Five NBA Trade Ideas, a Sleeper NFL Playoff Team, Eagles-Packers, and Week 10 Picks With Joe House

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Joe House to discuss five of his favorite NBA trade ideas right now (1:58). Then, they talk about the NFL playoff picture before making their Ringer 107 picks for the week (41:44). Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Joe House Producers: Chia Hao Tat and Eduardo Ocampo Where football fantasy gets real. Shakey’s, the People’s Pizza Parlor. https://www.shakeys.com The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit⁠⁠ www.rg-help.com⁠⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Bill Simmons?

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Excitement is in the air. That's right. It's the start of NBA season. I can't wait to get together with friends, share some Michelob Ultras and watch Tip Off. Plus, as the official beer sponsor of the NBA, Michelob Ultra is getting you closer to the action with experiences that make you feel like you're courtside to actual courtside tickets. Enter now for a chance to win at michelobultra.com/courtside. Michelob Ultra Courtside 26 to 27. No purchase necessary. Open to U.S. residents 21+. Begins on October 1st, 2026. Ends on June 30th, 2027. Multiple entry periods. See official rules at michelobultra.com/courtside for free entry, entry deadlines, prizes and details. The Bill Simmons Podcast, brought to by The Ringer Podcast Network,

• 0:45Bill Simmons?

  where I have a new rewatch of what's coming for you on Monday. It was me and Sean Venessy and Van Lathan, and we did Snake Eyes, the Brian De Palma movie with Nick Cage. That is just, um, just a time capsule of what it was like. Movies in the late 90s, just the kind of, the kind of chances they took. And also movies that were less than 100 minutes. So, great times all around. We cut out a piece of that podcast that we ended up running on this podcast on Tuesday, if you missed it. Um, coming up today. So, House is gonna come on, as always, on Thursdays to do NFL pick, but picks. But, um, Picasso had to go into the art studio and do some trade machine work. There's a lot of unhappy teams.

• 1:28Bill Simmons?

  I don't know what's going on with John Morant. Even though it is November 6th, it's feeling very trade whiffy. So, we are going to make up some fake trades. Well, I made up some fake trades. I'm gonna throw them at House. And then we're gonna talk about, uh, the NFL slate. Ringer 107, um, complicated week. It's all next. We're gonna take a break, then Pearl Jam. This episode of the Bill Simmons Podcast is presented by State Farm. Having insurance isn't the same as having State Farm. It's like needing the protection, offensive guard on the football field, but getting an elementary school crossing guard. Sure, they're both guards, but you can only trust one to keep your quarterback safe when the game is on the line. So, don't settle for just any insurance when you can have State Farm. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

• 2:39Bill Simmons?

  All right, we're recording mid afternoon, East Coast time. I'm on the East Coast. Went to the Celtics game yesterday. Joe House is here. We're talking NFL a little bit later. Lot of stuff. This is a good House Simmons pod because it's just NBA NFL, just a, just a vortex. I went to the Celtic game last night. I saw your terrible Wizards team. Not that the Celtics were much better and, uh, you know, the trade machine Picasso has, has definitely bought Azazel and bought some paint and bought some brushes. Once the John Moran news happened, but, uh, going to that Celtic game yesterday. The wheels started turning. I don't really know what the point of the Celtic season is. I don't mean to be a dick.

• 3:21Bill Simmons?

  It's fine. Jaylen Brown's good. Derrick White's good. Simons is okay. Pritchard is okay. Kate has been, um, been fun. He's a double double guy. You won money on that yesterday. But it's probably a below 500 team and the question is, what's the point? And if Tatum is going to be out, maybe, maybe with this legendary draft class, maybe you start audubling and that got me thinking about trades house. And here's the problem, really hard to make trades this year.

• 3:51Bill Simmons?

  The new CBA.

• 3:54Bill Simmons?

  First apron, second apron. Big contracts, teams that just like, we, we can't take more money. It's actually against the rules for us to add even $1.

• 4:06Bill Simmons?

  Is this good? Because I was arguing with Bobby Marks about this today on text. Bobby Marks, like the league is, he said this on ESPN, the league's in better shape. This is all good. We have like a better balance now. I feel like a lot of teams are stuck with who they are. What do you see?

• 4:22Speaker 01

  Well, you have to define good. What, what goal are you seeking to achieve with?

• 4:32Speaker 01

  The parody that is the, the, the world that we live in right now.

• 4:37Bill Simmons?

  You mean if you're Adam Silver, what's your goal or like?

• 4:40Speaker 01

  The league.

• 4:41Bill Simmons?

  What do you think their goal was? You think it was just parody across the board and no high payrolls and that's it?

• 4:46Speaker 01

  Yes, yes. Parody above all else. Not that dissimilar from the NFL where a team like Washington can be really bad for a number of years. Luck into something in a lottery, uh, in a draft, get a franchise changing quarterback and then make it to the NFC championship game. Or a team like New England, which has been bad for four or five years, gets a, a, a great addition in a draft. And all of a sudden, New England, not just a, a playoff threat, but potentially, you know, it's, it's okay for the good people of New England to dream. Let me hear it.

• 5:27Bill Simmons?

  If you, if you get your quarterback, you can still spend money around him and you can still push money forward into the future and pay for shit. You can do what Casey has done and like Casey was trying to trade for Breece Hall at the trade deadline. How do they have money to do anything? I look at some of these basketball teams and I like, the Knicks and Cleveland are the two best teams in the East. They also can't make any sort of trade that would improve whatever situation they have now, which maybe that's a good thing. I don't know.

• 5:54Speaker 01

  They made the trades. I mean, the Knicks made, you know, four trades, five trades, like franchise altering. McHale Bridges, uh, uh, cat, you know, acquiring Brunson, stealing Brunson away from the Mavericks. And, you know, uh, convincing Brunson to take an under market deal. Like that's how you build up, uh, nucleus that, that's competitive.

• 6:17Bill Simmons?

  Most teams have not done that. And also the way they sprung these rules where instead of saying, these are going to start three years from now. They just kind of, they just kind of jump started it. And I, I just, I look around and it's not just that I see teams that are probably upset about where they are. Kind of stuck with their roster or whatever, but I also don't see a lot of options for fixing it. And that's what's, that's what I don't remember before.

• 6:39Speaker 01

  What needs fixing? Like you don't like the way that, that, um, the West lines up competitively with Houston, Denver, Oklahoma City.

• 6:52Speaker 01

  They can still get that point guard. They have an asset in the form of Fred Mabli's contract, sitting right there for a team that has guards, you know.

• 7:04Bill Simmons?

  The problem is the guards are either really expensive or not quite expensive enough.

• 7:10Speaker 01

  You're, you're, that's a complaint about a guy getting hurt, which happens, you know, in the NBA and the NFL and everywhere else, but.

• 7:17Bill Simmons?

  But one of the, but one of the things I was looking at is like, the Lakers really just can't trade LeBron. He has no trade clause anyway, but even if they decided, you know what, we're having a better time without you. You don't really want to be here anymore because it's Luca's team now. Let's figure this out. There's nowhere for him to go. Like he, he can't go to the Knicks. He can't go to Cleveland because of the rules. And then I look at some of the other guys that are already available, like Morant. I'm assuming Trey, you've been on this Hawks thing. You, you loved the Tuesday game when they, they look great without Trey Young. And it was like a little, hey, look at us. Look how long and happy and you were, you were in on that.

• 7:56Speaker 01

  It wasn't me. It's just, you know, I wish that we had gambled on the over under of when the first story is about, hey, we kind of have a chemistry here without Trey Young. Oh, it's so interesting.

• 8:07Bill Simmons?

  We still love Trey, but it's interesting that we could also play without him.

• 8:12Speaker 01

  You knew that story was coming. I mean, I, the first one hit immediately after that Orlando game. I loved it so much.

• 8:19Bill Simmons?

  So you, you seem like you like these new rules more than I do. I wish there was some sort of hybrid version of both of them. Like I look at, for instance, your team has CJ McCollum and Chris Middleton, who I got to watch in person last night. And Middleton, whatever life he's leading this year is just the ideal life. He's making like 33 million. He kind of jogs around, takes a couple of threes, passes dudes on the back. And I guess they're just going to buy him out in February, but they can't really trade him. They can't trade McCollum. McCollum's a guy that, you know, is still a good offensive player. He's going to be on the team and get bought out in February because nobody's going to trade for him. And I don't know if that's. I don't know if that's a good CBA. If you have situations like that.

• 9:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, don't, don't, don't fill in, fill in the blanks. I like a version of the NBA where trades are possible. I mean, we've been living, you and I, nobody better than you. But I've enjoyed it along the way as well. 25, 30 years of imagining trades to improve teams along the way, along, you know, on the fly. And quite a bit of the way that I've enjoyed the NBA over the years is getting through the first month of the season. Okay, now that we have that under our belts, let's really sort of start seeing what kind of moves can be made. What kind of stuff is out there? How can teams get better? Who's expendable?

• 9:38Bill Simmons?

  Now we're two weeks in. Now it's two weeks in and it's like eight teams that would immediately make a trade if they could.

• 9:44Speaker 01

  But that, if you can't make the trade, then that's not a good version of the NBA, in my humble opinion. The trades are an elemental part because, you know, this, this version of the NBA, as has been talked about sort of ad nauseam over the last 12 months. People don't watch the NBA like I'm watching the games and then I'm going to talk about the games afterwards. Everybody's already in some conversation where the games are secondary to the ongoing narrative of, of, of the league. The, the, the games give us some, some color for us to talk about. Like, how about the Chicago effing Bulls? How about Josh effing Giddy? That's, that's, that's great stuff. But it's not crucial that I sit and watch the Bulls from the beginning of the game to the end of the game.

• 10:29Speaker 01

  I don't have to watch the game at all.

• 10:31Bill Simmons?

  Well, so like baseball, my team needs a left-handed reliever. Let's just go get one and then you go get one, right? Football, you, even though the cap seems pretty prohibitive, it seems like teams can always kind of figure out how to add somebody if they really want somebody, right? The Colts really wanted a cornerback. Ah, fuck it, let's go get one. Basketball has lost a little bit of that. And yet I did find five trades that I really liked. I did not send these to you.

• 11:01Speaker 01

  I knew you did. I knew it. I knew it.

• 11:04Bill Simmons?

  Well, two of them have Ja Morant.

• 11:06Speaker 01

  Great.

• 11:07Bill Simmons?

  And the first one's pretty chalk. I think this one's probably floated around, but it's Miami and Memphis. You send Ja to Miami. You you put KCP in the deal. Memphis takes back Hero and Rozier. And you just call it a day and Memphis basically turns Ja into Hero and Rozier is expiring. Miami has to take on an extra year of KCP. They get Ja. They rolled the dice that Ja can be turned into a superstar again. I thought the Durant stuff on court that got captured by video last night when he was going back and forth with Ja's dad. And he's like, your guy doesn't even want to be here past the weekend. And when the players are talking like that, that tells me this is a rap. And there's really not a lot of spots for Ja.

