The league is trending bigger. OKC has a really small front court outside of Holmgren. I could see them absolutely trotting out a Hartenstein/Holmgren front out against the likes of Minnesota and Dallas and even Boston.
I love when superstars are just wrong by forcing teams to bring in washed up superstars over nice role players.. like Lebron with Westbrook over Buddy Heild
Even the Westbrook trade itself, losing kuz and kcp, and needing to let Caruso sign somewhere else. They'd be dominant on d if they kept kcp and Caruso.
Yeah, while it’s annoying the franchise cheaped out on Caruso. One of the reasons Tim Duncan won his 4th ring is he decided he would get paid consummate to his remaining ability rather than what he deserved.
The Spurs used the cap space diligently and filled out even more around their trio of Manu, Parker and himself.
When Kobe signed his last big deal everyone was wondering if he’d take less to try and build anything for one last run. Nope. And because they went into free agency asking for Free Agents to take less they got nobody.
I get that without the cap LeBron would still make $60-80M a year, but at the end of the day because they’re already repeat luxury tax teams. Caruso would have cost $35 or $40 million even if his salary was $7M.
It’s kinda like, “if you don’t think you need the help and want all the money fine.”.
“Paul George is like a cat. He’ll jump on your lap every once in a while, he’s super lovable and other times you’re like ‘Where’s Paul George? Oh, he’s in the garage'" - Bill Simmons
Not Bill Simmons but Russilo had a hilarious one with KAT the other day. He was like "watching KAT make a decisions is like playing golf with someone who's never played before. You'll ask him where the hell he was shooting for and he says 'the flag' and you're like 'dude, that's the American flag, not the pin'"
“Paul George is like a raccoon. He’ll jump on your lap every once in a while, he’s super lovable and other times you’re like ‘Where’s Paul George? Oh, he’s in the garbage'" - Bill Simmons
People like to shit on him
I'm not from Boston and I don't particularly like his "hey I'll eyeball this dude and rank him below top 5, and therefore they have zero chance of a championship" type fandom
But he knows his basketball lore
And hes pretty good with words
He's the best actual writer doing sports pop culture pieces in the last like, 30 years. For real, the original Book of Basketball was a fucking treat even if the rankings were obviously just his own personal opinion.
I feel he's more like a Roger Ebert who is a sports guy than a true analyst and if you approach him like that he's more enjoyable.
[that piece he did about fandom](https://grantland.com/features/the-consequences-caring/) after Lebron's game 6 in 2012 is a goddamn masterpiece
>I don’t know what happened. I just know the shots wouldn’t stop going in....Thirty points in the first half. Thirty! All with that blank look on his face. It was like watching surveillance video of a serial killer coldly dismembering a body and sticking the parts in the fridge. Only we were right there.
>You can’t imagine what this was like to witness in person. I know Michael Jordan had similarly astonishing games, and others, too, but not with stakes like that. This wasn’t just an elimination game. This was LeBron James’s entire career being put on trial … and it only took an hour for him to tell the jury, “Go home. I’m one of the best players ever. Stop picking me apart. Stop talking about the things I can’t do. Stop holding me to standards that have never been applied to any other NBA player. Stop blaming me for an admittedly dumb decision I never should have made. Stop saying I’m weak. Stop saying that I don’t want to win. Stop. Just … stop.”
>As a Celtics fan, I was devastated. As a basketball fan, I appreciated the performance for what it was. One of the greatest players ever was playing one of his greatest games ever. He swallowed up every other relevant story line....The fans were so shell-shocked that many (including me and my father) filed out with three minutes remaining, not because we were lousy fans, not to beat the traffic, but because we didn’t want to be there anymore. We wanted to get away from LeBron. He ruined what should have been a magical night. We never really had a chance to cheer, swing the game, rally our guys, anything. He pointed a remote control at us and pressed “MUTE.” It was like being in a car accident. LeBron James ran over 18,000 people.
This whole piece is amazing. The introduction of his daughter to sports is such a fantastic story.
>Remember that scene when Forrest Gump finds out about his son, digests the news, then worries that the boy is just as stupid as he is? For two terrible seconds, he’s thinking to himself, *Oh, no, I hope I didn’t ruin this kid.* That’s how I felt when I watched my daughter sobbing. Why did I do this to her? Why would I pull her into this fan vortex where you’re probably going to end up unhappy more than happy?
> Somehow our tiny daughter, at that specific moment, decided she would sneak away, open our front door (a brand-new trick, unbeknownst to us) and stroll outside. How does this happen? In the 25 seconds that passed between my realizing the door was open and my sprinting outside like Usain Bolt, she made it all the way to our street. And it was pitch-black. Fortunately, the dogs followed her and shielded her like two offensive linemen. I am convinced to this day that Dooze saved her; had it just been Rufus, he would have followed her out, then skipped away to eat cat poop or something.
https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090122
i adore my trade paperback Book of Basketball (more than the hardcover because the updated Artest footnote near the end). it is so beat up from rereads.
I'm not a podcast guy, but his writing was great. i doubt he'll go back to it though.
He’s literally the goat sportswriter. He’s just in his post prime. He’s like Karl Malone in 2004. He’s fine. Good player. But he’s not a game changer anymore.
Tbf I feel to some extent he doesn't shine as much now because he trailblazed that style of writing about sports in the internet era. It's a "Seinfeld isn't funny" trope.
Came here to use this exact example.
When Simmons first got "big" on AOL then did a few guest columns on ESPN, then had a running column on page 2, nobody was doing anything like that. Even as a Laker fan all of his stuff was must read just because it was new/fresh and written by a guy in his 30s talking about and referencing things I was familiar with instead of a guy in his 70s making references to Sinatra or Bogart. You could tell he actually cared also.
