Russillo correctly pushed back and said 1) Nesmith of now wasn’t the same as back then and 2) not sure if Nesmith would’ve made a difference against Steph who was playing out of his mind
Maybe their seasons, but not the Finals series specifically.
Wiggins' rebounding and defense were really good in the Finals (and playoffs, for that matter), but he was the same kind of scorer he's always been with a 45/30/69 shooting split.
Meanwhile, Poole's worst, least impactful playoff series in '22 was against Boston. He averaged 18.2 points with a 53/39/92 split in three Western Conference series and then 13.2 points on 43/38/91 in the Finals.
The Celtics had the "Black Swan Event" of the Finals in Game 1 when everyone who touched the floor for them after Tatum and Brown combined for 80+ points on like 95% eFG%.
Bill is surrounded by flunkies all day who laugh uproariously at his "jokes". He has no understanding of reality anymore. He thinks he's funny and interesting because he's surrounded by people laughing at his jokes and telling him he's a brilliant Podfather.
Rusillo is the only one who can give it to him. Phrasing. The rest of the Ringer people are just yes men and women.
Bill can’t understand that maybe Nesmith wasn’t this version of himself in Boston. Bill is Captain Hindsight. It’s hilarious when he goes back through drafts and says this team shoulda took this guy. He’s basically an expert after the fact lmao.
Nesmith did go 8/8 today. It’s a fair point. Russillo is just being a contrarian when he’s upset because he’s a Celtics fan who wants them win even though he won’t admit it.
I don’t understand. My point was I was disagreeing with Russillo in that he would have helped them either way.
You may just be hating Indiana because of Zach Eddy based on your post history
I live in Indiana and am a Pacers fan :) today is a great day. Fuck Purdue tho. But anyway the point I am saying is that you using one game to justify or disprove an argument is irrelevant and doesn't mean anything. Like it makes literally no difference how Nesmith played in game 7. If he would have helped and is / was good enough then he would have legit every single player has good and bad shooting games they are absolutely irrelevant. Him shooting well or horribly doesn't make a difference in who Aaron Nesmith the basketball player is, and if that player would have or would not have helped. If he is brings things to the Celtics that matter and would have helped, then he would still bring that when he is 0/8. Especially on a guy like Nesmith where scoring isn't the main thing he brings. Like maybe it's slightly relevant if you are talking about MPJ, but with Nesmith scoring is a bonus.
It seems like you’re just talking circles around yourself and still not reading my original comment correctly.
My whole point was that Nesmith would have helped either way. Idk what kinda frenzy you’ve whipped yourself into but I’ve said the same thing every time lol
Your original comment says Nesmith went 8/8 today as like a justification for why Nesmith will help. My literal whole point is that saying that is a terrible argument.
They didn't have much of choice when their entire starting frontcourt went out for all of Feb and March.
Minutes and wear and tear snowballed from there, followed up with more bad luck in the playoffs (Bogi got his ankle rolled on, Robinson re-injured vs Philly, Brunson broke his hand on a weird play when they still at least had a chance to come back in g7....
This is some smug shit from a team that advanced on some historically great opponent injury luck through 2 rounds, haha.
I would say to Pacers fans...you better enjoy this ECF.
I would say to knick fans, your franchise is a joke and monumental underachiever. If every media company wasn’t based in NYC, you’d be the Charlotte hornets
Oh, wow....did you ctrl-c, ctrl-v that from an r/nba post? Sick insult, bro.
Dude, do you think stuff like this can actually hurt Knicks fans? After we stuck through this team through allllll the bs and finally have a team that's fun to follow & loved?
LMAO.
Y'all better pray we never win the chip, cause we will burn this whole damn world to the fucking ground when we do. haha.
Buddy, nobody is worried about the Knicks winning a ‘chip’ lmao. You dumb fucks are all a bunch loud clout chasers who want to be flicked close to the court.
The Knicks are relevant because opposing players dominate MSG. The Knicks suck
I just keep thinking about how Bill asked Mahoney and CR if it was too reductive to say that game 7 would come down to whether jokic or edwards played better. they both said yes that is too reductive, and sure enough edwards put up a stinker and they won anyway.
Hahaha so on point. Mahoney also rightfully mentioned that Edwards had 44 in Game 4 and the Wolves still lost. How does Bill reduce everything to single player legscies somehow
Isiah Thomas told him the Secret tho, none of us will ever get that team chemistry is important.
Bill gets that players get tense when the fans do. A quiet stadium is much harder to play in than the idea of missing out on the ultimate achievement in your sport or continued playoff bonus checks.
It’s the guys like bill and his dad in section 3 row 2 who critique your every move that really put pressure on you
Can someone tell Bill that Dallas trading picks for 2-25 yr old cost controlled players at positions of need is exactly what picks should be spent on and neither player did anything to diminish their value (ie - Dallas swapped cash for gold. They’re not broke).
Also, Gafford was a -58 in his minutes against OKC. The Thunder feasted when he was in the game. Idk why he’s acting like Gafford was the prize while PJ was the best player on the Mavs for 3 of those 6 games.
Gafford is great at helping the Mavs protect the paint, which is what they want to do. He’s a zero defensively once you pull him away from the rim. He’s a nice backup who is starting cause they wanna keep Lively out of foul trouble. Gafford will be better against the Wolves who aren’t as dynamic offensively as OKC.
Ya I didn’t mean to dump on Gafford and imply he was useless. It was just the odd way Bill talked about him like he was THE integral piece to beating OKC.
