Thunder. I think this, this postseason.
- [54:57]
Bill Simmons
Do you think there's actually a bad matchup in the west for them in the playoffs?
- [55:01]
Ryan Resilio
It might be the Nuggets. It might be the Nuggets. Like, that is so good offensively and as good as, you know, the Thunder are defensively, they gave up 140 points last night, which is the most points to and they've given up all year long. And that just kind of gives credit to how good the Nuggets are. When you have a seven foot all world point guard that kind of initiates everything you have Jamal Murray doing, you know, bubble Jamal Murray things, giving you 34. And are they going to get stuff from those other guys from the Browns, from the Peyton Watson, the Julian Strothers? Can those guys kind of give you those 8 to 12 points and good solid minutes off the bench? We'll see. But matchups are definitely a thing and I was jumbled up the standings are. It'll be interesting to kind of see where that falls because you got teams like the warriors that are going to be a tough out. You got a team like the Los Angeles Lakers that are, are just going to lay down, they're going to be tough to beat four times. So there are a lot of interesting matchups that can go either way for them.
- [55:54]
Bill Simmons
Can you help me understand Michael Porter Jr. Because I think we understand what the good version of it is, right? He's this huge player, he's so important. What they do is shooting some of the shots that he can get into too, like where it's off the dribble. It's not just the three point stuff. Like there's some shot making that he'll have over the course of the game. You're like, this is really, really special. There's other times where I feel like whether it's he's not aggressive enough because he, he does have moments where he's not one of those players where I'll look at and say, okay, he's just never aggressive because that's not true with him. But I don't know if it's playing off of Jokic. But there's also been different sub patterns, especially with some of the injuries beginning of the year where I felt like, okay, they really need him to kind of lead the offense. And I don't know if he's that guy.
- [56:41]
Ryan Resilio
I don't think he's a lead the offense type of guy. I think he's a great, you know, piece to, to space the floor, to not allow guys to double team Jokic, to not allow guys to blitz Jamal Murray and pick and roll. I think he's kind of found that craft where he, he does seem a little timid sometimes when he picks and chooses when he wants to be aggressive and like he's the one guy on the floor that he can frustrate Jokic when he does take those early bad threes and you kind of see some hand gestures from Jokic sometimes where he doesn't make the swing, swing. And I think that goes back to high school where he was just the guy, Right. He was the number one player. Obviously he had the back issues at Missouri and stuff, but he was highly, highly touted dude. That's always been the guy. So when you have someone like that and now you're basically a role player playing with the best player in the world, it's probably hard to adjust and you probably think you could be doing more. And he's honestly the guy that I thought that they were going to move off of this trade deadline and obviously they didn't. He's back, but I like him. He's a great rebounder. He's a great rebounding wing. He can defend and he can really shoot it. I think he just. You're right. He picks and chooses when he wants to be aggressive. He can't really create for others off the dribble either. So he's kind of turned into this 6, 8, 69 spot up shooter. So who knows? Can he go somewhere else and do more? I don't know if we'll ever, we'll ever see, but he's. He's definitely interesting to me because I do, I do. Part of me think that he could expand his game more, but then sometimes I think he just is who he is.
- [58:03]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. And I would say, you know, not that I'm going to spend 10 minutes on the projection of Michael Porter Jr's career, even though he's still young. You get this many years in a league playing this way, I think it'd be hard to say. Okay, now show us the full, the full, like, version of what you could have been. And the aggressive thing, I'm totally with you because when I get frustrated with him, I'm going like, oh, he's playing soft. And then there will be this moment. We're like, okay, well, there is, there is something in him that shows. It'd be super easy to just write him off and go, okay, well, I don't see enough of these peak aggressive moments. So this is just who he is. I think it's just kind of this up and down and knowing it, you know, not that the contract is the most important thing. It's. It's irrelevant to what we're talking about for them with the playoff run here. But I think at like 40 million the next couple years, you go, you know, it'd just be something. It'd be great if I could bank on you a little bit more. Especially if Jamal has those. At least the beginning of the year when you needed more out of somebody else offensively when Jamal didn't have. Have it.
- [59:02]
Ryan Resilio
Yeah, no, I totally agree. And again, I, I don't know if he's that guy where you, you know, Jokic and Murray are out. Are you going to go play through Michael Porter? I, I don't know if he has that kind of game. I don't know. And I'm sure he's capable and he's erupted for these big nights where he can shoot the piss out of the ball and, and yeah, I mean, he could put the ball in the basket, no doubt. He's still athletic, he's bouncy, he's so long. I said he's huge for his position, is an act for offensive rebounding. So like, he does provide a lot of production for this team. I just don't know if you're a small market team. Are you going to go and pay this guy 25, 30 million to be the guy? Like, I don't know if he's got that in him, but he's extremely talented and he can shoot the shit out of it.
- [59:38]
Bill Simmons
Do you like Cleveland better than okc?
- [59:41]
Ryan Resilio
Oh, we're just going right for it. We're just going right there. I kind of do. Is it crazy to think that, like, I kind of like Cleveland and Boston more than okc? And that's not a knock on okc. I think Cleveland started off in the season and no one really believed. Right. And look back to last year, Jas, he's my guy. I'll ride for him. When they were healthy, they were really good last year. They were doomed last year at the injury bug. And as good as Kenny Atkinson has done a job this year, they've been extremely, extremely healthy. I think Max Stru has been out of the lineup. Ty Jerome has been on out of the lineup. But for the most part they've been very healthy and they are very, very good when they're healthy. And the growth of Evan Mobley has been impressive. They have great guards play. They have great. They were, they're extremely deep. And then the addition of DeAndre Hunter to me was like, it was like the icing on the cake. He's that 3 and D wing that, you know what we got to go through Tatum and Brown. Let me go get a lockdown 3 and D wing defender that can help us do that. And so I do, I like them a lot. I love SGA and I love the Thunder Jalen Williams went down last night, too. I don't know how serious that's going to be. And they also have a lot of deep, versatile pieces on the bench, but it's tough. I thought the west was going to be the conference this year, and they were. They were a lot deeper. Now I look at the league, and the two best teams to me, are in the East.
- [60:56]
Bill Simmons
I'm with you on Cleveland. Like, I love them, and whether it's kind of figuring out what they want to pick from, you know, from the menu of players where, you know, I think there's an old school way of looking at it. It's like, here are five, and then these are our next three, and then maybe there's a ninth if there's foul trouble or we want to give somebody a taste of some outside shots to make the defense think differently about what we're doing. But with Cleveland, I. I think all of it, all of it kind of works. And that's. That's what I love about how adaptable they should be in the playoffs. Let me ask you about the JB thing because I think that's really interesting. They had that 17 and one stretch last year, and, you know, maybe is, you know, maybe it's back to the ESPN stuff and the national show where you feel like you'll watch all this league pass stuff, and it'll be local broadcasters, local markets, just mad at the national media for not talking about them enough. And that was happening with Cleveland. You're kind of like, all right, 17 and 1, but what do you want me to do? Say you're better than Boston? Like, I don't believe that. Right. So, you know, I'm sorry, guys, but we still don't.
