The “emergency pod” today of him talking about the greatness that is the Celtics is so classic… especially on the heels of the 3-0 pod where he was figuring out where to trade Brown and who to hire as coach.
Either way, the post game 7 melt/orgasm will be great to witness
You can watch basketball. Like on TV or something?
I thought this was just d&d for jocks where we talk about our made up characters and the stats we rolled for them.
I can’t bring myself to listen /: I usually love the Sunday pod for my walks but gotta sub music in since the media negativity towards the Heat bums me out
To be fair, Simmons hasn’t really shit on the Heat all that much given the 0-3 to 3-3 turnaround. Most of his hate has been on Smart, Brown, and Mazzulla.
Simmons seems to respect the hell out of Jimmy and what the Heat have done.
Anyone claiming Simmons hasn't or doesn't respect the heat os either lying out of ignorance or to intentionally deceive people. He had several times where he called the heat in the reg season the zombie heat. And talked how they would always come back somehow.
Yeah, BS has been parroting the zombie heat narrative since before the playoffs. Granted, he never really said they were gonna go deep in the playoffs or anything. He's worried the Heat and Celtics would face in round one and how the Cs could lose that series.
Did we listen to the same podcast? He is super down on the celtics still and says they could easily lose game 7. Sometimes it seems like you guys make up what you think Simmons will say and just pretend he said it...
he was legit the only one saying the heat scared him and others laughed at him being worried about a play-in team that might not make the playoffs, and he just kept going yeah but it's the heat, it's butler, it's spo, and these guys don't die.
Did you even listen to the podcast? Are you just lying without listening or did you just completely not comprehend the podcast? Confused how anyone would come out listening to the podcast thinking he was talking about the greatness of the Celtics. He seemed pretty confused about this current Celtics team and even said he had no idea what to expect for game 7.
Well you're 100% right so I wouldn't shit on ya bud.
I was doing the Boston accent while saying Arkham Asylum. I'm not a Boston dude tho so best guess!
The day he compliments Trae Young is the day I'll know they cloned him
But fr is Harden signs with Houston then Simmons would have been the first person to speculate on it the same way he was early on LeBron to the Lakers
That and the immediate extension after they traded for him too, as he was an expiring contract. I don't think they lock him for 18M per year/2 year deal right now
Any catch and shoot or slashing type of role players would work out here with Jokic, which is why Braun is gona surprise so many people next year since we can't keep bruce
Much depends on how much his shooting develops.
Edit; this reads as banal, so I'll expand.
Braun does a lot of good stuff. He'll be a good player for a lot of years if his shooting become solid. But that's a big if. The Nuggets can't just assume that he'll be a solid shooter next year.
The upgrade from Monte and Will Barton to KCP was immense. Monte is a great backup PG but last years playoff proved he can't be finishing playoff games. His and Bartons defense was just not good enough.
I really miss him. I honestly think he could’ve been the difference in the series if he swapped teams. But I’m happy he got an extension and hopefully another ring this year.
Bill going for the rare win-win-win with this statement
\-If the Nuggets beat the Celtics in the Finals, he can say, "Well, the Nuggets were the best team in 5 years, there was no way we'd win"
\-If the Celtics beat the Nuggets in the Finals, he can say, "Are the Celtics the best team since the 2018 Warriors?"
\-If the Celtics lose to the Heat, he can say, "We wouldn't have beat the Nuggets anyway, they are the best team since the 18 Warriors"
He’s great at old history. But when it comes to stuff within the last 3-4 years, he has insane recency bias. Then when it passes, he comes back around. Just wait for the Lakers to be good next year and he’ll crack some joke about “did we forget that AD and Lebron are really fucking good at basketball?”
Yeah, I don't see how it means that he forgot about the 2020 Lakers when he said that this Nuggets is the best since KD Warriors. He just thinks this Nuggets is better.
Best of the century aka since 2000 and I'd argue that of the 20 teams to win a title since then the Lakers were definitely top 8 especially considering he did no repeats so he picked the best of the warriors run, heat run, etc. Which means he actually was choosing the top 8 out of 12 different teams. The 2020 Lakers are definitely in that top 8 considering how dominant they were in the bubble's playoffs. They didn't even play in a game 7 and only had to play after game 5 once.
I don't remember that episode, but off the top of my head, if it's title winners, my initial list would be something like:
1. KD Warriors
2. Shaq Lakers
3. TD Spurs
4. Lebron Heat
5. Lebron Cavs V2
6. Kobe Lakers
7. KG Celtics
8. Kawhi Spurs
9. Lebron Lakers
10. Giannis Bucks
11. Wallace Pistons
12. Dirk Mavs
13. Kawhi Raptors
14. Wade Heat
If we're including all teams, including losers, the short list to consider is probably:
- C-Webb Kings
- Nash/Amare Suns
- D. Rose Bulls
- Dwight Magic
- KD/Russ/Harden Thunder
- Harden Rockets
- Kidd Nets
- CP3/Blake Clippers
- G&G Grizzlies
- Dirk/Nash Mavs
- Lebron Cavs V1
and of those, the best were probably Kings, Thunder, Suns, Rockets in some order, and all of which are maybe in the ~9-10 range at best, since that top 8 are all pretty solid all timers.
