Jessie Lopez
Appearances
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
You're listening to the Bill Simmons podcast presented by FanDuel. FanDuel Sportsbook is the best place to bet on the NBA. We have these fun little Tuesday, Friday player performance stuff. We have same game parlays. We have picks for me sometimes and boosts and all kinds of fun things. Get ready in the playoffs. Download the FanDuel Sportsbook app today. to get in on the action.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
We recorded right after Rory McIlroy won the Masters, and we thought it was going to be an NBA podcast, but we ended up talking about golf for the first 30 minutes. Then we went right into Game 82, Clips Warriors, all the playoff matchups, things we've noticed, some award stuff we're trying to figure out. And it's a really good podcast. First, our friends from Pearl Jam.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Oh, interesting.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I'm just talking about when you feel something that you feel like you can do, but then your heart starts pounding and the pressure comes in because it could be anything, right? I remember the first time I hosted PTI. Yeah, that's a good one. 10 minutes before and you kind of sit down, you're getting in and they hook you in. And I was just like, I'm fucking terrified.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I'm like, literally, I'm terrified. And I wonder like in sports, you're not going to be like that because it's repetition and you've done so many things. But I'm sure there's moments where you're like, I'm good. I've done this a million kajillion times, but I'm still kind of terrified. And golf has to be the number one for that. I think tennis is a good one.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Where it's like, oh, I got to get this serve in. I'm down 30, 40. I've got to get this first serve in. And that's just a different, once you start thinking about it, it's different. Basketball. Like I remember the scariest free throws. I've talked about this. Scariest free throws I ever saw were the Ray Allen shot game.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
When it looked like the game was over and then Miami hit the three and they fouled Kawhi and they were, San Antonio was up two and they came to our side where our set was. And the crowd was just so loud and things were shaking. And Kawhi was like, what, 22? He had to make these two free throws basically to quench the game. And I was just watching going, this seems too hard.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I don't know how he's going to make this. And he missed the first one. He made the second. But when you're in the vicinity of something like that and you can actually feel the pressure and you're just a bystander, it's unreal. I've been lucky enough to have been to a lot of different games and events where you've had that feeling.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And it's just, there's no way you can't feel it even if you're a player. Like even like Clippers Rockets when the Clippers collapsed in 2015, like you could feel that in the arena. You could feel the energy shifting. So I'm sure you feel it in golf too. Not to mention the nerves.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Well, my buddy, Nathan Hubbard, who co-hosts the Fairway Rolling podcast with House and his brother's on the tour, Mark, and he's talked about this on the podcast, so I'm not talking out of school. Mark got to like 63 one year, right? He was really close. And Nathan's dream as his brother is for him to crack it and make the Masters and have his brother be at the Masters. That's like the dream.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And he's come close. And it's what you're talking about. He's got 95% of it and he can't just put together the four straight days in a row or the nine holes when he really needs it in a big tournament or whatever the one thing you need to get in the top 10 to get some exemption. And it's always like one shot, one hole where it can't happen. And there's probably like dozens of guys like him, right?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
They're almost there and it's just like... I even look at the NBA. Some of the guys that we talk about that we like watching. And you think like, is Cam Whitmore sitting on the Rockets bench going, if I just got playing time, I could potentially be an all-star? There's got to be like 50 guys in the league right there, right? Tari Eason's like, I'm a second-team all-defense guy.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I just don't get enough minutes. So yeah, it's a razor-thin margin. I think the one thing with Rory... And I just think in general, authenticity is making a big kind of comeback push in the mid-2020s. And we had this whole era with sports with the guys being told to fall down when they win a tennis tournament. You could see cut to the coach waving for, what was it, Agassi?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Go down, go down after he won. People trying to manipulate certain moments. Watching Roy just collapse is, And just be that overcome by winning. That, to me, was the most authentic thing we're probably going to see this year, I would guess.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
You're pandering to whatever you think people want to hear you say.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
All right, we are recording. It is 4.30 Pacific time. Just watch the playoff hole of the Masters. We're going to talk a lot of basketball later, but that was one of the most emotional Masters of all time. And I was trying to think, Rosillo. How many times have you seen a guy just pull the monkey off his back like that in your lifetime that you can remember?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Well, it's one of the reasons I think you and I have gravitated to Edwards, Anthony Edwards in basketball because he's just authentic all the time. Did you see?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Oh my God. What crowd was that? It was two nights ago, I think. Oh, yeah, one of the latter. Oh, my God.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
But he knows he's going to take shit for certain things, and he's pretty open about it.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah, that's one. Well, we'll see when he plays the Lakers. Yeah, but now that Rory has this off his back, I don't know who the next guy is. I guess it's...
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Well, I was, I was going to say, uh, Lamar, Josh Allen, maybe James Harden. I'm trying to think of guys in different sports who monkey on the back guys, uh, Um, Lamar's not old enough yet. Like Rory, we have some, we had some, some real years here and then we had us open last year and we've had some suffering and, and time spent invested in him getting over the hump for forever.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
So it almost has to be Lamar's almost too young. We don't have enough losses yet. Josh Allen's too young. Like Harden would be an interesting one. Because I think there'd have to be... Harden wins four straight rounds.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Because we've had different versions of it, right? Like we had LeBron in 2016, like bringing Cleveland the title. You have John Elway and Denver in 97. There's just not a lot of those. I'm kind of choked up. I don't know what to do. You sound a little off, but in a good way. It was an emotional thing. I really thought not only did he blow it,
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Harden's made the playoffs every year. Ray Bork is a good example. Because anything that happened to him was not by his doing. He was fucking awesome on the Bruins. I loved the Bruins back then. And it really came down to they were always like a third line center too short or one defenseman short. They never spent quite enough money around him. But he was awesome. And nobody ever blamed Ray Bork.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
So then when he finally went to Colorado and he won, and I was living in Boston back then, I think you were too, everyone went to bars to root for Colorado so that Ray Bork could finally get one because we love Ray Bork. We wanted him to get one. He didn't have the kind of tragedy and the ups and downs of somebody like Rory. So I don't know. I don't know who it is.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Rory was clearly the most popular. It could be Alcarez. Well, Alcarez has already won. I don't know. I don't know who it is.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
That was his answer. Yeah.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Ray Bork was in one of the great authentic Boston sports moments ever when he gave the jersey to Espo. when they were retiring Esposito's jersey and Ray Bork was wearing number seven because they had traded Esposito to the Rangers and there was a little bit of bad blood. So then Bork came in and he was the rookie and he was awesome.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And then at some point in the 80s, they had Espo night and Bork came in and took his jersey off and he had the 77 underneath and he just gave Espo his jersey. It's fucking amazing. Amazing sports moment.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
No, I've always heard he was kind of kind of kind of lit. It was letting it fly. Yeah. I'm on the radio show.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Let's take a break, and then we have a lot of basketball to hit because today— Nothing?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Well, I'll tell you this. On Wednesday, I split up with the group I was with, and I was with Nathan and I think Chang. And we just ended up on the fifth hole watching them putt. And it was Rory, it was Lowry, it was Jon Rahm, and it was Fleetwood. And in the practice round, you can kind of, like, you're just fucking around. You can basically hit with whoever.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I think they let them decide a little bit. So the four of them were playing. They were all gambling. And they were clear they were buddies. And we were right there when they were all teeing off in the sixth hole. And we felt like Lowry and Rory were betting. So we were all excited, like, oh, I wonder what they're betting, like getting there, kind of keeping track and just, they seem loose.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
It's one of those things that just hangs with you for the rest of your career and becomes one of the first things mentioned. That's the point where we were hitting some sort of crossroads with his career that I don't know if you can come back from.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And it was one of the reasons I picked Rory to win because I was like, Rory seems loose. He's like betting with Lowry, this seems good. Fast forward to when he wins today, Lowry was one of the guys waiting for him, like almost like he was a family member. I don't know if you saw that. Rory comes off the course and he's hugging different things.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