- [61:58]
Ryan Resilio
By the way, I still don't.
- [62:00]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. See, this. This last. These last few weeks, it's not just the comeback. These last few weeks, I'm. I'm kind of looking at it as a coin toss, where in the past I would have just been like, look, I'm not going to pick Cleveland against Boston just because of history and because of some of the perimeter matchup stuff. Now I'm. I'm. I really think you could pick either one. You wouldn't be wrong. But JB going from Cleveland to Detroit to fixing Detroit, while it feels like Kenny. Granted, with all the pieces and being healthier, what is it about Bickerstaff that you liked so much that maybe their seeds of it are still in Cleveland and it's worked here in Detroit? Because I think some people would look at that Maybe go like, if he's so good at Detroit, how come Cleveland is as much better? I want you to tell me a JB story basically.
- [62:41]
Ryan Resilio
And if Atkinson was so good, it's so good in Cleveland, how did he not have success in his previous job? The coaching pool is. It's such a cesspool in the NBA. You hire and fire everybody and you switch out, you know, yearly it feels like. But to me, J.B. biggerstaff, he's just, first of all, he's a players coach. He has this personal relationship with you or he's just, he understands you, he could jump you and you don't take it personal because he spends the time to get you to know you and your family and everything about you. Which is crazy to me is that I heard, you know, there are some personality issues with him not meshing with the guys in Cleveland last year. And that just didn't make sense to me because I've had him as an assistant, I've had him as a head coach. He's very consistent, he's very solid. He's smart. You know, he's very defensive minded. He's great at a timeout executing plays. So I couldn't be a bigger, a more bigger fan of JB Bickerstaff and Kenny Atkinson is great. He's probably going to win coach of the year. He inherited a great, great team and situation. He's getting the best out of them. No doubt. No knock on him. But look at that roster in Detroit and look at the success they've had. I think that's more of an impressive job, what Detroit is doing than versus Cleveland's doing. Yes, they're on record pace. Yes, they're the number one seed. Yes, they've had a great year, but no one expected the Pistons to be relevant this year. Everyone expected the Cavs to be good. So I think that's the difference. I think Kenny's going to get it and it's well deserved. But I think J.B. biggerstaff is right there. I think J.J. redick is right there what he's done with the Lakers, but they've both done a fantastic job. But isn't it great? How does that work? How does it. This guy gets fired for being so bad and not being. And then he goes and just turns this dumpster fire around into a playoff team the next year. The coaching search of the NBA just always boggles my mind.
- [64:23]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, the JB one is, is pretty crazy how the story goes because I was at one of the Cleveland Boston games in the playoffs last year and granted again, Cleveland didn't have all their guys and it felt like it was kind of a bad spot for jb. It felt like a lot of the players were, were trying to help him and it's because those guys were in street clothes. So it was like really tough sitting so close to it. I was like, man, these guys feel like they're kind of checked out on this dude. And I don't know if that's just. I think players in general, after a while you just kind of move on past a coach and, and having a voice like JB post. Monty Williams clearly works for Detroit here. Back to the west, though, last night. I don't want to spend a ton of time on Phoenix because you probably have already spent too much time on a team that's just not relevant at this point. But that's a bad loss in Memphis for Phoenix last night. No, Jaren Jackson being the primary reason. You look at some of the big rotational stuff that Memphis ended up having to do last night and they hang on. And Ja had a very jaw fourth quarter couple possessions where I'm like, what is he doing? And then he ends up one huge bucket and then kind of the game winning bucket. So depending on the standings, you know, any day you look up, Memphis could be the 2 seed. They're not today, but I guess I'm. I don't want to say I'm off of Memphis, but it, it has to be a cleaner version of jaw for me to take them seriously in the West. And at this point, I just don't see enough consistency with it.
- [65:48]
Ryan Resilio
Yeah, it's tough, right? Because Jaws, he's so fun to watch. He's must see tv. He's so explosive. And like you, sometimes I watch and I'm like, man, this dude is a top four point guard in the NBA. And sometimes I watch, I'm like, he's not top 10. Like he. And I don't know how you know when he starts losing that step, when he loses athleticism. I don't know if his game is going to translate. Look across the league, all these elite point guards, which now point guards are all scorers pretty much. They can all shoot, they can all shoot at a crazy clip and from deep and they're efficient. John Moran, he's got to work on his outside shooting. I think number one, because when he does lose that burst and that step, you can already see now guys are guarding him, they're going under screen. They're making him use dribble handoffs. And screens by going under and forcing him to basically shoot the three. And he's not shooting it at a high clip right now. So I think he's obviously the key. He's the head of the snake. Jaren Jackson out is obviously a huge blow, but this team's tough. They're well coached as well. They have depth. I love like a Gigi Jackson, but he's still coming off an injury. Aldama, he's been banged up. He's had a. He's been having a great year. They still have pieces. Desmond Bain kind of been up and down all season long to sell pieces, but I just. When I look in the West, I'm with you. I don't, I don't really trust them in the playoffs. I think the Lakers are better. I think the Nuggets are better. Like, I think the Timberwolves could end up beating them in a series. I mean, so it's, it's one of those teams I just, I just don't, I don't trust. They don't think they have enough. And, and John Moran, it's interesting because he's obviously their guy. He's an all NBA type player. But it'll be really interesting to see how his future goes with just how the NBA and how the, how the system of shooting so many threes and playing so fast is changed.
- [67:27]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, and they've been in so many close games the last 20 plus and you know, they've won three in a row here, so at least it's something to point to there. But again, on the Phoenix side of it, when you're looking at the minute dispersal for what's going on with Memphis and what you think they'd be able to attack. But no Beal last night. You know what, one Phoenix thing, then where would you want to see Durant next year if he's not with Phoenix?
