Transcript

SI's NBA Show | Silver Disappoints Golliver, Extreme Smallball, Spurs vs. Rockets vs. OKC

From The Bill Simmons Podcast NBA · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 9 min · 12,499 words · 71 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "SI's NBA Show | Silver Disappoints Golliver, Extreme Smallball, Spurs vs. Rockets vs. OKC", an episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast NBA published October 6, 2017 (1 h 9 min, about 12,499 words). It mentions 59 people, works and ideas, including NBA, Andrew Sharp, Ben Gulliver, Fantasy Basketball, LeBron James.

What this episode is about

The discussion centers around the hosts' reflections on a previous fantasy basketball segment, highlighting mismatched expectations and an overall lack of engagement with the topic. They acknowledge the need for accountability and a more genuine approach while teasing upcoming analysis on various NBA themes, including contrasting playing styles and team comparisons among the Spurs, Rockets, and Thunder.

Key takeaways

  • Apologies: the new trend. Even analysts know when to admit they messed up, just like NBA teams should.
  • Reality vs. Fantasy: it’s tough when your analyst dreams clash with practicality—ask the guy defending George Hill.
  • NBA All-Star changes: flashy captains format can't fix systemic issues; still stuck with conference snubs and mismatched rosters.
  • Self-reflection is key. Even the most seasoned analysts get caught in their own intellectual web. Who knew?
  • Vicarious fandom: becoming the ultimate fan is the new strategy. Why live your own dreams when you can coach from afar?

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Fantasy Basketball, Andrew Sharp, Ben Gulliver, LeBron James
  2. – 20:00: Andrew Sharp, Adam Silver, NBA Lottery, Lonzo Ball
  3. – 30:00: Kevin Love, Charlie Kirk, Spencer Hall, LeBron James
  4. – 40:00: Kawhi Leonard, Golden State Warriors, Manu Ginobili, Jonathan Simmons
  5. – 50:00: Chris Paul, Houston Rockets, NBA Playoffs, Basketball IQ
  6. – 1:00:00: LeBron James, Ben Gulliver, Fantasy Basketball, Jimmy Butler
  7. – 1:09:13: Michael Beasley, Neuroscience, Austin Rivers, Dion Waiters

Notable quotes from "SI's NBA Show | Silver Disappoints Golliver, Extreme Smallball, Spurs vs. Rockets vs. OKC"