• 11:51Bill Simmons?

  And I also don't really know what his trade value is at this point with all the issues he's had and the lack of durability. Like if you told me that two years ago, it looks like, well, Miami's got to throw in three firsts and two swaps. It's like, I don't think they have to throw in anything. I think just getting Hero for Ja might might be enough if you're Memphis, right?

• 12:09Speaker 01

  It has to be that way. I mean, what what reasonable expectation does Memphis already hit its draft pick lottery with the Bain trade? And what they what that creates for them? I don't really blame Bain, to be honest with you.

• 12:27Bill Simmons?

  Did you see it? I just asking if you saw his stats.

• 12:31Speaker 01

  The man's out on an island. It's not good.

• 12:35Bill Simmons?

  It's not good. Anyway, go ahead.

• 12:36Speaker 01

  Well, I like this. So the the the reason that Morant is, you know, a damaged goods proposition is because what situation is going to work for him where he will come and play grown up? Like he's not, he won't be a grown up in Memphis. Memphis is a situation that I think, you know, that it's run by adults. I've always respected the acumen of the front office. I've respected the what they put in charge of of coaching. And so he couldn't make it work there. Okay, so what are the situations where it might work? You can cross off literally two thirds, maybe three quarters of the league. Just cross it off. Like, there is not a world.

• 13:22Speaker 01

  You know, anywhere near the universe, the Milky Way we live in, where he could come to a place like Washington, and that would be a successful kind of situation. I mean, that that is so.

• 13:33Bill Simmons?

  I think it's actually illegal in the cap for you guys to trade for anyone who's had some sort of gun incident in the past. I don't think we've served the 50 year sentence yet. No, I'm just being honest.

• 13:42Speaker 01

  Still feels too soon.

• 13:43Bill Simmons?

  Well, it's just a fact.

• 13:47Speaker 01

  Still feels too soon. 25 years ago.

• 13:49Bill Simmons?

  When you talk about situations, it's not just like, oh, this team, he doesn't make sense in this market because this team's not that good. He'll run amok. It's also, this team is doing really well. They wouldn't want to risk it just in case this goes sideways. And then the third group is teams that probably would take a chance on them, but they can't figure out how to make the trade. Like, I think the Clippers are a really good example of that.

• 14:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, so I would trust the Clippers.

• 14:13Bill Simmons?

  I can see the Clippers like, oh, James Harden and something else for Ja Morant.

• 14:16Speaker 01

  Right.

• 14:17Bill Simmons?

  Conceivably, but there's no way that trade happens. And why would Memphis do that? So there's really, Miami is the one.

• 14:23Speaker 01

  Miami's very good. Miami's very good.

• 14:25Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, because of the, he's definitely like, the ceiling of him is higher than Hero. You get out of having to pay Hero when his extension's coming up. And then you hope like, hey, if we can get Ja's head straight, we have him and Bam. Those are two of the best 25, 30 guys in the league.

• 14:40Speaker 01

  And Miami also has like an institutional thing, like, you know, they'll get Alonzo Mourning, they'll get Udonis Haslem, they'll get all the old heads with the Miami lineage to come get in this, this, this kid's head to talk to the camp and be like, this ain't it. There's a way for you to make another $500 million. If you would like to make another $500 million over the course of your career, let's figure it out together. As a team, you're now part of Heat culture, and there's a, there's a pathway to this, but you, you gotta, you gotta get right.

• 15:15Bill Simmons?

  There's one other team for him. I didn't make this one of my five trades, but just, I was thinking, if you're just talking about a bad team.

• 15:24Bill Simmons?

  There's a Brooklyn case.

• 15:26Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 15:28Bill Simmons?

  I think this, this draft that's coming up is so good. I don't think Brooklyn's going to do anything that will jeopardize them getting a top three pick. Cause you have the Kansas kid might be the best guard prospect since Vince Carter, or even go back to Kobe. Like that's potentially how good he is, Peterson. And then DeBansa, and then Boozer's son, the power forward, Cam.

• 15:49Speaker 01

  Awesome.

• 15:49Bill Simmons?

  Cam Boozer.

• 15:50Speaker 01

  Awesome.

• 15:50Bill Simmons?

  Those, those three are all franchise guys. And if I'm Brooklyn, I'm doing nothing. I could get Ja over the summer if I have to, but.

• 15:59Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 16:00Bill Simmons?

  But that was the only team, cause I was thinking like, man, just make him like the king of Barclays. He's obviously one of the coolest guys in the league, right? He's, he's got the shoe and he's the whole, there, there's like street cred with him that Brooklyn just doesn't have. Brooklyn's like invisible. They couldn't be more relevant. They're the third most popular team in New York. And at least if you have Ja, now I can put somebody on the side of the building. Now the same case for Trey Young, by the way. But yeah, Brooklyn's doing nothing because of this draft. Next trade. I do like that Miami trade. I'm kind of, as somebody who hates the Heat.

• 16:34Bill Simmons?

  If that trade happened, I'd be like, fuck. They're going to fix Ja Morant. God damn.

• 16:38Speaker 01

  Yes, they could.

• 16:40Bill Simmons?

  The only other Ja Morant trade is in this, uh, team is in this next trade. And it's a three teamer.

• 16:47Bill Simmons?

  And of course Trey Young has to be in it as well.

• 16:52Bill Simmons?

  Memphis gets Trey Young.

• 16:55Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 16:56Bill Simmons?

  Toronto gets Ja Morant.

• 16:58Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 17:00Bill Simmons?

  Atlanta gets Quickly. Murray Boils, the, the number one pick they took.

• 17:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, Toronto liked him.

• 17:07Bill Simmons?

  Protected like 29 first. Not like an unprotected, but like some, some sort of other asset. And Memphis basically turns, uh, Morant into Trey. And Trey goes in there, the Memphis fans will love him immediately. And, um, and maybe everybody's happy.

• 17:27Speaker 01

  So we can't have Morant to Atlanta and Trey to Memphis. Because Morant in Atlanta feels like a disaster. You, you agree with that?

• 17:41Bill Simmons?

  A disaster, maybe off the court, and I think on the court, if I'm trading Trey Young and I'm not investing in him, it's because I really like these long guys that I want to build my team around. Johnson and Reese Che and Daniels, like this is, I want this to be my team. I don't want to bring in another point guard who's going to have the ball all the time.

• 17:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:00Bill Simmons?

  But you turn John to some depth, Quickly is the sixth guy off the bench. Murray Boyle is another long guy. And that's just kind of how you spend the 50 million a year on Trey Young that you would have had to spend. You know what I mean?

• 18:12Speaker 01

  What's Atlanta get?

• 18:14Bill Simmons?

  That's what they would get. They would get Quickly and Murray Boyle.

• 18:16Speaker 01

  Oh, I see. Okay. And what Memphis gets is Trey and what Toronto gets is Ja, and that's it.

• 18:23Bill Simmons?

  And maybe, maybe Memphis has to throw in a tiny bit extra because I don't know if, do you think Trey and Ja have equal trade value? I would say Trey is like a whiff higher, right? At this point?

• 18:35Speaker 01

  Well, the problem is the contract.

• 18:37Bill Simmons?

  Well, he's expiring. Yeah, you're right. So maybe they're even.

• 18:39Speaker 01

  I think, I think they're pretty close to even.

• 18:42Bill Simmons?

  I like that idea for Toronto because they're just like, kind of, they're a team of, they're like a movie of where there's no star for the poster.

• 18:50Speaker 01

  We the North, uh, yes, like a guy that can rally around, a guy that, that, you know, it's easy to say, oh, his, his situation, he was cheated out of, out of his potential down there. In Memphis, we're going to rally behind him. I do like the coach in Toronto. I think he's, he's, he's very good. Organizationally, um, you know, they moved past Masai, which seems like the right move. They have to have some structure for, for Ja to, to succeed. Seems like a town that, that, that he could work in. I kind of like it. Kind of like it.

• 19:30Bill Simmons?

  I kind of like it. If I'm Toronto, I don't do it though.

• 19:33Speaker 01

  Why?

• 19:36Bill Simmons?

  I want to see what I have with this team a little bit longer. I think they're mildly intriguing. Like, did you see any of the game on Tuesday when they just housed the Bucks?

• 19:45Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 19:47Bill Simmons?

  They've had some moments this season, and they're a 500 team, but they've had some moments where I'm like, huh.

• 19:54Speaker 01

  I get it.

• 19:55Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, I kind of understand, and maybe, maybe there's a better trade for them in December, January.

• 20:01Speaker 01

  But that's, that's a lot of wattage, you know what I mean? Like, that kind of, a guy that's on the precipice of a super duper star kind of thing. He was again to have a whole shoe line. He was gonna have all of it. How are you getting that in Toronto?

• 20:15Bill Simmons?

  And Verno's, seems like he doesn't even have the answer to this either. Why is John Moran unhappy this year?

• 20:22Bill Simmons?

  Like, shouldn't he be trying to prove himself to Memphis? Something seems like broken there.

• 20:28Speaker 01

  There's some communication issue that wasn't resolved when they fired Taylor Jenkins. It just didn't get fixed.

• 20:34Bill Simmons?

  It's been two years of this.

• 20:35Speaker 01

  It feels like it's been going on for a long time.

• 20:38Bill Simmons?

  Third trade, this goes back to what I was saying with the Celtics at the top.

• 20:46Bill Simmons?

  I hate saying this, and this has been floating around for six weeks.

• 20:50Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 20:51Bill Simmons?

  And I've resisted.

• 20:54Bill Simmons?

  I actually think they should probably trade Derrick White, and I love Derrick White.

• 20:59Bill Simmons?

  Like, he's an awesome Celtic. I don't want to trade Derrick White. But this team is like just good enough that they're gonna screw up their pick. They have all of the, all of the reasons to just, kind of just be one of the five worst teams in the league. Like, they're really close. They can't rebound. Kada is like incredibly important. If he's not in the game, they completely fall apart. They have like a small lineup. They play with Josh Minot, that's kind of fun, who's been a revelation as like, you know, a dirt cheap guy off the bench, although now he's starting. And they just kind of live and die by threes. But he's, you know, he's gonna be 32 later in the season, and, you know, by the time Tatum comes back, I just...

• 21:41Bill Simmons?

  It's the one where I'm like, why wouldn't they, if somebody was willing to really go after him? How do you not think about it? Because you're not only getting assets, but you're making the team worse, which is kind of where you maybe want to be. Like they, they're playing like Luca Garza and, you know, Shireman, they're playing guys who are just not NBA rotation guys, I don't think. And a lot, and Jalen's been really good. Like Jalen, you know, the question was, could he be a true number one? Like, he really can. But, you know.