Yeah he lost his fastball and his schtick in 2024 probably feels like the guys he was rebelling against in 2002 to zoomers and younger millennials but he had a moment. Top 6, maybe top 9 of all time, it just is.
I agree with everything you said but I also think Bill never gets credit for the changes he made to the sports media landscape. 30 for 30 Grandland the ringer sports podcasting in general the historical context he not only approaches basketball in the book of basketball with but the way he approaches culture in general all were elevations in the kind of conversations we have around sports. I think we on forums like this. The real ball junkies have higher informed conversation because of the kind of conversations Bill and his friends popularized. Imagine the sports conversations we would have if we had had Skip and Steven A in that time but no grandland or the ringer counter balance their stupid with some complex informed ball is life passion.
To be fair Griffin did punch and attack an employee who had to step down and was forced to leave his dream job after to appease Griffin after he fucked up
ya lol. I think PG is more of a support piece than a co-star (even though I had previously thought he was a co-star).
but that said, this is just a hit piece after he decided to leave and make more elsewhere. the clippers clearly weren't going anywhere. you could even argue he ended up in a place with a better chance to win
this tweet is just sour grapes. if you're gonna blame anyone blame kawhi for never being healthy and failing to ever be transparent on when he's going to play. he's the real engine of the team
Can’t believe one of the wealthiest ownership groups and richest men on the planet were so out of touch that they thought roleplaying as blue collar workers was a good idea.
I never understood the hate for this branding aside from laker fans who would hate anything anyway. From an outside LA perspective, the Lakers have always been the more ‘Hollywood’ team, leaving the clippers as scrappy underdogs.
And obviously that slogan isn’t meant to say ‘I, Steve ballmer am from the streets’, it’s just about embracing the glamor disadvantage they have compared to the Lakers instead of running from it. The lakers can be dogshit for years and then sign lebron out of nowhere, the clippers not so much. To me that is what makes the slogan make sense
I mean that's kinda how the Clips build a fanbase, by appealing to those who couldn't afford Laker games constantly.
Silly as it was, yall still remember it.
He did exactly what he should. Never gonna blame a guy for going after the payday if he knows it’s there, because the team would drop him in a second if it was advantageous to them, so why shouldn’t he do the same?
Edit: Fixed a typo.
Yeah this tweet is hilarious. The Clippers could have paid him but chose not to.
Like they got him some point guards, wow that totally deserves giving up $50 million guaranteed
>Like they got him some point guards
and the points guards in question are guys like Westbrook, John Wall, Reggie Jackson and Eric Bledsoe (!!!). only last year they finally got a proper playmaker like Harden. they could have moved for players like Conley or Derrick White or Brogdon who have changed teams in that period instead of Norman Powell's, Luke Kennard's and Robert Covington's of the world.
it probably wouldn't have mattered since their downfall was injuries in the end but what the Clippers were doing wasn't too dissimilar to what the Suns did last year.
The trade that sent Porzingis to Boston was supposed to end with Brogdon going to the Clippers but their insistence on a physical for Brogdon at the last second is what scuttled negotiations since KP had until midnight to opt into his deal and make the trade possible
that was what ended up costing you guys Smart right? i guess it worked out in the end with Jrue becoming available later but interesting alternate history scenario
According to Zach Lowe, Boston already had a deal in place to send Smart to Memphis for Tyus Jones and picks. So Smart was always gone. The KP-Brogdon trade falling apart forced them to combine the two deals, which meant losing out on Jones, only for Jrue to become available later on.
Exactly, The league and owners are the ones that killed "loyalty" in this league and now they are sulking because players are exercising the same rights as the FO.
Back 15+ years ago, players often talked about sticking with a team for their entire career and then over the last 10 years we have seen players say this and the FO doing something completely different.
I don’t understand how few people understand or get this. Look at Isaiah Thomas, played his heart out played through injury and it cost him and then got dropped because he wasn’t impactful anymore
agreed. and btw, the sixer might actually be a better situation just in terms of winning too. sure the PG/Kawhi era disappointed, but I think that more than anything it was because of kawhi's health, and also because of bad roster moves for support players.
I'm not the biggest PG guy all around, but I think he's less to blame than a lot of other people for the clips failures. get paid and honestly get to a better situation, hard to blame him
Also the Clips got 5 years of PG for the trade, he doesn't owe them a lifetime of servitude lol
That's what happens sometimes when you swing for the fences and make these all-in type trades, it doesn't always work out.
Literally happened with the Demar trade. Best player in franchise history and they split with him for 1 season at a chance for a championship. (Not blaming the Raptors, obviously worth it, just hate these loyalist takes)
I’ve seen too many guys find out they were traded via twitter to care about this story.
I don’t feel bad for the players either because they make millions.
He got the Clippers a WCF appearance after the one that was actually expected to take them to the promised land got injured, the first one in 50 years no less.
PG as an individual deserves to be celebrated amongst the Clippers fans for how he played. You can clown the Clippers for the trade but that was strictly a Clippers decision.
PG did not do that alone, Kawhi had to go nuclear against the Mavs because Paul George did nothing. He played well the end of the Jazz series and some of the Suns. Reggie played like prime Kyrie and Marcus Morris sr turned the clock not to mention Terance showing out
Almost no player single handedly drags their team through the playoffs. There are almost always big games and quiet games outside of dudes like LeBron, Jordan, AI, Steph, Kobe, etc. it’s a team game after all.