  • That's a rap phrase I heard just grab your Glock and relax no look you've been bringing the energy all day so I'm excited to jump in here but yes the fantasy podcast was a bit…
    about Andrew Sharp · at
  • One other side reason I'm gonna get to a second I've decided as my way to atone I'm gonna become your basket fantasy basketball team's number one fan I'm always I'm gonna I'm…
    about Fantasy Basketball · at
  • Email a longtime listener I live in Australia and I've loved the NBA since 1992 I'm writing because Ben Gulliver has been dropping some truth on Adam Silver and the NBA and…
    about Adam Silver · at
  • Because what they came up with they so first of all for anyone who's not paying attention I predicted there was gonna be captain's for the all-star game they're gonna get rid…
    about Ben Gulliver · at
  • All-star game the way you think of fantasy sports because I just truly don't give a [ __ ] about any of this the all-star game is gonna be depressing and almost no matter what…
    about NBA All-Star Game · at
  • Laughter during this election show yeah I mean if you want to just call it right now that LeBron and Kyrie are somehow Co all-star game MVP is I'm not going to stop you because…
    about LeBron James · at
  • The lottery Alex hopper wrote in to say I'm cribbing this from shut down full cast but the NBA should have done what Ryan nany Spencer Hall and Jason Kirk suggested for the NFL…
    about NBA · at
  • As a five-star review to make sure you read it what do you guys think well his game worked I don't think Chris Paul is legitimately an MVP candidate this year but I am really…
    about Chris Paul · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Andrew Sharp — Person · Host / co-host · 3 mentions · first at
    Co-host who frames listener questions and steers discussion across All-Star changes, lottery reform, and team strategy; also banters with Gulliver throughout.
  • Ben Gulliver — Person · Co-host · 3 mentions · first at
    Co-host who drives the episode’s main debates: All-Star format criticism, lottery reform, small-ball trends, and team outlooks (Spurs/Rockets/Cavs).
  • LeBron James — Person · Referenced star player / example in arguments · 5 mentions · first at
    Central example for All-Star captain draft concept and for Cleveland lineup construction; used as a benchmark for MVP narratives and small-ball lineups.
  • Chris Paul — Person · Referenced star player / debate subject · 11 mentions · first at
    Discussed as a (rejected) MVP candidate and as a key fit question in Houston’s system with Harden; used to contrast team structure vs. raw talent.
  • Adam Silver — Person · Referenced league executive / decision-maker · 4 mentions · first at
    Commissioner referenced as the person/office responsible for All-Star format changes and broader league policy choices (lottery reform, competitive balance).
  • Kevin Love — Person · Referenced player (Cavs lineup construction) · 4 mentions · first at
    Key piece in Cleveland’s proposed ‘medium/small-ball’ lineup; discussed as a spacing big and potential starting center to maximize shooting around LeBron.
    Little too punchy today I like this idea of Kevin Love into the starting lineup I mean I think they were getting dangerously close to not enough shooters around LeBron and it…
  • Russell Westbrook — Person · Referenced expert · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in the context of his performance and role in the NBA.
    Captains format everyone's gonna chuckle over who LeBron traps Willie take Kyrie you know will Steph take Westbrook and all this it's nonsense we still don't have the best 24…
  • Jimmy Butler — Person · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of his performance and role in the NBA.
    Conference Finals and I also we don't we're not gonna get into it but I still am I'm not ready to write the Wolves out of this conversation just because Jimmy Butler is that…
  • Kawhi Leonard — Person · Referenced star player (Spurs outlook) · 3 mentions · first at
    Health/status is framed as the key variable for San Antonio’s ceiling and seeding; also listed among MVP favorites by an emailer.
    The day yeah Spurs are gonna be awesome I mean the Kauai health thing is definitely a major crux you know they need him and I think it sounds like they're just being careful with him if that's the case and they're fine.
  • Zach Lowe — Person · Referenced expert · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as a respected analyst in the NBA.
    There is too stressed about how this plays out the first few months the thing that I wonder about big picture and Zach Lowe made this point on a podcast earlier this week is…
  • Derrick Rose — Person · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of his performance and role in the NBA.
    Where they just try to win shootouts they don't care about defense and you know we're all looping Derrick Rose lowlights but I do think limiting roses impact on the rotation is generally a good thing I wouldn't necessarily be having Wade do.
  • Manu Ginobili — Person · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of his role and performance in the NBA.
    I saw but still that's the first six weeks of the season ageing Pau Gasol and Manu Ginobili unsatisfied LaMarcus Aldridge still on the roster likely having to play a lot of…
  • Michael Beasley — Person · Referenced player (off-court quote catalyst) · 4 mentions · first at
    Appears as the trigger for a listener correction about the ‘10% of the brain’ myth; used to close the episode with a science/media discussion and a movie reference.
    I need you guys to educate the masses not even going to get into the high philosophy 101 comments but the idea that we only use 10% of our brains is completely false and not at…
  • Steph Curry — Person · Referenced star player (All-Star captain example) · 3 mentions · first at
    Named as the other All-Star captain in the hypothetical draft; also used as a top-tier value benchmark in finals/superstar discussions.
    Most valuable players on the court but we haven't really seen that yet because you know Steph is still the most valuable player on the court in the finals maybe LeBron the…
  • Colin Cowherd — Person · Referenced expert · 3 mentions
    Mentioned in the context of his influence on NBA discussions.
    Think we should call it medium ball I think we should call it interchangeable this is a good time to mention that Colin coward took LeBrons Oh LeBron's oh is it yeah it's LeBron so you know its LeBron so it's not pretending like you're not.
  • Kyrie Irving — Person · Referenced star player (All-Star draft / LeBron tie-in) · 2 mentions · first at
    Appears in All-Star draft hypotheticals and as part of a predicted co-MVP joke; also used in early fantasy comparison banter.
    Laughter during this election show yeah I mean if you want to just call it right now that LeBron and Kyrie are somehow Co all-star game MVP is I'm not going to stop you because…
  • Jonathan Simmons — Person · Referenced expert · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in the context of his role and performance in the NBA.
    Wanted to debate dion Waiters versus malcolm brogdon versus Austin Rivers and like Brandan Wright Jonathan Simmons on the magic so if anyone hit me up on Twitter we can talk…
  • Kyle Lowry — Person · Referenced player (All-Star selection thought experiment) · 1 mention · first at
    Used in the ‘top 24 draft’ thought experiment to illustrate how few Eastern Conference players would be selected if conferences were removed.
    Picked I think John Wall gets picked I think Kyle Lowry probably gets picked no nope I love Kyle Lowry but I feel like if players are drafting they're gonna take a guy like…
  • Gordon Hayward — Person · Referenced player (All-Star selection thought experiment) · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as an Eastern Conference candidate in the hypothetical All-Star draft; also referenced obliquely with ‘awkward’ context (injury/incident sensitivity).
    Lillard before Kyle Lowry okay what about Gordon Hayward well see this is the thing we actually we can't gauge this through the players eyes because I could see players…
  • Myles Turner — Person · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of his performance and potential in the NBA.
    Mean porzingis is in this category as well but i think you know some of the other guys if you're if you're Myles Turner you got to get that three-point range locked in you know…
  • David Robinson — Person · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of NBA history and rivalries.
    Few years yeah well actually if you've heard of David Robinson Hakeem Olajuwon these are two organizations yes sorry I said it many old air actually have had a pretty good rivalry in the past yeah but no I did mean to be that big of a jerk.
  • Hakeem Olajuwon — Person · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of NBA history and rivalries.
    Few years yeah well actually if you've heard of David Robinson Hakeem Olajuwon these are two organizations yes sorry I said it many old air actually have had a pretty good rivalry in the past yeah but no I did mean to be that big of a jerk.
  • Austin Rivers — Person · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of fantasy basketball discussions.
    There's stuff that I cut where like I wanted to debate dion Waiters versus malcolm brogdon versus Austin Rivers and like Brandan Wright Jonathan Simmons on the magic so if…
  • Dion Waiters — Person · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of fantasy basketball discussions.
    There's stuff that I cut where like I wanted to debate dion Waiters versus malcolm brogdon versus Austin Rivers and like Brandan Wright Jonathan Simmons on the magic so if…
  • Malcolm Brogdon — Person · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of fantasy basketball discussions.
    There's stuff that I cut where like I wanted to debate dion Waiters versus malcolm brogdon versus Austin Rivers and like Brandan Wright Jonathan Simmons on the magic so if…
  • Lonzo Ball — Person · Referenced player (lottery/draft example) · 3 mentions · first at
    Cited as an example of top prospects being funnier/more interesting in winning situations; also referenced in a joking conspiracy line about the NBA ‘handing’ him to the Lakers.
    Hearing anybody discuss Chris Paul I'm not saying I for sure think he's going to win or even want him to Lonzo for MVP but I think he's an underrated choice for three reasons…
  • Ryan Nanni — Person · Referenced expert · 3 mentions
    Mentioned in the context of a suggested idea for the NBA draft.
    The lottery Alex hopper wrote in to say I'm cribbing this from shut down full cast but the NBA should have done what Ryan nany Spencer Hall and Jason Kirk suggested for the NFL…
  • Ben Simmons — Person · Referenced player (Process/tanking contrast) · 2 mentions · first at
    Used as an example of why ‘tanking’ can be more engaging for fans when it yields high-upside stars compared to mediocre rebuilding.
    Mean my response to you I think there's more to it than just winning a championship because even rooting for guys like Ben Simmons and embiid is a lot more fun than rooting for…
  • Charlie Kirk — Person · Referenced expert · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in the context of a suggested idea for the NBA draft.
    The lottery Alex hopper wrote in to say I'm cribbing this from shut down full cast but the NBA should have done what Ryan nany Spencer Hall and Jason Kirk suggested for the NFL…
  • Spencer Hall — Person · Referenced expert · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in the context of a suggested idea for the NBA draft.
    The lottery Alex hopper wrote in to say I'm cribbing this from shut down full cast but the NBA should have done what Ryan nany Spencer Hall and Jason Kirk suggested for the NFL…
  • Damian Lillard — Person · Referenced player (All-Star draft comparison) · 1 mention · first at
    Used as a West guard benchmark in the All-Star draft thought experiment (picked before Lowry).
    No nope I love Kyle Lowry but I feel like if players are drafting they're gonna take a guy like Damian Lillard before Kyle Lowry okay what about Gordon Hayward well see this is the thing we actually we can't gauge this through the players.
  • Tony Parker — Person · Referenced player (Spurs injury/timeline) · 1 mention · first at
    Cited as part of Spurs’ early-season concerns and injury timeline; used to evaluate whether Spurs will still be elite.
    Of bleak and then he lists the problems with the Spurs right now no Kawhi Leonard in the preseason no Tony Parker for most of the season that's actually not true I think he's…
  • Evan Turner — Person · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of his social media presence.
    Over to the good side I appreciate that first team all social media I have three quick nominations okay Evan Turner definitely nothing but realness from the Evan Turner Twitter…
  • Curtis Wayne Wright — Person · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of fantasy basketball discussions.
    Wanted to debate dion Waiters versus malcolm brogdon versus Austin Rivers and like Brandan Wright Jonathan Simmons on the magic so if anyone hit me up on Twitter we can talk…
  • Pau Gasol — Person · Referenced player (Spurs aging roster) · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as an aging Spurs piece contributing to the ‘held together with scotch tape’ roster concern.
    Come on Patty Mills is still just Patty Mills and like they're they're counting on pal who's like 35 years old LaMarcus Aldridge whose game has slipped each of the last few years I'm just saying the disrespectful we have a great Australian.
  • Scottie Pippen — Person · Referenced historical player (analogy) · 1 mention · first at
    Used as a metaphor for ‘sitting out’/checking out (1994 playoffs reference) during the hosts’ fantasy podcast apology segment.
    I'm sorry I mean you put together a pretty good blueprint a pretty good game plan and I just sort of 1994 Scottie Pippen did I sat on the sidelines I didn't want in and for…
  • George Hill — Person · Referenced player (comedic ‘sensible option’) · 1 mention · first at
    Used as a punchline to contrast fantasy upside vs. ‘reality’/pragmatism in the hosts’ fantasy podcast post-mortem.
    Reality like you're out there throwing out like oh do you want Steph Curry or Kyrie Irving I'm like you know I think George Hill is just kind of like a more sensible option…
  • Kobe Bryant — Person · Referenced historical star (All-Star show vibe) · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as part of an example of staged All-Star friendliness/‘fake laughs’ alongside Shaq.
    Have the fake laughs and the chuckles and the chortles like we had that one time when Kobe and Shaq you know pretending to be friends he should be playing board historic…
  • Shaquille O'Neal — Person · Referenced historical star (All-Star show vibe) · 1 mention · first at
    Paired with Kobe in a reference to performative All-Star entertainment and ‘fake laughter’ during selection/show segments.
    Have the fake laughs and the chuckles and the chortles like we had that one time when Kobe and Shaq you know pretending to be friends he should be playing board historic…
  • Paul Millsap — Person · Referenced player (West snub example) · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as an example of a Western Conference player who could be snubbed under conference-based All-Star selection constraints.
    Emergency Carmela pod and I was just sort of out of it but yeah also in your defense I mean it's because I'm out here standing for Paul Milsap not being snubbed because he's in…

Companies & orgs

  • NBA — Company · Business focus · 4 mentions
    Central topic of the podcast discussing various aspects of the NBA including teams, players, and events.
  • Golden State Warriors — Company · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of their team strategy and performance.
    Playing faster scoring more than they do by getting as many shooters on the court as possible like the best lineups from an efficiency standpoint last year for Cleveland was…
  • Houston Rockets — Company · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    Discussed in the context of their performance, strategy, and player dynamics.
    State has figured this out like I think bus is gonna have figured this out I think Houston certainly with their offseason moves in terms of all the wings they added I think…
  • Los Angeles Lakers — Company · Case study · 3 mentions
    Discussed in the context of their team strategy and player dynamics.
    Think it's so funny that you know nerds like you get into the whole percentages of this and that when the NBA's hands Lonzo to the Lakers I mean isn't that the bigger problem I…
  • Cleveland Cavaliers — Company · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    Discussed regarding their team strategy and player lineup.
    Just relax until Isaiah comes back in January on defense it's a good point I think the Cleveland is gonna be solid regardless I don't think anybody up there is too stressed…
  • Philadelphia 76ers — Company · Case study · 3 mentions
    Discussed in the context of their team strategy and player dynamics.
    Thing with this we don't need to go into a process argument two and a half years later I don't think what the Sixers were doing was as smart as it was advertised but I totally…
  • Utah Jazz — Company · Case study · 3 mentions
    Discussed in the context of their team strategy and player dynamics.
    Lane that's another way to make your teammates better and I appreciate that I think San Antonio and Utah are the teams that you want to start with in terms of appreciating…