He sees Lowry, like huge long hug and like high fives and then Fleetwood, same thing. And I was like, oh, those must be like, That's like his Ryder Cup crew, all his dudes. But anyway, it stuck out because we had that moment on Wednesday. We were like, wow, Roy seems loose. This is a good sign because coming off last summer, who knows? All right, we're going to take a break. We'll talk.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
We'll talk a little Warriors Clips and some playoffs and some All-NBA. All right, game of the day, game 82, which I think was a lot more fun last year. This year, we knew a lot of the matchups and the records, but we did have this incredible Clippers-Warriors game that it's tough. Every time there's a great game, you want to do the game of the year.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
But I think that actually might have been the game of the year because there were real stakes and both teams really wanted it. And I think both teams wanted the rest. I don't even think it was about the matchups as much as can we get five, six days off here? The Warriors definitely wanted it because they have an older team and the Clippers are playing this, you know, they have Kawhi Jenga.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And the game was fascinating for a whole bunch of different reasons. The Clippers win. And I'm going to start here because I felt that way before the game. I think the Clippers are the second best team in the West. Okay. Counter. Any counter?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And the weight of that is almost, it's worse than actually just winning the Masters and getting that off, you know, because you have to live with that the rest of your life, basically.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And by the way, The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit theringer.com slash RG to learn more. Listen to the end of this episode for additional details. Must be 21 plus presidents like states game problem call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit RG-HOPE.com. Coming up, an absolutely incredible day for TV watching in sports. It's all next.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
what's, what's talk zoo because I think it ties into a bigger thing with the Clippers. Um, I think he's going to be on the 13 mile NBA for me and I'll make the case for it later.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Um, but I can't believe, and I've been watching him really carefully the last month because it was jumping out at me during games, started looking at the stats, started talking to some people, um, asking like, am I crazy or is zoo bots like incredibly important in this team? And they see kind of better than people realize. You watch the game today. He was awesome in that game.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I mean, I don't know how many times he defended the rim against somebody and either thwarted a drive or changed somebody's direction on a drive, but it was between 15 and 20. Not to mention the alley-oop stuff, not to mention the rebounds. And he plays. He plays big minutes every game. And I think he's played 79 games this year. He's like 32, 33 minutes a game. And he doesn't get in foul trouble.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
So like the thing I was thinking with all NBA was I've had Jaron Jackson in there all year. And I just watching Zubats going, this guy plays all the time. He stays on the court. He's gotten better as the year goes along. And to me, like the guy that he really reminds me of is Gasol on the Grizzlies. that 2013, 14, 15 era Gasol.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
He's not the passer Gasol was, but his big, how he's always in the right positions with his hands up. Players on the other team are always afraid of him protecting the rim. He grabs, he's a better rebounder than Gasol was. And if you watch what the Warriors today, when they were posting up Zubats, the Warriors were reacting and sending a double every time.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And the Clippers, when they need baskets sometimes, they run stuff through him so to set up the other guys. I just think, I think he's the third best center in basketball right now behind Towns and Jokic. Obviously, Jokic is number one, but I think he's third. I really do.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
No, it's gotten to the point where you almost feel like they have to hold on when he's out. That's how I felt in the fourth quarter. You had these Ben Simmons minutes and you're like, they just got to make sure they don't fall down eight before Zubach comes in. That's how important he's become for them. And all the Clipper fans, that's all they talk about.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
They think he's the most underrated guy in the league. They're like Scientologists about it.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
But there was this Ben Simmons stretch.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Is there a Zubach festival?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
There was a Ben Simmons stretch where the Warriors were like, you know what? Fuck this. We're going zone. Ben Simmons, knock yourself out at the foul line. Try to make some plays. And it was brutal. Like, legit brutal. And then he finally made one pass and got an assist. But I don't know if that's sustainable for them in the playoffs, any Ben Simmons minutes. Now, they didn't have Batum today.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And I think Batum is really important for them. And actually, they can... as crazy as it sounds, against the right team, even go super small with him and maybe not play Ben Simmons at all. But I just think the way Kawhi's playing, you mentioned that, was he 24-7 since the All-Star break and getting shots, getting to his spots. Defensively, he's starting to look
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Not 100% like San Antonio Kawhi, but he's like, you know, it's reminiscent.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And nobody's fouling him intentionally either because that's the other piece you can do in the playoffs, just try to take him out. Maybe teams wouldn't want to do that because they want him to stay on the court.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
It's like that Pats, the second Pats giant Super Bowl when Chad. Exactly. Chad Ochocinco was the second receiver for the Pats. And I was at the game and you could see the entire Giants coverage was like, we don't have to worry about that side of the field. We could just cover him with one guy. The safety doesn't even have to shade over. That's Ben Simmons on offense. You don't have to shade over.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
It's like, what's he going to do? Can't shoot. Doesn't want to shoot. He's not going to drive to the basket because he doesn't want to get fouled. So they're just trying to survive five minutes game. Back to Zubats. So he's plus 9.2 net heading into the game today. By far the best clipper. He's played 2,600 plus minutes. He leads the league in offensive rebounds. For the year, he's 17 and 13.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Since the All-Star break, he's 20 and 13. I think he's had 15 double doubles in a row. He's shooting 65% since the All-Star break. And he stays on the court. That's the thing, like Jaron Jackson, I just feel like if I, like, would you be shocked in the playing game if Jaron Jackson has five fouls with 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter of the playing game?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
You wouldn't be because he can't stay on the court. Zubach contests all the time with his hands up, but he stays in the court. So I don't know. I just think with him and Leonard and Harden, that's not the best big three of the 16 playoff teams, but it's a legitimate big three if Kawhi is going to play this way, I think.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And maybe grab like one more rebound a quarter would be awesome.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Maybe get to like nine rebounds.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I noted it because it was weird to see, I don't want to use the word bullied, but basketball bullied, where he just was too strong for Butler. And you always assume Butler, in your head, he's like 6'9", 240. It gives you a chance.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Kawhi's like, oh, this is great. Jimmy Butler's on me. He's not afraid of him. He's not going to get in an alpha battle with him. He's just going to do his machine thing. The other piece was Zubats and Harden together. Harden's had this before because he had it on the Rockets with Dwight during the last kind of stages of Dwight's prime. And then Capella too.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
But I mean, I'm talking big physical centers that are around the rim. And he really used Dwight. I mean, they made the 2015 West Finals. That team was good. I think what he's established with Zubats is... is pretty great. They're really attuned. They'll run that high screen at the very top, and then Zubats will roll down, and he's almost like a left tackle.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
He's just kind of barreling at the guys, knocking guys over, and Harden always seems to know exactly where he is. I think they're really good. I was talking to a bunch of Clipper fans over the last couple days, and they were kind of deep down wondering if they were better off going to the seventh seed and winning the playing game and then playing Houston.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
But the rub on that is you don't get the six days of rest for a Kawhi. So this worked out perfectly. I will say, I don't think it would have been a disaster for them if they fell to seven. I think this is worse for the Warriors because I don't think they want to put miles on these dudes. And I think it's creaky to begin with.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
We've seen some games like they had that third and four last week and that Sunday game where Houston just annihilated them athletically and just seemed like they were 10 years younger than them. So now you're putting miles on them in the Tuesday game with Memphis. Now you're starting the playoffs. You just don't. It's just you're adding miles to a team that doesn't need miles.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Curry already looks, you know, I don't know how many injuries he's nursing at this point, but it's at least three.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