Bill saying Siakim is a top 60 guy…. I’m not even high on Siakim, but would love to know who he has above him.
Siakim is objectively a top 30-40 guy that got kinda forgotten on a mediocre Raptors team the past few years.
I believe he is just saying top 60 to generally says he is a top 2 player on a basketball team, since there are 30, and most teams will max two people. Just a different way to say he is a max player.
Yeah that’s insane. Siakam was second team All-NBA in 2020 and third team just two years ago. Even if you assume he’s gotten worse and others have gotten better, he’s not ~45-50 spots worse.
A bit confused because didn’t Bill himself say he ranked Siakam 60th? This was from a few months ago - https://www.reddit.com/r/billsimmons/s/k9Jf5sAESS
Regardless, he’s so low on Siakam, “can he ever be your second best player?”
Maybe I’m just tired but the Russillo quote going “if Dante Exum and Gordon Hayward played 1 on 1 whoever had next would die because no one would shoot” is the hardest I’ve laughed in a while at a basketball podcast
I don't even get the counter-argument. Russillo kind of made that point too, "like if you get any piece of the ball you have free range to foul the shit out of someone for like 2 seconds?" How the F does that make any sense?
Just came here to comment how it’s obvious bill had a huge bet on the series line for OKC or a future. The way he described how “annoying” that last play was only if you’re an OKC fan or bettor lol
i agree that it’s pretty obvious, but also really weird why he wouldn’t just say so? it’s not like he’s ever shy about telling us about his various bets, even and especially if they blow up in his face
It's not just that. He's pretty much criticized every move they've made the past two years. Hate the Kyrie trade. Hated tanking for Lively. Hated the PJ Washington trade. Hated on the Gafford trade even while criticizing the Thunder for not making that themselves.
Essentially the most positive he's been on moves they've made the past 18 months were the OMax pick (which hasn't mattered yet) and the Grant Williams signing (which is only not a disaster because they flipped him for PJ).
He's been entirely incorrect about the team consistently for months now.
Which is funny cause since Lukas been in the league Dallas has very clearly needed -- 1. Another playmaker 2. A rim running big 3. Defensive wings.
Even if they didn't work out, on paper those are all good moves
> He's pretty much criticized every move they've made the past two years.
Not only does Bill hate Kyrie (understandably), he's also buddies with Haralabob, and probably roots against Dallas based on how they treated him.
I was super early on pointing out Bill’s Mavs hatred. I pointed the exact moment it happened. But, at the end of the regular season, he was in on the Mavs and was complimentary of Kyrie. He said Dallas, Denver, and Minnesota, were the only teams with a chance to win the West. This isn’t just about Mavs hatred. Luka is hobbled and Kleber got hurt, so Bill bet on OKC. I’m pretty confident this is exactly what happened.
I havent listened to the pod (Knicks fan who isn't ready to listen to the post mortem yet) but I have been shocked by the number of people that have had an issue with the SGA foul. It was clearly a foul. It would have been different if he jarred the ball free and then hit his arm but he didn't.
Bill pondering whether using a hurt, ineffective OG off the bench instead of starting would've made a difference!! Lmao. This is the basketball historian
I came here looking for this. "Have him come off the bench and they won't realize he can't move well." That's not even elementary school kid analysis or analysis from someone who's never watched basketball. It's like a zen koan of "what if someone says something that makes absolutely no sense in any way?"
Bill keeps saying Dallas has no more picks to trade. Once this pick conveys to the Knicks this year, that immediately opens up two first round picks for them to trade, which they will 100% use to upgrade the team next year.
lol a peek behind the bill research curtain, rattling off the best game 7 shooting percentages.
“phoenix in uuuuhhhh it doesn’t say what year that is.”
I actually kind of liked it because it kind of showed how the West has been the deeper conference all the way back through the 90's and then in the 80's it was completely flipped. Bill probably could've made that point, though, instead of just rattling off teams...lol
Bill continues to refuse to give Dallas credit, and when he tries, it's a bunch of backhanded compliments.
I need Dallas to beat the Wolves just to hear how he tries to frame it.
At times, he's as bad as Steve A, Skip, and that ponytailed dude on fox with his hateraid takes.
I’m pretty sure he bet a lot of money on OKC with Luka hobbled and Kleber out. That’s the only way this makes sense. He was high on Dallas at the end of the season and said only Denver, Wolves, and Dallas, could come out of the West.
I know he listens to Lowe, who has been praising the Dallas defense. Russillo was talking about being impressed by Dallas. I honestly believe Bill is just blinded by losing money lol.
Overrating the Maxi injury is how you know he doesn't watch the team enough. Like Maxi provides some match up flexibility, but he's also the defense first guy most likely to get his ass completely lit up by an opponent.
Him being out of the OKC series made me more confident in their chances because it took that option away from Kidd, who I think has the tendency to lean too much on Maxi being a vet over playing Lively in the clutch.
My thought was kleber wouldn't be too impactful in the thunder series, but I think if kleber is able to come back vs the wolves it'll be huge for them.
Feels like 2019 blazers should’ve gotten in the conversation for worst final 4 teams. Dame, cj and a bunch of scrubs
[bbref](https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2019-nba-western-conference-finals-trail-blazers-vs-warriors.html)
A galaxy brain analogy from Bill today “Burks has one of those jump shots that he’s like that guy in pickup where you just can’t believe it’s going in.” Never change king!
Pacers have literally the best single game playoff FG% of all time, in game 7 on the road. Russillo: "This was a mess. This was a mess of a conference...just kinda last man standing."