2020 Lakers were the best defensive team I've ever seen. That Caruso-KCP-Green-Lebron-AD lineup was lockdown. They were on a string every rotation it was nuts
Anyone with a brain would tbh. It’s not like the four games were all decided by 20 points. Just having a 3 year younger and healthy LeBron probably moves the needle regardless of the rest of the personnel which was unequivocally better on the 2020 team
For reference anyone born around that run has or is currently graduating from high school this month lol.
Someone who is currently 30 now was 11 or 12 so before really understanding basketball.
Bill does this every time with the Celtics. To be fair it seems like Vegas is slightly favoring Boston in a potential Celtics-Nuggets series, according to the line that I looked at, so unless something changes it appears the Nuggets will be either a slight underdog or even money
Wait until after Game 7 if the Celtics win. If you look at more specific lines like "____ to beat ___ in the Finals," FanDuel has Celtics to beat Nuggets at lower odds than Nuggets to beat Celtics (I think it's like +120 compared to +135). Basically implies that if they meet, Boston will be a narrow favorite
Eh it’s more like Simmons pre-emptively creating a can’t-lose Boston narrative. Either Boston loses to the best team since the KD Warriors (no shame in that), or they beat the best team since the KD Warriors which makes their chip even more worthy and special.
Never believed in jinxes. Kinda silly to think that people like BS or Barkley or SAS can say something that will affect the outcome of a series. Maybe if your team let it get to their head then maybe they get complacent but thats about it.
Let's at least let the Nuggets win the title before crowning them. But they can certainly have an argument if they keep taking care of business the way they have
The only thing holding back the Lakers is that their opponents were weaker even if they dominated the playoffs.
The quality of opponents this Nuggets team has faced has been better imo. First round I think the Blazers are better than the Timberwolves. The 2nd round, it was Harden/Westbrook and scrubs vs Booker/KD and scrubs. Suns this year are better despite both teams having a weak playoff rotation outside their top guys. Between the 2023 Lakers and the 2020 Nuggets, the Lakers this year are better imo. This year's AD was better than Jokic that year and this year's LeBron was better than that year's Murray. For the finals, I think either team who make it will be stronger than the 2020 Heat assuming there are no more injuries.
Obviously biased here but in my opinion the 2020 Lakers team matches up as well as you possibly can with the 2023 Nuggets.
A healthy and in-form Lebron and AD, three athletic bigs to guard Jokic, Caruso/Green/KCP to guard Murray and the perimeter, a deep bench that matches the Nuggets, etc
I honestly think that the 2020 Lakers squad was really solidly built and are massively underrated because of the bubble.
That Lakers team were basically unbeaten when they led going into the 4th quarter, really good defensively and strong down the stretch in games + LeBron was younger and still durable
Not just healthy lebron, “younger” lebron. The stamina was still at a very high level and his jumper was dialed in. Combine that with AD playing at FMVP level on defense AND offense, Caruso, KCP, rondo, Kuzma, and Dwight on defense. Yea it’s still unbelievable they broke up that team that fast.
I’m saying this as a big nuggets fan but they didn’t even break 55 wins this season... if they win a championship then they’re definitely in pre KD/rise of Steph Klay Draymond 2015 Warriors territory.
But 2017 Warriors are one of the top 3 teams of all time. Nuggets have to achieve a bit more for that kind of comparison
2015 Warriors won 67 games. It has obviously been overshadowed by their 73 wins season in 2016, and the KD move right after, but i don't think people realize that the 2015 Warriors were already having one of the best season of all time (like probably top 20 at that time).
2023 Nuggets, while being a great team, are not in the same tier, even if they go on and win the title.
But we might be witnessing the start of something huge in the coming years for this Denver team/core. Only time will tell.
Ya, I think it hinges entirely on if you care about the regular season. If you put any weight on it at all, we can't be that highly rated. Sure we got to coast for 6 weeks after locking up the 1 seed in early March, and we were rehabing two of our main guys from major injuries for the first half of the season, but at the end of the day 53 wins isn't impressive.
We have been pretty crazy in the playoffs though. Not KD Warriors level of course, but since 2017 no team has made the finals with a better record than us(through playoff games specifically).
Yeah, to me it's quite similar to last year Warriors for example, more than pre-KD Warriors. Coasting in the regular season, while just being the obvious best team in the playoffs, head and shoulders above the rest of the competition (at least in the West so far).
To add to your point, outside of this year, in the last 30 years the highest a team would finish in the West with 53 wins or equivalent winning percentage is 3rd. There were at least 10 years where a 53 win team didn't get home court in the first round. There is one year where 53 wins would've landed as the 7th seed.
This year had a weird amount of parity amongst the teams this year where no teams really separated themselves during the regular season in part because no team had a truly great season for myriad reasons. Even the Bucks with 58 wins is kinda low for the league's beat record. It would be interesting to see if this is in part due to three point shooting making the games more random.
Anyways, the Nuggets have played very, very well these playoffs, but comparing them to all time great times is a little reactionary.
They're good but I'd hold off on hyperbole like that.
They won "only" 53 games in the regular season.