It felt like he was taking over the game and then he didn't shoot again for a while.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Well, but it was the second shot on 18 that starts it, right? All he has to do is basically do it in the playoff hole. Just get in, two putt, you win the Masters. He's in the trap. Then the hit out of the trap, just not quite close enough, but he's got some work left. And that's golf. You need a four, he gets a five. It seemed like Rose was hot.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
The free throws are huge. They stop the game. They put pressure on the other team. He's so competitive. The Clippers are a bad matchup for them. They've been a bad matchup for them for a couple years. I've been to games where I was like, how are the Clippers winning this? They would just be able to turn it on. I don't know.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I wonder in a weird way if this Memphis play-in game is easy for the Warriors. and they get the 2-7 with Houston, and they can somehow from a health standpoint be okay. This probably worked out. I know not getting the rest sucks, but playing a Houston team that has no playoff pedigree at all, that's like a really, really young playoff team going against Steph and Jimmy and Draymond, right?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And you can take that one and then round two, potentially the Lakers... Or Minnesota. But if it's the Lakers, I think that Warriors match up really well with the Lakers. They're just going to play small against the Lakers. It's small ball against small ball. And I think they're going to be really comfortable against them.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
They're bulky. They're a bulky team.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah, they got a lot of girth.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
It's the worst ever.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Well, in this case, it would be Shingun. Like, what do we do? Do we keep Looney out? Because did you notice in that Cooper game, the Warriors were playing really well with about four minutes left and Draymond wasn't out there. And it was Looney because they needed him for Zubats. And Draymond was on the bench. And the Warriors, the ball was moving. They looked good.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And it got to the point where I was like, I wonder if they're going to bring Draymond in. And then obviously they went to commercial, came back, they brought him in. But, you know, when he's not out there sometimes, I'm not saying they're better without him, but there's lineups without him that I kind of like. especially when Podzemski and Butler are flying around.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I think Moody, Moody's turned into a guy that I really feel like is a guy now. Like defensively, he's really, really high level. Don't you think?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
In the betting market heading into the playoff, I think Rory was still favored, which I was really surprised by because sometimes you watch those and you're like, how is this guy going to bounce back from this? But he bounced back. One of the great shots. I was thinking watching him today, he's like one of those basketball players that just gets hot and cold during the same game.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah. I mean, that game they played Thursday, Friday. And again, older team, and they just seem like they had no legs for that Houston game. But that's also the fear if you're playing Houston, because that team is always going to have energy. They're a really tough team. One of the things I love... They had a day off, though.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I'm saying that Thursday, Friday, those were two tough ones in a row because they're playing contenders. No, you're right. Those were big-time games. E-May will definitely... He's proven he does not kowtow to the super duper stars in the league. He likes to start ship to them, talk to them, likes to get his guys fired up to go against them. And they have a bunch of pit bulls to throw at Curry.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
They have a low post guy that's going to either force Draymond to have to guard a center or they could go that double big lineup, which I think is... Not going to be easy for the Warriors. I don't love the matchup for them, but man, that Rockets playoff inexperience. You saw today, I kind of feel like they wanted that Nuggets game. Did you watch the first half of that? Do you have that on?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
They played everybody and they were playing hard. They wanted the game. I think But knowing a little bit about EMA, I think he was like, look, this is a playoff game for us. Let's treat it like a playoff game. Let's see what we got. And they sucked. So not awesome for them. And conversely, that was the best game I've seen Denver play in a while.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And maybe this new coach thing, if you read about all the dysfunction that was going on behind the scenes, maybe there's something to it. It's like peeling off a huge Band-Aid and just being like, fuck it.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
You know, like Steph's a little bit like this, right? Like Steph today was like one for five in that Quipper game. And then all of a sudden he gets hot and he's just making everything for about eight minutes. And that's a little what the rollercoaster rider Rory is like during these tournaments. He looks amazing, amazing, amazing. Then all of a sudden it falls back.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Is that true? Oh my God, you're right.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Well, the good news is I think Memphis just looks awful. I mean, you're not catching a team at a better time than whatever is happening with this Grizzlies team right now. So I'm not too concerned about the Warriors. They did something weird that I don't remember with the schedule. And I'm excited to talk about the matchups.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
There's no Thursday game this year, which I'm pretty sure that wasn't the case the last couple of years. Both of the playing games are Friday. Maybe they did that before and I just forgot. So if for some reason the Warriors lost that Tuesday game, they'd have to play Friday and then immediately... on Sunday, which would not be awesome for them.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Can we talk about all the matchups that came out of this quick? So we were as Rockets, which we hit. Do you share my same concerns with Houston? Like, yeah, I know it's in there, but playoffs are a different animal. Do you have another level to go to? Or do you think there's something more there that I'm not seeing?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Conference was so much weaker and more injuries, all kinds of stupid stuff.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Then he comes back the other way and it's just the swings of golf. But I think the one thing that's different this time around is people wanted it so badly for him. You could feel it when we were on the course on Tuesday and Wednesday. Like he's clearly the most popular. you know, guy at the tournament. Now he's taking the tiger spot.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
It's a team that looks better when they're up 10. I think this series will, I think, set the standard for for lobbying the press between games to get whatever agenda you want from, from, from the next game, you know, Kerr's going to be working hard the whole, uh, the whole Houston hold staff away from the ball. They're too physical with them. They're getting way with stuff. They'll send clips.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
They'll do that whole thing. And then, you know, there'll be a backlash to that. And I just think it's going to be a war of words. Um, but you also have, you've Dylan Brooks in this series, pre-storied history with Golden State. Um, you have a golden state Houston history. That's pretty good.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
So if this is what we end up with, um, and, and a weird matchup where you have size against a team that doesn't really want to play with size and then older, older perimeter guys against this kind of new wave of perimeter guys who we haven't really seen in the, in the spotlight like this. So, um, It's a good one. I would personally still take Golden State if I had to.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Do you want to guess the line? Oh, they don't have a line for that yet.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I do have lines for the other two. Have you looked or no? I haven't. Okay. Let's play a quick guess the lines. Trademark Cousin Sal.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Okay. Go ahead. Lakers, Minnesota. LA has home court. What do you think the line is on FanDuel right now?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Wow, that was really good. Minus 172. We'll talk about that in one second. Denver Clippers, what do you have? Denver as home court.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Nuggets minus 144. Sounds like we have some wagers to make. I felt the same way. I thought it would be like a pick-em. And maybe it will be by the time we get there. Clippers and six is an interesting bet. And then in the East, which you probably already know.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Um, but people, when you have that, when you have the emotion of all the people with you, they had that cut, just that cutaway. When the people on 18 who were just waiting, the scoreboard changed and reflected that his score had gone back, that he got in the, uh, the double, uh,
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I'm 100% picking him against Denver. And it feels like we're in a Law & Order SVU episode. Where it's like, I've watched this exact episode 13 times. Why do I think it's not the dead lady's husband? Because he's a doctor and he seems like a great guy. They have to go back. He's at the country club. Don't go back to the hospital. This guy loved her. That's how I feel about if you like the Clippers.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