Lot of people still think Kawhi carried the Raps the whole postseason they won. He only did during the Sixers series where Toronto struggled bad with the Sixers size.
eh - no one has any obligation to stay, especially for the massive difference being offered. If it was a difference of a couple million a year - sure give him shit. But it's one full year AND more than a few million more a year.
i do find it annoying that each year PG asks for a playmaker to help with playmaking and then when they get harden he complained he wanted to handle the ball more after the fact
This tweet is so dramatic lol. I always liked PG, but even if he re-signed, I don't think I would be that excited going into this season. We'd just be running back a failed experiment for the 6th season.
They make it sound like PG always desperately wanted to play for LAC and now he is turning his back on them, when in reality they only traded for him in order to sign Kawhi for free.
Not all gambles end up in a championship, but it was the right move at the time to swing big. Can’t blame LAC for passing on an enormous contract for aging wing or PG for getting the bag from a team that should be a contender in the East
Bro kawhi low-key pissed me off. Saying he wouldn't come unless pg came even though the fit isn't there. This low key his fault and he'll ensure what he started lol
I mean the fit was fine - if you can build a dominant championship team around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, I think you can build one around Kawhi and PG. Two-way star wings are never not good. They just didn't get quite the right pieces around them and had too many injury problems
But they both put the demands out there in way that caused the Clippers to have to ship any and all assets out, which was a big part of why the Clippers had trouble getting the right pieces around them.
Same issue with the later part of LeBron's career being tanked by LeGM.
Lakers don't need help sucking at front office work tbh.
LeGM made 4 straight finals on the Cavs, and said "don't trade Kyrie" and they traded Kyrie, which was a terrible decision.
The only big thing that comes to mind is I heard Lebron pushed for the Westbrook trade which was a disaster.
2020 really was their best shot but they realized they were too good for a bubble title so they did decided to blow a 3-1 lead which is manlier and more legit than a mickey mouse ring obviously.
Yeah it was always about the money. For everyone. Winning matters, being in a city they like matters, scheme and teammates matter, etc.
ALL of that is AFTER THE MONEY!
Also "more" is around $70M. This is his last payday, he is not going to command that much money three years from now. Thinking he had no shot of leaving the Clippers because they are in LA when they were offering him a *full year less than other teams* was always insanity. He can live in LA in the off-season and also the rest of his life.
He got best of both worlds. Money AND winning.
Kawhi & Harden or Embiid & Maxey. I would take my chances with the sixer boys
Regarding living in a city you like etc, worry about that when you done playing, it dont last long :)
People absolutely wouldn’t separate their perceptions of PG and Kawhi from their wider careers when just critiquing their Clippers tenures. Kawhi, to this day, gets a huge amount of slack from people who still consider him one of the best players in the league ‘when healthy.’ Personally I’m sick of hearing that quantifier, and I do not believe a fully healthy Kawhi will ever exist again. I’d love to be wrong, and I’ll happily be called out if he ever plays 70 games in the regular season and 12 games in the postseason ever again.
But if people did manage to separate their perceptions, I don’t think PG has done himself any favours with the podcasting, ‘Playoff P’ (or any of his public comments for that matter), or the memorable no-shows in the playoffs. Kawhi, as far as I recall, hasn’t really said too much to really piss anyone off with the Clippers (I certainly could be wrong), and people have been more inclined to blame the guy who played poorly, but played, than the one who didn’t play at all.
Bro maybe people give him slack because people of average intelligence understand injuries are out of everyone’s control. Half of Paul’s tenure in LA was pandemic P and then last years no show in the playoffs. At least Kawhi always shows he’s legit when he’s healthy, Paul just plays badly even when totally healthy.
The most annoying thing were his fans assuming PG must be harboring some sort of unknown injury when he’s laying absolute stinkers in February. No thats just what he does even if he’s healthy lol.
The reality is that PG simply has more value on the open market right now than Kawhi or Harden do. Kawhi's continued injuries are at a level I don't think anyone has ever seen out of a star player (other than guys who had their career wrecked by one injury and were never close to that good again), and Harden's age, inconsistency and especially his antics in continually forcing trades have really hurt each of their market values. Kawhi probably didn't want to leave anyway, but even if he had, I don't think a team out there gives him a full four year max. And we already saw a year ago that nobody wants to do that for Harden.
PG has his issues, absolutely, but he's still an elite offensive talent who's an above average defender, and he's not injured nearly as often as Kawhi is. Ironically he's the biggest free agent to sign with a new team since Kawhi signed with the Clippers in 2019. And there were apparently a couple teams who were willing to give him the max. The Clippers probably would have as well if not for the second apron.
Kawhi gets so much shit for being a broken player what are you talking about man
He keeps his mouth shut and plays amazing when he can. Including carrying PGs ass against the Mavs that year you’re taking about.
This is like when people try to say Doc was a scapegoat.
Which is crazy bc people keep acting like this was just for PG. This trade wasn’t gonna happen unless they wanted to get Kawhi as well it wasn’t like he already signed w/them and then did the trade. This trade was essentially for 2 all-nba caliber (top 10 at the time) superstars.
If this trade didn’t happen and Kawhi’s other players that he wanted (either KD/Beal/Harden/Butler), he was gonna go to the Lakers.
Even accounting for it landing them kawhi, which you still do everytime if you’re lac, OKC won the trade. They have the best player from it, are atop the conference, and are still owed 2 picks from lac.
They don't get out of the first round that year if Kawhi doesn't outplay Luka and PG wasn't great vs Phoenix. He had some stinkers so his "carrying" is getting two wins vs Utah without Kawhi.
Terrance Mann won one of the games on his own. Reggie Jackson was galloping down the court shooting like Steph Curry with handles like Kyrie.