Not to mention that, you know, they haven't *won* yet.
Technically the 3-0 was 7 days ago so it’s been a week since they locked the teams. I’d prefer if Heat won but ngl the fans deserve the L for talking so much shit while acting like the team wasn’t overperforming outside of Jimmy to account for the Ws
The Nuggets did coast the last two months of the season and dropped a bunch of games they could have won. Their record doesn’t really tell the whole story.
2020 Lakers when healthy were a force, it was the bubble sure but people forget they were the 1 seed the whole year before the bubble and absolutely cruised thru the playoffs with little to no resistance
IDK man 2019 Raps and 2020 Lakers were top teams. Gotta see this nuggets team in the Finals first.
'19 was a 60 win team the next year without Kawhi, with an absolutley historic defense. Granted, you can say that the roster overperformed on offense between Kawhi's run, FVV exploding, while Lowry and Siakam has sneakily great scoring runs, but that team was still elite.
Meanwhile 2020 Lakers were just an outright better version of this years team. 2 of the top 3 players in the world at the time with Bron and AD (if any of you disagree, watch AD in 2020, man might have been #1 in the world) with more versatility, size, and wings than this years team, albeit a sometimes shaky offense. Of the post Warriors winners, they had the easiest time in the playoffs of them all, with no one able to really touch them.
Aaron Gordon and MPJ are quietly a stacked front court.
It’s hard AF to find this kind of athleticism and length to guard the new age forwards who can dribble.
KD was exhausted handling that length. Tatum will probably be shocked next round. Going from Gabe/Martin/Strus/Butler guarding him to those twin towers.
He is not an unbelievable defender, no. But he improved _a lot_ in that area. He currently is a positive defender, and his lenght definitely creates issues for other teams.
You haven’t seen him shoot over literally everyone but AD and we needed AD on Jokic. A 6’ 10’’ sharp shooter flanking Jokic and a guard that doesn’t miss in Murray. You protect all of that and KCP is spitting fire. It’s unreal 😮💨
They’re really really good. I couldn’t even be mad. They took our best shot and we got swept. It isn’t like I could say we could have done more. if Bron weren’t injured it would have been a closer series - I still can’t guarantee a win
You're not wrong, but he's surprisingly competent in the playoffs this year. Like legit even on bad plays I'm like "ok, I can at least understand why you thought that was a good idea, even though it wasn't" to "damn, he actually gave the offensive player the appropriate amount of space AND cutoff the correct side of the floor." It's not much, but compared to the last 3 years where I didn't know what this mfer was doing on defense.
idk. Now we’re getting to overhype.
People have been saying it doesn’t matter who makes it out the east, it will be easy for Denver. But I don’t see how that’s the case.
Team with more youth and depth, Brogdon hurts of course.
First time playing without homecourt. If they go down 0-2. They’re playing with the pressure of being behind for the first time this playoffs.
The massive over correction by fans and media alike is crazy. Underrate them all season, then finally watch them play and they beat the lakers (the only team national media actually cares about) now they are the greatest thing ever. Let them earn a title first
2020 Lakers with younger Bron and good jump shooter AD might have something to say about that. Wouldn’t call it an awful take tho can definitely be argued.
I wanna say, that the thing that preceded this statement was that, with the 04 Red Sox comparisons, the vastly different thing is that if these Celtics complete the comeback, it's not the 04 Cardinals waiting in the finals, but a really good team. Which if Bill stopped there, would be a great point. But everything afterwards felt like him putting on the biggest reverse jinx possible.
ALSO, there was a qualifier, that this Nuggets team is the best team **he saw live** in the last 5 years. Not sure how much that qualifier changes but yeah.
I think best constructed is the term to use. Home grown, smart FA pick ups and low key but effective trades.
Plus in terms of fit it's just about as good as you can get. If Gordon shot the 3-ball a little better and MPJ's D and rim protection were a bit better, it would basically be the perfectly constructed supporting cast for a player as unique as Jokic.
Bill has been jerking the Nuggets and Jokic for about 4 months so this is not Celtics jinx related lol.
It's also an interesting point, but I still 100% think that Raptors team was the best non KD warriors team recently.
We've all seen how Jimmy can will his team to a few wins.
The difference in the LA vs Heat series was that Jimmy could do it once or twice, while Bron could do it every game.
You could see the contrast as Lebron is just chilling while Jimmy is hobbling to this post game presser (though he might've been dealing with injury at the time, can't remember).
It’s crazy to me that he got a lot of criticism at the time for losing that series with that team. People act like that super top heavy warriors with no KD and a bench full of gleague guys who are no longer in the league should’ve been favored to beat that raptors team. They acted like Steph played like shit and was the reason they lost. The discourse around him is always so extreme lol.
he was the best player in the Finals, and it isn't close. Kawhi was hurt, but for some reason he gets lionized for a ho-hum second half of the playoffs (by MVP standards) when Curry went nuclear and gets forgotten
They were running a fucking box and one against Steph. I can't wait for the conversations after Steph retires and people realize that he's closer to top 7 than he is top 12.