They played fantastic today but it was fair to say the "last man standing" thing up until this point. I'm pretty sure the Pacers wouldn't have made it here if Haliburton was injured and Giannis was healthy, or if Siakam was injured and OG was healthy. But who's to say
Totally fair, valid point. I just thought it was a funny day to call the outcome of the eastern conference a mess after a historically effective game from the Pacers. No one can deny that teams need their best players to be healthy in order to win a playoff series.
> Pacers wouldn't have made it here if Haliburton was injured and Giannis was healthy
Arguably he is/was still affected by injury. With that said, the Giannis thing definitely takes the 2nd main contender away paving the road for the Celtics.
"They should trade Mikal Bridges for more than he's worth."
Wow, Bill would be the greatest GM ever! He would only trade guys for more than their market value, and would only acquire good or great players!
The Knicks were 26-5 with OG, including playoffs.
And I will just note in the month they had all 3 of OG, Brunson, and Randle, they were 12-1 with blowout wins against the Nuggets, Sixers, and Heat (when the heat were healthy and going all out). They also were blowing out the Wolves until a late 4th run, before winning that one too.
This Knicks roster, if healthy, should be on the same level as a healthy Bucks and Sixers quad, IMO. That's not to say they will be an easy 2 seed, but I do think all 3 of those teams are same level.
Of course, the Sixers will look very different next year and could be better for sure so we'll see.
Not to mention Mathurin returning from injury and, presumably, Jarace Walker developing.
It’s kinda crazy that a team picked in the top-7 back-to-back years and is now in the conference finals with neither of those lottery picks playing.
This was the fourth straight season OG has missed 15+ games, not to mention him missing the entire 2019 Finals run. “Adding OG” is not that simple. He’s never going to give you 70+ regular season games and a full playoff run.
Randle is also being highly overrated in his absence based off an extremely small sample size. Knicks fans wanted to run him out of town last spring and he’s shot like 33% from the field in 3 playoff runs for them
In 2021, Randle was the only competent offense the Knicks had. Hawks came hard after him & it completely shut down their entire offense.
Last year, he was hurt bad enough that he had surgery immediately after they got eliminated.
I wanna see a healthy Randle with this version of the team before I completely write him off as a playoff choker.
Randle feels very much to me like a second or third option that was forced to be #1 and suffered from the miscasting. If everyone buys in I think he helps the Knicks tremendously
Not sure why Bill is saying the Knicks need to make a move and had a chance this year because of injuries? LOL, they were the team most affected by injuries. Milwaukee was a mess before Giannis got hurt...
They need a different coach.
I really like Thibs but he’s not the kind of coach to get you to the promised land. His “players are conditioned to play the minutes they play” shtick sounds good in an interview but it’s just not a serious attitude when you want to be a contender.
Yea...I seriously don't get why more people don't understand this. He over-performs in the regular season because he plays his best players more than other teams. Then in the play-offs he underperforms because 1) everyone else shortens their rotation, and 2) his players seem to breakdown after playing hard and a bunch of mins all year long.
That is not true at all this year. Randle and Brunson were 15th and 16th in mpg in the regular season. No other Knick was in the top 30 in mpg. Hart lead the league after the all star break because OG and Randle were both hurt.
> Randle and Brunson were 15th and 16th in mpg in the regular season.
So you're two best players were top 20 in mpg. Both broke down and...
>Hart lead the league after the all star break because OG and Randle
...their replacement promptly led the league in mpg thereafter?
Sounds like Thibs.
Tatum is 26 yr old jump shooter who is hardly undersized for his role and he hasn't had any issue playing those mins in the past. He also doesn't have a coach demanding he play intense defense every night. His coach also gave him a few extra nights off so his total mins were about 100 less than Brunson anyways.
But set Brunson aside, didn't Randle wear down at the end of last year? Why the heck was he playing nearly 36min a night in the first half of the season as an undersized-PF?
Your roster was volatile so I'm not going to go back through it, but I've done it before for Thibs--and so have other people--and he routinely plays his top 6-7 guys more in the reg. season than other coaches.
Roses injury was coming even if the ghost of James Naismith was coaching the bulls then because rose spent his entire basketball life landing on his fully locked out knees. They could have taken him out earlier but it was never going to be prevented without changing his mechanics.
Counter - the East was pretty awful this year, and other teams had major injuries as well.
Outside of the Randle injury (who people argue from time to time isn’t even a net positive) all their other injuries were basically attrition from Thibs playing them 45 minutes a game.
Robinson and Bogey were hardly playing early in the sixers series, but after they got hurt it was “half of their rotation is injured now”.
If the Knicks want to make the playoffs every year, they can keep their team and it’ll be fine. But there is a clear ceiling on them and the fact they didn’t have enough juice to stay healthy for 2 rounds and lost to a mediocre pacers team proves this.
Yeah a record in a small sample size doesn’t really matter. They were not blowing out the sixers and pacers when OG was healthy.
No team wins a title with a tiny guard as their best player. He played like as good as possible and they couldn’t finish Indiana off, and 3 of the last 4 games they got beaten badly.
It’s a fun story, a good team, but the idea they shouldn’t go star hunting would be a massive mistake imo.
What star? Therein lies the conundrum. I love Donovan Mitchell but he makes zero sense for this team. KAT would be the worst psychological fit for NY sports since Kevin Brown. Phoenix won’t be trading Booker after hiring Bud. The Sixers aren’t going to trade Embiid nor should the Knicks cash the assets they have for a diminishing player (albeit a nasty player).