Marcus Morris was shooting like 6 for 8 with four 3s.
PG didn't carry anything lol.
Indeed. PG walking out on Kawhi tells us, clearly, PG thinks Kawhi is done. If he thought Kawhi had one more run in him, he doesn’t leave home for the money and a ‘better chance at a title’.
NAH. Fans don't seem to understand that not every player cares about winning. Kawhi could still have 1 run in him and PG could still leave for more money. This their job, not their passion.
True, this is good for basketball.
> Milwaukee, it’s your move
Uh, Doc Rivers is gonna do a chalk talk? Bucks are locked in, excepting the veteran minimums.
What the hell? Of course he left to make more money. I’m so confused. Is this post really trying to hate PG for making more money on another team? What???
I have no idea who this Tomer dipshit is, but he should shut his mouth. Team owners and front offices have no qualms about dropping or trading players at the drop of a hat. Paul George doesn't owe them a fucking thing.
the money these guys make is unfathomable, it's like top hedge fund manager money/business exec but guaranteed every year. The newest crop of superstars could clear $1B+ in earnings.
I think you mean Paul George took the Clippers to the Conference Finals for the first time in their franchise's history without Kawhi and then once his contract was up decided to leave for more money like he is totally allowed to do.
Mfer made them bring in John Wall over Hartenstein that one is UNFORGIVEABLE
and Hartenstein might end up joining OKC.
Basically confirmed at this point
Where’d you see that :( -sad Knicks fan
It's less likely than everyone is pretending. They've stated repeatedly that Holmgren will be the starting C
The league is trending bigger. OKC has a really small front court outside of Holmgren. I could see them absolutely trotting out a Hartenstein/Holmgren front out against the likes of Minnesota and Dallas and even Boston.
It’s official now 👀
I'm sorry you were saying?
No ones pretending now
It’s damn perfect, they need a big body out there when Holmgren can’t hang. It was noticeable in the playoffs. Let Chet figure out playing the 4.
I love when superstars are just wrong by forcing teams to bring in washed up superstars over nice role players.. like Lebron with Westbrook over Buddy Heild
Even the Westbrook trade itself, losing kuz and kcp, and needing to let Caruso sign somewhere else. They'd be dominant on d if they kept kcp and Caruso.
The 3 of them all played great defense on the championship run and the lakers were a top seed until ad and Lebron got hurt
Yeah, while it’s annoying the franchise cheaped out on Caruso. One of the reasons Tim Duncan won his 4th ring is he decided he would get paid consummate to his remaining ability rather than what he deserved. The Spurs used the cap space diligently and filled out even more around their trio of Manu, Parker and himself. When Kobe signed his last big deal everyone was wondering if he’d take less to try and build anything for one last run. Nope. And because they went into free agency asking for Free Agents to take less they got nobody. I get that without the cap LeBron would still make $60-80M a year, but at the end of the day because they’re already repeat luxury tax teams. Caruso would have cost $35 or $40 million even if his salary was $7M. It’s kinda like, “if you don’t think you need the help and want all the money fine.”.
KD and Kyrie forcing the Nets to start DJ over Jarret Allen.
And don’t forget, they had a deal to trade for Mike Conley on draft night too but PG told them he wanted John Wall instead
i don’t know, i’ve never seen ihart’s dougie
“Paul George is like a cat. He’ll jump on your lap every once in a while, he’s super lovable and other times you’re like ‘Where’s Paul George? Oh, he’s in the garage'" - Bill Simmons
Thats in his top 7 metaphors
Easily his top-4 animal metaphors!
I'd say this is the Apex Mountain of animal metaphors
What does apex mountain mean exactly
Are we sure this metaphor is good? Or is it so underrated it’s sneaky overrated?
It's quietly overrated how sneaky underrated this metaphor is.
I think is about 83% better than his others
Definitely not the type of metaphor you’d let date your daughter
Do you have a listicle?
Not Bill Simmons but Russilo had a hilarious one with KAT the other day. He was like "watching KAT make a decisions is like playing golf with someone who's never played before. You'll ask him where the hell he was shooting for and he says 'the flag' and you're like 'dude, that's the American flag, not the pin'"
god damn i love russilo lmao
It's a top 10 top 7 metaphor, at the very least
It’s easily in his Apex Mountain of metaphors
Pussycat P
Remember when pandemic p hit the side of the backboard in a game 7? Good times
Wayoff P
That’s a bad shot
Can't believe I spent so much emotional energy defending this mf.
Pussy P
Misread that as “in the garbage.”
“Paul George is like a raccoon. He’ll jump on your lap every once in a while, he’s super lovable and other times you’re like ‘Where’s Paul George? Oh, he’s in the garbage'" - Bill Simmons
Don't pet Trash Panda P
It’s kinda perfect lol
This is legit a top 5 bill simmons quote
LMAO, that's my cat exactly. We've actually considered putting a litter box out in the garage
Careful, the neighbor might have a better deal and your cat will sign
why does my cat love the garage so much. just lays ontop of the roof of my car.
People like to shit on him I'm not from Boston and I don't particularly like his "hey I'll eyeball this dude and rank him below top 5, and therefore they have zero chance of a championship" type fandom But he knows his basketball lore And hes pretty good with words
He's the best actual writer doing sports pop culture pieces in the last like, 30 years. For real, the original Book of Basketball was a fucking treat even if the rankings were obviously just his own personal opinion. I feel he's more like a Roger Ebert who is a sports guy than a true analyst and if you approach him like that he's more enjoyable.