It's like, this is the year Kawhi stays healthy and this is the year James Harden isn't going to shit on himself in a playoff series. So we got this.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Well, there's two things that make me feel better about him. One is that this is the best supporting cast for him that I can remember him having. It's all the things you would want to put around him if we were just like, I'm going to come over to your house. Let's spend the next two hours picking types of players that you would want to put around James Harden.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I'll come over tonight. But you'd want a rebounding center who could finish around the basket and finish the alley-oops. You'd want an older star who could be like, I've got this. That's Kawhi. You'd want some streaky shooters, right? That's Norm Powell. That's... Who's the other streaky shooter in that team? Oh, Blanken.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And people were, you know, they're holding their hands in their heads like something like really horrible had just happened. Like that's how badly everybody wanted it for him. So to come through with the pressure you have on yourself, but also all of these people you don't want to let down. Like I don't even know if there's a comparison to that.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I guess he is kind of streaky. And then you'd want like length to protect him on defense. And then Chris Dunn. So that he didn't have to play defense. And then the Chris Dunn piece. I just really like their roster. I think they did an awesome job. I think we've probably done Derek Jones things.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Well, I'm just saying realistically, if you're using the salary cap and you had to put together a team, it's going to probably look something like this. But yeah, the Kawhi thing, this is what all the Clipper fans I know, they're like, it's a yeah, but it just is. Every year he's pulled the rug out from under them.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And every year they believed and thought he was going to be, finally this is, and then the rug gets pulled out. So this is... This is like year six of this for them.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
The other thing with them is I just don't... This Denver bench... I'll say this. I refuse to believe Westbrook won't be heard from in the wrong way. in a Clippers Nuggets series. He's just looming in the wrong way because there's going to be a game. There's going to be a Jamal Murray has to come out because his knee's not feeling great.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Somebody's in foul trouble or Westbrook's just going to be involved. And I've just, I've seen enough with him at crunch time. I just don't, I don't think he's somebody that can be out there in the final four minutes of a big game.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
So with, it's like never been in any games like that. That's the thing. Jesus, that makes me more nervous.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I don't know which one I would want less.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Rossella backs Westbrook.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
In basketball, you only have 18,000 people in the arena. This is like... you know, tens and tens of thousands of people clustered around.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
It turns into the half and half in the fridge that you have to sniff and you're like, oh, I got to throw this out.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
No, if he's the sixth most important person on your team, there might be some issues at this point in his career. We should have mentioned him earlier at the top when we were talking about people taking the mantle for Rory now that Rory's won. Who would be the best people? Westbrook? kind of rising up as a super sub in the playoffs, helping drag the nuggets.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
We're also brought to you by The Ringer Podcast Network. I have a new rewatchables coming for you on Monday night. We did a movie from the late 90s that's a very light, fluffy movie that you'll probably be surprised we did. But it was a request by Joanna Robinson, who came in to LA for a couple months and did a bunch of great stuff with us. So I let her pick a rewatchables. And it's a good one.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Westbrook, 10 years from now, it's going to be great for him. It's a little like what's happened to Carmelo and some others where we just forget all the bad stuff. Like, Russell Westbrook, he's a problem. MVP. Triple-double.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
25 rebounds in a game? I'm convinced the Clippers will beat the Nuggets and also fully expect something heartbreaking to happen for them. It's one of those I'm going to bet the Clippers and probably regret it by game three. We're going to take a break and then we're going to talk a couple of the other playoff series here. This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Spring is here.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
My favorite time of the year. That means the NBA playoffs... are here too. What am I the most excited about? I'm excited to see if the Celtics can defend their title. I'm excited to see if Steph Curry and Jokic can keep going and going and going round after round. I'm excited for the potential of an LA versus LA playoff series. It's never happened. Clippers, Lakers, never in my lifetime.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Is OKC for real? Is Cleveland for real? Is SGA going to prove that he is the best scoring guard in the postseason? Basically, Since Michael Jordan? Since Kobe Bryant? Is he on that level? We're all going to find out. There's plenty to look forward to on and off the court. like Michelob Ultra Courtside. That's another thing. It's getting fans closer to the game with unique prizes.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Plus, they're giving you a chance to win tickets to the NBA Finals. You heard me. The NBA Finals, which I hope are in Boston. Just head to MichelobUltra.com slash NBA Finals. Michelob Ultra Courtside, NBA Finals, sweepstakes, no purchase necessary. Open to U.S. residents, excluding Maryland residents, 21 and up. Begins 9 a.m. ET on February 16th, 2025. Ends on May 5th, 2025.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
See official rules at makelobeultra.com slash rules for price and details, message and data rate may apply. Void, we're prohibited. All right, so we got Minnesota Lakers. This feels like a win for the Lakers.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And I'm not sure who I would have wanted to play the least if I were them, but because it basically came down to the two, the Clippers, Golden State or Minnesota, they were going to play one of those teams being in three spot. And Minnesota, I think feels like the right outcome for them because I don't know how Gobert exists in this series. So let's start there.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
How does Gobert exist in this series?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
What happens if he hands up on the Pistons next year? We might have to have security guards on hand for every game.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Don't look at me.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Right, he needs like a Shingu and Adams combo to make sense in a series. This, though, just going to play Luka and LeBron and Rui as much as they possibly can. with Reeves and pick a guard. And they're just going to spread them out. JJ, as we've discussed many times, this coaching staff's done a really good job at figuring out what the matchup is and then how to exploit.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
They're going to exploit him and they're going to play him off the court. But that's going to lead to Minnesota probably ending up with Nas Reed and Randall and McDaniels and Edwards and DiFincenzo if they want size or Conley if they don't care about it as the five they're going against. And That's going to be hard for, for the Lakers defensively.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I think they're going to have all these, they're going to attack Reeves. They're going to probably try to get Edwards and as many switches as they possibly can against Reeves. And they're going to have the same shooting stuff. And I actually think this will be a higher scoring series than I think people realize because people think of Minnesota as this awesome defensive team.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And, you know, if you take Gobert out of it, it changes a little bit, but I think Minnesota has a real chance in the series.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Well, they could do the whole thing where they're like, let's take out Reeves. Let's try to take out Reeves as much as we possibly can because Luka and LeBron are going to get all their stuff anyway.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I'm just saying, just make sure Reeves doesn't get going when they have those spots where they take Luka out and LeBron and Reeves together. When it's the two of them, be like, look, we got to take out Reeves. They're never going to stop Luka. The thing that worries me more from Minnesota is Randall, who, as you mentioned, has been really good the last, I don't know, four, five, six weeks.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
But part of it is because he's so physical. And especially if you guard him with anybody smaller, he really has been bully-balling people lately. But you're not bully-balling any of those dudes on the Lakers. Those guys have more size than he does. So then it comes down to, if you're looking at scoring and the end of the game stuff, it's going to be a lot of Edwards.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And we've seen mixed results with that. When Edwards is in the high 20s, if he has a 31 field goal game. I never really like Minnesota as much. I like when it's a little more democratic with the ball usage.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
We didn't even see both full teams that we have now against each other, so we have no idea what to expect.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And you go a couple of games ago.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah, you get like three days off between game one and game two after you've already gotten a week off. It's perfect for him.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Is Ruby on your first team? I can't believe how much I ended up liking this guy team. Well, I would say. Because I was starting at about a zero with him.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I like his competitiveness. And I do think when he's good, if he's good in a game, they become really hard to beat.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Well, we have a lot of time to talk about that series. In the East, we ended up with Pistons-Knicks, and we ended up with Bucs-Pacers. And the Pacers are minus 230 favorites over the Bucs, which I think is factoring in. People don't seem to think we're going to see Dame again. But the way Giannis is playing the last couple weeks, and there's...