Concepts & topics

  • Fantasy Basketball — Concept · Core topic · 5 mentions · first at
    Main topic of discussion, particularly the hosts' experiences and opinions on fantasy basketball.
  • Advanced Stats — Concept · Strategy · 3 mentions
    Discussed in the context of their use in basketball analysis.
    To create would Ben join a fantasy league where all the categories were advanced ATS I wanted to know does this exist because it are you in a dumb fantasy league or are all…
  • Basketball IQ — Concept · Strategy · 1 mention · first at
    Discussed in the context of its importance in player performance and team strategy.
    Rockets in a second but I want to design a fantasy sports game that reflects basketball IQ and heart because in that scenario you're gonna have guys like slow-mo burton's Patty…
  • Neuroscience — Concept · Key argument · 3 mentions · first at
    Discussed in the context of brain usage and its relation to basketball performance.
    We were already over time so one question at the end here from Colin Lee he says I'm a neuroscience PhD student and I need to respond to Michael Beasley I need you guys to…
  • Brain Usage — Concept · Key argument · 3 mentions
    Discussed in the context of its relation to basketball performance and neuroscience.
    I need you guys to educate the masses not even going to get into the high philosophy 101 comments but the idea that we only use 10% of our brains is completely false and not at…

Places & events

  • NBA All-Star Game — Event · Core topic · 3 mentions
    Main topic of discussion regarding its format and player selection.
  • NBA Finals — Event · Core topic · 3 mentions
    Mentioned in the context of team strategies and performances.
    Playing faster scoring more than they do by getting as many shooters on the court as possible like the best lineups from an efficiency standpoint last year for Cleveland was…
  • NBA Playoffs — Event · Core topic · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of team strategies and performances.
    Already about Chris Paul and Dan Tony I think he gets it hopefully that will translate to the playoffs it really never has I'm still skeptical that it will with this group just…
  • NBA Draft — Event · Core topic · 3 mentions
    Discussed in the context of strategies and potential reforms.
    The lottery Alex hopper wrote in to say I'm cribbing this from shut down full cast but the NBA should have done what Ryan nany Spencer Hall and Jason Kirk suggested for the NFL…
  • NBA Lottery — Event · Core topic · 1 mention · first at
    Discussed in the context of potential reforms and strategies.
    The NBA anyways and I don't think it's gonna be effective but despite those objections I think the lottery itself is gonna be a [ __ ] show next year and it's gonna be really…
  • NBA Combine — Event · Core topic · 3 mentions
    Mentioned in the context of potential reforms and strategies.
    The lottery Alex hopper wrote in to say I'm cribbing this from shut down full cast but the NBA should have done what Ryan nany Spencer Hall and Jason Kirk suggested for the NFL…
  • COVID-19 pandemic — Event · Referenced event · 3 mentions
    Mentioned in passing in the context of its impact on the NBA.
    The lottery Alex hopper wrote in to say I'm cribbing this from shut down full cast but the NBA should have done what Ryan nany Spencer Hall and Jason Kirk suggested for the NFL…

Full transcript with timestamps

hello and welcome back to another episode of open floor I'm Andrew sharp and on the other line van Gaal ver what's up man not too much Andrew look right off the top I'm gonna make some open floor history here grab your Glock sit down whatever else you might need to do I need to issue an official apology I never apologize for anything but I need to issue an official apology for completely derail in the fantasy basketball podcast look I wasted everyone's time I came in with that bad attitude I got bad results and for that I'm sorry I mean you put together a pretty good blueprint a pretty good game plan and I just sort of 1994 Scottie Pippen did I sat on the sidelines I didn't want in and for that I apologize and I'm ready to bring the heat today good did you tell me to grab my Glock at the outset there yeah you know that's a that's a rap phrase I heard just grab your Glock and relax um no look you've

been bringing the energy all day so I'm excited to jump in here but yes the fantasy podcast was a bit of a disaster we got halfway through I kind of expected you to get into it as we went because I I was confident stupidly so that you once you figured out exactly what you were - we were talking about you would be into it and then we started to get into some of the player comparisons and you were just like I don't really give a [ __ ] that we have the top 100 to settle these so I just I just I just flat-out checked out there's no doubt about it I had a lot of reflection yesterday you know I take my hour of solace and I was really thinking about it and I realized that it was a poor fit because the name of the thing is fantasy and yet I am not only mr. accountability I'm also mr.

reality like you're out there throwing out like oh do you want Steph Curry or Kyrie Irving I'm like you know I think George Hill is just kind of like a more sensible option you're like okay I do you want to have you can have a Lamborghini or you can have a Hummer and I'm like you know the Nissan Leaf gets pretty good gas mileage like I was relisting to that podcast and I realized frankly how boring of a person I'd become I didn't I didn't like it I mean we're kind of past self-loathing at this point I mean you were throwing out all these you know comparisons do you want to be able to fly would you rather be invisible and I was like well the only superpower I really want is a good book and a nice cup of tea you know like it was embarrassing and to be honest you should have turned on me you should have been like look the self is reaching self parity here like you're trying too hard to be you know yourself you just need to

like loosen up and let loose I couldn't do it and for that reason and actually one other side reason I'm gonna get to a second I've decided as my way to atone I'm gonna become your basket fantasy basketball team's number one fan I'm always I'm gonna I'm gonna you're gonna send me the roster I'm gonna check every single night at 12:30 a.m. to see how your guys are doing listen man you're gonna live vicariously through you and the reason the side reason by the way I'm atoning is because you still need to atone for the whole Westbrook thing like you you you tried to make something out of nothing of that and you tried to skirt that issue I'm still a little bitter about it but here I am opening my soul to you and our listeners as well good well you're the best and nobody ever wants you to change and as I share some blame for the disorganized fantasy basketball preview we missed like half the questions but we have a

bunch of questions to get through today so let's dive in because we're going we're going from a law a Gulliver loss to a Gulliver win brad says first time email a longtime listener I live in Australia and I've loved the NBA since 1992 I'm writing because Ben Gulliver has been dropping some truth on Adam Silver and the NBA and clearly the league is listening he's talking about the all-star changes what do you think I don't even want the credit for this I'm disgusted okay so first of all I did kind of call though didn't I yeah you did you did and I'm honestly you would have been so unbearable if they had actually gone the full way and abolished conferences alting there and changes taken in 24 best players so I'm glad they didn't do that because I would have had to live with you bragging about it for the next five months and see that's the thing I don't think that they took my idea and tried

to make me happy I think they heard my idea and just tried to make me miserable because what they came up with they so first of all for anyone who's not paying attention I predicted there was gonna be captain's for the all-star game they're gonna get rid of the eastern and western conference that's basically what they've done but unfortunately they haven't gotten rid of the player pools in the eastern and western conference's so the underlying problem of just granting 12 spots to undeserving East players at the expense of all the better quality talents in the West that are consistently snubbed remains we're just changing the names of the teams probably to some sponsors you know you can imagine State Farm will probably be the new Eastern Conference and Nike might be the Western Conference or whatever so we have this big showy distraction of this captains format everyone's gonna chuckle over who LeBron traps Willie take Kyrie

you know will Steph take Westbrook and all this it's nonsense we still don't have the best 24 players in the league and you're gonna have so many snubs this year from the Western Conference teams and you're gonna have just abysmal Eastern Conference roster and so for that reason I'm disgusted I don't want any credit for calling it and you know me I always take credit so this is an unusual situation yeah man it's it's pretty tough i I was sort of lying there I knew that I knew that Tuesday was was rough all around between the fantasy podcast and then having Adam silver let you down like that you were pretty pretty heated but by the end of the afternoon and yeah I like this is almost worse not that this is one thing we're like the all-star game I think of the all-star game the way you think of fantasy sports because I just truly don't give a [ __ ] about any of this the all-star game is gonna be depressing and

almost no matter what they do because I think right now everybody is too rich and too famous to justify hurting themselves or embarrassed themselves in like a hungover exhibition game so I it's kind of an impossible problem to solve if they're trying to actually make this more entertaining but the only thing that they could fix that would actually be good is to just like even out the selection process like we really only need five or six all-stars from the east in any given year over the last like a couple of seasons this year it's more extreme than it's ever been so I just think that now we're it's gonna be like an over branded everybody plays it safe sort of depressing situation with the all-star game and like the selection show like all this stuff sounds cooler in theory than it will be in practice there's no doubt about it I mean now we get to watch guys wearing sponsored jerseys play no defense and we get to