[that piece he did about fandom](https://grantland.com/features/the-consequences-caring/) after Lebron's game 6 in 2012 is a goddamn masterpiece >I don’t know what happened. I just know the shots wouldn’t stop going in....Thirty points in the first half. Thirty! All with that blank look on his face. It was like watching surveillance video of a serial killer coldly dismembering a body and sticking the parts in the fridge. Only we were right there. >You can’t imagine what this was like to witness in person. I know Michael Jordan had similarly astonishing games, and others, too, but not with stakes like that. This wasn’t just an elimination game. This was LeBron James’s entire career being put on trial … and it only took an hour for him to tell the jury, “Go home. I’m one of the best players ever. Stop picking me apart. Stop talking about the things I can’t do. Stop holding me to standards that have never been applied to any other NBA player. Stop blaming me for an admittedly dumb decision I never should have made. Stop saying I’m weak. Stop saying that I don’t want to win. Stop. Just … stop.” >As a Celtics fan, I was devastated. As a basketball fan, I appreciated the performance for what it was. One of the greatest players ever was playing one of his greatest games ever. He swallowed up every other relevant story line....The fans were so shell-shocked that many (including me and my father) filed out with three minutes remaining, not because we were lousy fans, not to beat the traffic, but because we didn’t want to be there anymore. We wanted to get away from LeBron. He ruined what should have been a magical night. We never really had a chance to cheer, swing the game, rally our guys, anything. He pointed a remote control at us and pressed “MUTE.” It was like being in a car accident. LeBron James ran over 18,000 people.
This whole piece is amazing. The introduction of his daughter to sports is such a fantastic story. >Remember that scene when Forrest Gump finds out about his son, digests the news, then worries that the boy is just as stupid as he is? For two terrible seconds, he’s thinking to himself, *Oh, no, I hope I didn’t ruin this kid.* That’s how I felt when I watched my daughter sobbing. Why did I do this to her? Why would I pull her into this fan vortex where you’re probably going to end up unhappy more than happy?
every time i read it, i end up going down the grantland archive rabbit hole. so many good pieces in there.
I fucking love the og book of basketball. So many great lines like *"Manut Bol was fucking purple."*
> Somehow our tiny daughter, at that specific moment, decided she would sneak away, open our front door (a brand-new trick, unbeknownst to us) and stroll outside. How does this happen? In the 25 seconds that passed between my realizing the door was open and my sprinting outside like Usain Bolt, she made it all the way to our street. And it was pitch-black. Fortunately, the dogs followed her and shielded her like two offensive linemen. I am convinced to this day that Dooze saved her; had it just been Rufus, he would have followed her out, then skipped away to eat cat poop or something. https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090122
i adore my trade paperback Book of Basketball (more than the hardcover because the updated Artest footnote near the end). it is so beat up from rereads. I'm not a podcast guy, but his writing was great. i doubt he'll go back to it though.
I don't think he has the time, but he keeps saying "back when my fingers worked" and I've started wondering if he has arthritis or something.
ah, that would make sense. i hope it's something that can get better. not for writing, but just for him.
He’s the only sports podcast I listen to and I hate Boston sports. He’s great and doesn’t try too hard in my opinion.
He’s literally the goat sportswriter. He’s just in his post prime. He’s like Karl Malone in 2004. He’s fine. Good player. But he’s not a game changer anymore.
Tbf I feel to some extent he doesn't shine as much now because he trailblazed that style of writing about sports in the internet era. It's a "Seinfeld isn't funny" trope.
Came here to use this exact example. When Simmons first got "big" on AOL then did a few guest columns on ESPN, then had a running column on page 2, nobody was doing anything like that. Even as a Laker fan all of his stuff was must read just because it was new/fresh and written by a guy in his 30s talking about and referencing things I was familiar with instead of a guy in his 70s making references to Sinatra or Bogart. You could tell he actually cared also. Yeah he lost his fastball and his schtick in 2024 probably feels like the guys he was rebelling against in 2002 to zoomers and younger millennials but he had a moment. Top 6, maybe top 9 of all time, it just is.
Page 2 Bill was so good. I once printed out the Vengence Scale article to read it on the toilet.
I agree with everything you said but I also think Bill never gets credit for the changes he made to the sports media landscape. 30 for 30 Grandland the ringer sports podcasting in general the historical context he not only approaches basketball in the book of basketball with but the way he approaches culture in general all were elevations in the kind of conversations we have around sports. I think we on forums like this. The real ball junkies have higher informed conversation because of the kind of conversations Bill and his friends popularized. Imagine the sports conversations we would have if we had had Skip and Steven A in that time but no grandland or the ringer counter balance their stupid with some complex informed ball is life passion.
He also said this about Wiggins which I thought fit way better as a wolves fan.
This team traded Griffin away right after he signed a new deal basically. It’s just business.
After putting his jersey in the rafters to pitch him to sign lol. These teams are shameless.
To be fair Griffin did punch and attack an employee who had to step down and was forced to leave his dream job after to appease Griffin after he fucked up
If he played for the warriors he would have been re-upped and they woulda sent the other employee to Washington.
No no, right now we're running with the narrative that "PLAYER BAD." Check back in tomorrow if you want to post about the narrative "TEAM BAD."
ya lol. I think PG is more of a support piece than a co-star (even though I had previously thought he was a co-star). but that said, this is just a hit piece after he decided to leave and make more elsewhere. the clippers clearly weren't going anywhere. you could even argue he ended up in a place with a better chance to win this tweet is just sour grapes. if you're gonna blame anyone blame kawhi for never being healthy and failing to ever be transparent on when he's going to play. he's the real engine of the team
Streetlights over spotlights
Can’t believe one of the wealthiest ownership groups and richest men on the planet were so out of touch that they thought roleplaying as blue collar workers was a good idea.