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
There's a weird energy to him now that I kind of like. Did you see all the stuff he did in the Pistons game? I watched the whole game. I loved it. And there's been signs of this before. He's done this in the past a couple times because I think the perception is, oh, Giannis, he's such a sweetheart of a guy. And it's actually kind of a little bit nastier than I think people realize.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
But in that Pistons game, he was really like fucking with them. And it got me excited for the Indiana series because Indiana has a better team. They've been playing better for three months. They have home court. They're going to push the pace. I think they're going to make it really hard for the Bucks guards just to even bring the ball up and start the offense. But yeah, Giannis is on a tear.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And we'll see what happens. Could Giannis beat the Pacers basically by himself would be the scenario?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Would he play 40-plus minutes in that one game? Yeah.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
You know, in my favorite sports book ever, Breaks of the Game, which is about a trailblazer season, the 79 and 80 season. Bill Walton's gone and Dr. Jack Ramsey's trying to figure out what the team's identity is and just can't figure it out. And then near the end of the season, they bring up this guy, Billy Ray Bates, who becomes like one of the best characters in the book.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And he's just basically this one-on-one ISO guy who doesn't play anything like the Dr. Jack style at all. He's not like, I pass, I cut. He's just like a one-on-one guy. But they're starting to play better with him. And Dr. Jack has this crisis of philosophy of... I, this guy, I don't know. He gives us the best chance to win. We just, let's start running plays for him.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And he starts really playing them. I almost feel like that's the Porter thing with doc, where he's just like, I I'm out of moves. Like if this Porter thing doesn't work, we're fucked. This guy can create shots for himself and other people. And he plays hard. And I guess we're going to have to use them if Dave doesn't come back. Cause he, their best lineup has Porter in it now. So we'll see.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
They're eighth in defense and first in stupid losses. That would be the other case for Milwaukee. I think they need three Giannis games and then one game where Indiana does what they do, which is just to completely fuck up a winnable game and do two stupid things in the last minute and you can't believe they lost. So that's the recipe, I think. But Giannis, like, I had Tatum third MVP all year.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
That's my point. These last four weeks, Giannis has to be third. He just has to. I love that Tatum year, and we've talked about it a million times. I just think he's been awesome. I think he's been... awesome as a two-way guy, as a rebounder. He's, I think he's fifth in points. He's top 20 in rebounds. He's top 20 in assists. It's like maybe fifth in threes.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Like he's just, and he's guarded everybody in the league, but what Giannis did the last four weeks, I think he has to be third. And then if you're putting him third, this will be a seven straight first team all NBA. And during those seven years, he's averaged 30, 12, and six. And this year he's averaging 30, 12, and seven.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
So this is like LeBron level consistency where people 50 years from now will be on whatever the version of basketball references. I'm sure it'll be some sort of AI tablet that you can just touch with your hand and it just comes out of the thin air. People will be looking at this like, Jesus Christ, what about this Giannis guy?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
It's like the same way you look at Carl Malone seasons now and be like, oh my God. He put up 29 and 10 for 12 years.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah. He's... Pretty near that vicinity now that Shaq Hakeem Moses area in the all time grouping. He's not there yet, but I think if he keeps going for a couple more years at this pace could happen. Did you land on Mitchell fifth for the MVP spot or do you have somebody else or are you still figuring it out?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah, I'm still figuring out too. Because normally on the Sunday pod, we would do a lot of our picks, but I'm not.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
If I gave you two of James Harden, Tyrese Halliburton, and Zubats, and I can only have two spots for third team all-NBA, though you're a modern all-NBA voter where you just pick the best guys. You don't care about the facsimile of a fake team.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
No set strategy.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I never take anything personally, though.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
This is what I brought to you last week. I'm really struggling with this and I don't have a pick yet. I don't. You haven't decided who you're going to vote for MVP? It's like, honestly, 50-50 for me. I watch Jokic.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Oh, you've officially decided?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I went back through all the MVPs that bothered me over the years and over and over again.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Well, just over and over again, the standings-driven ones are the ones where we get in the most trouble, where we don't just divest ourselves completely and be like, who's actually the most valuable player? The problem with the SGA candidacy, and he's been amazing and we've talked about it, he's having one of the best guard offensive seasons in the history of basketball.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
But if you gave Jokic SGA's 2 through 12, I'm pretty sure he would... be able to win 65 to 70 games with the team that SGA has. And that's where it gets dicey. Now they're a top five team. I never want to have an MVP unless it's a team that has a good record that it's least in the vicinity, right? They're one game away from being a three seed.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
They're one of the eight or nine best teams in the league. But when you see all the dysfunction they clearly had the whole year and over and over again, you would just watch, he would just, despite the odds, would just keep it together. And it was amazing to watch. And it's going to be the first thing I remember about this season was watching him this year.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
So that to me, like that was one of my, when I wrote my MVP column, it was like four things. What are you going to remember first when you remember this season? For me, it's what Jokic did with this fucked up Nuggets team that fired their coach with a week left. And he had like the greatest offensive season I've seen since Jordan played.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
So it's like, that's what I'm struggling with because SJ has won 68 games and he was awesome.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Dysfunction boost? Well, yeah, it's like, was it even more dysfunctional than we could ever imagine? We heard, we knew all this shit, but I don't know what it's like to play in a basketball team where you have this much animosity behind the scenes. Like maybe it doesn't matter as much as we think. I don't know. it would seem like it would matter some.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And it seems like they were really, really genuinely tired of Malone, which was a whole other issue beyond the whole, he's not communicating with the GM. He's spitefully playing people that the GM likes or not playing. Like whatever the, all that other shit. But the fact that they almost got to 50 wins with how Murray looked the first two months, like it's kind of incredible in the West. They did.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Today was 50 wins. 50 wins with the season they had with all, we did that live show in Denver. When was that?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
beginning of december and we led with the whole thing about the jamal murray had had like eight awful weeks at that point and we that was like one of our lead things where we were like let's have an honest conversation about this by the way he's never going to be the same next year like murray's lighting it up or whatever then the national broadcast will be like and he still never made an all-star game he'd be like okay do you want to go through the years again this is like the lebron mvp thing yeah or the kobe mvp thing is actually worse
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