have the fake laughs and the chuckles and the chortles like we had that one time when Kobe and Shaq you know pretending to be friends he should be playing board historic amounts of fake laughter during this election show yeah I mean if you want to just call it right now that LeBron and Kyrie are somehow Co all-star game MVP is I'm not going to stop you because there's like a 97% chance that that happens but you brought up the whole there should only be five or six guys from the east in the all-star game and I think that's dead-on and I actually I wanted to go through this with you just as a thought experiment quickly if there was an unfettered draft of 24 players so in other words LeBron see you know he's one captain Steph's the other captain and we are really going through a draft how many guys from the east and which guys from the east you actually think get picked in the top 24 if they're

really going to gun to win I think Yanis gets picked I think Kyrie gets picked I think John Wall gets picked I think Kyle Lowry probably gets picked no nope nope I love Kyle Lowry but I feel like if if players are drafting they're gonna take a guy like Damian Lillard before Kyle Lowry okay what about Gordon Hayward um well see this is the thing we actually we can't gauge this through the players eyes because I could see players snubbing Hayward - but Hayward belongs from them in that mix let's just pretend that didn't get awkward for you know the reasons that everybody knows but we're just gonna leave on set okay how many players deserve to be drafted can we say Hayward haywire we deserve to be drafted I don't know I I don't know what Lowry we're gonna get this year I just I feel like this is he's he's close to that area of his career where he starts to really slip but I'm basing that on

nothing but a gut feeling so okay I'll replace like he did last year he's in and it's Lowry Hayward wall Yanis and LeBron and Kyrie so that's that okay so let's flip it I mean DeRozan I'm definitely not no way Kevin Love nah Kemba Walker nope Bradley Beal probably not I doubt it Al Horford know maybe porzingis or embiid especially in beat if he plays if he stays healthy and then Isaiah I think would make it if he was healthy right yeah I mean even in the most charitable light we can't even get to like eight names here you know what I mean so why are we sticking to this whole twelve thing it drives me insane and I kind of hope that what we have this coming season in 2018 is like a bridge to a better future where they just kind of phase it in the whole draft thing kind of works and then in 2019 they go the full monty and they decide okay we're just gonna open it up 24 players you know no conference alignment

unfortunately I feel like they're afraid to do that doesn't this solution kind of seem like a compromise that was made in a boardroom that leaves everybody unhappy I kind of feel like that's what's the one thing that I wonder about is whether they're afraid to do that because officially acknowledging that 75% of the talent is in the West or the or that taking taking twelve players from the East is a disgrace to the failure cheat the fans at that point I think officially acknowledging that is dangerous for the league because it's hard to do that and then not try to realign the playoffs a little bit or 100 percent solutions a hundred percent because I was all revved up and ready to go the show is here like this is a great first step we've acknowledged it in the all-star game now let's acknowledge it in the playoff bracket and it is really hard to have it both ways I mean if you did go to the know Conference in the

all-star game that seems like a very implicit acknowledgement that the East is just lagging and it's been lagging for too long that they can't deny it anymore and then the very next logical movement from I think the public side would be let's change this playoff yet in the NBA seems to want to have no interest whatsoever in doing that so they're they're avoiding a can of worms here unfortunately they should have just you know took the plunge but yeah and that's why you were excited you were like this is step one to just eradicating triple-a altogether it was gonna be a great day for Western Conference elitism there's no doubt about it and I was I was gonna be completely insufferable and instead it backfired pretty hard on me well listen take solace knowing that Adam Silver heard you he was listening to open for two weeks ago he was probably listening more than I was because when you explained you're like hot take on what

was gonna happen I kind of zoned out and then it happened like ten days later so congrats to you even though they didn't go the full way and I will continue pretty much ignoring the all-star game but you know you know what you want to know one other reason I'm not super happy about how this played out is because I set up that take by calling it a sharp take yeah and I was proven right and that's not supposed to happen a sharp takes supposed to only be right like one out of every ten shots I'm not supposed to be proven 100% accurate you know accurate like four days later so that really is the real reason why I'm a loser here if you think about it because now it grants you this moral high-ground of like knowledge and intellect that I'm not prepared for and I feel bad because you called it a sharp take and I still didn't listen to exact what you're saying was it was a Sunday night and you had demanded that we do an

emergency Carmela pod and I was just sort of out of it but yeah also in your defense I mean it's because I'm out here standing for Paul Milsap not being snubbed because he's in the Western Conference right I get it only a few people really care about continuing on though to more NBA ideas that don't totally make sense we never really talked about lottery reform so our resident King's fan Atticus sent us this email with these lottery reforms I sort of wish it would have happened like five years ago when the Kings were awful but never the absolute worst also that's what we had our picks and then he continues on to defend Sam hinkie and the concept of extreme tanking and the excitement that that can generate and says the race to the bottom under hanky became a game that could be won with a certain level of certainty and the fans could root for it now the race has even less certainty of winning

by losing but hold on three two one now the race has even less certainty of winning and it's like the league is saying just shut up and lose and don't enjoy doing so in the hopes of getting better in the future so that was probably hard to follow but what do you think because there are two two ideas there first of all I think teams that have been just sort of ordinarily shitty over the last like five years like the kings and the magic I think the lottery reform is actually a win for them because those are those are the organizations that could never get their act together two full tank the way they needed to and the the reforms could end up helping them but what do you think about the lottery in general and what and what's happening I think it's so funny that you know nerds like you get into the whole percentages of this and that when the NBA's hands Lonzo to the Lakers I mean isn't that

the bigger problem I I predicted this year's draft order months in advance didn't I I mean no I'm I'm playing for you conspiracy theorists out there I'm just joking I think that your column on this was pretty much right I don't think it really changes that much it certainly kind of just moves the bar for where the incentives are to try to lose on purpose I think for this particular year we have an especially deep crop of really really bad teams and I'm not sure that change in these these odds in this minor way is going to dissuade any of them from just embracing how bad they are playing their young guys and losing and volume you know what I mean like I think there's more than three truly bad teams this year it could be as many as five and six and so from that standpoint I think the stretch run will be as ugly or uglier than ever I hope that's what I wonder that I hope to be proven wrong but I

mean there was some very shameful behavior from front office's over the last six or seven months and you know it's all my favorite greatest hits whether they're not doing anything this summer where they're making terrible trades to get rid of stars you know just right on down the list there's a lot of really bad teams and you can't legislate those teams out of this I don't think unless you take a really radical solution so I think it's a little too much to do about not very much here with this lottery discussion I think you are probably right I just I wonder whether there's gonna be more tanking after this and it's just not a good sign when the NBA is coming up with rules that are like pretty cool I mean we don't know exactly how this is gonna play out but there's now a lot of incentive for teams like the Pistons or the Hornets last year or the magic every year since 2010 - just like punt on the final two and a

half months because if there's they're gonna increase the percentages - we're like the sixth worst team in the NBA has a 30% shot at the top three like everybody should try to be the sixth worst worst team in the NBA and so in that respect I not sure what the NBA was even to accomplish because there's just gonna be more crappy basketball as far as Atticus's point about the Sixers my my thing with this we don't need to go into a process argument two and a half years later I don't think what the Sixers were doing was as smart as it was advertised but I totally agree that it was more interesting than being the Kings the last five years or the magic or even like the Suns like just going for it for a few years and trying to trying to be as bad as you can and taking guys who are interesting is a big win and sort of or at least not they didn't turn into any real win but it gave fans something to talk about and to engage with which

is like more than you can say for the Hornets or the Pistons the only other thing I will say is even as much as I object to the lottery reform like the the idea of it and why they did it I think they were trying to appease dumb people who don't really pay attention to the NBA anyways and I don't think it's gonna be effective but despite those objections I think the the lottery itself is gonna be a [ __ ] show next year and it's gonna be really exciting and I will by the time we make it to May and we're talking about like getting ready for the show and trying to gauge what's gonna happen I'll be all in because it's gonna be chaos yeah and the more you're talking about this and okay this the sixers experience probably went just about as good as it could have gone given the stars that they landed compared to some of these other teams that have really struggled the more I kept coming back to this idea that I'm

not sure you can tank your way to being a championship contender in the NBA that has developed and alasa know especially the NBA that's developed here in the last 12 months where in their prime superstars have decided that they are going to control their destinies they want to team up and they want to compete right now and the loyalty factor to certain franchise is that tanking teams are kind of hoping for right you're been if you're going to draft a guy at 19 you're just praying you can continue to resign them and build around him if you don't have that kind of influence anymore because your stars have realized they can drive their own careers then good luck like let's say Phoenix wins the number one pick the next two years how confident are you that they're gonna be able to keep those guys when they reach their prime if there's other you know markets out there same thing for lane yeah I'm not at all I'm less