• 22:11Speaker 01

  Can you explain to me something with him?

• 22:13Bill Simmons?

  The hair thing? I don't.

• 22:14Speaker 01

  Why is he painting on the hairline?

• 22:17Bill Simmons?

  I think to get attention.

• 22:18Speaker 01

  I'm so upset that Washington wore jerseys, wore the striped jerseys because we couldn't see the painted on hairline.

• 22:25Bill Simmons?

  I know, I don't.

• 22:25Speaker 01

  That he wiped.

• 22:27Bill Simmons?

  Well, here's my Derrick White trade, and it's a trade that has been floated around for two months.

• 22:31Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 22:31Bill Simmons?

  But it, but I think that trade's a little different than maybe it was two months ago. He goes to Houston. He goes with Tolman's expiring.

• 22:41Bill Simmons?

  And the Celtics get VanVliet and they get Tari Eason, who's been awesome this season. And they get Phoenix's 2027 first. And look, if Houston doesn't want to do that, then there's no trade. But I think that's the price.

• 22:57Speaker 01

  That's a stiff price.

• 22:57Bill Simmons?

  They get turned Derrick White into Eason in that Phoenix pick.

• 23:00Speaker 01

  Tari Eason.

• 23:01Bill Simmons?

  And you're the Celtics, you kind of have to do that. I don't know how you say no to that.

• 23:05Speaker 01

  Well, that's a, that's a triple double, triple double win for Boston. You kidding me? That 2027 Phoenix pick and Tari Eason? Respectfully.

• 23:14Bill Simmons?

  Okay, so now.

• 23:15Speaker 01

  Respectfully. Get the fuck out of here. That's outrageous.

• 23:19Bill Simmons?

  All right, but if you're Houston.

• 23:19Speaker 01

  Tari fucking Eason and that pick?

• 23:22Bill Simmons?

  Right, but that's my price up on Boston. So what do you do if you're Houston?

• 23:28Speaker 01

  Something that costs a lot less than that.

• 23:30Bill Simmons?

  So you say, no way?

• 23:32Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, no way.

• 23:34Bill Simmons?

  Houston's close to winning the title this year.

• 23:36Speaker 01

  Yeah. Tari Eason's an important part of that. Like, he gives.

• 23:39Bill Simmons?

  You gotta give up something to get something.

• 23:41Speaker 01

  I understand that, but that, that, that pick is, is crazy valuable, the 27 Suns pick. And Tari Eason is very valuable to him and, and the FVV contract is, is, you know, a movable part for somebody.

• 23:57Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, it goes this year and then next year. But that. So you, so would you do Eason and a lesser pick than the Phoenix pick?

• 24:07Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 24:08Bill Simmons?

  Cause now I'm not doing it from Boston. I'm only trading Derrick White if you've blown me away.

• 24:11Speaker 01

  I get that part. That, that part resonates. I, I understand it, but where Houston is right now and the way that they're, they're playing.

• 24:20Bill Simmons?

  Houston looks scary. Easton's like playing awesome. So the Rockets fans are listening to this and be like, fuck you. We're not trading Tyrese.

• 24:26Speaker 01

  I just said that.

• 24:27Bill Simmons?

  And I don't blame you.

• 24:28Speaker 01

  Yeah. So how's it then? I'm with you, Houston fans.

• 24:30Bill Simmons?

  I'm just saying that's the price for Derrick White. And if they can't get something like that, I'm keeping them.

• 24:35Speaker 01

  Okay, that's fine. Good luck. You're gonna keep them. And the most important thing.

• 24:39Bill Simmons?

  And then we'll have the eighth pick in a three player draft. Fire it up. Next trade.

• 24:47Bill Simmons?

  Oh, you're gonna love this cause your team's involved.

• 24:49Speaker 01

  Oh, boy. Here we go.

• 24:53Bill Simmons?

  Philadelphia gets Chris Middleton and CJ McCollum.

• 24:57Speaker 01

  Okay, fine.

• 25:00Bill Simmons?

  Washington gets two and a half years of Paul George. Eric Gordon.

• 25:07Bill Simmons?

  And Jared McCain.

• 25:08Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 25:09Bill Simmons?

  So you take Paul George for the next almost three years. He becomes your Chris Middleton this year, but just for three years. And you get McCain out of it. That's the tax.

• 25:20Speaker 01

  It's worth it. It's worth it. I would do that.

• 25:22Bill Simmons?

  You would do this?

• 25:23Speaker 01

  Yes, yes. I think, I think McCain is extraordinary. What we, the, the, the problem that you have with McCain is now, you know, two consecutive years with these, with this injury stuff. Is this a persistent, is this a, a trait? Or is it, or is it a bug?

• 25:44Bill Simmons?

  Bad luck.

• 25:45Speaker 01

  Yes, exactly. You have to make that determination. But talent wise, for a young player of his caliber, there's nobody on Washington as good as Jared McCain. And there's nobody coming down the pike to Washington that's as good as Jared McCain. Now, I have, I'm, I'm sitting here enjoying, um, Mr. Sar, you know, you got to see him last night. He's got some skill. There's some skill there.

• 26:15Bill Simmons?

  Here's my scouting report.

• 26:18Bill Simmons?

  Really, really promising stretch five.

• 26:21Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 26:22Bill Simmons?

  Like kind of a dead eye three point shooter.

• 26:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 26:24Bill Simmons?

  I thought it was going in every time he took it. He's got size. I wouldn't say he's a great rebounder, but he's not bad. I didn't really see him be able to put the ball on the floor at all and, and really do anything. So I basically he's, I think he becomes a better shooting Miles Turner would be my guess for him down the road. Right? That was my takeaway watching him for two and a half hours last night. It's like, this looks like Miles Turner and Serge Ibaka had a baby, basically.

• 26:53Speaker 01

  Just have to remember he's 20.

• 26:55Bill Simmons?

  Right.

• 26:55Speaker 01

  Like, we're getting a lot of evidence that there is NBA skill there.

• 27:01Bill Simmons?

  No, the, he's the opposite of a bust. You should feel good about Sar.

• 27:04Speaker 01

  I do. I do feel good about him.

• 27:06Bill Simmons?

  I have really no idea what's going on with the guards.

• 27:12Speaker 01

  Neither do they.

• 27:14Bill Simmons?

  Like, Bob Carrington seems like he'll be in the league for a little while, but he's not a starting point guard.

• 27:21Speaker 01

  Nope.

• 27:21Bill Simmons?

  I don't know why they would ever in a million years play him and Trey Johnson together. That was really confusing. Trey Johnson, I texted you, his nickname should be drive through. Everybody was just going by him like it was just going in, get a cheeseburger, keep going. But he's somebody that we know who he is. He's going to be like a scorer, but on that team, everybody wants the ball and it's just, it's a bad fit for him.

• 27:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, God forbid somebody like BJ Edge, Comer, Ace Bailey.

• 27:49Bill Simmons?

  You just, yeah, you just missed it. Well, Sar looked like that Sar thing worked out.

• 27:54Speaker 01

  Okay. Yeah.

• 27:55Bill Simmons?

  Think if we redraft that draft, he's, they'd probably take him again. So you, do you think Philly would do that? Cause I guess it depends on how good you think McCain is and how desperate you are to get rid of the Paul George contract. They might be like, we're fine with the Paul George contract. We'll just pay it.

• 28:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, the calculus for Philly is can we have this team going forward with both Embiid and Paul George and the success of the team kind of depends on both those guys minding their manners for a little while.

• 28:29Bill Simmons?

  Right, maybe not even playing.

• 28:30Speaker 01

  Because really, both of them should shut the fuck up. Like neither one of them should talk about anything having to do with, you know, career, and they have no contribution to make to this iteration of the Sixers other than to play the role player thing that Embiid is playing. I mean, his inefficiency right now cost them the game against Cleveland. They have him perfectly set up to play in this role where it should be about 25 minutes. He gets shot, but he took 21 shots. He took six fucking three pointers. He was one for six from three point land and they let the Cleveland Cavaliers come back

• 29:14Speaker 01

  from 20 some points down. That's bullshit. That's not who, they shouldn't, it shouldn't be permissible. They have a hard strategy thing to solve because Joel Embiid, we signed him to this giant extension. He's a 22 to 26 minute player a night who should be able to come in off the bench and give you 16 to 20 because of the skill that he has.

• 29:40Bill Simmons?

  Well, he's basically late 2000s Andrew Bynum.

• 29:43Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 29:44Bill Simmons?

  Big guy that comes off the bench. He can carry the offense for six minutes hopefully.

• 29:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:48Bill Simmons?

  But maybe in crunch time, you don't want him out there because he's too slow.

• 29:52Speaker 01

  So you have that role filled. What's the Paul George role?

• 29:56Speaker 01

  Do you start him? You have to start him.

• 29:59Bill Simmons?

  The thing with the Sixers and all of their fans would say this is they just want to watch BJ and. And Maxey, and they want to see the team go up and down and they know what the team's identity is. I agree. And they have these two guys that are in the way of that identity. I don't think Paul George can play that way anymore. Me either. So if you're them, it's like, eh, maybe we're selling high on McCain. He wasn't even a lottery pick. He was my favorite, favorite pick in the draft. Yeah, you know him from Southern California, right? Yeah, I loved him in high school. I think he's, you know, I, I think he's a real dude, but he played really well for a couple of weeks to start the season, got hurt. So, you know, maybe you're selling high on that and it's a way to get out of the Paul George thing. I don't know. I think Philly would ultimately probably say no to that, but I think your

• 30:44Bill Simmons?

  team, that's the kind of trade they should be thinking. Totally agree with you. We'll take your terrible contract. Um, we have these two expirings. We, you can get out of jail with whatever you have and give us an asset to do this. I didn't hesitate. I said, yes, please. For the record. My fifth trade is the, my favorite one, and I'm going to give it to you. Let's go. Right after this break. The Bill Simmons Podcast is brought to you by FanDuel, your Friday night. She's got a ladder NBA happy hour happening on FanDuel. Every Friday from 6 to 7:30 PM Eastern, FanDuel's got limited time specials to pregame the weekend. Boost bonuses, surprises, all live in the app. So on Friday, for instance, Houston is playing San Antonio. I think San Antonio is in some trouble because they lost Dylan Harper. They

• 31:27Bill Simmons?

  don't have Darren Fox yet and the lack of an actual point guard, I think is starting to hurt them a little. Houston's got a lot of size. I like Houston that game, but you could bet on that. Bet on whatever you want. NBA happy hour every Friday from 6 to 7:30 Eastern only on FanDuel, official sportsbook partner of the NBA. Visit FanDuel.com/BS to get started. Must be 21 plus, present in select states or 18 plus and present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Opt-in required. Rewards are non-mudbarable. Restrictions apply, including bonus and token expiration leg requirements and max wager amount.

• 31:58Bill Simmons?