- [67:47]
Ryan Resilio
Phoenix to me is great. Phoenix, me and Lou will always talk about. That was our team. Like, that was like our dark horse. That was our team to get to the finals. They're home. Like, I was so all in on that big three and Eric Itch. And then they add Tyus Jones and Monty Morris. I thought last year putting down Booker at point guard was the issue. Now they bring in two solid point guards. That doesn't help anything. So there to me, I don't, I don't get it. Kevin Durant, Lakers, Dallas. I think Dallas could really save a lot of Nico Harrison's problems that he's dealing with right now, but he's not in a situation where he wants to go to Spurs, I think to where it's kind of on the rise. I heard San Antonio, but I don't think they're going to win a championship the next two or three years, and we don't know how long KD is going to play. So I think immediate to go to a contender, I could see la. I could see Dallas, you know, teaming up with Luka and LeBron or AD and Kyrie. I think that'd be a good fit. He still has a lot of good basketball to play, and clearly you can just see. I feel like it's just not happening. And Phoenix, him and Bud have, you know, been going. I was at two games this year with Phoenix, and both times it's just. They just go at it. They're chirping, they're chirping during the game, they're brushing each other off. There's the simple body language again, maybe I'm overreacting, but it just doesn't seem like there's a mutual respect and level of trust there where it's definitely coming to an end. I think he's 1000% on another team next year.
- [69:14]
Bill Simmons
It's crazy, too, because, you know, during that Clippers comeback, the Colin Gillespie game. Yeah. As historians will remember it. Yeah, you're right. Like, there's a lot of stuff you can see with the rant where I would go, oh, you know, to your point, like, here's another example potentially, of this being over. But to be totally fair to Durant, which I want to be, is there were some moments where he wasn't even in the play and he was going so hard, celebrating, like, so into it, where I've seen, like, really good players, you know, when somebody else is doing something, like they don't have that level of energy because they're not involved with the great play. And Durant was, like, really locked in. It was a really nice win. It was a fun night. And then, look, they go to overtime and he hits the overtime, the three to send it to overtime against Denver, and then Denver just kind of steamrolls him in overtime there. So I was almost surprised, maybe, like, pleasantly like, oh, look, there's. There's something about at least trying to salvage what's happening this season. But you're right, there's a lot of other clips from other stuff. I know the one that made the rounds where Bud grabs his arm. But then they showed another version of it where it went on later where he and Durant looked like they were kind of working, working it out. But I mean, collectively, again, last night's another example. You expect no Jaren Jackson, you expect the center situation with Memphis. Phoenix has got to get that game. And then they don't.
- [70:29]
Ryan Resilio
You know what's crazy, though, is like, when you look at the stand, they're. They're what, two and a half games behind Dallas, who couldn't be more banged up and they couldn't be more trouble, and they somehow pull out the game last night against San Antonio. But if you're a Phoenix, that's kind of your only hope, right? Your only light at the end of the tunnel is that, well, we could get into the play and there's no reason for them to tank. It's not like they're going to sit like Kevin Durant doesn't want to tank, want to say he doesn't care about their pick next year. He's not, he's not. He's not going to be there next year, but Bradley Beal is probably not going to be there next year. So I think they do make one last push to these, you know, 20, whatever games left and maybe sneak in the plan. And then they're thinking what I was thinking for the last two years. Well, we have enough on paper. If we could just figure out we can turn it around, anything can happen. But I think that's the only light in the tunnel, is that they get into the plan somehow squeak into the playoffs.
- [71:17]
Bill Simmons
Let's talk a little playoffs, because I was going back through some of your matchups when you were with the Rockets. Let's, let's start with this. You know, the first year you're with the Rockets, you know, it's a good team, makes the playoffs, lose in the first round. The second year, I think you were like mid-50s wins. You're going up against Portland. How different was it for you? At least the way you saw yourself. Now, granted, look, you still lost in the first round, but that's not really the important part. I want to get into kind of how you saw yourself, how you saw the team building off of getting a taste of it the year prior.
- [71:53]
Ryan Resilio
Yeah, it's the first year. That was against the Thunder. And that was. That was when Pat Beverly, when Westbrook, what did call a timeout, he tore his meniscus. And that was almost like a just happy to be there type of thing. We were out, man. They had a better team. Yeah. And. But it was fun. We had James Harden and he was going back, so Oklahoma City, and there was a lot of headlines and we were, we were almost this team on the rise, kind of like the Thunder, kind of like the Cavs, where obviously weren't the number one seed. But we, it was okay if we lost that series. The following series, like, okay, we got Portland, we feel like we're a better team than them. We feel like we should win this series. And it's just a different kind of confidence when you go into that series just thinking you're going to win rather than just happy to be there. And then it was just completely different scenarios. And obviously Dave Lillard kind of ended my career as a rocket and hit that game winner to win that series. And we were just thinking, go, let's get it back to Houston. Game seven, it's ours, we're advancing. And he's obviously a hell of a player, made a hell of a shot. But it's just a different mindset you have from just happy to be there to actually thinking we can survive and win and advance.
- [72:58]
Bill Simmons
Do you think when you go into that series again, and it was a really fun first round series, obviously you were in it, so you remember, but that was one of those series where I just remember having so much fun watching it play out and like Dame taking it to this level. That was just kind of a little bit of a tease of like, okay, this is what this dude's going to be. Even though the funny thing is Lamarcus actually averaged 30. Lamarcus scored more in that series than Dame did. So I want to get into kind of the prep part of it. What were you talking about? Like, this is for game one and whatever the adjustments are, but our priority defensively is to try to do this again against that kind of scoring duo.
- [73:44]
Ryan Resilio
It's tough because who's who, whose hands are going to take the ball out of, right? Especially when lamarcus Aldridge has it going. I remember we were throwing different guys and we started Dwight Howard on him, I guarded him. We put smaller guys on a big guys on them. We tried to switch one through five. So you kind of throw all these different kind of coverages and scheme to them. Then you take the ball out of his hand, then damn, Lillard goes nuts. And that team was bounced. It was like Wes Matthews and Nicholas Batum and. And they had a lot of different guys that, you know, gave them a lot and they were well coached and they were just, they did, they defended. So they were tough. And that last play, the Damian Lillard shot, man, first of all, I love Kevin McHale, but why the hell am I guarding Damian Lillard? On that inbounds play, we have Patrick, Patrick Beverly right there. And I remember we were supposed to switch everything and you could, if you have the clip, I was on the bottom, so technically it was supposed to. Someone was supposed to shoot out there. That was the one thing that could beat us. And just obviously a huge mental lapse there. But great players make great shots like that. If you told me we lost by a 30 foot fadeaway, Dane Lillard buzzer beater, you know what, it's just a pill we got to swallow. But it was tough and like you said, la, the Marcus Aldridge, he was, he was unbelievable that series. Some of the shots he was hitting were just incredible.
- [74:58]
Bill Simmons
So is there. I always kind of feel about, like, like last year, I think a good example was the Clippers Dallas series. And I'll bring you up to speed, so I don't feel like I'm putting you in a spot here, but there's all these players where I'm like, man, the Clippers are this motivated to bring Harden in now at this stage of his career, or, you know, even Dallas, like all the risk that was involved in the Kyrie acquisition, which has totally worked out for Dallas and Kyrie's been awesome for them and obviously out now with the injury. But I was talking about it where I said, this is why the scoring ability of these players, these special players, this is why no matter what the bumps are in their career, other general managers are going to go, you know what? Like, even if I know the issues, like that guy can get me some playoff buckets, can you help us understand like the difference between the playoff bucket getters versus the guy who's getting like 20 points a game in the regular season? Because I, I think they're asked to solve so many bad possessions that that's kind of where you make your name in this game.
