The Bill Simmons Podcast
Steph’s Last Ride, Philly’s Swoon and Bill’s ‘SNL 50’ GOAT Lists | with Rob Mahoney
Sat, 15 Feb 2025
The Ringer's Bill Simmons and Rob Mahoney take a long look at the NBA's Western Conference before the All-Star break, including the new-look Warriors, likely WCF teams, the curious Mavericks, and more. Then, they open an NBA six-pack of topics, including the disappointing 76ers, first-round draft pick chaos, the confounding Bulls, and a potentially dim future for the Suns (3:50). Finally, in honor of 'SNL50', Bill reads an essay about his love for 'Saturday Night Live', his fantasy 'SNL' cast, all-time hosts, episodes, sketches, musical acts, and more (01:01:27). Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Rob Mahoney Producers: Kyle Crichton and Chia Hao Tat Order Michelob ULTRA today, available on Doordash! ENJOY RESPONSIBLY © 2025 ANHEUSER-BUSCH, MICHELOB ULTRA® LIGHT BEER, ST. LOUIS, MO. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the key NBA storylines before the All-Star break?
I don't care. I think LaMelo is better than that. I think he's better than that. Was that a defensive LaMelo ball? Look, I'm willing to go out on that particular limb.
I think LaMelo is, look, he is on another planet in terms of some of the things he chooses to do, but has a facility with the game that not many guys have, and ultimately is basically the only reason the Hornets have been anything close to solving at any point in this season. So he doesn't have a lot to work with when he's out there.
Bigger concern for me, in addition to all of his habits and kind of the judgments he makes on the court, Clearly, just like that cursed ankles, tough injury history. If he's never going to be consistently healthy, how is he going to consistently grow as a creator? And that's a problem for a player like him.
Would you want to play with him for six months a year? Be honest. Would you want to be his small forward? Would you want to be Brandon Miller?
Would I want to play with anyone under the age of 25? I think the answer is probably no. Like there is a stylistic difference between us.
This is the only team. I really like Charles Lee. I think he's a good coach. This is the only team I don't want Cooper Feig to go to.
See, I think he and LaMelo could run beautifully together. Oh, I don't know. Anyway, they're in position to get him.
They certainly are. They're working it. Next one on the six pack. The Chicago Bulls. putting together the finishing pieces of an epic 10-year run, starting in the 15-16 season, 42-40, 41-41, 27-55, 22-60, 22-43, 31-41, 46-36 in the 22 season, lost in the first round, 40-42, 39-43, 22-33 with a chance to make the play-in again. This is...
Reinsdorf's like manifest destiny just to, to, uh, to not pay luxury tax, to be somewhere near the plan, to not actually be a threat, to not really have a direction. It's like, are they tanking? Are they like they re-sign Lonzo Ball? They could have traded them for a first round pick that came out. Now they kept them, uh, They have Giddy. They have Kobe White. Kind of like Budzelas.
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Chapter 2: How has Jimmy Butler impacted the Warriors?
What does throwing in the flag look like? Some Wemby rest management. Some Wemby, hey, we need to sit him down for three games. We're worried about some fake tendinitis and some fake part of his body.
I'm not sure they need to do that. I think they're going to be, again, perfectly fine coasting out, losing some of these games. Now, if the Fox thing catches on in such a huge way where it's unavoidable, then yeah, maybe you have that discussion. But part of trading for De'Aaron Fox is accelerating at least a little bit.
And I think ultimately their position is not so much tethered to their own pick, right? It's tethered to the other draft capital that they have. It's tethered to the guys they already have on roster. So I don't think they necessarily need to.
Counter?
Yeah.
Portland could pretty easily pass them. They could be the third worst team in the West. And they would be either four or five or six teams worse than them in the East. They could be in the six to nine range with that draft pick, which puts you in... lottery mode. I actually really thought that they were going to make a little bit of a run and they just can't.
I thought Boston really exposed some of the issues with them. I don't know if you're watching the game. They attacked Wemby in a really unique way that I haven't seen teams do before. And just in general, it just looked like two different classes of teams. And then you think the Warriors got better. I don't really see the path for them. Anything else you want to hit before we go?
I think we covered a lot of it. We covered every mid to terrible team in the Eastern Conference, it feels like. So we really gave the people what they want today.
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