For somebody who has a hard on for Russell's defense ("defense wins championships!") in the Book of Basketball, Simmons sure makes a questionable decision having a clear defensive liability in this lineup. Really? Especially ironic because he argues for Paul for the '08 MVP. Come on Simmons.
If you're referring to Curry... his team did just have the best defense in the league with him. Kobe/Lebron/Duncan are grade A defensive players Durant is tall enough and a good enough rebounder to hold his own. Curry is a defensive liability but it wouldn't matter, really. And since I think all would agree that the first 4 players are on there regardless of which PG is chosen, I am fine with Curry being the PG choice. If you are just saying who has been the best PG of the 21st century... well I think that's clearly CP3 for now because of longevity. Looks like he's choosing single seasons, though, and while it's a toss-up really between 08 CP3 and 15 Curry, Steph did actually win the MVP, and seems to play at a slightly better pace, and seems like he'd be the better off the ball player offensively to team with those 5 guys.
When you have a team with Lebron/Durant/Kobe as your 1a 1b and 1c scoring options, the other two players have to be, in addition to talented, top tier defensively. Curry, is not. Is Harden a good defensive player because the Rockets had a good defense, even missing Dwight for the majority of the year? Correlation does not equal causation. In this hypothetical, I think we can agree this lineup is going up against a, say, all-time 80s or 90s team. Would you really want to try Curry vs. Magic? Both Curry and Paul will lose the matchup (to Magic), but at least Paul can provide defensive effort. The difference is that 90s PGs like Penny Hardaway would brutalize Curry, but not Paul. These are all teams with HOFers, and they will easily exploit the weakest defensive matchup. If I was a coach going up with these theoretical lineups, I am calling a guard guard PnR almost every trip with Jordan and (insert PG). Remember, this is from Simmons' perspective. From Simmons' perspective, Paul was the '08 MVP. Kobe winning it was an "absolute travesty", in his words. The "MVP" argument for Curry is irrelevant, in context of a Simmons quote.
Your points are true. I don't know where Simmons is coming from necessarily... But I personally am fine with the Curry section. CP3 is a better defender, but offensively he seems to require the ball in his hands in a way that Curry doesn't necessarily, and which could be detrimental when you want Lebron/Durant/Kobe to have the ball. It's part of the problem with the Clippers... Curry brings a unique skill to the table that no one else has, including the 4 other people on the team... in fact including anyone on any the decades team.
Simmons is back <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Bill Simmons Podcast launches on Thursday 10/1 - subscribe on iTunes <a href="https://t.co/SGZ7asOR1d">https://t.co/SGZ7asOR1d</a> or Soundcloud <a href="https://t.co/fBwy8hgIPH">https://t.co/fBwy8hgIPH</a></p>— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/status/648950320890929152">September 29, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I don't like Juliet individually, but I do like the Food News / Right Reasons pods she did with Jacoby. Those will be missed by me.
Love juliet on the podcasts, she has a really funny, sorta ditsy, self deprecating & entertaining personality. Her chemistry with Jacoby and Chris Ryan etc will be missed. Chris Ryan is probably my favorite at grantland aside from Zach Lowe. He is easy to listen to on the podcasts, isn't pretentious or snooty or sour like Greenwald and is hilarious.
Has anybody listened to his pods with Joe House yet? Some of Simmons' takes, although not too original, are entertaining to hear just because it's him delivering it. For instance, he says that the Warriors rode a wave of good breaks to the championship (he still thinks they'd win without the extraordinary good luck though). Joe House is super high on the Rockets, but Simmons seems to think that Harden and Howard are untrustworthy. I don't understand that perception from Simmons regarding Harden, but with Howard I can buy it just because of his recent injury history. In any case, give it a listen. Good to have him back.
Yeah I heard him talking about that in his game 6 retelling. He's not a big harden fan for some reason. I guess that for non Houston fans, harden can come off as a bit cocky and aloof
And that's how it was. Why else would McHale bench MVP in the elimination game. And Simmons saying that Harden wasn't cheering for Rockets for most of the comeback is also a big tell he had given up at that point.
How is that an original take by him? Plenty of people(regular CF members here and a few media members have said the same). It's nice Simmons has a job and podcast again but I could do with less b*tching and whining about how ESPN did him wrong and what they wouldn't give him or do for him with Grantland. We get it already. Move on. (Obviously the Boston homerism will always be there so that's a given and something to always expect if one chooses to listen to him).
Completely fine with the people that chose to resign. Don't really care for their work anyway(although Chris Ryan does decent work when he writes about the Premier League but Mike Goodman is holding it down so far). As long as Zach Lowe, Jonathan Abrams, Andrew Sharp, Greenwald and I guess Barnwell and Mays don't resign then I think everything will be fine with Grantland and they can weather the storm.
so I guess this means the end of the Hollywood Prospectus podcast? first the Sepinwall/Fienberg podcast ends, now this..
wow didnt know about the end of the firewall & iceberg podcast... why is it ending? Back on topic, I'm going to miss chris ryan talking about and marveling at game of thrones in the hollywood prospectus podcast.