- [76:02]
Ryan Resilio
Well, it's, it's. The game is more physical, the game is slower. You're playing more half court where possessions are way more valuable. So you get in the half court offense. And yeah, you want a James Harden that can kind of create contact and get to the free throw line, can kind of can control the game with the ball in his hand so well, as opposed to a player that's going to average in 20, playing up and down during the regular season, taking early threes and he might make 35, 40% of them. But those, those positions don't exist in the playoffs. I think just from a general manager aspect, it's a fickle job, man. So you Want guys that can help you win right now. So if I'm Nico, or if I'm, you know, the Lakers front office, I still, yeah, I want Kevin Durant this summer because he can help me win right now with LeBron James and Luka. Nico, I, yeah, I want, I'll pair him with a healthy AD and a healthy, and a healthy Kyrie. I'll take that risk because I know come playoff time now I have three options. I have three threats that are experienced, that have been there before, that we trust. And it's just more comfortable, you know, than some of these younger up and coming stars that have never done it before. They've never been there. So I think you always see teams kind of be aggressive to, you know, acquire the James Harden's, even the Westbrook. Look how well he's playing now in Denver. And he's just, he's just very comforting. When you look, go down the bench, you see Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul in San Antonio. Those guys, they've been there so many times. It's like clockwork.
- [77:23]
Bill Simmons
I talked about this. I've talked about it before. I talked about it in the Open today. So I'll, I'll share this with you and that you know, somebody who spends their life watching this game and never played at any level anyone would ever care about. And when I hear the former players that played, and I completely disagree, not saying you specifically, but like the example that I use is Tim Hardaway senior, like when he's coming on, talking about Bull Bull and comparing him with Wembanyama.
- [77:49]
Ryan Resilio
You'Re just like doubled down on our show yesterday.
- [77:53]
Bill Simmons
I know. And I go, Tim was a lot better at hoops than I was. But do you, do you think the players and the scores in particular, like, there's a love and respect that is almost too outsized. And I'm not even talking about Bull bowl anymore here, but that there are players that the players maybe like too much because they're so enamored with their scoring ability.
- [78:22]
Ryan Resilio
Yeah, well, also, I think it's all these arguments are generational, right? Like I play golf with John Barry all the time, who had a great long NBA career, not nothing crazy, nothing special, but he was 14, 13, 4 years. He thinks like John Applejack is better at basketball than like Damian Lillard. Like, it's just, it's all gener. It's. He's not like, it's just watch, like watch him play and then watch him play. Like I don't care the, the way it's officiated I don't care. It's, you know, it's, it's not even a fair argument for the, the guys back then because the, the amount of resources and, and, and medical advances that we have now, like, it's a stupid argument. So I, I think a lot of it stems from that and nostalgia of like the era you grew up in and what you, what you think is the best. And I think that'll never change. I think that's the beauty of it. When you go to the MJ LeBron argument, I don't think there's a right or wrong answer. But my eyes don't lie when I watch these freaks play now versus back in the day. Back in the day. And again the, the strength, the. The explosiveness, the athleticism. And again the. So differently now where you can't really. Well, I guess we'll never know, but it's just. I never understood. It's fun, it's silly.
- [79:33]
Bill Simmons
It's.
- [79:34]
Ryan Resilio
It's. But. Well, it's just, I guess the thing people like to debate, but it's. To me, it's generational.
- [79:41]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, but I mean, it'd be one thing, I guess, if Tim were saying maneuver on the generational part of it, but he's just, he's all in on.
- [79:48]
Ryan Resilio
I, I mean, I, I get what he was saying. Like the intangibles, the side. Like you see Bolt, like Jesus Christ, it's 75 and long and can handle it. See what he's saying and, and the potential of what Bull. Bull could possibly be one day. We haven't seen him turn into that yet, but we're comparing him to wimpy. Like the, the guy that's, I guess physically, I think is where he. Where it stemmed from. But. No. Well, you mean watch what. What are we doing?
- [80:18]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, I mean just his movement defensively, it's. It's two completely different. But again, we're not, not. We're not here to relitigate that one. But yeah, he doubled down on that one. You can check out Chandler every day. 10am Eastern on FanDuel. TV on Run it back with Beetle and our guy, Lou Williams. Thanks, man.
- [80:36]
Ryan Resilio
Appreciate it, buddy.
- [80:40]
Bill Simmons
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- [81:03]
Ryan Resilio
You want details?
- [81:04]
Chandler Parsons
Fine.
- [81:05]
Ryan Resilio
I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.
- [81:08]
Bill Simmons
What's up?
- [81:10]
Seruti
I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork.
- [81:13]
Ryan Resilio
I have every toy you can possibly.
- [81:14]
Bill Simmons
Imagine, and best of all, kids, I am liquid.
- [81:19]
Ryan Resilio
So now you know what's possible.
- [81:21]
Bill Simmons
Let me tell you what's required. Life advice. Our email address lifeadvicermail.com. before we get to the dudes here, just want to remind everybody that Ringer has a new 100 best sports moments of this century. Okay, so not 100 years. 2000 on. And I did a little video on that and my submission, because I think Bill's probably touched on the 2004 Red Sox comeback against the Yankees. Couple times in attendance for those. Yeah, Bill had done it, so I was like, well, if he's not going to do it, then I should do it. Because I still think, yeah, I'm a little biased. But considering it never happened before and the history of those two cities, why was it. What was number one? Serutti like that to me, still number one.
- [82:05]
Seruti
It's the helmet cat. Well, I guess I'm giving it away, but it's the helmet catch. Yeah, gross. Which Bill did do a video on too, so go ahead and watch that. He wanted to do the helmet catch.
- [82:12]
Bill Simmons
How was that number one?
- [82:14]
Seruti
Well, I didn't. I didn't get a vote. What do you want me to do? What do you want me to do? Didn't get a vote.
- [82:19]
Bill Simmons
What was number two? Simone Biles or something?
- [82:26]
Seruti
It was the block. LeBron 2016 finals.
- [82:29]
Bill Simmons
All right, you know what? The Tyree catch. Considering the Pats were undefeated and the moment, if you're going like the singular moment, that makes more sense. But LeBron blocking Iguodala to win the NBA Finals and ignoring the animosity of a century between New York City and Boston with those two baseball teams. I don't. I just don't. It's. It's the most Shakespearean thing you could ever possibly imagine.