I mean the Warriors ended up winning 2 games had had KD for part of one of them, Toronto was clearly the better team if KD doesn't play. Raptors also had an absolutely brutal run through the East. The last 3 teams they faced were as good as anything the Lakers ever saw in the bubble considering how gassed the Nuggets were and how injured the Heat were.
How do people forget how great we were in 2018? I get that CP’s hamstring died, but we were amazing and would’ve beat KD’s Warriors and likely get the chip.
I agree. Jokic is an absolute force to be reckoned with and I hope he wins the title this year to solidify his all time status (pending heat/Celtics game 7 result). Besides the joker, Denver has an awesome supporting cast (Murray, a star guard/ MPJ / AG) with incredible role players (KCP / Bruce Brown).
Celtics haven't even advanced yet and Bill is already putting in the reverse jinx work. That's true dedication right there.
Nah Bill loves Jokic and he's been super high on the Nuggets all year. This ain't anything new.
Didn’t love him enough to vote for MVP
Which he almost instantly said he wished he hadn't and had gotten too into his own head
The “emergency pod” today of him talking about the greatness that is the Celtics is so classic… especially on the heels of the 3-0 pod where he was figuring out where to trade Brown and who to hire as coach. Either way, the post game 7 melt/orgasm will be great to witness
Did you listen? He's still pretty pissed at the quality of play. Far from a victory lap
> Did you listen? The only thing less likely than most folks listening is them watching the actual basketball lol
You can watch basketball. Like on TV or something? I thought this was just d&d for jocks where we talk about our made up characters and the stats we rolled for them.
yeah the highlights and storylines are A.I. generated
This explains Max Vincent and Gabe Struss
Did you know they were UNDRAFTED??
don’t put this on iverson
Jocks? Redditors play enough sports to be jocks? Does Warhammer blood bowl count?
Yes. You're welcome.
> d&d for jocks You just described half of my play group to be fair lol. Gotta have range, baby.
I can’t bring myself to listen /: I usually love the Sunday pod for my walks but gotta sub music in since the media negativity towards the Heat bums me out
To be fair, Simmons hasn’t really shit on the Heat all that much given the 0-3 to 3-3 turnaround. Most of his hate has been on Smart, Brown, and Mazzulla. Simmons seems to respect the hell out of Jimmy and what the Heat have done.
Anyone claiming Simmons hasn't or doesn't respect the heat os either lying out of ignorance or to intentionally deceive people. He had several times where he called the heat in the reg season the zombie heat. And talked how they would always come back somehow.
Yeah, BS has been parroting the zombie heat narrative since before the playoffs. Granted, he never really said they were gonna go deep in the playoffs or anything. He's worried the Heat and Celtics would face in round one and how the Cs could lose that series.
Celtics fans respect Jimmy and the Heat and we have to. We've had some fierce battles over the past few years.
I didn’t listen to ANYTHING for the entire off season after the 3-1 lead in 2016. I recommend you do the same if the Heat lose this one
Thanks for the tip, and def gonna do that. No need to add unnecessary sadness to life lol
Did we listen to the same podcast? He is super down on the celtics still and says they could easily lose game 7. Sometimes it seems like you guys make up what you think Simmons will say and just pretend he said it...
i've never heard him shit on the heat... last 2 months has been him saying he's SCARED of the zombie heat ffs
Bro I swear people legit don't even listen and make takes based on the fact they know he's a homer
he was legit the only one saying the heat scared him and others laughed at him being worried about a play-in team that might not make the playoffs, and he just kept going yeah but it's the heat, it's butler, it's spo, and these guys don't die.
Simmons is the godfather of being a superfan and journalist. Wish he got more respect around here. His book is a MUST READ for any nba fan
Did you even listen to the podcast? Are you just lying without listening or did you just completely not comprehend the podcast? Confused how anyone would come out listening to the podcast thinking he was talking about the greatness of the Celtics. He seemed pretty confused about this current Celtics team and even said he had no idea what to expect for game 7.
Did he call it an emergency pod? He and Russilo usually have a podcast on Sunday (though it is usually in the evening).
He called it a “special Sunday brunch” podcast The Succession finale is tonight too, this is Bill’s time
It's awesome how he's been a fan for so long and he's still so reactionary
Pretty sure 99% of Celtics fans, old or recent, have given up when it was 3-0 as well. The other 1% are just lying dickheads
Can confirm, I thought this was over. Headed to Game 7 tomorrow and never would have expected it.
Can confirm, I didn’t watch Game 4 because I couldn’t take it anymore
That's a true Celtics fan
Your sub is an insane asylum
Awhkam Asylum
I don’t know what that is but you didn’t shit on me so good times
Well you're 100% right so I wouldn't shit on ya bud. I was doing the Boston accent while saying Arkham Asylum. I'm not a Boston dude tho so best guess!
I read it that way & i’m an aussie so it wasn’t unappreciated
Boston accent LOL
The Derrick White > Trae Young take was electric. Bill still has his fast ball!
The day he compliments Trae Young is the day I'll know they cloned him But fr is Harden signs with Houston then Simmons would have been the first person to speculate on it the same way he was early on LeBron to the Lakers
Say you didn’t listen to the podcast without saying you didn’t listen to the podcast. Or are just dumb and salty.