He's going to be the first thing I remember about this season. I've never seen... More so than Shireman, the way he's closed? Well, that's been pretty good. That's been watching some of the Joe Maz lineups. Yeah, I was bummed that it's Clippers Nuggets because I have a vested interest in the Clippers advancing because I want to go to the games, right?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah, there's a fearlessness to him with some of the shots he hits. He had a couple today where he's in front of trees and branches, all kinds of things. You're like, wait, is he going for this? Well, there's the tower shot.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
But I love Jokic and I want to keep playing because I like watching him. So I've just never... The stuff that he did this season, I've never seen anything like it. I've never seen somebody do more for their team. It's like, what the fuck else could he, he got every rebound. He led the offense up. He took all of the shots in crunch time. Like he literally did everything.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Jalen Williams to you as an all NBA guy or no, just in general, it's a good, not ready to answer that.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
All right.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I have them tentatively in there right now because I think with the season OKC had and the season Cleveland had, I find it hard to believe you can't get too high. As you know, I gravitate a little bit more toward the record, especially with those late teams. And I'm between Dort and Mobley for defensive player of the year now. I haven't decided either, but those are my two finalists.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah, I'm kind of leaning Dort. It's another one of those, I can only judge what I've watched on TV and what I've seen in person. And I just thought he was the guy that jumped out to me this year. Daniel's a little bit too, but I think some of the stuff Daniel's did, just because it was so unique, just to watch somebody poke check somebody from 45th and the Bass, I literally haven't seen that.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
His hands were everywhere, his anticipation, it was awesome. But that just wasn't a good enough defensive team. So you basically have to be Wemba and Yama at that point. The thing with Dort is it's just like, it's like old school pickup basketball. Like who's their best guy? It's that guy. Lou, you're going to defend him. Don't let him score. And then the guy doesn't score.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Just refuse to be screened.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
There was some, somebody wrote a piece about for two and a half straight months, nobody scored 30 on them. And it was, I also think, and we talked about this when Marcus won defensive player of the year two years ago, which, you know, I forget who he beat.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I think the perimeter defender is more important than it used to be for stuff like this, just because all of these teams have these awesome guys that you at least have to make work and, I don't know. I just, what he did to Jalen Brown in that Boston game was just nuts. But I watched them like when they played, I went to two OKC games and both times Harden was like, fuck, you could just see him.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
He's like, Jesus Christ. And then if Dort comes out of the game, I have these other two.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Well, they were number one in defense. They were some good advanced metrics, but yeah, it's looking back, maybe not.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Hmm. East, quickly, we talked about Bucks Pacers, Knicks Pistons, Knicks are minus 460. We've been dying for this series. I think there's going to be, as it gets closer, some Pistons upset buzz. I think it's a really hard ask if the five Knicks guys are all playing together. I was talking to a Knicks fan about this.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
if you catch them on a night when one or two of those five guys aren't playing, they look, you know, incredibly vulnerable with reason because they don't really have a bench, but those five guys together with breaks between the games and all the guys, they can throw a Cade. This just seems like a tall ask for them to, and I think that's why the line reflects it.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah, we did a thing on my pod this week about the people that the gallery responded to the most because Tiger's basically done. And there was two different tournaments when Tiger played. It was basically the Tiger tournament was happening and the gallery's just following him and then everybody else is playing. Now Tiger's gone. And Rory had become the guy, but Bryson was kind of...
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I really want to talk myself into a Pistons upset case, but I think just the fact that they made the playoffs, they're a six seed, they had the year they had, Cade established himself as a guy. Duren has been, you know, I think he's now one of the best young centers in the league. Some of their signings are really smart. That's kind of a win in itself. Now they're going to go in this series.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
They'll bang the Knicks around. There'll be a couple altercations. They'll make a name for themselves, and that's probably the win. If those five guys are healthy in the Knicks, I just don't see any way Detroit beats them.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I would bet the rating's better for Denver. I mean, not Detroit, because all the advanced metrics have been favorable for them last 30 games.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
It's not a fun series for Towns. That would not be my ideal Towns matchup. The Pacers wouldn't enjoy that one. The thing with the Pistons that I think is just really cool is the Bickerstaff leaves the Cavs, right? The Cavs end up with 64 wins and Atkinson is a coach of the year candidate. And Bickerstaff goes to this other team and turns them around.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And so you look at the Atkinson piece and you go, well, clearly he's a big improvement over Bickerstaff. And yet Bickerstaff was a huge improvement over the worst coach of the 21st century, Monte Williams. And somehow it just all worked out for everybody.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And so I guess I'm happy for Bickerstaff because it would have been one of those things where you just look like a schmuck that this team just played way better when you left. But now he got this other thing out of it.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I think Brunson is. I would say Brunson. Brunson's awesome. Especially in a playoff series where he's going to have breaks between games. Brunson's incredible. That's the right answer. When he made the 65 game limit, I test drove what he would look like in the first all-NBA spot instead of Mitchell, and I couldn't get there. But I think he's been that special this year.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
gaining on it. And you could feel like those two had separated themselves from everybody else who was at the Masters, basically, with the fans, with the reactions, with the interest, everything. So then the fact that they're teamed up head-to-head for this last one, he double bogeys the first hole, and it just seemed like Bryson was going to run over him like a freight train. The opposite happens.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I test drove in as well. And then I did a long drive around the lap with Curry. Went for a walk outside. Well, Curry's last week, I mean, that San Antonio loss was an abomination. They lost the two biggest games they played All year where that San Antonio or losses where that San Antonio loss on the one today.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I think if they win those games and they're a three seed or a four seed, I think that's a more interesting conversation. He had it in his hands if he was just awesome down the stretch. I think he could have pushed Mitchell, but I don't think the way they ended. And by the way, that San Antonio loss is the loss of the year. That fucked up the playoff schedule nine ways. It fucked up everything.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Because Harrison Barnes had a revenge game. And the Spurs, with Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes, celebrated like they got to the Final Four. This is a team that's tanking.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Right. We had to take you out.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
For Festus Azili. Playing stuff quickly. Who do you think the Cavs would want to face the most out of Magic Bulls Heat?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Oh, and the Hawks. All right, all four of those. Magic Hawks, Bulls Heat. The Hawks are pretty grim if you look at their actual teams they've beaten in the last two months versus the teams they've lost to. Where it's one of those, we're not tanking and a lot of these other teams we're playing are and we're getting some wins out of it, but the numbers are pretty grim if you actually look at it.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I think that's why the Magic are five-point favorites in the playing game.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