- [82:53]
Seruti
So you'll appreciate this one. The. The. The kick six was. Was in the top five.
- [82:58]
Bill Simmons
I didn't expect there to be any college football in there, so.
- [83:00]
Seruti
No, it's a well rounded, messy. The World Cup Messi Argentina over Mbappe is number eight. So there's. We. It's a diverse group of things.
- [83:08]
Kyle
Do you think they'll amend it for Zubi Ejafor on Saturday? Probably not. 98 maybe.
- [83:15]
Seruti
Honorable mention. Hey, Kyle's got a. Kyle wrote a blurb for the site. He just wanted to get this, make sure we all knew about this. It's cool. The thing is really cool. You should check it out.
- [83:31]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, it's awesome. Yeah, the live videos are up. So I just remember I was at game three also, and I just. It was starting to wane a bit. It started to happen in 2003 when I was doing the show every day in Boston. And again, the oddity of caring that much about the outcome of those games. And then once everything started going the Red Sox way was slowly starting to matter to me less and less. So I got, like, screwed twice over on that relationship. But game three stung. Game three, Fenway 04, just. I was like, are you serious? Like, they're going to get swept. You just got embarrassed. And then over to like, let's see what Rooney's doing at the Baseball Tavern, which is always a great decision back in the day. All right, couple little feedback ones. Alone Alaska. Excuse me? Alone Australia sucks. Alone Alaska was good. I love alone. I've seen every season and could not fish finish alone Australia, they seem to have picked people who like to go camping occasionally, not actual survival experts like on the regular show. And the location sucks. It's just a mud pit and the fish they catch look gross. Worst season ever. Not a great review, but it was so efficient we had to read it.
- [84:44]
Seruti
Australia is one of those places. I. I don't have any interest in Australia. Too many snake. Got spiders.
- [84:50]
Bill Simmons
It's just snakes just out the whole thing. You're like, snakes.
- [84:53]
Kyle
I will say spiders are ridiculous.
- [84:55]
Seruti
Yeah. Like, you gotta, like, check your shoes every time you put them on. Like, there's snakes crawling up the freaking toilets. Like, what, does it get soft? I'm good, man.
- [85:05]
Kyle
Distance with the. Yeah, the distance with the. Like, there's probably more misses if you just put. Put your finger on a map in Australia than hits. So I don't know the distance.
- [85:13]
Bill Simmons
But then you don't go. You don't get dropped off.
- [85:16]
Kyle
I know you.
- [85:17]
Bill Simmons
I know. I'm just. You have to do a walkabout, Kyle. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to live show. Then we're gonna go looking for snakes.
- [85:27]
Seruti
Melbourne.
- [85:29]
Bill Simmons
Good. Really, really good job. That was good, Seruti. All right, let's get into. There's one that's a little on the grosser side, but I mean, you know, just science. It's really long. I don't know. Maybe I'll read it again before I want to decide. It feels like I. You know, with the new Tuesday Thursday thing, I feel like I don't see you guys for the longest time, which is weird. Which is sort of true, because instead of Friday to Monday, it's Thursday to Tuesday.
- [85:55]
Seruti
It's like, oh, we do see you on Sunday. We just don't.
- [85:57]
Kyle
We just don't do camera off for me though.
- [85:58]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, yeah, camera's been off for you for a while on that show.
- [86:08]
Kyle
What's the inbox looking like?
- [86:10]
Bill Simmons
All right, let's get to it. Father dating a woman my age. 6 foot 2, 180 D3 and lower level foreign pro league experience. All right, think Denny Avdia or salon pickup computer. Depends on the run. Matched up and beat Jamal Crawford and Joe Alexander in pickup games. The video with Joe is attached. Man. Joe Alexander. Dude's just still giving that guy shit after the high lottery pick. He was so good during that tournament run.
- [86:48]
Seruti
Was it eight? Yeah.
- [86:50]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. My father works in academia and lives. Works in China. He's been living in China because his previous misconduct at work is the reason he isn't working stateside. Or married to my mother.
- [87:01]
Kyle
That's got a white lotus situation.
- [87:03]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, well, actually. Good instincts, Kyle. He's 62 years old. Recently started dating a Brazilian woman two months younger than me. I am 28, so let's just say, depending on the birthday, she's 28. I understand this happens sometimes. However, he's a man who lacks soft skills and is not in great shape. They met through Facebook and apparently she wrote her undergraduate thesis on his math work. Oh, well, that's a. That's a real connection. I'm not even trying to be funny.
- [87:34]
Seruti
No, no, I agree. Yeah, because if it was just like some only fans chick, you'd be like, ah, this is like. Like, I don't know, maybe they do love Matt. They have common interest. Yeah.
- [87:43]
Kyle
Wait, so she found his work first or they hooked up and he did her homework for her?
- [87:48]
Bill Simmons
Not the second one.
- [87:49]
Seruti
I don't think so.
- [87:50]
Kyle
Not the second one. Okay. Okay.
- [87:51]
Seruti
Sounds like she was legit. I don't think you just get to write a thesis by doing nothing.
- [87:55]
Bill Simmons
So unless. Yeah, I mean, that's.
- [87:58]
Seruti
Maybe I'm wrong.
- [87:59]
Bill Simmons
She's actually. Yeah, she's not.
- [88:00]
Kyle
She's been on a generational run since high school.
- [88:05]
Bill Simmons
She just loves the size.
- [88:07]
Seruti
Yeah, just.
- [88:08]
Bill Simmons
What's the plural? Like, she's not even in. She's just. It's a hobby for her. No, I'll read this sentence again. They met through Facebook and apparently she wrote her undergraduate thesis on his math work.
- [88:21]
Kyle
Okay, so that's maybe where she became Aware of him.
- [88:24]
Bill Simmons
Okay, well, obviously she wrote a thesis about it. They recently visited his family in Israel. I guess we're not worried about him tracking this one down, because I think at this point we'd be able to connect a lot of dots. Meeting his family in Israel, and she had very little meaningful interaction with his mother and two sisters. She had no interaction. He's had no interaction with her family in Brazil at all. They're now trying to get married in Hong Kong. Her American visa was denied. And it seems likely to me that he is being financially scammed. It's hard for me to tell him this without animosity regarding the way he treated my mom or the way he fell short in parenting. Is there a way to warn him empathetically about what I see as a careless deep dive? It appears to me he is blinded by lust. Thank you. I love the show and recommend it to all my friends. Okay. Yeah.
- [89:11]
Kyle
So is it a scam when this is the age gap, or is every. Are all parties sort of. Do they all sort of read the disclaimer? I feel like. I don't know, man.