  See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Game, problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Call 1-888-789-777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut. This episode is brought to you by Shakey's, the people's pizza parlor. When it's game day, it's group day at Shakey's Pizza. Nothing beats piping hot pizza, a pitcher of ice cold beer, and rooting for your favorite team with your pals at Shakey's Pizza Parlor. I've done this. I'm going all in with Shakey's Ultimate Meat Pizza, Golden Fried Chicken, legendary crispy Mojo potatoes, and you could order it online at shakeys.com or watch the game at your neighborhood Shakey's with handcrafted pizza, chicken, and mojos.

• 32:40Bill Simmons?

  Turn football fantasy into reality at Shakey's, the people's pizza parlor. My fifth trade is my favorite one out of all of them, but we're gonna do it right after this break. Our friends from FanDuel, they put NBA fans in control right from tip off, allowing us to choose our own reward. Before you place your bets, check out the FanDuel Sportsbook app. Choose your own reward that best fits your betting style. So for choose your own reward, I'm choosing my starting five so far this season. The players that have impressed me knocked my socks off the most to date. I thought we could do this together. Giddy has to be number one.

• 33:14Speaker 01

  Number one, put him up there.

• 33:16Bill Simmons?

  I'm so proud. I was like, so few of us like that, like the Giddy Caruso trade for Chicago. I just always liked him.

• 33:24Speaker 01

  Tremendous win-win, an amazing win-win.

• 33:27Bill Simmons?

  One of the better trades. Yeah, it was almost like that Kawhi, George Hill trade.

• 33:30Speaker 01

  I think if you go back, anybody who wants to go back and listen to the podcast of Bill Simmons and people from The Ringer talking about that trade, I think everybody was very like, hey, this is a good trade.

• 33:41Bill Simmons?

  Yeah. All right, so Giddy won. I gotta say, I really like Sar. I think I would put him in my starting five. I think if you have a 20, 20-year-old-

• 33:53Speaker 01

  It's nice of you to say that, but you don't have to do that because I'm sitting here. There's been some other guys.

• 33:57Bill Simmons?

  20-year-old, seven foot, one guy who can make six threes in a game. Like, that's not nothing.

• 34:02Speaker 01

  That's not nothing. I agree. It's hard to say when, like, a team that doesn't win any basketball games.

• 34:09Bill Simmons?

  I know, it's not his fault. He's not playing with a point guard.

• 34:13Bill Simmons?

  By the way, you're, you're, my favorite guy I know whiz is Kispert. That guy should be on a winning team at some point in his life.

• 34:19Speaker 01

  Tremendous.

• 34:20Bill Simmons?

  Winning player.

• 34:20Speaker 01

  Tremendous trade asset.

• 34:22Bill Simmons?

  Shame to waste him on that team.

• 34:23Speaker 01

  Very underrated golfer. He's a, he's excellent. He thinks he's the second best golfer in the NBA behind Steph Curry.

• 34:30Bill Simmons?

  Wow.

• 34:31Speaker 01

  He does.

• 34:31Bill Simmons?

  Tari Ethan's my third guy.

• 34:33Speaker 01

  Tari, Tari Ethan, is he really a revelation? We, he's established himself.

• 34:38Bill Simmons?

  Shooting 55% from three, I would say yes.

• 34:41Speaker 01

  I get that point.

• 34:42Bill Simmons?

  He shoots threes like that.

• 34:43Speaker 01

  I get that point, but all I'm saying is like, he's already in a certain class.

• 34:48Bill Simmons?

  Well, they're asking me, they said there was no criteria. I'm looking at the Fanduel rules here.

• 34:53Speaker 01

  Let me, let me bounce that aim off of you.

• 34:54Bill Simmons?

  That I think have been awesome.

• 34:55Speaker 01

  How about, how about, well, you finish, cause I, maybe you already have a guy. Maybe you already have this guy.

• 35:01Bill Simmons?

  Who?

• 35:01Speaker 01

  The, the, the Jake Laravia guy, you don't think for the Lakers?

• 35:06Bill Simmons?

  The snow time, the snow time Lakers?

• 35:08Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, yes.

• 35:11Bill Simmons?

  Part of the mayonnaise boys?

• 35:12Speaker 01

  There you go. Now we're talking. Protein cup.

• 35:17Bill Simmons?

  That's good. And I'll do Cedric Howard as my fifth one, cause I really like that guy.

• 35:21Speaker 01

  Love him.

• 35:22Bill Simmons?

  No matter how you play, Fanduel's giving you the power to choose your reward on your game this NBA season. Make your choice now. My fifth trade, my favorite one. You mentioned the Bulls earlier and I intentionally held you off. They've been really fun to watch and it dates back to last year. We talked about it when we did the over unders. The over under was like 32 and a half. We didn't understand it cause they were so good down the stretch. They didn't really lose anybody and we figured Buzell's would be better. What's interesting is all of it, they're six and one and Giddy's been basically a triple double this season. They're shooting the lights out. They have actually defense on the swing spots now. Jones has come in as a backup point guard and, and the guy that hasn't played yet is Kobe White.

• 36:04Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 36:06Bill Simmons?

  Who is in the final year of a $12 million deal.

• 36:12Bill Simmons?

  You know who needs a point guard house? Well, there's a few teams, but I would say Minnesota is leading the way.

• 36:17Speaker 01

  Oh, wow. Yes, they do need a point guard.

• 36:21Bill Simmons?

  Chicago has a big ass trade exception that can make some funkiness with their trades in a good way. It's one of the few teams that with these modern rules, they can get pretty creative. They can take Kobe White, they could add somebody to him. They could take somebody back who makes more money than him. They have a lot of flexibility. But if you send him to Minnesota, a team that desperately needs a point guard,

• 36:47Bill Simmons?

  and you take back DeFensio and Rob Dillingham,

• 36:53Bill Simmons?

  and call it a day. I think I would do that if I was both teams.

• 37:00Speaker 01

  What's in it for Chicago?

• 37:02Bill Simmons?

  DeFensio, another swing man, shooter. He can get the Kevin Herter minutes.

• 37:09Bill Simmons?

  Or maybe share the Kevin Herter minutes or whatever. And then you're rolling the dice with Dillingham, hoping that down the road, he's more of an asset.

• 37:18Bill Simmons?

  Maybe you can get more from Kobe White, I don't know. But he's in an expiring deal, making 12.

• 37:23Speaker 01

  I mean, is Kobe White gonna play better than Trey Jones?

• 37:27Bill Simmons?

  I mean, the way Trey Jones has been playing, I don't know. Kobe White's a good player, though. I mean, he's averaged 19, 20 a game.

• 37:33Speaker 01

  Over 29 minutes. Trey Jones is, you know, isn't he 85 cents on the dollar, Kobe White?

• 37:38Bill Simmons?

  Well, because the other, the other way to go is you could talk to Houston about, see if they're interested in Rich Guy Reed.

• 37:49Bill Simmons?

  Try to do a little Reed Shepard, some other contract, send them back Kobe Jones.

• 37:55Speaker 01

  Kobe White.

• 37:57Bill Simmons?

  Kobe White.

• 37:57Speaker 01

  Not Trey Jones. Trey Jones and Kobe White.

• 38:00Bill Simmons?

  You said Jones, I screwed up.

• 38:01Speaker 01

  Because it's Trey, Trey's right there.

• 38:03Bill Simmons?

  Kobe Jones was a really good soccer player in the mid 90s.

• 38:05Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 38:06Bill Simmons?

  Houston's another thing, but I think Kobe Jones is a, is a live trade asset right now.

• 38:11Speaker 01

  I said it again, Kobe White.

• 38:13Bill Simmons?

  And I think Kobe White's a live trade asset right now.

• 38:19Bill Simmons?

  And Kobe White. No, I think Kobe White's live on the trade machine.

• 38:22Speaker 01

  I do like this a lot. Kobe White underrated and this Bulls team getting better. The only question I have is like, is Di Vincenzo?

• 38:34Speaker 01

  Like, how's he fit with what this Bulls team is trying to do?

• 38:36Bill Simmons?

  Maybe that's not enough. I had a lot of trouble with Minnesota because they don't really have any picks. That you could do swap stuff with them. I was just trying to figure out a way to get him there because if I'm Chicago, I'm now in a car keys situation.

• 38:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:51Bill Simmons?

  Like, I've struck oil with Josh Giddy. This is not a sample size. This guy is dominating games. He's getting like, even like in crunch time, he's getting where he wants on the court and creating what shot he wants. Like, you've got something really special happening here. And I don't want Kobe White coming. I'm not going to pay him next year.

• 39:11Bill Simmons?

  I'd rather put my chips into the giddy basket and I would, I would try to trade him.

• 39:15Speaker 01

  Well, I mean, especially like, Brazil is everything you hoped he could be. Mother effers.

• 39:21Bill Simmons?

  We were talking about that in the over unders. We were hoping it was sitting there for him.

• 39:24Speaker 01

  Forty-seven percent from the field, over forty-two percent from three?

• 39:29Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 39:30Speaker 01

  Over eighty percent free throw. Oh, he's a professional basketball player in the NBA.

• 39:35Bill Simmons?

  Well, the thing with them, when you watch them, and I've really enjoyed watching them all year, is multiple guys who can beat somebody off the dribble and kick out or go to the basket. And they're just really hard to defend because you're always kind of going backwards. And Kobe White fits into that. So they might decide, we're just better off keeping him. But I think when you have a $12 million point guard in an expiring contract in a league where nobody can make a trade, that's a really good asset. Maybe Di Vincenzo and Dillingham's not enough. I guess, I guess, Dillingham, he was the eighth pick in the draft and Minnesota gave up an unprotected 2032 first for him. So I would assume he's an asset. He's only 20. And it's the one asset they really have at this point. So whether that's a fair trade or not, I don't know.

• 40:18Bill Simmons?

  But I'm, the Kobe White thing, I'm really watching to see what they do. We've never seen Chicago spend money. They've been happy to go 40 and 42 every year and not pay the luxury tax. That's who they've been for 15 years. But they have a chance to, you know.

• 40:31Speaker 01

  It's really fun.

• 40:32Bill Simmons?

  They also, if they wanted, they could take Kobe and a couple of their bigger contracts and go after an expensive guy.

• 40:39Speaker 01

  Well, who's like an expensive guy that we think is?

• 40:42Bill Simmons?

  Like a guy in the 40s, 50 million range, like a, like a real, a guy.

• 40:48Speaker 01

  But the who?

• 40:48Bill Simmons?

  I'm not gonna say a Jalen Brown, but like a Jalen Brown, not, not actually Jalen Brown.

• 40:53Speaker 01

  Not, not Jalen Brown.

• 40:54Bill Simmons?

  Not actually Jalen Brown, unless.

• 40:56Speaker 01

  They wouldn't, nobody wants to mess with Sabonis, right? Sabonis isn't.