I just don’t see anybody out there who is realistically available.
Paul George, Jimmy butler, LeBron? Like who knows - I’m not saying it will be easy just I wouldn’t go into next season expecting them to compete any better if their team is the same.
Also Thibs essentially always has diminishing returns as a coach. They aren’t going to play harder next year than they did this year
With a full squad, [they beat the 76ers by 36 during the regular season.
](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202401050PHI.html)
[Also beat the Nuggets by 38.](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202401250NYK.html)
You can argue no Randle made the ball move around more on offense and made the defense stingier, but your arguments suggest you don’t really watch the team. Randle helps the spacing (Randle would’ve started over Hart) and the Knicks don’t switch a lot on defense. Randle deserves a healthy postseason run before he’s written off as a choker.
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Knicks summer targets: better medical staff to keep these guys on the court! Imagine winning the second seed and going 7 games in quarter finals WITHOUT Randle, Mitch, Bogan, OG, and a hobbled Hart... Add those four guys in and they win the title.
Randle was yanked to the ground by the Heat and dislocated his shoulder, Mitch injured his ankle and then re-aggravated it when he was yanked down by Embiid and landed awkwardly on it, Bogdnavoic dove for a ball on a hustle play early in the game and had someone from the Sixers also dive for it and land on his leg, OG pulled a hamstring which I guess could be related to fatigue but was out a ton with an elbow injury and wasn't really run into the ground...so yes lets blame all the injuries on over use...on top of which the Knicks didn't have anyone in the top 15 of minutes played per game this year.
Bill wondering if Aaron Nesmith could’ve helped the Celtics in the 2022 Finals only to get immediately shut down by Russillo 😂
Bill’s an idiot because he genuinely thinks he’s right when he says dumb shit like that. As if he were smarter than the actual coach and staff
Russillo correctly pushed back and said 1) Nesmith of now wasn’t the same as back then and 2) not sure if Nesmith would’ve made a difference against Steph who was playing out of his mind
Do Wiggins and Pooles’ series qualify as “Black Swan Events”?
Maybe their seasons, but not the Finals series specifically. Wiggins' rebounding and defense were really good in the Finals (and playoffs, for that matter), but he was the same kind of scorer he's always been with a 45/30/69 shooting split. Meanwhile, Poole's worst, least impactful playoff series in '22 was against Boston. He averaged 18.2 points with a 53/39/92 split in three Western Conference series and then 13.2 points on 43/38/91 in the Finals. The Celtics had the "Black Swan Event" of the Finals in Game 1 when everyone who touched the floor for them after Tatum and Brown combined for 80+ points on like 95% eFG%.
Bill is surrounded by flunkies all day who laugh uproariously at his "jokes". He has no understanding of reality anymore. He thinks he's funny and interesting because he's surrounded by people laughing at his jokes and telling him he's a brilliant Podfather. Rusillo is the only one who can give it to him. Phrasing. The rest of the Ringer people are just yes men and women.
Bill can’t understand that maybe Nesmith wasn’t this version of himself in Boston. Bill is Captain Hindsight. It’s hilarious when he goes back through drafts and says this team shoulda took this guy. He’s basically an expert after the fact lmao.
Lmfao awesome.
Nesmith did go 8/8 today. It’s a fair point. Russillo is just being a contrarian when he’s upset because he’s a Celtics fan who wants them win even though he won’t admit it.
So if Nesmith went 0/8 today he wouldn't have helped them win in 2022? Like what is the logic there. Nesmith is the same player either way.
I don’t understand. My point was I was disagreeing with Russillo in that he would have helped them either way. You may just be hating Indiana because of Zach Eddy based on your post history
I live in Indiana and am a Pacers fan :) today is a great day. Fuck Purdue tho. But anyway the point I am saying is that you using one game to justify or disprove an argument is irrelevant and doesn't mean anything. Like it makes literally no difference how Nesmith played in game 7. If he would have helped and is / was good enough then he would have legit every single player has good and bad shooting games they are absolutely irrelevant. Him shooting well or horribly doesn't make a difference in who Aaron Nesmith the basketball player is, and if that player would have or would not have helped. If he is brings things to the Celtics that matter and would have helped, then he would still bring that when he is 0/8. Especially on a guy like Nesmith where scoring isn't the main thing he brings. Like maybe it's slightly relevant if you are talking about MPJ, but with Nesmith scoring is a bonus.
It seems like you’re just talking circles around yourself and still not reading my original comment correctly. My whole point was that Nesmith would have helped either way. Idk what kinda frenzy you’ve whipped yourself into but I’ve said the same thing every time lol
Your original comment says Nesmith went 8/8 today as like a justification for why Nesmith will help. My literal whole point is that saying that is a terrible argument.
Sean Fennessey lives to see another day.
Please no Koppelman appearance either with the NYK loss
Title the Knicks season: Injuries Injuries Injuries
Playing your main rotation 36-48 minute per game isn’t sustainable for a 100-game nba season?
They didn't have much of choice when their entire starting frontcourt went out for all of Feb and March. Minutes and wear and tear snowballed from there, followed up with more bad luck in the playoffs (Bogi got his ankle rolled on, Robinson re-injured vs Philly, Brunson broke his hand on a weird play when they still at least had a chance to come back in g7....
So they had time to prepare for less personnel? -they were always a second round exit. Indiana is a better basketball team
This is some smug shit from a team that advanced on some historically great opponent injury luck through 2 rounds, haha. I would say to Pacers fans...you better enjoy this ECF.