So can I do a cousin of you guys? Yeah. People forget. Yeah. Vaguely insulting when you start the people forget. But in this case, I do think people have forgotten how big the Jalen Johnson injury was. That might be the number one people forget. Like Jalen Johnson was playing awesome.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And if Atlanta had Jalen Johnson with the team that they have, the rest of the guys that I kind of like some of the guys in that team. And I don't even think the Hunter trade, the guys that got back from those, those guys are playing for them. But if they had Jalen Johnson, this would be a lot more interesting as a kind of a frisky eight seed that might be able to steal a game or two.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Then it seems like he has it. Then all of a sudden he doesn't. Then Rose makes that crazy putt on 18, right as Rory's starting to maybe waver a tiny bit, but it's, I, I can't, I, the, the five masters I probably remember the most. Um, and I don't remember golf the same way.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I think that was the second biggest injury of the year in terms of the actual playoff stuff other than Kyrie, which if the Mavs had Kyrie, that's the team that they have. It's at least a team that, you know... you'd have to throw a couple haymakers against. Now it's like without him. It's ridiculous.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
But I have Jalen Johnson second, though. Even ahead of Wemby. Like, if San Antonio and Wemby, I don't feel like, oh, watch out. San Antonio could maybe beat, steal a couple games from anyone in round one. But Atlanta, I don't know.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah. I just felt like their supporting cast felt like it was a year away. Next year. Yeah. That's fair. Next year would be pretty interesting. You know what else would have been interesting if the Mavs had gotten Austin Reeves in the Luka trade, which they should have just asked for.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
That could have happened too. I was talking to somebody about that this week. How does Dallas not say, look, Reeves has to be in the deal or it's not happening? I just don't think Palika... We'll talk about this for the rest of our lives. I just don't think Palenka's like, too much. I'm walking away. No. Now you push me too far.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I remember basketball where I can tell you like every single finals and all in the Western finals, this happened, but the masters is the one that, you know, I've cared about the most, my whole life, 86, Nicholas, the Faldo Norman masters, the, uh, the tiger in 2019, uh, And then this one, I think we're at least four of the best.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And I was excited. She picked the one she picked. I'm not going to tell you what it is. That's coming up. Prestige TV is not covering The Last of Us, but we will be covering it on the House of R podcast and on The Midnight Boys as well on the Ringiverse. So you can check out both of those. Celtic City, episode seven.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Where was the one guy, whether it was Dumont or anybody else, who was just like, hold on. We're trading Luca. We're not going to get Reeves. It's not Davis. We're just making the Lakers much better.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Okay. Sounds great.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
So I got more intel on that trade. It was a known thing 90 minutes before the trade. It was done 90 minutes before it was actually announced. Maybe even a little more than that.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
But they tried to make it seem like nobody knew until the very last second. I think way more people knew. And I think it got around the league a little bit before it actually got reported. And I think the consensus was, there's no way this is true because that can't be what Dallas got for Luka. This has to be some sort of, there's no way. This can't be true. And then it was true.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Because the instant reaction is, wait, they're trading Luka? Why didn't they shop him? And then the second one is, wait, Reeves isn't in this? That's the whole trade? That was the second thing. And then how they hid it from everybody and didn't shop it, I guess. We'll be talking about it forever. It's one of the seminal moments of the 21st century in the National Basketball Association.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I'm sure there's a bunch of others, but those are the four that, the Faldon Orman Master, I don't remember anybody not talking about that for like four days after. That just felt like this life-altering, just never seen an athlete fall apart like that. Have you? It's the all-time example of an athlete just completely falling apart.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
The stupid trade they made.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
You know what's been interesting with the Laker fans? And obviously I know a few of them. Even they're like not talking like crazy shit about it because they can't believe it happened. They're like, we're the Lakers. They're just like, it's like that, like,
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
a check for a million dollars made out to nobody just floated into their front door and they grabbed it and just wrote their name and cashed it. Nobody was ever going to find out. It's one of those. It's like a fucking borderline miracle. If you're a Laker fan, you just can't believe it. Like, what did he have the other night? He just randomly had like 41, 13, 45, 13 and nine.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Are you talking about the Mavs game? Yeah. No, I'm talking about the last game he played. He played one more game. What? On Friday night? and had another one. He's just like a normal game for him is 38. It just fucking kills me.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And he was awesome last year, but what are you talking about? Well, but the other piece of it is if the Lakers had the version of AD that's basically existed since mid-January, they wouldn't be in the playoffs. They'd be like a nine or a 10 playing team, right? Because they wouldn't have had AD this whole time. They would have put this huge burden on LeBron.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
They, you know, they would have the same lack of room protection they have now. It's really nuts.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
It's going to be a bitch of a playoff team to play. with how they execute offense, with how hard they are to officiate, especially when they're home, it's just going to be really hard.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
We've known this forever because if you go back when we did our... Oh, you weren't with us yet, but we did the 2018 NBA draft stuff. And my argument for Luke over Aiton... was like, this is the league now. You have to have a guy like this. That's how you win titles. Unless, you know, nobody knew Jokic was going to turn into Jokic. But you need... It's a perimeter game.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
The threes are becoming more important. Like, you have to have one of these guys if you're going to try to win the title year after year. And the Lakers have one of these guys.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Well, now that Jokic has mastered this thing he does where he's basically... I don't even know. We need a name for it. When he has the ball 25 feet from the basket and he backs the guy down, does the whirling, does that thing, and then all of a sudden he's four feet from the basket. I don't know how he does it and I don't know what it's called. I don't know how you stop it.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
The only way teams seem to stop it is they send a small guard and they try to kind of out of nowhere to his blind side and try to strip him. But he doesn't have a blind side because he's doing this the whole time. I have a A couple quick things. Oh, and then OKC versus Grizzlies, Mavs, Kings. Is there anything that says to you that would even go more than four games?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Is there one team that could take a game off the Thunder?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Dallas gets a win because they don't have to play home again. if they, if they, if they went to playing games, they're both on the road. Um, and maybe during that second playing game, maybe you start thinking deep down in the deep resistance of your soul. Who am I in the season ending? Um, we'll see what happens. I have a couple other storylines for you. Then we'll go. Bub Carrington. Yeah.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah, let's do it. Carrying the Wizards to a win, knocking them out of the one spot. I was torturing House. It was the funniest. So Utah has the number one spot. Now, the top three are Utah, Washington, Charlotte. They all have 14%. Right. So it doesn't matter from an odd standpoint, but it does matter if you get jumped. What the sequencing is, it just brings you closer to having...