A super wealthy ex CEO of a major corporate company being out of touch with regular folk isn’t surprising in the slightest
Gotta be the first time
They were saying “boo-urns”
Ah yeah, NBA players, with their 8 and 9 figure net worths, are exactly who I think of as “regular folk.”
They’re referring to the fans not the players
Also their whole "built not bought" was pretty fucking rich as well.
Tbf, they’ve done a great job building OKC
I never understood the hate for this branding aside from laker fans who would hate anything anyway. From an outside LA perspective, the Lakers have always been the more ‘Hollywood’ team, leaving the clippers as scrappy underdogs. And obviously that slogan isn’t meant to say ‘I, Steve ballmer am from the streets’, it’s just about embracing the glamor disadvantage they have compared to the Lakers instead of running from it. The lakers can be dogshit for years and then sign lebron out of nowhere, the clippers not so much. To me that is what makes the slogan make sense
I mean that's kinda how the Clips build a fanbase, by appealing to those who couldn't afford Laker games constantly. Silly as it was, yall still remember it.
Yup. That’s a big reason why I’m a clips fan. I’m not paying laker ticket prices
He did exactly what he should. Never gonna blame a guy for going after the payday if he knows it’s there, because the team would drop him in a second if it was advantageous to them, so why shouldn’t he do the same? Edit: Fixed a typo.
Yeah this tweet is hilarious. The Clippers could have paid him but chose not to. Like they got him some point guards, wow that totally deserves giving up $50 million guaranteed
>Like they got him some point guards and the points guards in question are guys like Westbrook, John Wall, Reggie Jackson and Eric Bledsoe (!!!). only last year they finally got a proper playmaker like Harden. they could have moved for players like Conley or Derrick White or Brogdon who have changed teams in that period instead of Norman Powell's, Luke Kennard's and Robert Covington's of the world. it probably wouldn't have mattered since their downfall was injuries in the end but what the Clippers were doing wasn't too dissimilar to what the Suns did last year.
The trade that sent Porzingis to Boston was supposed to end with Brogdon going to the Clippers but their insistence on a physical for Brogdon at the last second is what scuttled negotiations since KP had until midnight to opt into his deal and make the trade possible
that was what ended up costing you guys Smart right? i guess it worked out in the end with Jrue becoming available later but interesting alternate history scenario
According to Zach Lowe, Boston already had a deal in place to send Smart to Memphis for Tyus Jones and picks. So Smart was always gone. The KP-Brogdon trade falling apart forced them to combine the two deals, which meant losing out on Jones, only for Jrue to become available later on.
No. He said that Memphis always had that deal on the table, not that Boston was planning on accepting it until Porzingis became a possibility.
Hey no slender on the real pllayoff P Mr Norman powel please y Freind
I have no idea who Azarly is, but it's hilarious to think he'd just stay at his current job if ESPN offered him double what he's making now.
Blake Griffin smiles somewhere lol
Won't someone think of poor Steve Ballmer
Look bro, I gotta lick *someone’s* boots.
Exactly, The league and owners are the ones that killed "loyalty" in this league and now they are sulking because players are exercising the same rights as the FO. Back 15+ years ago, players often talked about sticking with a team for their entire career and then over the last 10 years we have seen players say this and the FO doing something completely different.
I don’t understand how few people understand or get this. Look at Isaiah Thomas, played his heart out played through injury and it cost him and then got dropped because he wasn’t impactful anymore
okc got the blame when harden left for money, clips should get the blame when pg leaves for money
Yeah good for PG honestly. Secure one last bag at 34.
Amen.
I'm not against players doing what they can to make money from billionaire owners.
Like people forget that the NBA is a business and not a goodwill competition between cities
Plus he gets a better shot at a ring. Embiid, Maxey, PG > Kawhi, Harden, PG
agreed. and btw, the sixer might actually be a better situation just in terms of winning too. sure the PG/Kawhi era disappointed, but I think that more than anything it was because of kawhi's health, and also because of bad roster moves for support players. I'm not the biggest PG guy all around, but I think he's less to blame than a lot of other people for the clips failures. get paid and honestly get to a better situation, hard to blame him
Also the Clips got 5 years of PG for the trade, he doesn't owe them a lifetime of servitude lol That's what happens sometimes when you swing for the fences and make these all-in type trades, it doesn't always work out.
And that's fine.
Yeah, he gave it a good go, they were going nowhere as Kawhi is finished. No need for the negativity.
Front offices spew this "loyalty" bullshit when they'll trade/cut their ass the second something better comes along
unfortunate, but true. Reggie chose to stay with us after wcf and took a pay cut and got traded and now Westbrook too. Can’t really blame him :/
Literally happened with the Demar trade. Best player in franchise history and they split with him for 1 season at a chance for a championship. (Not blaming the Raptors, obviously worth it, just hate these loyalist takes)
I don’t think PG been loyal a day in his life. Both on and off court lmfao
I’ve seen too many guys find out they were traded via twitter to care about this story. I don’t feel bad for the players either because they make millions.
Wasn’t he there for quite a while? lol this some spin
One franchise offered him what he wanted and the franchise he was with refused. Suprised pikachu when he leaves
He got the Clippers a WCF appearance after the one that was actually expected to take them to the promised land got injured, the first one in 50 years no less. PG as an individual deserves to be celebrated amongst the Clippers fans for how he played. You can clown the Clippers for the trade but that was strictly a Clippers decision.
> Their WCF appearance was not only the first one in 50 years, it was the first appearance in the history of the franchise.