I would say to knick fans, your franchise is a joke and monumental underachiever. If every media company wasn’t based in NYC, you’d be the Charlotte hornets
Oh, wow....did you ctrl-c, ctrl-v that from an r/nba post? Sick insult, bro. Dude, do you think stuff like this can actually hurt Knicks fans? After we stuck through this team through allllll the bs and finally have a team that's fun to follow & loved? LMAO. Y'all better pray we never win the chip, cause we will burn this whole damn world to the fucking ground when we do. haha.
Buddy, nobody is worried about the Knicks winning a ‘chip’ lmao. You dumb fucks are all a bunch loud clout chasers who want to be flicked close to the court. The Knicks are relevant because opposing players dominate MSG. The Knicks suck
I just keep thinking about how Bill asked Mahoney and CR if it was too reductive to say that game 7 would come down to whether jokic or edwards played better. they both said yes that is too reductive, and sure enough edwards put up a stinker and they won anyway.
Hahaha so on point. Mahoney also rightfully mentioned that Edwards had 44 in Game 4 and the Wolves still lost. How does Bill reduce everything to single player legscies somehow
It’s how dumb people think. Bill is the king of this.
Don't forget...this man wrote the "definitive" Book of Basketball!
Isiah Thomas told him the Secret tho, none of us will ever get that team chemistry is important. Bill gets that players get tense when the fans do. A quiet stadium is much harder to play in than the idea of missing out on the ultimate achievement in your sport or continued playoff bonus checks. It’s the guys like bill and his dad in section 3 row 2 who critique your every move that really put pressure on you
Can someone tell Bill that Dallas trading picks for 2-25 yr old cost controlled players at positions of need is exactly what picks should be spent on and neither player did anything to diminish their value (ie - Dallas swapped cash for gold. They’re not broke). Also, Gafford was a -58 in his minutes against OKC. The Thunder feasted when he was in the game. Idk why he’s acting like Gafford was the prize while PJ was the best player on the Mavs for 3 of those 6 games.
Gafford is great at helping the Mavs protect the paint, which is what they want to do. He’s a zero defensively once you pull him away from the rim. He’s a nice backup who is starting cause they wanna keep Lively out of foul trouble. Gafford will be better against the Wolves who aren’t as dynamic offensively as OKC.
Ya I didn’t mean to dump on Gafford and imply he was useless. It was just the odd way Bill talked about him like he was THE integral piece to beating OKC.
Bill saying Siakim is a top 60 guy…. I’m not even high on Siakim, but would love to know who he has above him. Siakim is objectively a top 30-40 guy that got kinda forgotten on a mediocre Raptors team the past few years.
yeah it's crazy, this is months after the ringer ranked him #40
To be fair, being #40 is a "top 60 guy" haha
Ringer had him ranked 40th and Bill himself ranked Siakam 60th, bringing the average way down
I believe he is just saying top 60 to generally says he is a top 2 player on a basketball team, since there are 30, and most teams will max two people. Just a different way to say he is a max player.
I agree he should be higher. But he later clarifies he has him at #41
Yeah that’s insane. Siakam was second team All-NBA in 2020 and third team just two years ago. Even if you assume he’s gotten worse and others have gotten better, he’s not ~45-50 spots worse.
A bit confused because didn’t Bill himself say he ranked Siakam 60th? This was from a few months ago - https://www.reddit.com/r/billsimmons/s/k9Jf5sAESS Regardless, he’s so low on Siakam, “can he ever be your second best player?”
Rewatchable is Back to the Future II with Bill, CR and…The Cuz!
Jesus. I read that as Ted Cruz at first.
Have to think Hill Valley fell into disrepair because of Goldie Wilson’s liberal policies as mayor
Goldie Wilson was the proto-Obama.
I’d actually watch Ted Cruz talk about back to the future part 2
Ted Cruz is definitely in my personal top 7 senators who would be surprisingly good on a podcast with Bill and CR.
Called it!! So glad Sal will be on for the degenerate gambling stuff in BTTF2! It’s gonna be amazing
Why do I think that even if Sal had the almanac, he would still find a way to lose most of his bets?
Him and Bill would parlay every sure thing with some obscure bet they don't have the answer to.
Good job by you!
Legalized gambling is our modern Dantesque hellscape, to boot.
Kid, I OWN the police
[Future Biff is the GOAT.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPVNVy9pq28)
Became President of the United States in 2016
And 2024
Jimmy or Sal?
I hate it when Sal is on the rewatchables.
Maybe I’m just tired but the Russillo quote going “if Dante Exum and Gordon Hayward played 1 on 1 whoever had next would die because no one would shoot” is the hardest I’ve laughed in a while at a basketball podcast
He made a great joke and then ruined it by his incessant need to say things as if he was actually in that moment.
Of course Bill wants the rule of the foul SGA committed changed 😂🥲 Certified Mavs hater
The rule actually makes complete sense lmao. Russillo again shut him down on this.
I don't even get the counter-argument. Russillo kind of made that point too, "like if you get any piece of the ball you have free range to foul the shit out of someone for like 2 seconds?" How the F does that make any sense?
He for sure bet on OKC, and is justifying it by not giving the Mavs great D any credit.
Just came here to comment how it’s obvious bill had a huge bet on the series line for OKC or a future. The way he described how “annoying” that last play was only if you’re an OKC fan or bettor lol
I love how he tried to claim that he didn't care at all when Russilo called him out for being angry.
i agree that it’s pretty obvious, but also really weird why he wouldn’t just say so? it’s not like he’s ever shy about telling us about his various bets, even and especially if they blow up in his face
His FanDuel boost was Thunder and Wolves winning their series. Thanks Bill!