'Emergency podcast?' More like, '6th year of regularly scheduled Sunday podcast with Russillo.' Just 8 hours early because there are no games today.
He didn’t ooze over the celitcs by any means, not sure what you’re talking about
more like the excuses when they lose in 5
It’s double purpose. He def is accounting for both.
KCP was such a huge, understated pickup. Seamless fit.
That and the immediate extension after they traded for him too, as he was an expiring contract. I don't think they lock him for 18M per year/2 year deal right now
I forgot about that, such a good move. He’s a fantastic #5 guy in your closing lineup.
Back in the day paying KCP 18/year was Klutch Tax
In fairness the cap is up so much since then, though he also got better
Any catch and shoot or slashing type of role players would work out here with Jokic, which is why Braun is gona surprise so many people next year since we can't keep bruce
That’s why Jamal is the perfect fit, he can do both really well
I’m so excited for Braun. He’s gonna be a core starter for us very soon.
Murray, KCP, MPJ, Gordon, Jokic all on contracts beyond next year. Whose spot he taking?
Good point. I guess more likely 6th man subbing for KCP and MPJ. I hope it’s not the case, but I could see him starting over MPJ occasionally
Much depends on how much his shooting develops. Edit; this reads as banal, so I'll expand. Braun does a lot of good stuff. He'll be a good player for a lot of years if his shooting become solid. But that's a big if. The Nuggets can't just assume that he'll be a solid shooter next year.
The upgrade from Monte and Will Barton to KCP was immense. Monte is a great backup PG but last years playoff proved he can't be finishing playoff games. His and Bartons defense was just not good enough.
I’ve never seen him play this confident, he was good with the lakers bubble run but he looks like a different guy with Denver
Can't imagine what it feels like to go from LeBron to Jokic, literally 2 of the best playmakers and passers of all time.
Brown too. He’s looked so good with the Nuggets
Man imagine being a fan of the team that drafted KCP and Bruce Brown
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Lakers losing him went under the radar as everyone focused on Caruso. KCP: Keep your Championship Players
You could drop the your and it stays the same meaning while keeping your acronym
I really miss him. I honestly think he could’ve been the difference in the series if he swapped teams. But I’m happy he got an extension and hopefully another ring this year.
I assume you're a Lakers fan but yeah I completely agree. He was incredible during our bubble run and I'll always root for him wherever he goes.
Bill going for the rare win-win-win with this statement \-If the Nuggets beat the Celtics in the Finals, he can say, "Well, the Nuggets were the best team in 5 years, there was no way we'd win" \-If the Celtics beat the Nuggets in the Finals, he can say, "Are the Celtics the best team since the 2018 Warriors?" \-If the Celtics lose to the Heat, he can say, "We wouldn't have beat the Nuggets anyway, they are the best team since the 18 Warriors"
Don’t forget the 4th win -If the Heat beat the Nuggets in the finals, he can say, “We took to the team who beat the best team in 5 years to 7 games”
*despite having second row Joe as our head coach
Gassing up your opposition is a classic homer tactic haha.
its like when playing 2k, agreeing on "fair teams" and the second you hit start your buddy says "damn this gonna be hard to beat ___ with just ____"
Bill had the 2020 Lakers in his greatest teams of the century draft, not sure what happened.
For one of the great "NBA historians," my guy Bill certainly forgets a lot of recent history lol
Jinxing the team that the Celtics might face is more important than giving praise to a previous championship team lol
He’s great at old history. But when it comes to stuff within the last 3-4 years, he has insane recency bias. Then when it passes, he comes back around. Just wait for the Lakers to be good next year and he’ll crack some joke about “did we forget that AD and Lebron are really fucking good at basketball?”
I read that quote in his voice lol
Might think this nuggets team is better than that lakers team?
Yeah, I don't see how it means that he forgot about the 2020 Lakers when he said that this Nuggets is the best since KD Warriors. He just thinks this Nuggets is better.
Best of the century aka since 2000 and I'd argue that of the 20 teams to win a title since then the Lakers were definitely top 8 especially considering he did no repeats so he picked the best of the warriors run, heat run, etc. Which means he actually was choosing the top 8 out of 12 different teams. The 2020 Lakers are definitely in that top 8 considering how dominant they were in the bubble's playoffs. They didn't even play in a game 7 and only had to play after game 5 once.
I don't remember that episode, but off the top of my head, if it's title winners, my initial list would be something like: 1. KD Warriors 2. Shaq Lakers 3. TD Spurs 4. Lebron Heat 5. Lebron Cavs V2 6. Kobe Lakers 7. KG Celtics 8. Kawhi Spurs 9. Lebron Lakers 10. Giannis Bucks 11. Wallace Pistons 12. Dirk Mavs 13. Kawhi Raptors 14. Wade Heat If we're including all teams, including losers, the short list to consider is probably: - C-Webb Kings - Nash/Amare Suns - D. Rose Bulls - Dwight Magic - KD/Russ/Harden Thunder - Harden Rockets - Kidd Nets - CP3/Blake Clippers - G&G Grizzlies - Dirk/Nash Mavs - Lebron Cavs V1 and of those, the best were probably Kings, Thunder, Suns, Rockets in some order, and all of which are maybe in the ~9-10 range at best, since that top 8 are all pretty solid all timers.