- [89:21]
Seruti
Honestly, this seems like less egregious than some other ones that we've seen where, like, you know, just like, hey, I'm just waiting for, you know, the check after death, and that'll be great. Like, she seemed. At least they got some common interests. But I don't know. I think the. I think the using thing is weird because, like, financially, yeah, she may be benefiting from this transaction, but it's. We love to ignore the fact that, like, maybe this guy's lonely and he needs some emotional support. He just wants somebody to be there with him. Even in his 60s, he's. He's getting something out of this transaction. So, like, I don't know. I. I kind of hate when people talk about it that way because it. It's almost like the guy part is forgotten. Like, oh, he's just being used. Well, he's also kind of using her because, you know, he. The only reason that this is happening is because he needs companionship. So. So I don't know if he's happy. I think he just got. He's 62. Like, let him. Just let him live.
- [90:08]
Chandler Parsons
Yeah.
- [90:08]
Kyle
I think when the age gap and the hotness gap, you know, resemble each other in a. And they're large, I think everybody's pretty much abreast of the situation. So I don't know.
- [90:19]
Bill Simmons
He is not hot yet, right? No. He sent a picture in.
- [90:25]
Seruti
He's not a Tom Cruise, 62. He's a normal. Normal 62.
- [90:28]
Bill Simmons
He's a math guy that other people do.
- [90:31]
Seruti
Their thesis is on sometimes. That's kind of hot, though, you know, like the professorial thing. Although I guess you're saying it's not that either. Yeah.
- [90:38]
Bill Simmons
Nope, it's not that either. I mean, he's got a fucking tough look going here. It's like a gym selfie with. With her taking the picture, obviously. And then he's.
- [90:48]
Seruti
No picture of her, though.
- [90:50]
Bill Simmons
No, she's next to him taking the picture.
- [90:53]
Kyle
And he looks happy, I bet, right? He looks super stoked.
- [90:56]
Bill Simmons
The smile on his face should be illegal, right?
- [91:00]
Kyle
Okay, there you have your answer. Can't put a price on a smile like that.
- [91:06]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, there's nothing you talk testosterone treatment, getting your vitamins and levels right. There is nothing that. I think older men can just be injected with sheer, like just sheer pure happiness than a younger woman being interested in them. Right? And even if they know the math on it, like this guy would, because it's his, you know, it's his lane, he probably doesn't really give a fuck. So I think, Saruti, you make a really good point. Off the top is like, this is all transactional. Like, most of this is all transactional for every single one of us. And why should we be giving this guy a hard time? However. However, I don't know what your dad's financial situation is. I don't know what your financial situation is. Situation is. Right. If my father had some coin and let's say projecting out average lifespan, he was going to be dead in 16 years and some family in Brazil was going to have all of the cash. That wouldn't sit well with me. I wouldn't be psyched about that part of it. But it sounds like this relationship is pretty strange. So, like the superpower of this woman that she has over your fathers. You can say all the right things. You could say that you could be right about every point that you're going to make. And he's not going to care because he's probably feeling a happiness that he hasn't felt before. I doubt anyone has ever been this attracted to him or at, you know, look, I'm not trying to diss your mom here, but you get the point. Like, this is probably something. Unless this is just his move and, you know, he's a worldly guy and this is kind of what he's prioritized. But I. I can see this a lot with older guys feeling like this part of their life never really Went the right way. You mentioned his misconduct. So maybe this is just sort of the way he's wired here a little bit. Yeah, I mean, this guy's basically out of the country because of some of the stuff that you're alluding to here. So has there ever been a moment that he was going to listen? I guess I'd ask the emailer, like, what are you really looking for? Are you looking to protect your dad? Are you looking to let him know how you finally feel? Because if he's been able to operate this way for this many years and this is where he's at now, it might feel good for you to say it. I doubt he's going to listen to you based on the behavior you've outlined in his just absolutely raging happiness that he's feeling having a 28 year old be physically attracted to him. And he doesn't give a shit about being used at all.
- [93:31]
Seruti
He's got the elixir of life, you know.
- [93:33]
Kyle
Yeah. I'll just say finally, I'm sorry you have to feel this way. Like, you know, there's some life advices we do that I feel like I can apply to my own life later on. It's like I told this guy what I would do in that situation. Maybe I'll try. It happens a lot. Helps me with like saying no to things and, and you know, making like split second decisions and low stakes things. I hope I never have to figure out how to deal with this. So just sorry you're dealing with that. I'm sure it's a gross feeling.
- [93:55]
Seruti
Well, you could probably still say though to your dad, like, just make sure you protect yourself. But at the end of the day, he's going to do what he's going to do.
- [94:00]
Kyle
Yeah, it's. You're like Ryan said, are you trying to protect him or are you trying to protect your inheritance a little bit. And if I think whichever way that is, maybe that's how you attack it from, he might respect where you're coming from more if you're a little bit more honest about what you want. So.
- [94:16]
Bill Simmons
All right, let's read it. It's long, but I'm gonna go with it. I just, I'm afraid it's fake, but. There we go. 511, 170, 40 years old. I live in the DC, Maryland, Virginia area. DMV. No player comp. But I've been told at various points in my life I look like Manu Ginobili. Last weekend my girlfriend and I went out for ramen. Just start for the non athletes out there. Just tell us who you look like.
- [94:45]
Seruti
That's not that bad. Come on.
- [94:47]
Kyle
No, it's not that bad, but I don't know. Not what I would pick.
- [94:51]
Seruti
You think, like, let me think.
- [94:55]
Kyle
Maybe I'm thinking late. Ginobly. Yeah. All right.
- [94:58]
Bill Simmons
Wait, you think Bojan Bogdanovich is ugly?
- [95:03]
Seruti
The seven foot four guy? Yeah. I was getting confused.
- [95:06]
Bill Simmons
Bobon.
- [95:07]
Seruti
Bobon. Yeah. Yeah. Wait, yeah, not the. Not the former Nick.
- [95:13]
Bill Simmons
That's a different one.
- [95:14]
Seruti
Yeah, he's not. Although he's not bad either. I don't know.
- [95:17]
Kyle
There's profiles of Ginobili that look.
- [95:19]
Bill Simmons
All right, never mind.
- [95:20]
Kyle
I take it back.
- [95:21]
Seruti
He's an Argentinian man. Heritage.
- [95:24]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, there you go. The Italians love, love Ginobly.
- [95:29]
Seruti
Well, the South American Italian heritage thing is just fascinating. I mean, well, we don't even get into that.
- [95:33]
Kyle
But yeah, we don't have to. We can fast forward.
- [95:35]
Seruti
Yeah, we're gonna let that one slide.
- [95:36]
Bill Simmons
Just started reading a book in Argentina. Can't wait to share it. A lot of Phil on Sundays.
- [95:42]
Kyle
A lot of second acts in Argentina.