• 41:01Bill Simmons?

  Sabonis for Chicago? No, that, I think they would improve the wings if they did anything.

• 41:06Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 41:07Bill Simmons?

  That Patrick Williams, Akoro, those kind of guys. But fun team to watch. All right, that's it for the trade machine. We're moving to NBA. Any other basketball before we go? Any other basketball takes you want to get off?

• 41:20Speaker 01

  No, no.

• 41:20Bill Simmons?

  You believe in this Lakers thing yet?

• 41:22Speaker 01

  How can you not? I mean, I'm super proud of myself. I stared at it for so long last night. The only basketball take for me to get off is I've started playing money line parlays. I went, uh, I, I stayed away from last night. The slate didn't line up for it, but the game I stared at long and hard was that Lakers San Antonio game. Cause I really wanted to bet the Lakers and I'm glad that I, I stayed away from it, but um, you know, the, I.

• 41:49Bill Simmons?

  They won though.

• 41:50Speaker 01

  I understand, but it's like, that would have been too nerve wracking. Just, you know, that, that late at night, I don't, I don't need.

• 41:56Bill Simmons?

  San Antonio is in a rough spot without point guards here. You know, they don't have Fox yet and they lost Harper and I just, they feel like they're a ball handler short. I thought, I watched a lot of that Phoenix game and I thought Phoenix, Phoenix did, worked some stuff against them and um, all of a sudden they seem very stagnant to me.

• 42:16Bill Simmons?

  And they just need those guys back. I'm monitoring San Antonio because when they get all these guys back, I think they're going to go rocket ship.

• 42:23Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 42:25Bill Simmons?

  All right, football.

• 42:29Bill Simmons?

  I sent you, we are right in the, as we try to figure out Ringer 107 picks, we're right in the exact part of the season.

• 42:38Bill Simmons?

  When everybody thinks they knows who the playoff teams are going to be.

• 42:43Bill Simmons?

  And yet, somebody comes out of nowhere and somebody has a swoon. And sometimes it's one team in each conference where it happens.

• 42:51Bill Simmons?

  So I mailed you all the candidates.

• 42:54Bill Simmons?

  And I think there's three teams that you could say have a chance to make a leap. And I'll just use the FanDuel playoff odds to show that this would be significant. Houston is three and five, plus 520 to make the playoffs. And I think they fit all the criteria for a possible leap team. Minnesota's four and four, they were three and four, they won last week. If you're under 500, week seven or later, you fit this criteria. So they're four and four now, they're plus 430 for the playoffs. And then Arizona's three and five, plus 980. So I'm just gonna give you those three teams to start. Houston, Minnesota, Arizona, I'm gonna tell you, one of those three teams will be in the playoffs. Which of those three would you pick?

• 43:42Speaker 01

  The team that I think is the best of those three teams is Arizona.

• 43:46Bill Simmons?

  I think you're right.

• 43:47Speaker 01

  That defense.

• 43:48Bill Simmons?

  I couldn't believe the plus 980, I thought that that

• 43:53Bill Simmons?

  that seemed really high to me.

• 43:54Speaker 01

  They haven't lost, they lost five games so far this season, but none of them by more than four points. I mean, that

• 44:02Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, I have them with the adjusted record, I have them as three and one with four either or games. And all the game, all their losses and games have been close. And it seems like they're happier with their quarterback situation than they were.

• 44:14Speaker 01

  I mean, to put it mildly, the problem with Arizona, the reason that the price, you know, it's just a gauntlet. They are on the road at Seattle, they're home against San Francisco. Now Jacksonville, I'm sure we'll get to today, home against Jacksonville doesn't worry me. But on the road at Tampa, home against the Rams.

• 44:37Bill Simmons?

  They have two easy games, at Cincinnati, home Jacksonville. And at Cincinnati, I don't even know how easy of a game that is, because Burrow might be back, it's week 17.

• 44:45Speaker 01

  Burrow's not coming back, what's the point of playing Joe Burrow on that terrible football team?

• 44:49Bill Simmons?

  At Seattle, at Tampa, at Houston, at Cincy, at Rams, left. And they're three and five, so they basically, they'd have to go seven and two.

• 44:58Speaker 01

  Tough. I think, you know, if I, you would say Cincinnati is to me is a win. They have Atlanta at home. That's a win. Atlanta is what a team. They're at Houston, I think, just because of the injuries. Houston and Arizona are very similar. And why I think it's like you have them properly organized in the same class. This is this concussion situation with CJ Stroud this weekend against Jacksonville. It just couldn't come at a worse time. And they, the Houston Texans, were poised to do the thing that we picked them last week to do.

• 45:36Bill Simmons?

  We had that.

• 45:37Speaker 01

  That, I mean, you know.

• 45:39Bill Simmons?

  Stupid.

• 45:40Speaker 01

  It was, it was a cheap shot. Like, I don't, you know.

• 45:43Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 45:44Speaker 01

  He didn't hit him in the head, but he hit him as he slid down and he got concussed from hitting his head off, off the turf. I feel like not enough has been made of, of the fact that that, that's a cheap shot. And it knocked the quarterback out. And that probably clinches for Houston, their inability to make the playoffs this season. Because they were kicking Denver's ass in that game.

• 46:05Bill Simmons?

  So I have, out of those three, I have Houston as the team that I would pick, even though I think Arizona is the best of the three. Because Houston's three and five. I have them at three, three and two either or games so far. They're plus 520 to make the playoffs. But if you look at the schedule, first of all, they'd have to win the Jacksonville game this week, which is home, which is going to come up in Ringer 107, because I have hard thoughts on that game. At Tennessee, so they could be five and five in 10 days, right? A little more doable at that point.

• 46:35Speaker 01

  It could be.

• 46:36Bill Simmons?

  Home Buffalo, at Indy, at KC, home Arizona, home Las Vegas, at the Chargers, home Indy, and that game might be nothing to Indy. Indy might be locked into a one or a two seed.

• 46:49Speaker 01

  The problem is, they, they'll be five and five. I like the idea of where you're going. But then Buffalo, Indy, Kansas City, Arizona? Those are the next four. That's how you define what, yeah, they, at an absolute bare minimum, must go two and two.

• 47:07Bill Simmons?

  The question for me is, can nine and eight make the playoffs in the AFC? Because you have four teams. Four teams, I have four, I have five teams that I think are going to be in the playoffs. New England, Buffalo, Indy, Denver, and KC. And I know KC is the eight seed, but I just think those five teams are going to be in. I'd be shocked, like really genuinely shocked, right? Would you have any of those out?

• 47:31Speaker 01

  No.

• 47:32Bill Simmons?

  New England, Buffalo, Indy, Denver, KC, they're all in. So there's two spots left and we know one of those spots goes to the AFC North. And then the other goes to the wild card. See Pittsburgh at five and three, again, two spots left for these four teams. Pittsburgh, five and three, they're minus 115 to make the playoffs on FanDuel.

• 47:49Speaker 01

  Seems like the right price.

• 47:50Bill Simmons?

  Baltimore, three and five, they're minus 170. Chargers, six and three, they're minus 192. And Jacksonville's five and three, they're minus 158. So the odds are off. There's actually value in playing all of those to not make the playoffs, right? Cause only two of them are going to make it. So you're probably going to win that either way. I would have the Chargers out. I think the Joel thing finished them.

• 48:13Speaker 01

  I agree with this.

• 48:15Bill Simmons?

  I just think they, they've, they can't block.

• 48:18Speaker 01

  Cannot.

• 48:18Bill Simmons?

  On, on top of some of the other shit that's happened to them. And I don't, I really don't, I, I think Herbert's just going to get banged up.

• 48:24Speaker 01

  They're so vulnerable to pressure.

• 48:27Bill Simmons?

  They also, they have, they're, they have a Philly home game. They have Pittsburgh this week at KC. They have at Denver last week of the season. I just feels like nine and eight to me. I think they can go three and five. That would be one of my no's. And then Jacksonville, I just think is fraudulent.

• 48:41Speaker 01

  No, they're out, they're out.

• 48:43Bill Simmons?

  Many times.

• 48:43Speaker 01

  No, no, no.

• 48:44Bill Simmons?

  So.

• 48:45Speaker 01

  The two teams that I have in, you didn't ask, are.

• 48:50Bill Simmons?

  Oh no, AFC.

• 48:51Speaker 01

  Yeah, Baltimore and Denver. I have Baltimore and Denver.

• 48:54Bill Simmons?

  I had Denver in already.

• 48:56Speaker 01

  You said AFC West when you ran, when you ran through the teams. Cause you had the Chiefs in and then you said another spot for the AFC West. So I.

• 49:02Bill Simmons?

  Oh, I had New England, Buffalo, Indy, Denver, and KC. I had those five.

• 49:06Speaker 01

  Okay, okay, okay.

• 49:07Bill Simmons?

  So two left.

• 49:08Speaker 01

  I see. Oh, okay, now I got it.

• 49:10Bill Simmons?

  Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Chargers, Jacksonville, Houston, pick two.

• 49:16Bill Simmons?

  Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Chargers, Jacksonville, Houston.

• 49:22Speaker 01

  I have Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

• 49:28Bill Simmons?

  I think that's right.

• 49:31Bill Simmons?

  And Houston would have to take one of their spots. I think is how this plays out.

• 49:35Speaker 01

  This is how stupid I am.

• 49:37Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 49:38Speaker 01

  We'll get to it in Ringer 107.

• 49:42Bill Simmons?

  Okay.

• 49:43Speaker 01

  I really like Pittsburgh in LA this week.

• 49:47Bill Simmons?

  Oh, unfortunately I did too. I had it marked down. Damn it.

• 49:52Speaker 01

  It makes a ton of sense.

• 49:54Bill Simmons?

  You know what killed Houston? That game last week.

• 49:59Speaker 01

  It did.

• 50:00Bill Simmons?

  And they'd be four and four right now. I think they'd be fine.

• 50:02Speaker 01

  With a game in hand against Denver, which is an important thing.

• 50:06Bill Simmons?

  Going six and, so they're three and five. They'd have to go seven and two down the stretch to get the 10 wins.

• 50:13Speaker 01

  I can't get there with Houston. I can't get there.

• 50:16Bill Simmons?

  All right. So I, the only reason I bring all this up is I think it informs the, how we should be thinking about Ringer 107. Cause this is a, this is a fork in the road for the playoffs in a lot of ways. In the NFC, where we have four teams that I think are in Philly, Green Bay, Tampa and Seattle. There's three spots left.

• 50:37Bill Simmons?

  And yet, um, the Rams are minus 750 to make the playoffs at six and two. Detroit is minus 430 to make the playoffs of five and three. And San Francisco is minus 385 to make the playoffs at six and three. This is all on FanDuel. So Fanduel is basically saying

• 50:56Bill Simmons?

  the other four spots, four to one odds against these teams making it basically, which is they're prohibitive favorites. So Chicago is plus 185. They're five and three. Carolina's five and four. They're plus 235 with a pretty easy schedule.