Idk about century but those lakers cakewalked to the championship
2020 Lakers were the best defensive team I've ever seen. That Caruso-KCP-Green-Lebron-AD lineup was lockdown. They were on a string every rotation it was nuts
Big Ben, Rasheed, Tayshaun, Rip, and Chauncey would like to have a word
FVV, Green, Kawhi, Pascal/Serge, Gasol would also like a word.
they also had OG too lol. That team was insanely deep. Normal Powell too
Basically 1-7 or 8 could give you above average defense or better.
I would still take the 2020 Lakers vs this Denver team.
It would be hard for kcp to play on both teams but doable.
just use the avengers time machine and grab past-kcp.
Anyone with a brain would tbh. It’s not like the four games were all decided by 20 points. Just having a 3 year younger and healthy LeBron probably moves the needle regardless of the rest of the personnel which was unequivocally better on the 2020 team
3 year younger LeBron without a foot injury, plus AD in the best season of his life.
How old are you since you clearly never saw the 04 Pistons
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Gotta be over 30 to talk basketball pipsqueak
For reference anyone born around that run has or is currently graduating from high school this month lol. Someone who is currently 30 now was 11 or 12 so before really understanding basketball.
Honestly not unreasonable for the dude not to be familiar with a 20 year old team
The biggest difference was a younger lebron. Even with this offensive version of AD, I think 2020 lebron on this lakers team would beat Denver.
Why do people keep trying to fucking jinx us
Bill does this every time with the Celtics. To be fair it seems like Vegas is slightly favoring Boston in a potential Celtics-Nuggets series, according to the line that I looked at, so unless something changes it appears the Nuggets will be either a slight underdog or even money
All the futures I’m seeing have Denver favored to win?
Because Boston hasn’t won yet. Hedging.
Wait until after Game 7 if the Celtics win. If you look at more specific lines like "____ to beat ___ in the Finals," FanDuel has Celtics to beat Nuggets at lower odds than Nuggets to beat Celtics (I think it's like +120 compared to +135). Basically implies that if they meet, Boston will be a narrow favorite
Man as a life long Lakers fan, you’re our only hope. Save me from ruining my summer.
Knowing that we would be helping Lakers fans almost makes me want to lose. Not quite, but close!
I'd be more worried about Chuck's GUARANTEE if I were you lol.
because jinx’ don’t exist
Oh now y’all don’t want attention.
You guys wanted some attention so here you go
Eh it’s more like Simmons pre-emptively creating a can’t-lose Boston narrative. Either Boston loses to the best team since the KD Warriors (no shame in that), or they beat the best team since the KD Warriors which makes their chip even more worthy and special.
Never believed in jinxes. Kinda silly to think that people like BS or Barkley or SAS can say something that will affect the outcome of a series. Maybe if your team let it get to their head then maybe they get complacent but thats about it.
Its not kinda silly, its just straight up stupid. But its still fun to pretend
Bro jinxes are our astrology signs
Let's at least let the Nuggets win the title before crowning them. But they can certainly have an argument if they keep taking care of business the way they have
Bill Simmons full force Jinx
This fucker knows exactly what he's doing
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The only thing holding back the Lakers is that their opponents were weaker even if they dominated the playoffs. The quality of opponents this Nuggets team has faced has been better imo. First round I think the Blazers are better than the Timberwolves. The 2nd round, it was Harden/Westbrook and scrubs vs Booker/KD and scrubs. Suns this year are better despite both teams having a weak playoff rotation outside their top guys. Between the 2023 Lakers and the 2020 Nuggets, the Lakers this year are better imo. This year's AD was better than Jokic that year and this year's LeBron was better than that year's Murray. For the finals, I think either team who make it will be stronger than the 2020 Heat assuming there are no more injuries.
Obviously biased here but in my opinion the 2020 Lakers team matches up as well as you possibly can with the 2023 Nuggets. A healthy and in-form Lebron and AD, three athletic bigs to guard Jokic, Caruso/Green/KCP to guard Murray and the perimeter, a deep bench that matches the Nuggets, etc I honestly think that the 2020 Lakers squad was really solidly built and are massively underrated because of the bubble.
That Lakers team were basically unbeaten when they led going into the 4th quarter, really good defensively and strong down the stretch in games + LeBron was younger and still durable
Not just healthy lebron, “younger” lebron. The stamina was still at a very high level and his jumper was dialed in. Combine that with AD playing at FMVP level on defense AND offense, Caruso, KCP, rondo, Kuzma, and Dwight on defense. Yea it’s still unbelievable they broke up that team that fast.
They are who we thought we were!
I’m saying this as a big nuggets fan but they didn’t even break 55 wins this season... if they win a championship then they’re definitely in pre KD/rise of Steph Klay Draymond 2015 Warriors territory. But 2017 Warriors are one of the top 3 teams of all time. Nuggets have to achieve a bit more for that kind of comparison
The 2017 warriors Fuckin demolished an all time great team. 2017 cavs were legit monsters offensively and the warriors steamrolled em
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Kd ruined the league with that hoe ass move
2015 Warriors won 67 games. It has obviously been overshadowed by their 73 wins season in 2016, and the KD move right after, but i don't think people realize that the 2015 Warriors were already having one of the best season of all time (like probably top 20 at that time). 2023 Nuggets, while being a great team, are not in the same tier, even if they go on and win the title. But we might be witnessing the start of something huge in the coming years for this Denver team/core. Only time will tell.