confident than ever and so I really think like Adam Silver's down here like kind of twiddling his thumbs and changing the percentages on on a smaller issue where you have a much bigger haves versus have-nots issue developing and I don't think he's got any solution for it and I think it's only going to get worse you know next summer and beyond yeah I mean my response to you I think there's more to it than just winning a championship because even rooting for guys like Ben Simmons and embiid is a lot more fun than rooting for dragon bender and even like Devin Booker but dragon bender and Marquis Chris like there's just such a drop-off after those top two or three that like hezonia and Jonathan Isaac versus like legit stars like Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Paul so I I support tanking it at least in the abstract but we should move on I just think it's getting less and less effective you know because you not only if you're

going to tank and try to get like your core guys from the tanking or trying to get one guy who's gonna be a magnet for other star players but know you're like that yeah you have to a lot of that guy to develop over years and years the odds of that actually working to me like the old Oklahoma City model of like Westbrook Hardin and Duran and that's how we're gonna build like to me that's just dead I mean doesn't exist anymore and that was on that was my issue with the process if you're selling it as this is how you build a championship team like get out of my face that's that's [ __ ] but if you're saying this is actually just more interesting than doing it the other way and trying to be a succeed then you're probably right and I don't know I guess we're I guess where I fought on it is when they started the process I think you could still talk yourself into it being a championship building method like a

pretty viable well that's a good point I think we've we've now come to a different NBA that I didn't even foresee I'll be the first one to say I didn't see it was gonna get this way this fast and now I don't think that that method will work yeah well one more thing on the lottery Alex hopper wrote in to say I'm cribbing this from shut down full cast but the NBA should have done what Ryan nany Spencer Hall and Jason Kirk suggested for the NFL each team send a player off their roster to the combine and have them participate in drills to determine draft order is this a good idea no but it'd be fun as hell to see teams go out and sign random athletes and only use them to increase their odds for a top pick I support it particularly if it's NBA teams sending guys to the NFL Combine and and reassigning truly random athletes I'd be all-in and I also just love Spencer Hall and Ryan nany and Jason Kirk so the only real solution if

we're for trying to fight tanking and we're not taking the NFL Combine idea I think is if you randomized the entire lottery that's what I was getting out with some of the more drastic solutions either randomizing it or making all the odds equal or you know just getting rid of the draft like you mentioned you know previously and I just don't view it as that big of an issue yeah tank itself is not that big of an issue the thing that I think would be cool if you randomize the the lottery is you would have a lot of great young players ending up on like teams that can actually can compete because like if you take a team like the Nuggets last year and give them a top three pick I think that would be really cool versus throwing them throwing like marquel Fultz and Philly or throwing Lonzo to a Lakers team that's gonna win another like 25 games this year like that's not as fun as putting those guys in winning

situations well and we did see the amount of intrigue that developed when a really good team like Boston got that number one pick and now all of a sudden it's like in a position to sort of auction that pick off what kind of player do they want are you trying to fit that top talent into a group that already exists I mean that was a really fun stimulating discussion I'm just not totally sure that's in the best interest of the league but we'll see in terms of this you know having guys go to the combine you know I'm a humorless person that prefers gas mileage over flash I think it's a bad idea okay thank you thank you for that thanks for weighing in Aaron says moving to real basketball stuff other beyond news that we should have hit ten days ago Aaron says should Cleveland play medium ball with no traditional point guard until Isaiah comes back start LeBron Wade junior Smith Jae Crowder Kevin Love

LeBron and Wade alternate bringing the ball up and initiating the offense and they could switch well and space the floor reasonably well also and they'd have a pretty legit second unit what do you think about what Cleveland is trying right now well first of all I don't think we should call it medium ball I think we should call it interchangeable this is a good time to mention that Colin coward took LeBrons Oh LeBron's oh is it yeah it's LeBron so you know its LeBron so it's not pretending like you're not all in yeah coward adopted that so I don't know whether that's a compliment or something you should be embarrassed about but LeBron zou is officially catching on look if if I could be anything in this world it would be a language influencer you know and I don't really care about being a style driver like Russell Westbrook I realize that no one really wants to dress like me or whatever if I could be a language

influencer or a linguist oh yeah interchange the ball and then I want to be a linguist linguist linguist but influencer together into one word olya blew in sir that's what I want to be great anyway bed back to the Cavs and what they're trying to do we are a little too punchy today I like this idea of Kevin Love into the starting lineup I mean I think they were getting dangerously close to not enough shooters around LeBron and it was gonna become one of those situations where into the starting lineup as a center by the way and Tristan out they were getting dangerously close to winning situations where their bench was going to obviously outperform the starters and it was just gonna be awkward I don't think that's ever necessarily good I think like I mentioned before there just didn't hold down the fort mode until Isaiah gets back and that's going to lead to some probably pretty cringe inducing games

where they just try to win shootouts they don't care about defense and you know we're all looping Derrick Rose lowlights but I do think limiting roses impact on the rotation is generally a good thing I wouldn't necessarily be having Wade do a lot of a ball handling I'm not really on board with that but I do think that basically the priority should be shooting around LeBron that is a proven formula they showed last year down the stretch they can win lots of games even if they do not care at all about defense and since they're just trying to buy time that's that's what I would try to do just go all-out with the offense as many threes as possible and you know it just relax until Isaiah comes back in January on defense it's a good point I think the Cleveland is gonna be solid regardless I don't think anybody up there is too stressed about how this plays out the first few months the thing that I wonder about big picture and Zach

Lowe made this point on a podcast earlier this week is like if you're bringing Tristan Thompson off the bench he's not quite as useful because the things he does well defensively like there aren't there aren't gonna be very many great players that he's going to be neutralizing and then he doesn't add a whole lot either so I'm not sure what their plan is there but the reason I included this question is because you earlier this week we're talking about something to me said you think this this year we could see like more extreme small-ball than we've ever seen before and I'm curious because I mean Kevin Lovett Center is pretty extreme and it's like Jake router power forward like what do you think what explain yourself yeah I just think it's sort of a natural evolution what we see during the final is a lot are these lineups where basically it's just ten guys who are listed at 6 9 and shorter you basically

have like giant and lagron as the functional centers and when you have talent especially scoring Talent I think the smaller you go and the more often that other teams are finally admitting like big isn't working and we're gonna go small to you KITT you have a better chance of just running them off the core playing faster scoring more than they do by getting as many shooters on the court as possible like the best lineups from an efficiency standpoint last year for Cleveland was just LeBron Plus as many shooters as possible take any non shooter off the court and they're good to go and the easiest way to do that is to dump guys like Tristan Thompson who's not even really a traditional center but it's just like get him out of there and I don't think only Cleveland and Golden State has figured this out like I think bus is gonna have figured this out I think Houston certainly with their offseason moves in terms of all the

wings they added I think they're gonna figure it out like they can play big and kind of use a guy like capela in that DeAndre Jordan like lob catching mold but I think they're also gonna be able to get out there where they have lineups of five guys who are all six nine and shorter and all of them can shoot and some of them can shoot from like five feet behind the three-point line and they're really gonna blow team's minds and if you're matching up with them you're gonna have to make a lot of tough decisions and you're not going to be able to keep a center on the court if you know they have five shooters that spread out so I think it's just kind of this copycat natural evolution type syndrome where it's just gonna keep getting smaller and smaller so interchange the ball I'm all for it I love it I love the concept and I hope that is sort of where the NBA goes I mean I think people will start to say oh

it looks more like soccer if it keeps going that well but I think that's a good thing for the sport I think it's only gonna make basketball more entertaining as you take some of the less skilled guys off the court and that's that's kind of what I'm curious about is whether we look back in in ten years amazed that a dude like Andre Drummond was ever getting 35 minutes a game and maybe maybe big men are gonna be coming off the bench like specialists like people will sort of it'll be like a Hannibal Lecter situation where you bring a guy in for like 15 minutes and everybody just gawks and then beyond that it's just everybody is six eight yeah I mean like I'd be very best teams no I think that's kind of where we're heading in like at the highest level like I said that's where it's been you know what I mean like the the best teams Golden State for example like they throw zaza out there just to kind of like

butter you up to like soften you up right okay they're just trying to be diplomatic about it and they take after five minutes yeah totally and then you know then they dropped the pretenses and they put in five guys who were all play makers who can all play defense right and the problem is nobody else around the league has five offensive playmakers who can also play defense that's the the big issue we've got right now but teams are trying to get there I mean you look at the the true contenders they are going that direction they're trying to get as many playmakers who can also hold their spot defensively as possible and that is the ideal world where you know everybody can do something with the basketball it's not just like catch and shoot specialists it's guys who can spot up and also attack and I think you know we're getting to a point where the talent has started to aggregate on so few teams that there's gonna be some you