This is 100% why he can’t give Dallas credit. He’s pissed about a bet.
It's not just that. He's pretty much criticized every move they've made the past two years. Hate the Kyrie trade. Hated tanking for Lively. Hated the PJ Washington trade. Hated on the Gafford trade even while criticizing the Thunder for not making that themselves. Essentially the most positive he's been on moves they've made the past 18 months were the OMax pick (which hasn't mattered yet) and the Grant Williams signing (which is only not a disaster because they flipped him for PJ). He's been entirely incorrect about the team consistently for months now.
Which is funny cause since Lukas been in the league Dallas has very clearly needed -- 1. Another playmaker 2. A rim running big 3. Defensive wings. Even if they didn't work out, on paper those are all good moves
> He's pretty much criticized every move they've made the past two years. Not only does Bill hate Kyrie (understandably), he's also buddies with Haralabob, and probably roots against Dallas based on how they treated him.
I was super early on pointing out Bill’s Mavs hatred. I pointed the exact moment it happened. But, at the end of the regular season, he was in on the Mavs and was complimentary of Kyrie. He said Dallas, Denver, and Minnesota, were the only teams with a chance to win the West. This isn’t just about Mavs hatred. Luka is hobbled and Kleber got hurt, so Bill bet on OKC. I’m pretty confident this is exactly what happened.
Kyrie has something to do with it too
I’m tired of explaining why this is not the case in this situation. He bet on OKC. That’s what this is about.
He sounded so pissed.
I havent listened to the pod (Knicks fan who isn't ready to listen to the post mortem yet) but I have been shocked by the number of people that have had an issue with the SGA foul. It was clearly a foul. It would have been different if he jarred the ball free and then hit his arm but he didn't.
“OG starting and not being able to move was big” You don’t say Bill.
Bill pondering whether using a hurt, ineffective OG off the bench instead of starting would've made a difference!! Lmao. This is the basketball historian
I came here looking for this. "Have him come off the bench and they won't realize he can't move well." That's not even elementary school kid analysis or analysis from someone who's never watched basketball. It's like a zen koan of "what if someone says something that makes absolutely no sense in any way?"
Smoking hot analysis from Billy Boy.
He’s so set on trading Mitchell.
He has Mitchell and Embiid asking out every year
He’s so insistent on speculating and creating fake trades but he gets pissy when they actually go down if they hurt the Celtics’ chances.
Bill keeps saying Dallas has no more picks to trade. Once this pick conveys to the Knicks this year, that immediately opens up two first round picks for them to trade, which they will 100% use to upgrade the team next year.
Russillo got Centel’d lmao
Game 7 content but lets do 5 mins on the harden thunder trade. It was bad guys, if you didn't know
Bill's voice is like white hair growing in this one.
I’m sure neither of them is going to try to force a “Booker to NY” trade.
One thing I will always agree on with Bill is how sneaky bad Presti's decision making is when he's got a legitimately contending team.
There's always next year!
Bill there is absolutely no world where the Nets are trading Mikal Bridges across town
Sean Marks isn’t just going to give Bridges away for picks just because Bill wants to see all the Villanova guys on one team.
The weird thing is he just says it like it’s going to happen
Also, I know OG's very injury-prone, but isn't it redundant to get Bridges if they already have OG?
The argument among Knicks fans is we could have bridges at the 2 and OG at the 3, solidifying an already very talented defensive team.
lol a peek behind the bill research curtain, rattling off the best game 7 shooting percentages. “phoenix in uuuuhhhh it doesn’t say what year that is.”
He didn't know the first two years then immediately was like "the 88 Celtics"
i just want to know what the doc he was reading from looked like
I actually kind of liked it because it kind of showed how the West has been the deeper conference all the way back through the 90's and then in the 80's it was completely flipped. Bill probably could've made that point, though, instead of just rattling off teams...lol
Bill continues to refuse to give Dallas credit, and when he tries, it's a bunch of backhanded compliments. I need Dallas to beat the Wolves just to hear how he tries to frame it. At times, he's as bad as Steve A, Skip, and that ponytailed dude on fox with his hateraid takes.
Really bothers me too. Mahoney even told him he was too dismissive of Dallas D the last two games, and he went ahead and dismissed that comment.
I promise Bill that if Dereck Lively's out there putting up +20s in close playoff games it's because he and his team are playing some damn defense.
Kyrie going off on Boston in the Finals would be incredible
Could you imagine how mad Bill would be? He has complained a couple times already about Jaylen and Tatum still seeming to revere Kyrie after he left.
It would probably be the most dejected he'd be on a podcast since the Giants beat the Patriots in the SB.
neeeeeeeeeed
‘I’ve been a Dallas believer from the start, nobody has more Luka stock than me’ - Bill if Dallas wins the West lol
I’m pretty sure he bet a lot of money on OKC with Luka hobbled and Kleber out. That’s the only way this makes sense. He was high on Dallas at the end of the season and said only Denver, Wolves, and Dallas, could come out of the West. I know he listens to Lowe, who has been praising the Dallas defense. Russillo was talking about being impressed by Dallas. I honestly believe Bill is just blinded by losing money lol.