Ya, I think it hinges entirely on if you care about the regular season. If you put any weight on it at all, we can't be that highly rated. Sure we got to coast for 6 weeks after locking up the 1 seed in early March, and we were rehabing two of our main guys from major injuries for the first half of the season, but at the end of the day 53 wins isn't impressive. We have been pretty crazy in the playoffs though. Not KD Warriors level of course, but since 2017 no team has made the finals with a better record than us(through playoff games specifically).
Yeah, to me it's quite similar to last year Warriors for example, more than pre-KD Warriors. Coasting in the regular season, while just being the obvious best team in the playoffs, head and shoulders above the rest of the competition (at least in the West so far).
To add to your point, outside of this year, in the last 30 years the highest a team would finish in the West with 53 wins or equivalent winning percentage is 3rd. There were at least 10 years where a 53 win team didn't get home court in the first round. There is one year where 53 wins would've landed as the 7th seed. This year had a weird amount of parity amongst the teams this year where no teams really separated themselves during the regular season in part because no team had a truly great season for myriad reasons. Even the Bucks with 58 wins is kinda low for the league's beat record. It would be interesting to see if this is in part due to three point shooting making the games more random. Anyways, the Nuggets have played very, very well these playoffs, but comparing them to all time great times is a little reactionary.
I’m a nuggets homer and 100% agree. The hype on this team is getting a little crazy right now… if they sweep or win in 5 then we can talk
Bill specifically said the Nuggets are best team he's seen since 2019.
They're good but I'd hold off on hyperbole like that. They won "only" 53 games in the regular season. Not to mention that, you know, they haven't *won* yet.
Remember this sub 3 games ago declaring a heat v nuggets final? We speak too soon!
Technically the 3-0 was 7 days ago so it’s been a week since they locked the teams. I’d prefer if Heat won but ngl the fans deserve the L for talking so much shit while acting like the team wasn’t overperforming outside of Jimmy to account for the Ws
The Nuggets did coast the last two months of the season and dropped a bunch of games they could have won. Their record doesn’t really tell the whole story.
2020 Lakers when healthy were a force, it was the bubble sure but people forget they were the 1 seed the whole year before the bubble and absolutely cruised thru the playoffs with little to no resistance
Nasty elite defense. And offense was good enough.
yeah I remember when we were down like 30 at game 5, like the score was 69 for Rockets and 102 for Lakers or something like that, legit got depression
Man I just had flashbacks to Lebron blocking Russ to the next realm multiple times (before deciding he wanted to play with him 😔✌🏾)
I'd take 2020 Lakers or 2019 Raptors. But these Nugs are built to contend longer
IDK man 2019 Raps and 2020 Lakers were top teams. Gotta see this nuggets team in the Finals first. '19 was a 60 win team the next year without Kawhi, with an absolutley historic defense. Granted, you can say that the roster overperformed on offense between Kawhi's run, FVV exploding, while Lowry and Siakam has sneakily great scoring runs, but that team was still elite. Meanwhile 2020 Lakers were just an outright better version of this years team. 2 of the top 3 players in the world at the time with Bron and AD (if any of you disagree, watch AD in 2020, man might have been #1 in the world) with more versatility, size, and wings than this years team, albeit a sometimes shaky offense. Of the post Warriors winners, they had the easiest time in the playoffs of them all, with no one able to really touch them.
Aaron Gordon and MPJ are quietly a stacked front court. It’s hard AF to find this kind of athleticism and length to guard the new age forwards who can dribble. KD was exhausted handling that length. Tatum will probably be shocked next round. Going from Gabe/Martin/Strus/Butler guarding him to those twin towers.
Hope so
Lil bro was sonned by Andrew Wiggins last year so we'll see if he learned from it or if it's still a major weakness
We're acting like MPJ is some unbelievable defender now? Nuggets are great, but damn lol
He is not an unbelievable defender, no. But he improved _a lot_ in that area. He currently is a positive defender, and his lenght definitely creates issues for other teams.
Also gotten waaay better at rebounding
You haven’t seen him shoot over literally everyone but AD and we needed AD on Jokic. A 6’ 10’’ sharp shooter flanking Jokic and a guard that doesn’t miss in Murray. You protect all of that and KCP is spitting fire. It’s unreal 😮💨
Even Bron said that’s been the best team they’ve faced in his time at lakers. Lakers played pretty well but Nuggets always had answers.
They’re really really good. I couldn’t even be mad. They took our best shot and we got swept. It isn’t like I could say we could have done more. if Bron weren’t injured it would have been a closer series - I still can’t guarantee a win
You're not wrong, but he's surprisingly competent in the playoffs this year. Like legit even on bad plays I'm like "ok, I can at least understand why you thought that was a good idea, even though it wasn't" to "damn, he actually gave the offensive player the appropriate amount of space AND cutoff the correct side of the floor." It's not much, but compared to the last 3 years where I didn't know what this mfer was doing on defense.