- [95:46]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, look. And people have seen the X Men. All right, so last weekend, my girlfriend and I went out for ramen. I was feeling myself a little bit more than usual. So I went for a spice level 5 instead of my usual 3. A risk, but a tenable one. Crazy. Kyle knows Kyle. This is where Kyle shines. It was delicious. I felt fine. Nothing out of the ordinary. Stomach wise. After consuming it, we walked home from the restaurant and upon returning, I decided to take our dog out to the local park across the street from our apartment. Just to get it it out of the way for the night. At this point, my stomach felt slightly off, but no big deal. Many minutes passed as I waited for our dog to do her business in a light drizzle. That's when my stomach began to feel not great. I shrugged it off, but became increasingly worried. I told myself I would use the restroom when I got home and everything would be fine. But then matters escalated. The dog had not finished yet, but I started to bring her back to our building as quickly as I could. About a minute from the front door. With other dog owners in the vicinity, I began taking smaller steps. Worry too much movement would jar things loose and I would not be able to stop sweating a little bit.
- [96:50]
Kyle
Yeah.
- [96:50]
Bill Simmons
Then things escalated again. My walk slowed to we will crawl. I clutched as hard as I could. I clutched my life. There were people nearby. I did not want to do any of this, but it was no use. I Shit myself. Yeah, yeah, there you go. The dog began sniffing me. Fuse. I reached for my phone to call my girlfriend to help, realizing I'd forgotten it. Upstairs in our apartment, I panicked. Worried the other dog owners would see my destroyed designer sweatpants. Zara sweatpants. He admits, Zara. Maybe he's not top of the line, so we're just editing here. So I immediately retreated across the street back to the park. I did not know what to do. I went back to my building. I feared I would be found and outed as a pant shitter. And it was clear that what I had done to myself, I might be trapped in the elevator with another dog owner, which would be horrible for everyone. So I improvised. I sat in a big rain puddle.
- [97:48]
Seruti
Oh, man. We're just.
- [97:50]
Kyle
I mean, I don't know, maybe. You think maybe that'll do something.
- [97:53]
Bill Simmons
And then the mud. Hoping this would help conceal my accent and hopefully the smell. If anyone looked at me funny, I would say I fell. After a few minutes of wallowing, I again crossed the street and waited nervously outside my building for the lobby to be clear, then made a dash to the elevator, hoping I would not run into anyone, nor the front desk person would notice me other than, of course, briefly bumping into a neighbor I know who seemed confused by my appearance. I made it all the way back to my apartment without further incident. Upon open opening the door, I screamed to my girlfriend to bring me a fresh trash bag. Excuse me, he says trash bag. I think trash bags are generally considered a new one would be fresh, right? So let me reread that because I just think every detail should be to the utmost, you know, level here. I screamed to my girlfriend to bring me a trash bag, take the dog, and to not ask any questions. I made my way to our guest bathroom, threw all my clothes away, including my shoes, got into the shower, began the cleansing process. Of course, my girlfriend came in and asked what had happened as I showered. So then came my dilemma. Normally, I would just tell her what happened. She's super cool. But occurred to me that we had a special night planned at a hotel the next night. I did not want to do anything to make her even temporarily less attractive to me and to potentially jeopardize the proceedings. But I knew she had to have smelled the foulness that encircled me when I entered our apartment. So my options were limited. Was it less attractive if I did this to myself or less attractive if I was covered in the shit of another? I made my choice. I told her I slipped and fell into a Pile that some drifter must have left in the park. After showering vigorously and using every cleansing soap, every cleaning soap we had available in our guest room shower, even accidentally using the dog shampoo. At one point we sat down on the couch and she was very concerned I'd fell in someone else's feces. It's possible. It's probably not healthy. Diseases, et cetera. So eventually I came clean. You tried at least and told her what really happened. I expect her to be completely turned off and she definitely was. But what I did not expect was she would be hurt. Hurt because I did not tell her the truth the first time. Everything seems okay now. Although I wonder if she's still hurt that I didn't tell her the truth right away. The dog is traumatized. That is my story. I'm not looking for advice, just solace. I've never been that guy. Also, it was my birthday. Thank you.
- [100:13]
Kyle
If you have a day in between, it like resets, you know, that's okay. If you guys were checking in later that day, maybe I would think about lying about this. But one day.
- [100:23]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, I'll tell her you're in a panic. People are going to freak out, they're going to lie, you know. Sure. Like you, you have to cover your tracks. Yeah. At the whole point I thought we were going to be telling him, like, eventually she will get over. And she should get over it because you're in an absolute panic and you're freaking out. And when something like that is about to go down and you're trying to prevent this awful scenario that you just went through, you know, you're making quick decisions. I mean, this is ultimate, like flight combat training. Gotta think, you know, like, what do I do? And the fact that you didn't want to immediately share with her everything that had just happened to you, which is just science because you went level five. No, she should understand that. She should understand. She should be happy that you cared enough about your impression to her that you weren't running in, telling her immediately. Door open. Hey, can you help grab a brush? You know that the relationship is so desensitized that you're not even worried about how she perceives you. That's really the win. And I would take that advice. Even wanted me to kind of get in there with it, but yeah, I don't. I mean, look, nobody's having a good time. When the body decides you're losing tonight.
- [101:43]
Seruti
Did they say their is his girlfriend? Not his wife. Right?
- [101:46]
Bill Simmons
Girlfriend. Yeah.
- [101:47]
Seruti
So, yeah.
- [101:48]
Kyle
Living though. Live in. Right.
- [101:50]
Ryan Resilio
Yeah.
- [101:50]
Seruti
I think there is a. That is a pretty big difference, though. I mean, with my wife now. I mean, we've had a kid. I was in the room for the birth. I'll be in the room for the second one. Good for you. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I think I feel like years of people telling me like, oh, my God, you're going to be north or south. And it was like, never heard.
- [102:07]
Kyle
Never heard a good story about it.
- [102:08]
Seruti
Yeah, I have a good story, actually. It was all right. I don't.
- [102:12]
Bill Simmons
Maybe just because I went 10, Williams went fishing.
- [102:14]
Seruti
Good for him. You know, different time, different era. Anyway, I say all that to say that, you know, there's not a lot of secrets between me and my wife. So if I did do something like this, there's absolutely no way I wouldn't tell her right away. If we were living together, you know, even if it was a few years, I'd probably try to have some sort of decency and some, you know, keep some mysteries about our relationship. I had a close call in Target last weekend. True story. I just had a coffee, didn't really eat a ton, and was looking at some T shirts, and it just kind of happened. I texted my wife, who's a different section. I was like, hey, could you bring the card over? I gotta drop my stuff off. It's an emergency. She came right over, knew what the deal was, and I had a. I used the services at Target, but it was a close call.