know interesting head-to-head matchups here this season and there's gonna be a lot of teams that just have no chance when you know the elite teams and go to these deadly lineups okay so speaking of no chance the only other thing that I wonder about when you lay this out because I think you're right like you look at the finals it matters that every finals is played this way and like it's it's almost weirder that things haven't changed more in the regular season the thing I wonder about though is what do you do with a guy like where does a guy like Karl towns or MB probably won't be healthy but if him be more healthy like how do those guys fit in to this new system because I mean Jones is a freak and he belongs on the court 40 minutes a game regardless yeah I know and I don't know if you remember when we had to do that like what's the NBA gonna look like in 2022 or whatever that thought experiment for si and I

jokingly said D'Antoni coaches towns and towns as the point guard like that's what its gonna look like but he's a shooter he's a playmaker he can put the ball down on the dribble and attack from the three-point line Karl towns is fine right and offensively he needs to figure out how to defend the rim and really be a pain presence that's where he needs to work on em beat is already there on defense and offensively he's a playmaker too I mean he's comfortable around the three-point line but he can also you know beat you basically anywhere there are gonna be a few guys that can still punish you know just you're not gonna ever have a chance to defend with a six eight forward right there's a few of those guys but who are still able to shoot well enough where like their overall offensive output is still incredibly efficient but there's a lot of guys if you don't have three-point range it's gonna be really really tough

oh yeah for a lot of these centers to remain you know remain relevant and that's why we call these guys unicorns because that's where everybody wants I mean porzingis is in this category as well but i think you know some of the other guys if you're if you're Myles Turner you got to get that three-point range locked in you know if you really want to be the type of impact sort of perennial all-star type player that your talent says you should be you got to have a knock down three-pointer no doubt about it that's what I was that's what I wonder about it's like in theory this should make the unicorns basically we're eliminating 80% of the big men but then the 20% that can stay should be more valuable than ever and then maybe the most valuable players on the court but we haven't really seen that yet because you know Steph is still the most valuable player on the court in the finals maybe LeBron the bronze LeBrons

in the mix too I shouldn't go overboard but like LeBron was definitely number one yes definitely number one but it's still super premier rumors are oriented at the top of the league like the the of the ten most valuable seven are guards and I will I wonder if that's going to shift so we'll have to wait and see because I you know we we just haven't seen many of the unicorns translate too much winning even when you go think about like anthony davis and porzingis as of one town's hasn't won and i wonder when we're gonna turn that corner but for now let's go to san antonio and talk about the spurs real quick why ger says I know the Banana Boat will team up in San Antonio in 2018 but next season is looking kind of bleak and then he lists the the problems with the Spurs right now no Kawhi Leonard in the preseason no Tony Parker for most of the season that's actually not true I think he's probably

gonna be back by early December the last I saw but still that's the first six weeks of the season ageing Pau Gasol and Manu Ginobili unsatisfied LaMarcus Aldridge still on the roster likely having to play a lot of minutes at the five with Joffrey Laverne replacing David Lee and Dewayne Dedmon rudy Gay coming back from an Achilles tear and no more Jonathan Simmons as the band-aid and an even stronger season in the show so I'm curious about your thoughts on the Spurs because my instinct is to say none of this will matter and they will still be the two seed went at the end of the day yeah Spurs are gonna be awesome I mean the Kauai health thing is definitely a major crux you know they need him and I think it sounds like they're just being careful with him if that's the case and they're fine in terms of Parker and this and that they have a lot of options at point guard more than capable options Patty

Mills is one of the most underrated players in the league at least in my eyes I was never really banking on Parker for that much this season and still viewing them as sort of like a clear-cut you know number 2 team in the Western Conference so I'm not super worried about Parker's timeline did you see the article today about LaMarcus Aldridge clearing the air with pop it was very interesting okay so pot basically said LaMarcus plate Ely defense were good we can do more to involve him on offense I thought that was incredible leadership from Popovich I mean honestly that was kind of on my mind when I tried to take accountability earlier for my previous podcast disasters trying to make Gregg Popovich proud well yeah cuz you know he was disappointed his only podcast yeah it's fine yeah but he is also owning Aldridge's struggles he's point you know he's looking inward for how he can make Aldridge better instead of trying to

call Aldridge a choke or who didn't step up in the Western Conference Finals and I love that and certainly they could do more to involve Aldridge you know is he ever gonna be that number two guy that people really hope for in a contender you know a title team I don't think so but they have enough firepower and they can also still play so big and so long especially if Kay gets healthy and on the court and he can play at some level of you know good activity where they can just smother you defense so they can put out some crazy lineups they can put out some pretty crazy interchangeable lineups to where you know they've got five guys six 11 and under Aldridge really is the only big but the other four guys are kind of perimeter oriented defensively where they can just really lock you down with their length remember they were number one defense last year they're the most disciplined team period

in the league and I think that that's not going to change because of their age you know look at the guys who are older on that team they didn't really hold their defense back last year I don't think an extra year is gonna make their defense any worse so to me they look stable I don't know if they're gonna win as many games as they did the last two seasons I mean both over 60 wins was you know super impressive but I don't see any real cause for a huge concern here or any reason to think that they're gonna fall back I do think Houston could potentially win more games in the regular season because their offense is just gonna be lights out this year yeah I was very impressed with what I saw in the preseason from the rockets attack but to me you know San Antonio is gonna be right there two or three seed well we're about to move to Houston the only thing I'll say about the Spurs is I agree with you for the most part but

the roster is really you know it's held together with scotch tape at this point and it's been this way for a few years it probably won't matter but one of these years it is gonna matter and everyone's gonna be like everyone's gonna look up in January and realize that the Spurs are like headed for a seventh seed and it's gonna be yeah I just don't see it that way because you don't think that's ever gonna happen well not this year for sure I mean it you're saying scotch tape and I look at it and I see a whole lot of dudes that I can just pencil and who are gonna give me offensive defensive effort and execution you know they're not playmakers they're not like else - but come on Patty Mills is still just Patty Mills and like they're they're counting on pal who's like 35 years old LaMarcus Aldridge whose game has slipped each of the last few years I'm just saying the disrespectful we have a great Australian

audience don't say just Patty Mills give this man his due he is brand-new contract he played big minutes in the postseason he is a absolute nightmare I would not want to have him guard me I mean he used to Patty Mills is so poor no one is happier about Patty Mills you could not dribble the ball across the court of Patty Mills was picking you up full court you couldn't even get to the midline period what are you talking about I don't need be in your jersey baby a new heart all right I'm not saying he's I'm not saying he's Patrick Beverley but this guy is scrappy he gets after it he creates turnovers he's in your Jersey he is making a young point guards uncomfortable with his sheer activity and I like that at the head of my defense I feel like you're you're drastically under aiding Patty Mills he's also a great shooter great stop and pop guy moves off the ball very well fits into their culture waves to towel

it does everything you want you saw it look I know because I'm not going well coordiante Murray stuffing me in a full-court press situation is a pretty low bar but I'm glad that Patty Mills can clear it and I'm rooting for the Spurs I want them to be awesome I'm just saying that the concerns are real let's talk about the rock so we got an email from Khalil who says a lot of people are talking about next year's MVP and most have Durant LeBron and Kawhi as the favorites I'm not hearing anybody discuss Chris Paul I'm not saying I for sure think he's going to win or even want him to Lonzo for MVP but I think he's an underrated choice for three reasons firstly it's cp3 he's in the conversation for MVP every year they say Chris Paul is actually one of the most underrated players in the league and underappreciated players in the league you were talking about Patty Mills like he's Chris Paul you're insane

but continuing on with this email he says this year is different however because this year he's off the disappointing Clippers and the past playoff miss mishaps will be diminished in a new situation D'Antoni's offense tends to elevate point guards especially statistically and thirdly this is a contract year not necessarily for Paul but for the Rockets who he could walk away from next year I think the Rockets are going to do everything they can to keep him in the fold including giving him the keys of the offense whenever and however he pleases I'm also posting this as a five-star review to make sure you read it what do you guys think well his game worked I don't think Chris Paul is legitimately an MVP candidate this year but I am really curious like the Rockets could come out and just be [ __ ] awesome for the next six months yeah I'm still hung up on this Spurs thing to be honest I'm gonna get to the