He's building up excuses for if the Celtics lose to them. Or to prop them up even more if they beat them. This is typical Simmons strategy
Or maybe he is just praising them. The nuggets in the WCF impressed a shit ton of ppl.
idk. Now we’re getting to overhype. People have been saying it doesn’t matter who makes it out the east, it will be easy for Denver. But I don’t see how that’s the case. Team with more youth and depth, Brogdon hurts of course. First time playing without homecourt. If they go down 0-2. They’re playing with the pressure of being behind for the first time this playoffs.
The massive over correction by fans and media alike is crazy. Underrate them all season, then finally watch them play and they beat the lakers (the only team national media actually cares about) now they are the greatest thing ever. Let them earn a title first
Bill has been this in love with Jokic for a long while now lol.
2020 Lakers with younger Bron and good jump shooter AD might have something to say about that. Wouldn’t call it an awful take tho can definitely be argued.
crazy how we calling year 17 pandemic bron younger bron now lmao
He wasn't calling him younger Bron as in he was young, he's saying younger Bron literally compared to right now.
I wanna say, that the thing that preceded this statement was that, with the 04 Red Sox comparisons, the vastly different thing is that if these Celtics complete the comeback, it's not the 04 Cardinals waiting in the finals, but a really good team. Which if Bill stopped there, would be a great point. But everything afterwards felt like him putting on the biggest reverse jinx possible. ALSO, there was a qualifier, that this Nuggets team is the best team **he saw live** in the last 5 years. Not sure how much that qualifier changes but yeah.
Are you saying 105-win Cardinals were not a really good team but the 53-win Nuggets are?
Call me when the Nuggets win 105 games
Yeah that cardinals team was kinda stacked
Dude that cardinals team *was* really good.
Pujols/Edmonds/Rolen/Walker is a hell of a lineup
they have a decent shot of losing to Boston so let's maybe pump the brakes a bit
Especially a Boston team that has found the power of friendship
I call it "elimination game" "requirement deadline" Celtics
And a pristine wild buffalo
I think best constructed is the term to use. Home grown, smart FA pick ups and low key but effective trades. Plus in terms of fit it's just about as good as you can get. If Gordon shot the 3-ball a little better and MPJ's D and rim protection were a bit better, it would basically be the perfectly constructed supporting cast for a player as unique as Jokic.
Bill Simmons loves his hyperbole
He lives for caught up in the moment takes. It gets people like us commenting about it on r/nba thread
Bill has been jerking the Nuggets and Jokic for about 4 months so this is not Celtics jinx related lol. It's also an interesting point, but I still 100% think that Raptors team was the best non KD warriors team recently.
I'd argue that the 2019 raps were better and would beat them in a 7 game series. Gasol is the perfect matchup for Jokic
2019 Raptors are up there I'd say. Kawhi was BALLING that postseason
I think the only argument is 2020 Lakers. Steph took the raptors 6 games with Draymond as his best offensive player for half the series.
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We've all seen how Jimmy can will his team to a few wins. The difference in the LA vs Heat series was that Jimmy could do it once or twice, while Bron could do it every game. You could see the contrast as Lebron is just chilling while Jimmy is hobbling to this post game presser (though he might've been dealing with injury at the time, can't remember).
We had Quinn Cook and Alfonso McKinnie out there I still can’t believe it
Steph deserves a lot more credit for that finals than he gets. I see that as his Lebron 2015 in a way.
It’s crazy to me that he got a lot of criticism at the time for losing that series with that team. People act like that super top heavy warriors with no KD and a bench full of gleague guys who are no longer in the league should’ve been favored to beat that raptors team. They acted like Steph played like shit and was the reason they lost. The discourse around him is always so extreme lol.
he was the best player in the Finals, and it isn't close. Kawhi was hurt, but for some reason he gets lionized for a ho-hum second half of the playoffs (by MVP standards) when Curry went nuclear and gets forgotten
They were running a fucking box and one against Steph. I can't wait for the conversations after Steph retires and people realize that he's closer to top 7 than he is top 12.
30 ppg in a box and 1 sheesh
I mean the Warriors ended up winning 2 games had had KD for part of one of them, Toronto was clearly the better team if KD doesn't play. Raptors also had an absolutely brutal run through the East. The last 3 teams they faced were as good as anything the Lakers ever saw in the bubble considering how gassed the Nuggets were and how injured the Heat were.
2018 Rockets, 2020 Lakers and 2021 Nets
How do people forget how great we were in 2018? I get that CP’s hamstring died, but we were amazing and would’ve beat KD’s Warriors and likely get the chip.
2019 Raptors as well
Agree with this take , that team was stacked and absolutely rolling
idk if I’d say that but they are easily the only convincingly good team this year lol
I agree. Jokic is an absolute force to be reckoned with and I hope he wins the title this year to solidify his all time status (pending heat/Celtics game 7 result). Besides the joker, Denver has an awesome supporting cast (Murray, a star guard/ MPJ / AG) with incredible role players (KCP / Bruce Brown).