- [102:58]
Kyle
Yeah, I don't. I. I think it's. I think the bond is stronger. Live in, like, you probably thought about it for a while, especially this day and age, right? People are moving a little slower. If you moved in, I think. I think you, you know, your skill points are up there. You've unlocked a new tier of the tree where you can share this sort of stuff. I mean, we moved in. My wife and I moved in during the pandemic in 2021. And it was the move in day, and we just got everything done. Nothing was unpacked. And I just. I was like, guess what just happened? She was like, are you serious? Like, we don't have anything unpacked. It was like, not the first night you want. And, you know, we weren't married until like three years after that. But I mean, I just was like, we're living together now and what a strange first day, huh? But I was. I was okay with it.
- [103:41]
Seruti
You just ripped the band aid right off day one.
- [103:43]
Kyle
Yeah, I was actually just like, do you know where the stuff is? Because we've got, like, we don't have a shower curtain up here. What are we gonna do here?
- [103:51]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. Yeah. That was, like, the first pilot lesson I ever took where, you know, we're off the ground. And, I mean, I took us off the ground first lesson. Guy's like, you're gonna pull back on the yoke. Joking. I'm like, are you fucking serious? I was outside of this thing 10 minutes ago, and I'm like, lift off, rye. So I hear you, Kyle.
- [104:17]
Kyle
Can I give you a funny one? Because I don't think we'll ever be on this topic again.
- [104:21]
Bill Simmons
It'll be the last time. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I don't want to make this a normal thing.
- [104:24]
Kyle
Yeah, no, but this is a good one that I don't think it will ever come up. So I was a camp counselor, probably back in, like, 2010, 2011. And I was taking. It was summer camp, just a day one. No one was sleeping over anything. And this kid, he was like, six years, seven years old. He crapped his pants. And I'm bringing him to the locker room. It was like a country club thing. Casperkill, shout out. And I was bringing him to the bathroom, and I'm like, all right, I guess we'll figure out what to do here. And as I opened the door to the locker room for him, I also crapped my pants. Totally had no idea it was coming. It wasn't like a. It wasn't like a race to the finish. It just happened. And I had to call my dad.
- [105:01]
Bill Simmons
It was, like, airborne.
- [105:03]
Kyle
It was crazy, dude. It was just like, what are the chances? And I had to call my dad, who. Who was like, five. I don't know, five minutes in the air. We live. We live really close. And. And so I'm. So the kid's all, like, fixed up, and he's like, all right, we can go back. I'm like, hold on. Just wait a. Just wait a few minutes. And he's like, the kid is confused. And then my dad opens the locker room because it was like a. It was a. A shared locker room for, like, the people that were at the pool in the country. And he just like, hey, hey, Kyle, I got your new underwear and shorts for you because you crapped your pants. He thought it was funny. And I was just like, dad, there's, like, a camper in here. But that's, like, you know, dad humor. Anyway, I thought that was.
- [105:36]
Bill Simmons
That's ironic and funny.
- [105:37]
Seruti
Yeah, it's a Tough one.
- [105:38]
Kyle
I never forgot it. I certainly never forgot it.
- [105:42]
Bill Simmons
You just shit your layout. Here.
- [105:44]
Kyle
Come on. You got something for us? Never again, dude. Come on.
- [105:50]
Seruti
I don't think I really got much. Sorry, guys.
- [105:53]
Bill Simmons
All right, that is Thursday. Glad to.
- [105:55]
Seruti
Come on. Good dog.
- [106:03]
Bill Simmons
All right. Yeah, I think that'll do it for us. And, yeah, you know, I stay away.
- [106:07]
Kyle
From level five, dude.
- [106:08]
Bill Simmons
Come on.
- [106:09]
Kyle
Especially Asian cuisine. I mean, if it says spicy on the menu, on doordash, I'm just like, well, that's not for me. If they're saying it's spicy, you know, they'll say mild, and it'll be more than I can handle. Just that the Agent spice, I think scale is just not calibrated for me.
- [106:24]
Seruti
Yeah, you know what's crazy about that.
- [106:25]
Bill Simmons
Is I. Scovilles are off.
- [106:27]
Seruti
Their Scovilles are way off. Yeah, I got, like, a mango curry from this Thai place that. That we really like. And it was the first. It was the first time we ordered it where they asked, like, one through five, what level we want. We just usually get whatever they provide us. So I, I. So I. My wife was like, what do we get? Because we got the same thing. I was like, well, three's, like, right in the middle. A little spicy. Whatever, dude. Three was like. I couldn't even believe it. I must have been getting a one the entire time because it was unreal. Yeah, it was a struggle if you were.
- [106:54]
Bill Simmons
If you were married and the wife was like, I'm sorry, I'm out. I'm leaving you. Could you sue people probably sued for dumber reasons. Although this guy admitted. He admitted that he went for the level five. So, like, in Su's case. Anyway, look, that'll do it for us today on the show Thursday, maybe we'll ask Suti why he's buying his T shirts at Target.
- [107:15]
Seruti
No, like, undershirts. You know the undershirts. Dude, don't. Don't hate on Target. Target's a good spot, but no, they like the white undershirts.
- [107:23]
Kyle
The white tees are right now.
- [107:24]
Bill Simmons
All right, all right, all right. My bad, my bad. I thought. I thought you were like, Check out the graphics. What do they got?
- [107:32]
Kyle
What do they got for March?
- [107:33]
Bill Simmons
The summer line's already out.
- [107:35]
Kyle
Oh, dude, they brought the ACDC one back.
- [107:37]
Seruti
Gonna give Miller light T shirt. Yeah.
- [107:43]
Bill Simmons
All right. Thanks to Ceruti. Thanks to Kyle, thanks to Oregon. Thanks to Jonathan Frias. Our podcast, of course, now is a full video podcast up on the Spotify app. So when you listen to us, you can watch the entire episode and see the moments where I forget that we're being filmed. You can also see our YouTube page where on Friday we'll be releasing Are we just doing a straight up mailbag again?
- [108:04]
Seruti
Mail it in Friday and do a mail it in Friday. So maybe some over under properly. Properly rated. And then potentially a solo history fact if you want to provide one for us. Because you haven't done it. Yeah, Kyle and I have.
- [108:15]
Bill Simmons
I know. I've been reading a ton. A ton. I'm so into this Civilization book right now. Everybody should be reading it. Everybody. I've got two more volumes to go though, so 2400 pages this year. I don't know if I'm going to get to it all with other things that pique my interest. All right. This is the part of the podcast where I look at my library and see the to do stack. So we'll move on. So we will have that. So subscribe to our YouTube page and as always, check out the podcast. Ryan Resilo Foreign must be 21 and older President select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18+ and present in D.C. gambling problem. Call 1-800- gambler or visit rg-help.com, call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut IT or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text HOPE NY in New York.