Rockets in a second but I want to design a fantasy sports game that reflects basketball IQ and heart because in that scenario you're gonna have guys like slow-mo burton's Patty Mills all these guys are just gonna score off the charts and you're gonna finally appreciate what they do for a team like San Antonio there are no concerns they're gonna be wonderful in terms of Chris Paul a VP no chance I mean we've seen the stigma and the backlash when guys leave teams that first year you just don't win it if LeBron can't win it and Katie can't win it and granted there was injury concerns with KD but he wasn't gonna win it even if he was healthy right how is Chris Paul gonna jump on Houston and when I that's just gonna take him out secondly though and I think more importantly he looks like a really good fit I don't know if you're watching the preseason but these guys are generating more threes than ever they're better looks

than ever the ball is moving just the same all this ball stopper talk which always comes up with stars and it's sometimes warranted has it really seemed to be a concern there's a little chemistry already I've seen between Chris Paul and James Harden in terms of setting each other up these guys just put so much pressure on your defensive awareness because as soon as they cross half-court they're looking to pitch the ball out for a three-pointer and they've got tons and tons of guys who can shoot it I think Chris gets it you know I think there was a lot of talk last year about the marriage between Dan Tony and harden in terms of do they see eye to eye are they going to be able to merge their basketball philosophies they did I think you can say the exact same thing already about Chris Paul and Dan Tony I think he gets it hopefully that will translate to the playoffs it really never has I'm still skeptical that it

will with this group just because of how they kind of bombed out in the second round last year but in terms of like regular-season point totals wind totals Chris Paul stats I know we were talking in his fantasy numbers on the last episode I think that's all going to be good I think all MBA second team is is possible for Chris Paul I just don't see MVP conversation yeah I think second team might be asking a little bit much at this point the league is just so deep at the guard spot but I'm with you I think I think that the deal with both OKC and Houston is the same where they have so much firepower that a lot of the a lot of legitimate fit concerns won't be a big deal until like either the first or second round of the Western Conference playoffs I think the I I still wonder how Chris Paul and James Hart and will navigate the end of a close game together but at the same time like Houston Houston I watch them and I

really am like look these guys have cracked the code to basketball where they we can't say that about OKC though that's the thing no no we should we compared these to these because because one has a structure in a system that drops your jaw's they could do it every single night during the regular season and what is OKC's structure system I don't know what that is that's true but okay see also has more talent than Houston because they do oh come on who does Houston have beyond Chris Paul and and James Harden I mean like PJ Tucker the idea of PJ Tucker is a lot better than the real thing Trevor Ariza has been washed up for two years now Clint capela it has not been washed up for two you we're not gonna get great minutes I'm just saying like Houston doesn't have quite as many sources as OKC but you you've you've failed the first test which is we're looking at the whole being greater than the sum of the

parts and you're signaling out each individual part these guys are in a system that covers up their weaknesses and plays to their strengths and they've been hand-selected based solely on their strengths which is usually three-point shooting right and in a lot of cases perimeter defense they're being set up for success and I'm wondering does Oklahoma City's current what I view is sort of a mishmash set up its best players for success and does it set up its role players for success or does it create a situation where everybody loads up on the stars and all of a sudden Robertson's air balling a three-pointer with Chris Paul waving his hand at him from 15 feet away because it's a joke that he's even shooting right like I think there's a real contrast there between totally you're not wrong I'm just saying that when you compare them to the rest of the league they're stood there in a different

category Houston got there for different reasons than OKC but OKC has a lot more talent than most of the teams they're gonna be playing every night and Houston is smarter and and better stylistically than the teams they're gonna be dealing with and well it's gonna be an adventure for both teams in the playoffs because look Chris Paul and and hard it both have like real playoff question marks over the years and then you know OKC you've you've raised your Thunder objections okay it's clear that you don't think this is gonna work what I'm telling you is it's definitely gonna be fine in the regular season yeah I think it might look a little uglier than you think in the regular season but we'll see so so between between San Antonio Houston and OH Casey how do you see that shaking out okay see to me is clearly forth I think Houston San Antonio will be determined largely by San Antonio's health I think you see Antonio they

could have an awesome rivalry the next few years yeah well actually if you've heard of David Robinson Hakeem Olajuwon these are two organizations yes sorry I said it many old air actually have had a pretty good rivalry in the past yeah but no I did mean to be that big of a jerk although I kind of meant like half of it but look I think Houston has a real chance to win 60 plus hardens never done that in his career Paul has never done that in his career so that would be kind of cool with San Antonio I think you know high 50s for sure and I think they can get over 60 if the health plays well so I guess if gun to my head now that I'm thinking about this over the course of this podcast I probably say Houston is the two-seed but you know to me it's kind of San Antonio spot to lose yeah I think Houston probably will be the two seed and is also the team I'm least confident in to make it to the Conference Finals and I also we don't

we're not gonna get into it but I still am I I'm not ready to write the Wolves out of this conversation just because Jimmy Butler is that good but we'll see with they really have no shooting and and beyond the stars it gets kind of dicey but quick question from Brock he says in light of the Kevin Durant BOTS who's your first team all social media and who is first team all corny do you have any nominations here well you care more about this than I do so you go first okay so first team all corny is like the white Howard is the Michael Jordan of corniness I don't think we'll ever see another Dwight Howard Kevin Durant is is definitely the clear number two and then I had every team Twitter account in this mix basically there's just not a single NBA Twitter they all start they all try to have purse and post memes and it's just the cornea [ __ ] in the world LeBron James is corny but he's out he's also all my first-team

all social media but he you can't have a conversation about NBA corniness and not recognize LeBron and then the other one that I struggled with was Carmelo Anthony I'm beginning to worry about the he's just a little too into the the hoodie joke like it was definitely fun for like an August stretch of NBA news but he needs to take it down a notch on the hoodies with every public appearance that's a great point because there is a fine line between leaning in and it just face-planting yeah I realized that during the fantasy basketball podcast I just face planet I was too far leaning in I do think that we should give Carmelo an exemption though he's doing a great job raising money for Puerto Rico here so that's true let's give it up stay mellow at least for this week and give well exemption not only that every single time he posts the stay mellow hashtag with seven instead of el I laugh every single time he does that and I

love that he's been dedicated to that for the last few years I hope he keeps it going and I relate to that too cuz it's kind of like my manual retweet you know I'm the last person still manually she's not willing to let it go and I respect it the only thing it's really strictly a hoodie situation he needs to just let the hoodie joke go yeah well doing it at media day I thought was was that was kind of should have been that should have been the last act though you know it's kind of funny to show up and wear something silly for your official photo and then just go with it mmm-hmm alright so any other corny nominations we'd to be honest not really I don't follow a lot of these guys because they're corny so I briefly I filter it this is all of this is a good it's a good reason to stay off Twitter cuz I also considered joelle Abid and CJ McCollum to people I've never met CJ McCollum but I'm sure I would have a lot

of fun with him and I've hung out with Joelle a couple times talking to him and he he's great in person but every Joel embiid tweet kind of annoys me and every like viral CJ McCollum tweet kind of annoys me well about six months ago I told you that about Joel embiid and you reacted astonished that I would suggest such a thing I'm glad to see you came over to the good side I appreciate that first team all social media I have three quick nominations okay Evan Turner definitely nothing but realness from the Evan Turner Twitter account for the last like eight years LeBron James definitely deserves some love here for just the nonstop stream of entertainment on his Instagram stories and just that the sheer ridiculousness of the last five years of his internet usage I appreciate it even if a lot of times he's not really in on the joke and then Boris Diaw's Instagram all very predictable and thumbs up I mean I I can't say I'm

surprised by any of your picks maybe I know you a little too well maybe we just need to dig deeper for these kinds of questions in the future find some under the radar you know up in commerce but you know I think you did fine good good let's move on to a question for you Miguel's by the way though Boris Diaw is not in the NBA anymore so you can't include him I mean you ended his career with the hole he's done so you're gonna have to update your list here you're gonna have to maybe do a little unfollowing a little new follows I don't know what it is you know what man I'm trying to track Boris D out down for an interview for a story I'm working on before the season and since that podcast he has stopped responding to my emails so I don't know whether he's listening and re he just Kate just connected all the dots but hopefully we can we can broker a truce somehow and so I can Skype with him from France but you're

correct still he's he's a Lifetime Achievement Award social media was Miguel has a question for you he says I really want to understand more of how defenses actually work I enjoy NBA basketball greatly but I know the defensive part of the game somewhat escapes me so which teams and players should I keep an eye on to learn how to appreciate defense and why boy people might turn off his podcast if I go on for too long here I was already gushing about San Antonio's discipline earlier I can tell were you serious about all that oh yeah of course no I mean look I don't know what you really ideally see really Patty Mills being that good no I'm not saying he's like the world's greatest but he tries really hard he does his job he sticks with it he doesn't give up on plays he pulls himself up off the court he doesn't you know relax on the baseline for 15 seconds - Wayne Wayne style after he misses a life okay you know alright

he's into it he helps make his teammates better and it's really easy to see that on offense you know guys like LeBron Ben Simmons they have this crazy vision they make their you know they set up wide open shots with their teammates make your you know covering for your teammates defensively whether it's with help sliding over to take charges covering their guy you know bumping somebody as they're running through the lane that's another way to make your teammates better and I appreciate that I think San Antonio and Utah are the teams that you want to start with in terms of appreciating defense unfortunately you're probably going to give up after a few hours of it because it's not really that exciting there's not a huge highlight payoff even the block shots a lot of times aren't resulting from the best place you know it's sort of a certain randomness to it if you're playing great defense you're not giving