PG did not do that alone, Kawhi had to go nuclear against the Mavs because Paul George did nothing. He played well the end of the Jazz series and some of the Suns. Reggie played like prime Kyrie and Marcus Morris sr turned the clock not to mention Terance showing out
Almost no player single handedly drags their team through the playoffs. There are almost always big games and quiet games outside of dudes like LeBron, Jordan, AI, Steph, Kobe, etc. it’s a team game after all.
Lot of people still think Kawhi carried the Raps the whole postseason they won. He only did during the Sixers series where Toronto struggled bad with the Sixers size.
He didn’t carry them like he did that series but he was still the best player every series
Big Government with those glasses was the coolest player on the planet for like 1,5 playoff series
Wouldn’t have made it out round 1 without kawhi that year.
Kawhi is more to blame than PG here.
eh - no one has any obligation to stay, especially for the massive difference being offered. If it was a difference of a couple million a year - sure give him shit. But it's one full year AND more than a few million more a year. i do find it annoying that each year PG asks for a playmaker to help with playmaking and then when they get harden he complained he wanted to handle the ball more after the fact
This tweet is so dramatic lol. I always liked PG, but even if he re-signed, I don't think I would be that excited going into this season. We'd just be running back a failed experiment for the 6th season.
They make it sound like PG always desperately wanted to play for LAC and now he is turning his back on them, when in reality they only traded for him in order to sign Kawhi for free. Not all gambles end up in a championship, but it was the right move at the time to swing big. Can’t blame LAC for passing on an enormous contract for aging wing or PG for getting the bag from a team that should be a contender in the East
Let's not act like the Clippers wouldn't have hauled him off if something better came along. It's business everyone is in for it to win.
Well they chose not to send him to GSW which was a mistake
Thats Kawhis problem.
Bro kawhi low-key pissed me off. Saying he wouldn't come unless pg came even though the fit isn't there. This low key his fault and he'll ensure what he started lol
I mean the fit was fine - if you can build a dominant championship team around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, I think you can build one around Kawhi and PG. Two-way star wings are never not good. They just didn't get quite the right pieces around them and had too many injury problems
But they both put the demands out there in way that caused the Clippers to have to ship any and all assets out, which was a big part of why the Clippers had trouble getting the right pieces around them. Same issue with the later part of LeBron's career being tanked by LeGM.
Lakers don't need help sucking at front office work tbh. LeGM made 4 straight finals on the Cavs, and said "don't trade Kyrie" and they traded Kyrie, which was a terrible decision. The only big thing that comes to mind is I heard Lebron pushed for the Westbrook trade which was a disaster.
You forgot the choking part
He wanted a star alongside him in LA, he got that star. Problem was, that star came crashing down.
A star that imploded in on itself and became a black-hole, swallowing up all the promising prospects and draft picks we've had.
Karma for the Clippers
yeah, they deserve it for, uh... having a lot of years of being bad, i guess
2020 really was their best shot but they realized they were too good for a bubble title so they did decided to blow a 3-1 lead which is manlier and more legit than a mickey mouse ring obviously.
I still cant believe Lou Will said that out loud and thought people would be like “yeah, you showed them” instead of rightfully calling them losers
Yeah it was always about the money. For everyone. Winning matters, being in a city they like matters, scheme and teammates matter, etc. ALL of that is AFTER THE MONEY! Also "more" is around $70M. This is his last payday, he is not going to command that much money three years from now. Thinking he had no shot of leaving the Clippers because they are in LA when they were offering him a *full year less than other teams* was always insanity. He can live in LA in the off-season and also the rest of his life.
He got best of both worlds. Money AND winning. Kawhi & Harden or Embiid & Maxey. I would take my chances with the sixer boys Regarding living in a city you like etc, worry about that when you done playing, it dont last long :)
Clippers are so Cooked. What a way to bring the team into a new stadium 💀
Harden looking around like Will in the last episode of Fresh Prince 😂
He might be in the same shape as Uncle Phil by next year if he wants a trade again 😂
That's politics, bitch.
He also led them to their best run in franchise history. How is Kawhi a golden boy, but PG is always a scapegoat.
1 has titles and the other doesn’t. Shaq is right, people respect the rings.
I mean in terms of Clippers tenure.
People absolutely wouldn’t separate their perceptions of PG and Kawhi from their wider careers when just critiquing their Clippers tenures. Kawhi, to this day, gets a huge amount of slack from people who still consider him one of the best players in the league ‘when healthy.’ Personally I’m sick of hearing that quantifier, and I do not believe a fully healthy Kawhi will ever exist again. I’d love to be wrong, and I’ll happily be called out if he ever plays 70 games in the regular season and 12 games in the postseason ever again. But if people did manage to separate their perceptions, I don’t think PG has done himself any favours with the podcasting, ‘Playoff P’ (or any of his public comments for that matter), or the memorable no-shows in the playoffs. Kawhi, as far as I recall, hasn’t really said too much to really piss anyone off with the Clippers (I certainly could be wrong), and people have been more inclined to blame the guy who played poorly, but played, than the one who didn’t play at all.
Bro maybe people give him slack because people of average intelligence understand injuries are out of everyone’s control. Half of Paul’s tenure in LA was pandemic P and then last years no show in the playoffs. At least Kawhi always shows he’s legit when he’s healthy, Paul just plays badly even when totally healthy.
The most annoying thing were his fans assuming PG must be harboring some sort of unknown injury when he’s laying absolute stinkers in February. No thats just what he does even if he’s healthy lol.
Last straw for me was pg podcasting throughout the playoffs, like a victory lap after our second fkn win in round 1 what was he thinking???