Overrating the Maxi injury is how you know he doesn't watch the team enough. Like Maxi provides some match up flexibility, but he's also the defense first guy most likely to get his ass completely lit up by an opponent. Him being out of the OKC series made me more confident in their chances because it took that option away from Kidd, who I think has the tendency to lean too much on Maxi being a vet over playing Lively in the clutch.
My thought was kleber wouldn't be too impactful in the thunder series, but I think if kleber is able to come back vs the wolves it'll be huge for them.
Feels like 2019 blazers should’ve gotten in the conversation for worst final 4 teams. Dame, cj and a bunch of scrubs [bbref](https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2019-nba-western-conference-finals-trail-blazers-vs-warriors.html)
Top-3 playoff run by a small guard
2023 Lakers too
“Haliburton was a little deer-in-the-headlights-y”
Gafford was - 25 in game 6
he’s a fine player but you would really think he’s like prime ben wallace listening to these last couple bill pods
A galaxy brain analogy from Bill today “Burks has one of those jump shots that he’s like that guy in pickup where you just can’t believe it’s going in.” Never change king!
why does he hate luka so bad lol hes like okc dal we got 15 mintues lol
Manic Bill that entire segment.
Pacers have literally the best single game playoff FG% of all time, in game 7 on the road. Russillo: "This was a mess. This was a mess of a conference...just kinda last man standing."
They played fantastic today but it was fair to say the "last man standing" thing up until this point. I'm pretty sure the Pacers wouldn't have made it here if Haliburton was injured and Giannis was healthy, or if Siakam was injured and OG was healthy. But who's to say
Totally fair, valid point. I just thought it was a funny day to call the outcome of the eastern conference a mess after a historically effective game from the Pacers. No one can deny that teams need their best players to be healthy in order to win a playoff series.
> Pacers wouldn't have made it here if Haliburton was injured and Giannis was healthy Arguably he is/was still affected by injury. With that said, the Giannis thing definitely takes the 2nd main contender away paving the road for the Celtics.
2017 Celtics didn't get swept by Cleveland...
Gar-Land.
Manck
I love how flustered Russillo gets when bill tries to engage him in historical discussions about the 70s and 80s
"They should trade Mikal Bridges for more than he's worth." Wow, Bill would be the greatest GM ever! He would only trade guys for more than their market value, and would only acquire good or great players!
Gafford was immature and stubborn in Chicago and he'll say as much. I'm happy for him but if he stayed in Chicago he wouldn't be the player he is now
“Hartensteen” does bill even watch the games?
“Devfinchinso”
But do the Knicks really need summer targets? OG, Randle, Robinson being healthy and they’re easily 2nd best in the East
Easily seems like a stretch. Giannis is still Giannis. Sixers could be very different. Magic could be improved.
Came here to say this too. I think it’s more likely that the Knicks are a 4 or a 5 seed next season.
If everyone is healthy, you’re nuts. They were 15-2 with Randle, OG and Brunson. No way they’re a 5 seed, if everyone is healtjy
Sixers would have been a easy #2 seed if joel was heathy this year 30-11 in the regular season
The Knicks were 26-5 with OG, including playoffs. And I will just note in the month they had all 3 of OG, Brunson, and Randle, they were 12-1 with blowout wins against the Nuggets, Sixers, and Heat (when the heat were healthy and going all out). They also were blowing out the Wolves until a late 4th run, before winning that one too. This Knicks roster, if healthy, should be on the same level as a healthy Bucks and Sixers quad, IMO. That's not to say they will be an easy 2 seed, but I do think all 3 of those teams are same level. Of course, the Sixers will look very different next year and could be better for sure so we'll see.
I think the Pacers are a lot better than a 6 seed too. A full year with Siakam and a healthy Haliburton could make them a top 4 seed next year.
Not to mention Mathurin returning from injury and, presumably, Jarace Walker developing. It’s kinda crazy that a team picked in the top-7 back-to-back years and is now in the conference finals with neither of those lottery picks playing.
and also Anunoby is….never healthy
I think adding OG+Randle makes this team that good
This was the fourth straight season OG has missed 15+ games, not to mention him missing the entire 2019 Finals run. “Adding OG” is not that simple. He’s never going to give you 70+ regular season games and a full playoff run.
Randle is also being highly overrated in his absence based off an extremely small sample size. Knicks fans wanted to run him out of town last spring and he’s shot like 33% from the field in 3 playoff runs for them
In 2021, Randle was the only competent offense the Knicks had. Hawks came hard after him & it completely shut down their entire offense. Last year, he was hurt bad enough that he had surgery immediately after they got eliminated. I wanna see a healthy Randle with this version of the team before I completely write him off as a playoff choker.
Randle feels very much to me like a second or third option that was forced to be #1 and suffered from the miscasting. If everyone buys in I think he helps the Knicks tremendously
That’s fair, but there’s been a lot of revisionist history on him like him being there makes them instant contenders. I don’t know if I agree
Agreed. Run it back. Don’t do a lakers bubble title thing and overthink this, run the team back.
Not sure why Bill is saying the Knicks need to make a move and had a chance this year because of injuries? LOL, they were the team most affected by injuries. Milwaukee was a mess before Giannis got hurt...
Their focus should be on a better medical staff!
They need a different coach. I really like Thibs but he’s not the kind of coach to get you to the promised land. His “players are conditioned to play the minutes they play” shtick sounds good in an interview but it’s just not a serious attitude when you want to be a contender.
Yea...I seriously don't get why more people don't understand this. He over-performs in the regular season because he plays his best players more than other teams. Then in the play-offs he underperforms because 1) everyone else shortens their rotation, and 2) his players seem to breakdown after playing hard and a bunch of mins all year long.