up wide open dunk opportunities those types of you know above the rim highlights don't necessarily know typhoons I just start with San Antonio though it's really not that hard I mean if you want to watch a team that's totally locked in that moves as like a five-person organism that you know five you know five fingers make a fist is what they always say that's sort of what a good defense does that's where I would start my answer a serious answer to this question would be watch teams that are awful on defense like watch watching the wool last year watching son's games for the last five years watching I can't think it was Oh the Blazers god I saw like some just dreadful Blazers games the first four months of the season then you will appreciate defense you notice it when it's not there and beyond that the way to appreciate how it works is to watch smart people like Ben Gulliver and Zach Lowe and Mike Preta

like breakdown like clips of Defense and rotations but if you're if you're watching for that [ __ ] in real time you're kind of like missing the point with basketball unless I mean I don't know everybody has everybody enjoys different things but but yeah watch that watch the worst defensive teams and you'll come to appreciate a team like the Spurs Five Fingers yeah the other thing I'd say is like the NBA the average scoring in an NBA game last season was the highest it's been yes nobody's blinked once in 92 so this is not the time to watch defense you know if you want to really like watch defense go back to some of the more boring era back to the 1997 I feel horrible I feel horrible even admitting it but it's true and then in terms of how to watch a bad defense and then learn from that is just see who's getting their finger pointer that and who's making the coaches kind of blood vessels go crazy usually it's

the bigs on on bad teams that you just don't know where they're supposed to be yeah all right podium first question from Duncan he says if it were possible to create would Ben join a fantasy league where all the categories were advanced ATS I wanted to know does this exist because it are you in a dumb fantasy league or are all fantasy leagues dumb that was my question I think they're all dumb I'm pretty sure they're all dumb and we also got Sam says some advice for you guys I love the pod and love what you guys do please never do a fantasy pod again so we shouldn't believe it it's too much Sam we're on it we figured that out hey did you see the email though from the NBA today updating their fantasy scoring I almost sent this to you now okay they apparently change the way the scoring was work and this is going to sell I completely made it up but I didn't the headline reads MBA unveils new official

NBA fantasy scoring and other fantasy initiatives for 2017-18 and points are going to be worth one point rebounds are one point two assists are 1.5 steals are three blocks are three and turnovers are -1 does that sound different no I mean yes I don't know we're on it pick pick it up for we're on it yeah we're on it no I mean I just think there are some clear adjustments they could make like why don't they use true shooting percentage instead of field goal percentage why is it real plus/minus the thing at all that seems like that would be a go towards I'm cutting you off look we're if anyone wants to discuss actual dumb fantasy questions like I there's stuff that I cut where like I wanted to debate dion Waiters versus malcolm brogdon versus Austin Rivers and like Brandan Wright Jonathan Simmons on the magic so if anyone hit me up on Twitter we can talk about it there or we will get a real fantasy guest but I I will say one

day we're going to convince you to crossover but I'm not going to let you convince other people to create advanced stat fantasy leagues yeah another way to measure good defense is actually how much space 3-point shooters guess these days I think that's another thing that I should to bring it back man we just a three point three point percentage against is a great measure of really good defenses because everybody's trying to shoot three so you're trying to take away their threes yes there's a little bit of like volatility in that number but yeah if your team doesn't give up a lot of open three-pointers you're probably doing it right all right next question Tim says guys I love the name of your pod every good podcast has a double entendre in the name break away it's my favorite pod name I'm curious what other names did you toy around with for your pod by the way if been ever starts his own

National Park podcast he should call it Gulliver's Travels how I was including this question for two reasons how often throughout your life have people made Gulliver Gulliver puns to you I've never gotten it before that's the first time was this eemiller no I get it like two times a day and you obviously come on that would be the worst part about being named Colliver no I I mean Matt Dollinger tried to make that one of our like every year I was doing a photo diary during the playoffs you know so he tried to have Gulliver's Travels as a headline one year and I was like come on you gotta do better than that I will admit we didn't even come up with our name though did we open floor I don't think that was ours I know we inherited that we inherited it we briefly toyed around with renaming it and I tried googled I searched through my Gmail for our horrible name ideas in the past and I couldn't find them but

yeah I don't think I was involved in that conversation I will admit though I when I was thinking about starting a Blazers podcast I almost named it the petri dish after Geoff Petrie dark times for you for the Blazers for everybody well yeah that was a narrow miss I mean that what anyone's free to have that name petri dish feel free to take it well yeah I will admit that I did this podcast for like a year and a half and didn't realize that open-floor was a double entendre until like March until one day I looked it I looked at the logo and I was like oh it's like an open-floor but it's also like I I didn't think about I knew it I understood the basketball connotation but not the regular connotation got it well I don't want to make you feel bad about that so I'm going to try to segue in today's question is so embarrassing to say that out loud let's just move on we were already over time so one one

question at the end here from Colin Lee he says I'm a neuroscience PhD student and I need to respond to Michael Beasley I need you guys to educate the masses not even going to get into the high philosophy 101 comments but the idea that we only use 10% of our brains is completely false and not at all the scientific consensus we absolutely use every neuron and every connection in our brain if we didn't then those things would have died off much in the same way that muscles shrink when one stops working out the brain is far and away the most energetically costly part of the brain something like two-thirds of the energy we burned goes toward it so if 90% of it didn't need to be used then that would be a huge huge waste what do you think Ben I gotta say huge thanks to call it for laying out the facts of the matter I mean nothing drives me worse than media members whose stoop to scrape the bottom of the barrel on crazy

conspiracy theories whether it's about the physics of the globe or the usage of the brain I think you know certain people I'm not gonna name any names I've gotten pretty shameless in recent weeks doing that and I'm really glad that Colin is here to stand on the right side of history in favor of truth and in favor of science what do you think Andrew I'm not entire jury is still out as far as I'm concerned Michael Beasley was making a lot of sense the other day but I am no jokes aside I am super pumped that we have PhD students listening to us neuroscience students enduring the stupidity on this podcast and the Beasley thing does remind me though we we got about eight emailers writing in - tell me the name of that movie that I couldn't remember last last week Lucy starring Scarlett Johansson and as I was going through the emails before the show today I found myself watching the trailer - Lucy thinking about Michael Beasley

the main character and like I might rewatch the entire movie with with Beasley in mind and it was just a transformative experience so shout out to the movie Lucy before we go before we go we're gonna we're gonna end on the trailer so do you have any final words before we go no I'm definitely not gonna go see the movie for the first time or the second time and sure I'm gonna talk to you next week good luck with your movie that's right preview preview season starts next week we're gonna do our five favorite teams and our three the three teams we don't care about so that look forward to that on Tuesday hit us up on iTunes or at open-floor mail at gmail.com with questions and shout out to Lucy shout out to Michael Beasley and neuroscience students everywhere five star reviews Ben golfer on Instagram manager I'll talk to you alright peace somebody put a bag of drugs inside man I need you to take it

out it's leaking it is estimated most human beings only use 10% of the brain's capacity pranati if we could access 100% interesting things begin to happen yes professor Norman my name's Lucy I just read all your research on the human brain it's a little rudimentary but you're on the right track I thank you my back sister 28% of my cerebral capacity I can feel everything since when did you start writing Chinese no ago what happens when she reaches 100% have no idea all this knowledge even unlock secrets that go beyond our universe I'm not even sure that mankind is medicine it's like all things that make me human are fading away

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "SI's NBA Show | Silver Disappoints Golliver, Extreme Smallball, Spurs vs. Rockets vs. OKC"?

Andrew Sharp (Host), Ben Gulliver (Guest).

What is "SI's NBA Show | Silver Disappoints Golliver, Extreme Smallball, Spurs vs. Rockets vs. OKC" about?

The discussion centers around the hosts' reflections on a previous fantasy basketball segment, highlighting mismatched expectations and an overall lack of engagement with the topic. They acknowledge the need for accountability and a more genuine approach while teasing upcoming analysis on various NBA themes, including contrasting playing styles and team comparisons among the Spurs, Rockets, and…

What is mentioned in this The Bill Simmons Podcast NBA episode?

59 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including NBA, Andrew Sharp, Ben Gulliver, Fantasy Basketball, LeBron James, NBA All-Star Game. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "SI's NBA Show | Silver Disappoints Golliver, Extreme Smallball, Spurs vs. Rockets vs. OKC"?

The episode runs 1 h 9 min; the transcript is about 12,499 words in 71 timestamped sections.

More from The Bill Simmons Podcast NBA

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.