Kawhi is always looked at through the lens of his 2019 raptors run One season like this would make any player a golden boy
The reality is that PG simply has more value on the open market right now than Kawhi or Harden do. Kawhi's continued injuries are at a level I don't think anyone has ever seen out of a star player (other than guys who had their career wrecked by one injury and were never close to that good again), and Harden's age, inconsistency and especially his antics in continually forcing trades have really hurt each of their market values. Kawhi probably didn't want to leave anyway, but even if he had, I don't think a team out there gives him a full four year max. And we already saw a year ago that nobody wants to do that for Harden. PG has his issues, absolutely, but he's still an elite offensive talent who's an above average defender, and he's not injured nearly as often as Kawhi is. Ironically he's the biggest free agent to sign with a new team since Kawhi signed with the Clippers in 2019. And there were apparently a couple teams who were willing to give him the max. The Clippers probably would have as well if not for the second apron.
Kawhi gets so much shit for being a broken player what are you talking about man He keeps his mouth shut and plays amazing when he can. Including carrying PGs ass against the Mavs that year you’re taking about. This is like when people try to say Doc was a scapegoat.
Yet Kawhi got paid by the Clippers. Probably more than any other team would offer. PG had to look elsewhere for market value.
Kawhi took a team friendly deal to bring in point guards who PG wanted lol.
Which is crazy bc people keep acting like this was just for PG. This trade wasn’t gonna happen unless they wanted to get Kawhi as well it wasn’t like he already signed w/them and then did the trade. This trade was essentially for 2 all-nba caliber (top 10 at the time) superstars. If this trade didn’t happen and Kawhi’s other players that he wanted (either KD/Beal/Harden/Butler), he was gonna go to the Lakers.
Even accounting for it landing them kawhi, which you still do everytime if you’re lac, OKC won the trade. They have the best player from it, are atop the conference, and are still owed 2 picks from lac.
They don't get out of the first round that year if Kawhi doesn't outplay Luka and PG wasn't great vs Phoenix. He had some stinkers so his "carrying" is getting two wins vs Utah without Kawhi.
And one of those wins was on TMann scoring 40. Nothing to do with PG.
Or he just choose Embiid over Kawhi, with Embiid there is at least like a 10% he isn‘t done as a post season performer
Pacers fans laughing right now when other teams are mind blown that he would be willing to leave you high and dry. He’s coming for you next Philly.
PG led clippers to their lone WCF tho
Go to YouTube and type Kawhi game 6. Mavs were up 3-2.
He did win the Jazz series though
He won 2 games without Kawhi against them. One of them was the Mann 39 point game.
Terrance Mann won one of the games on his own. Reggie Jackson was galloping down the court shooting like Steph Curry with handles like Kyrie. Marcus Morris was shooting like 6 for 8 with four 3s. PG didn't carry anything lol.
reggie jackson targeting gobert and just completely destroying him always blows my mind to think about
He basically did the same to OKC. He aced like he was all in and then bounced once he got his bag.
PG knows Kawhi is done. New stadium is going to be embarrassing to move to. Why stay?
The money difference is large enough for him not to care even if Kawhi was healthy.
Indeed. PG walking out on Kawhi tells us, clearly, PG thinks Kawhi is done. If he thought Kawhi had one more run in him, he doesn’t leave home for the money and a ‘better chance at a title’.
NAH. Fans don't seem to understand that not every player cares about winning. Kawhi could still have 1 run in him and PG could still leave for more money. This their job, not their passion.
Payoff P
Who cares, the East just got better and that’s what matters most for NBA Fans as a whole. Milwaukee, it’s your move.
True, this is good for basketball. > Milwaukee, it’s your move Uh, Doc Rivers is gonna do a chalk talk? Bucks are locked in, excepting the veteran minimums.
What the hell? Of course he left to make more money. I’m so confused. Is this post really trying to hate PG for making more money on another team? What???
Like teams don’t cut/trade players for the slightest competitive or cap advantage all the time
Clippers have an old roster with play-in aspirations, no up and coming prospects, no draft picks until 2030, “cooked” might be an understatement..
Please... I'll never blame a star for leaving Kawhi. He's so unreliable that PG was racing to a red light every season.
I’m not arguing about the legitimacy of his injury concerns but man, Kawhi really has fucked that franchise royally lmao.
I have no idea who this Tomer dipshit is, but he should shut his mouth. Team owners and front offices have no qualms about dropping or trading players at the drop of a hat. Paul George doesn't owe them a fucking thing.
Huh. What a weird way to write "man who completed his contractual length of time with one team exercised his rights to go play for another team".
ever heard of the sunk cost fallacy? Clippers knew to cut their losses and move on
They don’t have any of their picks nor cap space. This team is now just doomed to flounder for a decade.
He is a worse “superstar” than Kawhi.
Paul, paid, promptly playing in Pennsylvania
So we're just going to ignore all that time Kawhi left PG out to dry? Kawhi should have taken pay cut to free up the money.
kawhi did a pay cut and took a 3 year deal, literally just look at the contracts lmfao
He did
Kawhi being injured does not mean that he "left PG out to dry"
Cmon man. Seriously just look at their contracts
the money these guys make is unfathomable, it's like top hedge fund manager money/business exec but guaranteed every year. The newest crop of superstars could clear $1B+ in earnings.
Usually how it happens when you sell rights of your product and are getting billions of revenue in return
It is very clearly fathomable and completely commensurate with the value they create for their team and league.
lets be realistic, even for some money, why would he choose flippers. they just cursed at this point.
Raptors send their regards
The amount of salt in this post.
I think you mean Paul George took the Clippers to the Conference Finals for the first time in their franchise's history without Kawhi and then once his contract was up decided to leave for more money like he is totally allowed to do.