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
one of the top three and the whiz, I don't know how it would have shook out if I think they were in the head spot ahead of Utah. Cause Utah won a couple of days ago. Um, it comes down to Bob Carrington with four seconds left, beating two guys off the dribble and doing a double clutch fling off the backboard that goes in. And then he's mobbed. And it felt a little Joe Milton to me.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I gotta be honest, Priscilla. Little Joe Milton PTSD kicked in. It was like, you know what that reminds me of? When the Pats had the number one pick that they would have been able to trade for three first round picks because everybody loves Cam Ward. And instead we're picking fourth in a three-point draft. That's what I thought.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah, just with two less first-round picks, and now we're going to take a left tackle who should go ninth with the fourth pick.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And Faldo hugging him at the end? I don't ever remember anything like that either. Or Faldo felt worse about winning? than probably anybody who's ever won a golf tournament. But we were talking about it. We were in there. You have team sports. You have a sport like the Clippers Warriors game that we're going to talk about a little bit later. And guys can affect the games.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
No, because the Wimby thing seems like a legitimate medical thing by all accounts. Well, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah. I feel like they've handled everything correctly. I like that they beat Golden State in that game. Yeah, the Philly thing would be gross. Did you see... Oh, that was another thing I had on my list. Daryl said him and Nurse are coming back next season. I got to say, I was... genuinely surprised. We're taping this right now. It's a little past six o'clock Sunday. So who knows?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Monday morning we might wake up and that might not be true. But I was surprised to see that both guys feel like they're coming back. You cool with that? Cool with that from what standpoint?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I need more intel on who decided it was a good idea to let Joel Embiid play in the Olympics and then give him a giant extension. Whoever's decision that was should probably pay some sort of consequence.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Next topic. I only have two more. Mikael Bridges kept his consecutive game streak alive. I don't know if you saw it today. He checked in for six seconds and came out.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
So AC Green did this when he broke his nose, came in with a mask for, I think, three or four games and checked in and checked out to keep the streak going. I both don't care at all. And I also really, truly hate this. I hate it. But I also don't care. I really hated it when AC Green did it. I forget who's when he broke. It was like Randy Smith, maybe. The old Buffalo Braves. Is that true?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah, I think that's who it was. I'm going to get research on that. I think Randy Smith played like 900 straight games. And probably actually played in the games.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I know you're a big fan.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I think he was in the All-Star game. He's an All-Star.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
He has one of the cards of my favorite card set of all time, the 1976 Big Boy Tops. Randy Smith's in there. Last thing for you. I just want to congratulate the NBA one more time for just fucking up their schedule. Oh, come on. I don't understand.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Draymond has that terrible put where he just should have gone up with it. He's trying to draw a foul and he screwed that play up. It's not the entire reason they lost. It's the thing you would think to. Golf, you're just by yourself. There's nobody else. There's no other reason you're going to win or lose. It's all you. You can't blame anybody. You're there with your thoughts.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
So you have two games that matter today, right? Yeah. Two games that we know are going to matter. Houston, Denver, Golden State Clippers, because Minnesota is obviously going to kill Utah. Why not nudge those games by like two hours or 90 minutes? Anything.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Your whole goal is for people who love basketball to watch the league that you have, but then maybe also get some casual fans who are like, not sure how much I love basketball, but that game was really awesome and now I want to watch more. Or, hey, maybe my kid can come in and we'll watch the second half of this Clippers Warriors game that really means something.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And instead, you're just intentionally going against the Masters that gets 10 to 14 million people. And you get blown away in the last day of your season by this worry thing. And it's just like, it's just like a self-inflicted wound. I don't get it. Either move the game two hours or move the schedule two weeks or I don't, I just, they're the most stubborn fucking league.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And I don't know why I love it sometimes. Really frustrates me.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
We had UFC and boxing last night. We were fine. And baseball. I'm back on baseball, but I'm going to talk to you about it.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Couldn't you nudge it two hours? Like, what would Goodell do? Here's a good example. What would Goodell do in this situation? If he had the crown jewel of the Sunday slate, turns out it's Clippers Warriors. Goodell would be like, fuck it.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
We're putting that on NBC, 8 o'clock on Sunday night, and we're blowing this out and making this an event, which is what they should have done with Clippers Warriors. Instead, they buried it at 1 o'clock in the afternoon PT.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah, no, you make it like... 24 hours at a time. Okay. We knew yesterday, we knew what the most important game was. You and I were texting about it. It was like Clips Warriors. This is, this game matters. Not sure if Rockets Nuggets are going to matter. We know Clips Warriors is going to matter.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
So anyway, I just, the league that is in great shape and hit the jackpot with this Luka trade, it's the single best thing that happened to the league this decade and is in the running maybe since the decision that And LeBron going to Miami and all the stuff they got from that as the biggest thing that happened in the league.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
They have this 25-year-old incredible offensive player now on the single most important franchise in the league, at least from a popularity, you know, maybe second in the history standpoint. But they hit the jackpot with this. So it's in a good spot. And now you have Steph Curry playing to try to not avoid the play-in against a Clippers team that's really fun to watch.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
You're there with the momentum of it. You're there with all of a sudden, I just don't feel great about this drive, but I have to hit it anyway. All these little moments that you're just battling. We were saying it's the only sport where you have to be insanely competitive, but also completely calm. Is there any other sport like that? You have two emotions that are direct.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Like, I don't know, I would have blown it out. I am watching baseball again, Rosillo.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Well, Crochet was throwing a no-hitter. I didn't want to tell you he was throwing a no-hitter because I was trying to obey the no-hitter rules. But yeah, Red Sox team. A lot of bats. Bats have been a little quiet so far. But likable team. I'm back. Five-year hiatus.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Bats have been quiet. Expect them more. They had a 19-run game. That's why the runs are where they were.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
All right. So you're doing your pot on Tuesday and Thursday this week. Tuesday, Thursday. For some reason, the playing games are Friday. I don't really understand why we didn't stagger those either and why we gave away Thursday night completely, but that's what they decided to do. And then we'll be back Sunday with a whole- Playoff. Yeah. The most fun weekend of the year.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
That first eight games, overreactions left and right. I'm just telling you now, I'm going to be overreacting all over the place. When are you doing your awards, Tuesday or Thursday?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
All right. I'm happy to do that with you. Yeah. Well, we already had some revelations. I don't think people realize that Jokic has... maybe a little bit better chance to win MVP than, than, uh, than, than people realize.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Podcast guest availability? No, no, no, no, no.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
We both worked those two drafts when Giannis and Jokic got picked. Jokic, I think, had the lowest... Didn't he have the lowest jump in the history of the combine or something? Like a 17-inch vertical leap?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah. So you think he's like Omar. What was that guy's name? Omar Samhan? That center that came in and was lighting up people in March Madness?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I was talking to my wife about this yesterday because I was explaining her the whole Rory thing. And I was like, here's this sport where you just have these two things that don't make sense together.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I mean, then you're listing the last five picks after the interview. It's like Nick Johnson got taken.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Well, remember, once upon a time, there was a Jokic versus Nurkic. Which guy should they keep was an actual storyline. That was probably 2017 range. They have these two centers. Which one should stay? It feels like they knew. Yeah, it seems like they knew. Yeah, no question.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Also, he was 6'9". Yeah. And he grew three inches after they picked him, which was a miracle for them. Not as much of a miracle as getting Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis and... Max Christie and one first round pick, but a miracle nonetheless. All right, Russillo, I'll see you in a week. Enjoy the playing games and everything else and good pod.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
I have to be like a driven competitive maniac, but I also have to be completely calm at the worst possible moments of whatever I'm competing in or the scariest or the hairiest, whatever you want to say. And that's why there's so few great golfers. You can't juggle that, you know?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
That's it for the podcast. Don't forget new rewatchables coming on Monday. I'm also going to be popping on Zach Lowe's podcast later on Monday. So stay tuned for that. Thanks to Jonathan and Ronick and Jesse and Saruti for producing this one. And I will be back on this podcast on Tuesday. Stay tuned.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Must be 21 plus and president-select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and president DC. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
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.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
which basically tackles everything after Bird with the 90s, which was really grim. And I was living in Boston for a lot of it. But there's no basketball tomorrow night, so there's no better chance to catch up with Celtic City. It's on HBO 9 p.m., or you can catch up on all the episodes so far on Max. Coming up on this podcast, Rasil and I
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Yeah, it doesn't mean it's not true.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
It's the biggest disconnect between fans and the people covering whatever sport you're going to pick and the people who actually do it. Like even, did you see UFC last night? I didn't. So Lopez, who ends up losing, and he just seemed tight in the first couple rounds against Vogue. And then as it went along in the last couple rounds, he kind of became who he was.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
And even stuff like that, you think, yeah, I can see it. I can see why you get tight. What was the most nervous you've ever been professionally doing anything? Not to compare us to athletes, but it's just an interesting... Wow. Interesting side track.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Well, how about when you were actually established professionally, but there was still a moment where you had nerves?