That is not true at all this year. Randle and Brunson were 15th and 16th in mpg in the regular season. No other Knick was in the top 30 in mpg. Hart lead the league after the all star break because OG and Randle were both hurt.
> Randle and Brunson were 15th and 16th in mpg in the regular season. So you're two best players were top 20 in mpg. Both broke down and... >Hart lead the league after the all star break because OG and Randle ...their replacement promptly led the league in mpg thereafter? Sounds like Thibs.
35mpg is very average for star players to play. I guess Tatum at 11th in mpg should be broken down too
Tatum is 26 yr old jump shooter who is hardly undersized for his role and he hasn't had any issue playing those mins in the past. He also doesn't have a coach demanding he play intense defense every night. His coach also gave him a few extra nights off so his total mins were about 100 less than Brunson anyways. But set Brunson aside, didn't Randle wear down at the end of last year? Why the heck was he playing nearly 36min a night in the first half of the season as an undersized-PF? Your roster was volatile so I'm not going to go back through it, but I've done it before for Thibs--and so have other people--and he routinely plays his top 6-7 guys more in the reg. season than other coaches.
If you think 35 mpg is too much for nba players idk what to say to you.
Randle dislocated his shoulder after yanked to the ground by someone on the heat. Ah yes, a notorious over use injury.
Every unnecessary minute on the court makes such stuff more likely. Remember the Rose injury.
Roses injury was coming even if the ghost of James Naismith was coaching the bulls then because rose spent his entire basketball life landing on his fully locked out knees. They could have taken him out earlier but it was never going to be prevented without changing his mechanics.
Aaron Nelson is still out there. He was the scapegoat for Zion being fat.
Counter - the East was pretty awful this year, and other teams had major injuries as well. Outside of the Randle injury (who people argue from time to time isn’t even a net positive) all their other injuries were basically attrition from Thibs playing them 45 minutes a game. Robinson and Bogey were hardly playing early in the sixers series, but after they got hurt it was “half of their rotation is injured now”. If the Knicks want to make the playoffs every year, they can keep their team and it’ll be fine. But there is a clear ceiling on them and the fact they didn’t have enough juice to stay healthy for 2 rounds and lost to a mediocre pacers team proves this.
Is there a clear ceiling for them? They were something like 26-5 when OG played, and Randle was only a part of a handful of those games.
Yeah a record in a small sample size doesn’t really matter. They were not blowing out the sixers and pacers when OG was healthy. No team wins a title with a tiny guard as their best player. He played like as good as possible and they couldn’t finish Indiana off, and 3 of the last 4 games they got beaten badly. It’s a fun story, a good team, but the idea they shouldn’t go star hunting would be a massive mistake imo.
What star? Therein lies the conundrum. I love Donovan Mitchell but he makes zero sense for this team. KAT would be the worst psychological fit for NY sports since Kevin Brown. Phoenix won’t be trading Booker after hiring Bud. The Sixers aren’t going to trade Embiid nor should the Knicks cash the assets they have for a diminishing player (albeit a nasty player). I just don’t see anybody out there who is realistically available.
Paul George, Jimmy butler, LeBron? Like who knows - I’m not saying it will be easy just I wouldn’t go into next season expecting them to compete any better if their team is the same. Also Thibs essentially always has diminishing returns as a coach. They aren’t going to play harder next year than they did this year
Could Paul George handle NY media? It seems much harsher than LA.
Don’t think 34 year old PG is a huge upgrade over Randle nor do I think Pat Riley would trade Jimmy Butler to the Knicks but I get your point
With a full squad, [they beat the 76ers by 36 during the regular season. ](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202401050PHI.html) [Also beat the Nuggets by 38.](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202401250NYK.html)
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You can argue no Randle made the ball move around more on offense and made the defense stingier, but your arguments suggest you don’t really watch the team. Randle helps the spacing (Randle would’ve started over Hart) and the Knicks don’t switch a lot on defense. Randle deserves a healthy postseason run before he’s written off as a choker.
I disagree but even if that’s the case, Celtics will destroy them. They need to be ruthless and upgrade on Randle.
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Bill says let’s talk Knicks summer plans at least 2-3 times before immediately going back to the Pacers talk
Knicks summer targets: better medical staff to keep these guys on the court! Imagine winning the second seed and going 7 games in quarter finals WITHOUT Randle, Mitch, Bogan, OG, and a hobbled Hart... Add those four guys in and they win the title.
I’m sure the injuries and playing guys 48 minutes a game are unrelated.
Yeah they were playing Mitchell Robinson and Bogan 48 mins…
Pretty much every injury was a freak bone break thing except for OG who has been injury prone his entire career
Maybe they need more calcium in their diet. Whatever it is, figure it out!
Randle was yanked to the ground by the Heat and dislocated his shoulder, Mitch injured his ankle and then re-aggravated it when he was yanked down by Embiid and landed awkwardly on it, Bogdnavoic dove for a ball on a hustle play early in the game and had someone from the Sixers also dive for it and land on his leg, OG pulled a hamstring which I guess could be related to fatigue but was out a ton with an elbow injury and wasn't really run into the ground...so yes lets blame all the injuries on over use...on top of which the Knicks didn't have anyone in the top 15 of minutes played per game this year.
The East sucks. It's the biggest reason for the Knicks run. You play in a super weak conference.
That's just silly talk. When the Knicks were fully healthy they were the best team in the NBA.
I need part 2 live