• 51:15Bill Simmons?

  And then Minnesota, four and four, and Arizona, three and five. There's a mild Bears case, House.

• 51:22Bill Simmons?

  I actually was surprised they were plus 185. I thought that should have been a little closer to even. Cause they got the Giants this week. They could be six and three. At Minnesota, Pittsburgh, at Philly, at Green Bay, Cleveland home, Green Bay home, at San Francisco, home, Detroit. And I think they can get to at least nine wins.

• 51:43Bill Simmons?

  But would you go chalk or would you, would you have an outlier? Detroit, Rams, San Francisco, last three spots. Would you go chalk?

• 51:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:52Bill Simmons?

  You would, you would go chalk?

• 51:54Speaker 01

  The parlay that I, that, that we talked about and we've been sort of pursuing over the last couple of weeks still feels right to me. I just, even though Chicago, I want to give them credit because they keep surprising with changing the script of things that they can't do. And then they start doing it successfully. They, I think they're the best rush team on offense, the best running team on offense over the last, maybe at least three weeks, maybe month. The combination of Deandre Swift and the guy that you picked up in free agency last week for his dominant 170.

• 52:35Bill Simmons?

  Montaga?

• 52:36Speaker 01

  Montaga.

• 52:36Bill Simmons?

  Montaga?

• 52:37Speaker 01

  Yeah, Montaga. Not a guy, Monta guy. Yes.

• 52:42Bill Simmons?

  Well, so Detroit, Rams, Detroit, San Francisco, all to make the playoffs right now is minus 112.

• 52:55Bill Simmons?

  Basically even odds, those are the three.

• 52:58Bill Simmons?

  And if I had to pick a party crasher, I think I would pick Chicago just because they've had the turnover luck all year. And it's weird, but with turnover luck, it seems to change season to season and not during the season. Once you're kind of in that turnover, good shit's happening. It feels like it just keeps going. I have no anecdotal evidence. I mean, no hardcore evidence, more anecdotal. But sometimes every, it feels like there's a horseshoe up the ass team in each conference every year. And this year it's Pittsburgh and Chicago.

• 53:25Speaker 01

  The team.

• 53:25Bill Simmons?

  And I, it just feels like a run that keeps going.

• 53:28Speaker 01

  The team I, I'd like to fade based on all the vulnerability we saw out of them last week is Detroit. Because that offensive line has revealed something to us. They just.

• 53:38Bill Simmons?

  They've had a lot of injuries.

• 53:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 53:39Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 53:40Speaker 01

  The injuries in the secondary, but they still have three, three games against the worst teams in the NFC East, which are all of the NFC East teams, except for the Eagles. They get to play Washington this week. Now, eight and a half is a ridiculous number. Preposterous. And under no circumstances do I tell anybody to lay eight and a half with the Detroit Lions on the road outdoors against Washington. They might end up covering it.

• 54:06Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, Dana's was playing that Lions four.

• 54:08Speaker 01

  Three and a half. Right. Exactly. And, and the difference between Mariota and, and Daniels is not five points.

• 54:18Bill Simmons?

  This year's version of Dan.

• 54:19Speaker 01

  Sure. Yes. I'm here to tell you.

• 54:23Speaker 01

  But they, they Detroit also still gets the Giants. They still get Dallas. And so otherwise just because their schedule ends with two division games on the road against Minnesota and on the road against the Bears. If they're duking it out with the Bears, that Bears last game of the season might be for that playoff spot.

• 54:47Bill Simmons?

  Right.

• 54:47Speaker 01

  So what are the odds for the Bears to make?

• 54:51Bill Simmons?

  Plus 185. Well, and then Carolina, we should mention quickly. They're five and four. I have them at two and two with five either or games. That's not bad. But they're playing New Orleans this week. They're gonna be six and four. At Atlanta next week, they could be seven and four. At San Francisco, who knows who's left on that team?

• 55:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 55:12Bill Simmons?

  Play the Rams bye week. At New Orleans, Tampa, Seattle, and then at Tampa last week of the season, but Tampa will have at least clinched whatever they needed. There's a pretty easy case for nine wins for them.

• 55:25Speaker 01

  So they're.

• 55:26Bill Simmons?

  And then all that would need is one upset after that and then all of a sudden they're 10 and seven and in the playoffs.

• 55:30Speaker 01

  I haven't bet eight and eight going through the schedule, the way you just did, going into.

• 55:36Bill Simmons?

  Eight and eight, but like.

• 55:37Speaker 01

  Week 17.

• 55:38Bill Simmons?

  All of a sudden they, they beat the Rams in Carolina and you're like, oh my God. That my issue with looking at the playoff picture this year is there's no, I can't believe this. Like when we get to January and we're like, I can't fucking believe this team's in the playoffs. And that team is there every year and I don't know who that team is this year, but it's gonna be a team. It's gonna be the Bears, it's gonna be the Panthers. Right?

• 56:01Speaker 01

  What's the Carolina odds to make the playoffs?

• 56:04Bill Simmons?

  Plus 235.

• 56:05Speaker 01

  Hmm. So a tiny bit on the Bears at plus 185 and a tiny bit on Carolina at plus 235 to offset the plus 340 17 parlay for the NFC picture that I bet two weeks ago.

• 56:22Bill Simmons?

  That's what it was, plus 340?

• 56:24Speaker 01

  Plus 340.

• 56:25Bill Simmons?

  Oh, when I sent it to you.

• 56:26Speaker 01

  And then it dropped because Washington went out and, and put up a stinker against the Chiefs. Washington, at that point, was still within the, in the running.

• 56:37Bill Simmons?

  San Francisco is the, is the weak link in that threesome.

• 56:41Speaker 01

  Yes, yes.

• 56:41Bill Simmons?

  With the amount of injuries they've had and they still have a at Zona, they still have an at Indy. They got the Rams this week where they're getting four and a half points in that game. They have Seattle last week of the season, they're at Cleveland one week. I could easily see them losing five more games. I was telling you and, and Sal and, uh, Han Chow, I had made some San Francisco bets before the year. I bet the under 10 and a half.

• 57:08Bill Simmons?

  And when I went to, when I was in Boston, you can look at Fanduel and they offer you the, do you want to buy this out now?

• 57:12Speaker 01

  Cash out.

• 57:14Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, you can cash this out if you're not happy. So they offered me like 85% of the Niners under bet.

• 57:21Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 57:22Bill Simmons?

  Right? Maybe even 90%. They're like, you can have all this now, or do you want to ride it out? And I was like, oh, that's interesting. So Fanduel doesn't think the Niners are winning 11 games because they really want me to cash this bet out for 90%.

• 57:36Bill Simmons?

  Not a good sign. All right, we're going to take one more break and do some picks. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Football has a play for just about everything. And whether it's a flea flicker or a tush push, you need a plan that fits your unique situation. That's why State Farm takes the time to get to know you so they can help personalize coverage for your life and for your budget. Now that's a solid game plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. This episode is brought to you by Expedia. You know how at the end of the season, your team goes to Cancun, sometimes earlier than expected? Sometimes after blowing a 3-1 series lead, but what if you went to Cancun? With Expedia, save up to 30% when you bundle and save. You can book the flight or the hotel now, then book the rest later.

• 58:17Bill Simmons?

  In all fairness though, hopefully your team doesn't go to Cancun, one, two, three Cancun. Or if they do, you go with them. Expedia, the one place you go to go places. Sign in to save, savings vary. All right, Ringer 107, we're one game under 500. Some bad luck last week with Houston. I, I just felt like we've been banging out three and twos, four and ones for a while. The Houston one, what can you do? Stayaways this week. I'd like to stay away from Panthers minus five and a half against the Saints, if that's possible. I don't want to lay that many points with the Panthers.

• 58:50Speaker 01

  Say less, say less. Don't, don't have to bet, don't have to argue about that one.

• 58:56Bill Simmons?

  Browns minus two and a half against the Jets who just traded two of their best guys on defense and look like a classic Ewing theory situation. And I don't want to take Dylan Gabriel on the road.

• 59:06Speaker 01

  No.

• 59:07Bill Simmons?

  Jenkins might not be playing.

• 59:09Speaker 01

  Weather, all kinds of stuff.

• 59:11Bill Simmons?

  Weather, I just, I don't want any part of that. I don't want that in a ring one of seven. That's up.

• 59:18Bill Simmons?

  Lions at Washington laying eight and a half. I thought about the Lions at a parlay situation, but first of all, they screwed us last week.

• 59:25Speaker 01

  No.

• 59:26Bill Simmons?

  Second of all, we're not taking Washington. They've lost by 22, 21 and 24 the last three weeks. And it seems like if they fall behind by 10, the game's over.

• 59:36Bill Simmons?

  And their defense is 30th yards per play, 29th pass. I have no idea what's going to happen this game. I don't really want to have money on it. You agree?

• 59:43Speaker 01

  I'm not going to make a case that we should bet on Washington. I'm just saying the number is crazy. It's, it's way overinflated. It's not a good number.

• 59:53Bill Simmons?

  It is. It's our, it's our flash sale line of the week.

• 59:56Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yes, it is.

• 59:58Bill Simmons?

  It's, do you like Washington at five and a half? Here's eight and a half. Right now, 12 hour lightning deal.

• 1:00:03Speaker 01

  Bye now. Washington can get pressure. They don't have no edge pressure, but they can get pressure up the middle.

• 1:00:11Bill Simmons?

  Well, it's also that this is the season that they lose this game, the season's over in their home.

• 1:00:15Speaker 01

  And I do think they're going to lose this game, but eight and a half is preposterous. Anything over a touchdown is ridiculous.

• 1:00:21Bill Simmons?

  House, remember when Washington was awesome and they went to the?

• 1:00:25Speaker 01

  It was last year. I enjoyed it. It was amazing.

• 1:00:28Bill Simmons?

  It was great. Feels like it was about eight years ago.

• 1:00:30Speaker 01

  It was just last year.

• 1:00:34Bill Simmons?

  I think Seahawks Cardinals is a stay away for me.

• 1:00:39Bill Simmons?

  It's Seahawks home minus six and a half. And I know there's some cases for the Cards playing them. They've been, you mentioned them earlier. They've been, every game's been close, et cetera, et cetera. Seattle's advanced metric stuff is pretty nuts and I kinda wanna see somebody beat them before I go against them. I also don't wanna lay seven in a must win game for Arizona.

• 1:01:00Speaker 01

  I don't know what that number's based on. If Kyler Murray was playing, then I could see this number making sense.

• 1:01:05Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:06Speaker 01

  Because Mike McDonald would absolutely have something cooked up for Kyler. But the six and a half is not a good number. I think Arizona is much better than that. And Seattle is super gettable at home.

• 1:01:22Bill Simmons?

  On the flip side, you could say that number's not high enough because Seattle's first in DVOA in the whole league. Aaron Schatz said they had the fourth best DVOA through eight games since 1978. So they're not just really good. They're fucking killing teams. Second, their D is secondly gets a run, second yard per play, third for quarterback hits. Their passing offense is obviously awesome. Here's my fear with this one. I think they're good, especially post Shaheed trade, a little too much, too much buzz.

• 1:01:54Speaker 01

  I agree. I mean, I think.

• 1:01:56Bill Simmons?

  I just like, this feels like a classic, oh, and in Arizona, Arizona's up 10-0. I don't want any part of this game. Next one is Bears home against the Giants. They're laying four and a half. And my eyes keep drifting to it and I keep trying to talk myself into it, but it feels too square. It's in the Vegas zone for a reason. I mean, the Giants' run defense is awful. I love that Bears running back last week. I think he can run all over these guys. But yeah, you look at the turnover luck the Bears have had and some of the other signs and it's like, I just, it's a stay away from me. I wish this line was like one and a half.

• 1:02:35Speaker 01

  Then they'd be fine. Then it would be worth betting on. Yeah, no chance. I won't let us bet on the Bears under this, that number.

• 1:02:46Bill Simmons?

  Do we want to go near Packers Eagles?

• 1:02:49Speaker 01

  I have a strong conviction on one side of that game.

• 1:02:52Bill Simmons?

  Oh, well, let's hear it. The Packers are favored by two and a half and Green Bay. What is your strong conviction?

• 1:02:59Speaker 01

  I really think this is an opportunity for the Eagles to reassert themselves at the top of the NFC class. I think the Eagles are super live to go get the one seed in the NFC. It is there for the taking in view of the trades that they've made. They have told us that that is their desire. They have been very good against Green Bay historically. And the argument in favor of Green Bay is, will they show up or won't they? Every other game they've played, the good teams in the league very well, Green Bay has.

• 1:03:38Speaker 01

  But it is inexcusable to have the loss that they had last week against Carolina. And their receiver room, the only guy that I can look at and know confidently is healthy coming into this game is Dobbs. I think that-

• 1:03:56Bill Simmons?

  Who wears the kazoo helmet?

• 1:03:58Speaker 01

  Yes, he does. Yes, he does. I think that it is, it is yet to be written how impactful the absence of Kraft is on that offense.

• 1:04:09Bill Simmons?

  And Matthew Golden playing, maybe not playing at all, who knows?

• 1:04:12Speaker 01

  Kraft especially though is the thing to me.

• 1:04:14Bill Simmons?

  Kraft, yeah, Kraft. We talked about that. Shayle and I talked about that Tuesday. He looked like Shayle thought he was the best tight end in the league.

• 1:04:21Speaker 01

  Right. Yes. The, the, the different things that, that Green Bay could do. They can't really run the ball. They don't really run the ball. I think, I think it's a great situation to get into the Eagles.

• 1:04:36Bill Simmons?

  Can I interest you in maybe a little slight bump up and some sort of teaser parlay situation with the Eagles to get them over four?

• 1:04:43Speaker 01

  I'll listen.

• 1:04:46Bill Simmons?

  I think you're right on the Eagles. My one fear is Green Bay doesn't turn the ball over and they're great on third down. They're second and third down, second and turnovers. So when they have the ball, they have it for a while. Eagles are 26th on third down, 22nd in causing turnovers, right? And my fear is you take the Eagles and the Packers just have these long, boring, seven-minute drives. And then Philly gets the ball back and they go three and out and the Packers have the ball for eight minutes again. And I just was playing that in my head. DVOA, Green Bay's 7th and Philly's 11th. I'm with you on, I like the Eagles spot because I agree with you on Kraft. I think that was a bigger issue than maybe the Lions are giving credit for. Do you have an opinion on Chargers

• 1:05:31Bill Simmons?

  Steelers? Because that was in the maybe camp for me.

• 1:05:35Speaker 01

  I think that it is basically a West Coast home game for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I think that the place is going to be packed with Steelers fans. And I thought that the adjustment that they made on defense and the way that they played the Colts was amazing. Now, yes, they generated six turnovers. Are they going to generate six turnovers against the Chargers? It feels unlikely. But they showed an ability to adapt and, you know, they took away from the Colts what the Colts like to do. And we've been sitting here waiting

• 1:06:18Speaker 01

  for this Pittsburgh defense to reveal itself to us all season long. They worked into high cover. They were, they just showed a lot of flexibility that they, for whatever reason, been unwilling to show us earlier. And I think that this-

• 1:06:35Bill Simmons?

  Did they play some Robert Bernays?

• 1:06:38Speaker 01

  I think they did.

• 1:06:39Bill Simmons?

  Did they do the steak saw splits?

• 1:06:41Speaker 01

  I think they had that one. There was some simulated pressure, some simulated-

• 1:06:46Bill Simmons?

  Simulated-

• 1:06:48Speaker 01

  Worcestershire pressure.

• 1:06:49Bill Simmons?

  Oh, interesting.

• 1:06:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:06:51Bill Simmons?

  Did they do any ex-Robber?

• 1:06:53Speaker 01

  There was probably some ex-Robber Tabasco.

• 1:06:58Bill Simmons?

  Well, the stats say Pittsburgh's defense fucking sucks. Yeah, they do. They give up, this year, they've given up 278.3 passing yards per game. We watched it. Per game? Yep. Watched it all season long. 32nd in the league against the pass. And they're second in turnovers, which makes no sense. Here's a concerning stat.

• 1:07:20Bill Simmons?

  The Cleveland Browns have 134 first downs. Would you say that's a good offense? Doesn't feel like it. The Steelers have 139. They're five, five more. They basically have the same number of first downs as the Cleveland Browns.

• 1:07:37Bill Simmons?

  It makes me nervous. They're also 30th in the run.

• 1:07:43Bill Simmons?

  I don't know. This is still a maybe to me.

• 1:07:47Bill Simmons?

  Let's go to the parlay section of this.

• 1:07:53Bill Simmons?

  Where I have the Bills Dolphins minus nine and a half. And I would love to put the Bills money line with a pick and adjust the line just a little bit. Okay. Where we have the Bills first, first run, third pass, or third yards per play. Miami's 30th against the run, 28 yards per play. Miami stinks, by the way, in case you haven't noticed. Buffalo's defense, second against the pass. All these good mismatch up stuff. Plus, like, every week, we've had a new MVP. And this feels like it's the Josh Allen, hey, actually, I'm the MVP. Week where he just like kills the Dolphins. Well, he is favored right now after that performance against the Chiefs. But nobody's like, each week, somebody's had a, is he the MVP?

• 1:08:37Bill Simmons?

  But we haven't had the Josh Allen, is he the MVP week yet? Maybe it's this week. I would love to put them in with something. And I was thinking that something could be the Ravens in Minnesota. Unless you want to do the Eagles.

• 1:08:51Speaker 01

  Uh, let me hear the, the, I, I love the Ravens this week, so you're not gonna have to sell me.

• 1:08:58Bill Simmons?

  Ravens, the, the, this line drifted a little high. This line went to Ravens minus four and a half in Minnesota.

• 1:09:08Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:09:09Bill Simmons?

  But it's an absolute must win for Baltimore and they're completely healthy. And, um, could Minnesota really beat Detroit, Baltimore in back to back weeks?

• 1:09:20Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:09:21Bill Simmons?

  That's what I keep thinking.

• 1:09:22Speaker 01

  Nope.

• 1:09:23Bill Simmons?

  So I was thinking, like, for instance, we could take the Ravens line to, uh, two and a half. Throw it with the Bills money line and that gets us in the minus 120.

• 1:09:34Speaker 01

  Fine.

• 1:09:35Bill Simmons?

  We could also take the Eagles line up to four and a half. Put that with the Bills money line, same bet. I think we should do one of those two.

• 1:09:45Speaker 01

  Uh, I'd rather put, cause one of those two bets, I feel like we need as a standalone bet. So which one?

• 1:09:53Bill Simmons?

  Well, we can figure that out.

• 1:09:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09:55Bill Simmons?

  Well, let's, we'll go through the rest of these. Just talk me out of the Falcons Colts, Falcons plus six and a half.

• 1:10:04Speaker 01

  I'm dying to bet the Colts.

• 1:10:08Bill Simmons?

  It's in Indy. I'm sorry. It's not in Indy.

• 1:10:10Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:10:11Bill Simmons?

  It's in Berlin.

• 1:10:12Speaker 01

  It's in Germany.

• 1:10:13Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, it's in Berlin.

• 1:10:14Speaker 01

  Which franchise of those two do I think is gonna be better prepared? Like the fucking Falcons can't figure out how to travel to, to San Francisco and be competitive. They can travel internationally and have their shit together enough to put up, you know, the, a, a modicum of resistance against this Colts team that's dying after getting its pants pulled down. And, you know, and, and on that, that stays with Pittsburgh to show everybody.

• 1:10:46Bill Simmons?

  Words concussed and Gardner is supposedly cleared, but Gardner is gonna go from the Jets to the Colts and then fly to Germany and that's his first game and he's gonna be good? A little dubious.

• 1:10:56Speaker 01

  Better than, than, than their alternative, better than the alternative, that's for sure. You're at.

• 1:11:01Bill Simmons?

  I thought the Falcons were pretty good last week.

• 1:11:03Speaker 01

  They were.

• 1:11:04Bill Simmons?

  I thought they played a good game against the Pats.

• 1:11:06Speaker 01

  They did. They did play a great.

• 1:11:08Bill Simmons?

  I don't think they're bad.

• 1:11:09Speaker 01

  They played.

• 1:11:09Bill Simmons?

  But this.

• 1:11:09Speaker 01

  They're not good.

• 1:11:11Bill Simmons?

  This does violate our Europe rule, which is why I had to put an Astros next.

• 1:11:15Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:11:15Bill Simmons?

  I would probably lean Falcons, but I think we have to stay away.

• 1:11:18Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:11:21Bill Simmons?

  Fucking A, I like the Niners. Wish I didn't. Niners are plus four and a half at home against the Rams.

• 1:11:29Speaker 01

  You're supposed to grab all those points with the Niners. That's what we're supposed to do.

• 1:11:32Bill Simmons?

  They played in week five. It was an overtime game. San Francisco won 26-23.

• 1:11:37Speaker 01

  The Rams won in every aspect of that game. The Rams beat the crap out of the Niners in that game until, you know, there was a fumble at the goal line.

• 1:11:46Bill Simmons?

  Niners are home. There's all kinds of weird Rams kicker shit going on. So I feel like there's a free three points in this game. It's Niners plus four and a half, but it's really Niners plus seven and a half because somebody in the Rams is missing a kick.

• 1:12:00Speaker 01

  Interesting.

• 1:12:02Bill Simmons?

  There's a lot of like the McShay versus Shanahan stuff I think has been overblown because the Rams did beat them twice last year.

• 1:12:11Bill Simmons?

  But that's a, it's a nice, fun, long rivalry. And, uh, I don't know. How good do you think the Rams are? Cause the advanced metrics say they're better than what I'm, what I feel like I'm watching with my eyes.

• 1:12:23Speaker 01

  Their defense is, is gettable. Their secondary is super gettable. It's just that they've been able to put pressure on teams and they've been able to.

• 1:12:32Bill Simmons?

  Third and sack, fourth and hits.

• 1:12:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, there you go. So that, that, that is how they've addressed the fact that their secondary is crazy vulnerable.

• 1:12:42Bill Simmons?

  I think it's too many points. I have it marked out.

• 1:12:44Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:12:47Bill Simmons?

  Next one, Bucks, Pats. Bucks minus two and a half in Tampa against the Pats. Listen, we're under 500 and it's week 10 and I have no problem going against my team for one week. I'll still root for them.

• 1:12:59Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:13:00Bill Simmons?

  I think this line's too low. I just think this is a horrible matchup for the Pats. I don't like it at all because it's not gonna, the Pats are great stopping the run. It's not gonna really matter. I don't even think Bucky Irving's gonna play. I think that Tampa's gonna throw the ball and move the ball and do the stuff they do with Baker. And the Pats, Atlanta was going up and down the field on them throwing the ball last week and it really, you know, I think they have problems covering tight ends. They have problems covering running backs. There's, there's receiver issues with the Pats. Whereas I'd booty, the moment he left the game that they were kind of never the same. They, they lost like their deep threat when they lost him and uh, Diggs is playing half the game. If you look at the snaps, like Matt Collins played 60% of the snaps last week and Kyle

• 1:13:44Bill Simmons?

  Williams played 50%. And also like Remandre is hurt. They're not really running the ball and uh, I just think they're due for a shit game. They haven't been down by 10 points to anybody since week one. This, I don't like the spot. I think this-

• 1:14:00Speaker 01

  We're in lockstep.

• 1:14:02Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:14:02Speaker 01

  I was worried that I was gonna have to talk you into this. I absolutely love Tampa.

• 1:14:06Bill Simmons?

  I feel bad because I didn't want to go anti Pats, but we have, this is winner 107. We have to.

• 1:14:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. We're, we're in lockstep to Tampa as a play this week at that number.

• 1:14:15Bill Simmons?

  Plus if the Pats win, I'm happy to sacrifice the winner 107 pick. Fuck them.

• 1:14:21Bill Simmons?

  Texans Jaguars. I can't believe we're going back to the world, but I like the Texans again.

• 1:14:27Speaker 01

  I just can't with Davis Mills. I just can't do it. I just can't.

• 1:14:30Bill Simmons?

  Well, I might have to be one of my picks.

• 1:14:32Speaker 01

  It could be your pick. I just, you know, I, I watched it. We were in a perfect situation with Denver. Like I, and-

• 1:14:42Bill Simmons?

  I'm aware.

• 1:14:44Speaker 01

  The Jaguars, let there be no doubt. I mean, Trevor Lawrence, his completion percentage over expectation, he is in the company of players like um, Cam, uh, what's the, Cam Ward? And Dylan Gates.

• 1:15:00Bill Simmons?

  I have, I have his EPA. He's 46.

• 1:15:02Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:15:03Bill Simmons?

  Fields is 37. Two is 43rd. Kirk Cousins is 52nd. So he's barely better than Kirk Cousins who was dead?

• 1:15:16Speaker 01

  You want to play?

• 1:15:16Bill Simmons?

  I just don't think Jacksonville against that defense is doing jack shit. So let me make the Davis Mills case.

• 1:15:21Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:15:23Bill Simmons?

  He's five, 19 and one as a starter. Oh, wait, that didn't help me. Shit.

• 1:15:28Speaker 01

  That's your opener.

• 1:15:29Bill Simmons?

  Now, I gotta make a different case.

• 1:15:34Bill Simmons?

  Came in cold.

• 1:15:35Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:15:36Bill Simmons?

  Last Sunday.

• 1:15:38Speaker 01

  They gave.

• 1:15:38Bill Simmons?

  Didn't know he was gonna play.

• 1:15:39Speaker 01

  This whole week.

• 1:15:39Bill Simmons?

  Didn't know he was gonna play.

• 1:15:40Speaker 01

  They, they, they made a plan for him this week. Last week.

• 1:15:43Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, now he knows he's gonna play. It's like, hey, we're playing Jacksonville, Jacksonville, 27th against the pass, 31st sacks this year. Pretty good against the run. First in penalties, that's another Jacksonville thing. They fuck, they have 10 penalties a game.

• 1:15:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:15:58Bill Simmons?

  Davis. Here's the plan. You're gonna do this, you're gonna do this. We got Nico back, third and five, we have this pet play for you.

• 1:16:07Speaker 01

  Well, look at how.

• 1:16:07Bill Simmons?

  They had the whole week to plan him.

• 1:16:09Speaker 01

  How starved Jacksonville is in the receiver room.

• 1:16:14Bill Simmons?

  They, they, they don't have Thomas or Hunter.

• 1:16:16Speaker 01

  To think that Kobe Meyer is gonna be the. They had to go in that direction.

• 1:16:23Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, like, I watched the Raiders game last week and I don't remember him doing anything.

• 1:16:29Bill Simmons?

  I remember Brock Bowers doing stuff.

• 1:16:31Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 1:16:32Bill Simmons?

  By the way, I forgot to mention during the indie thing, I, I was so mad I missed this on Tuesday. Couple of people have mentioned it to me. New owner syndrome with the Sauce Gardner trade. It was a basketball trade.

• 1:16:43Speaker 01

  Very good, very good, I like this.

• 1:16:45Bill Simmons?

  The daughters took over the team, everybody loves the daughters.

• 1:16:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:16:48Bill Simmons?

  This was like, ah, we got a, ah, Sauce Gardner, let's go get him.

• 1:16:51Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:16:51Bill Simmons?

  It was like a new owner, it was a classic new owner trade.

• 1:16:53Speaker 01

  It really was.

• 1:16:54Bill Simmons?

  Two firsts, Gardner for, Sauce Gardner, we gotta do this.

• 1:17:01Bill Simmons?

  Houston's defense is top six everywhere.

• 1:17:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:05Bill Simmons?

  I just feel like the defense wins the game.

• 1:17:07Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:17:08Bill Simmons?

  Mills makes two throws.

• 1:17:09Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:17:10Bill Simmons?

  They're gonna be able to run the ball.

• 1:17:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:12Bill Simmons?

  It's minus, is it still minus one and a half? It's minus one and a half.

• 1:17:17Speaker 01

  Wait, the Texans are, are underdogs in this game.

• 1:17:21Bill Simmons?

  Did it flip again? It's flip.

• 1:17:23Speaker 01

  I'm telling you.

• 1:17:24Bill Simmons?

  No, yeah, their Texans are underdogs again, they were, they were favored four hours ago.

• 1:17:29Speaker 01

  Well, for one, ring of 107 purposes, what, what are they?

• 1:17:33Bill Simmons?

  They're plus one, plus 1.5.

• 1:17:37Speaker 01

  So they're underdogs.

• 1:17:38Bill Simmons?

  There you go. Yeah, they're underdogs.

• 1:17:39Speaker 01

  That's what we want.

• 1:17:42Bill Simmons?

  All right, we're gonna take a break and then House and I are gonna come back and figure out the Ringer 107 once and for all. This episode is brought to you by Core Power Protein Shakes. You know how we always talk about the little things that separate great athletes? Post-workout recovery is a big factor. Core Power Protein Shakes help you keep going after your workout with high-quality protein to build muscle and electrolytes to help hydrate. It's all you need for your recovery in one bottle. Available in 26 and 42 gram protein options to pick what works best for you. Visit corepower.com to learn more. This episode is brought to you by ServiceNow. Look, I already have my dream job. I run the Ringer, argue with Chris Ryan, AKA CR. But even dream jobs have not-so-dreamy parts. You know, the work that slows you down never seems to go away?

• 1:18:26Bill Simmons?

  That's where ServiceNow's AI specialists come in. They're like digital teammates who actually do the job, start to finish. No handoffs, no homework. That means more time for the work that actually matters, which for me is talking about whether the 86 Celtics can beat the 96 Bulls, which they could. To learn how to put AI to work for people, visit servicenow.com. All right, today's Ringer 107. It's brought to you by FanDuel. We have five picks that we like that we figured out over the, over the long commercial break. You'll have no idea how long it was. This is House's pick. I'm gonna pass, House gets a pick every week. House, you picked the Bucks minus 2.5 over the Patriots. What was your case?

• 1:19:05Speaker 01

  The case is the case that you made for New England. It's a tough spot. It's Bucks, it's Tampa coming off of a bye, restored health, a lot of skill, even with Bucky Irving still missing, up a class for New England. New England's been impressive, but this is, you know, a real heavyweight that needs to win games to finish out the season. So I like Tampa at home.

• 1:19:28Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, the Pats can come out of this and still be only three losses in with only a couple of games left in the season that are, that are hard, and in two Jets games as well. Yeah, it's a tough spot. I'd be put this way, I'd be very surprised if the Pats won this game with some of the injuries on offense with the way they blocked the last couple of weeks. 17 sacks in three weeks with the way they've been covering tight ends and running backs. This is a tough spot for them. Uh, next pick, we're gonna do a little parlay. Ravens down to minus two and a half in Minnesota. So Ravens have to win by three in a must win game. And if you believe the Ravens are still a Super Bowl contender, there's no way they can't win this game

• 1:20:10Bill Simmons?

  against J J McCarthy in Minnesota. And we're gonna put that with the Bills money line against the Miami Dolphins. And that is exactly minus 120. House, we barely made it. If it had been one inch another way, we lose that parlay. So anyway, that's minus 120 Ravens minus 200 Bills money line. And I could see both of those where both teams win by like two touchdowns.

• 1:20:34Speaker 01

  Me too.

• 1:20:35Bill Simmons?

  I feel like we're gonna be smooth sailing with that parlay. Next one is another Joe House favorite. It's the Eagles plus two and a half in Green Bay, and I agree. Um, the Kraft injury, the uncertainty in the wide receiver room. The Eagles kinda needing to play a good game. All of their stats are like eh.

• 1:20:55Speaker 01

  It's the pass rush for the Eagles that I think we're gonna see for the first time. Remember how dominant they were down the stretch and through the playoffs? We have the return of Nolan Smith. We have the addition of Jalen Phillips.

• 1:21:07Bill Simmons?

  Now we got some dudes.

• 1:21:10Speaker 01

  And look, this is the vulnerability of Green Bay, like the, you know, they have the training wheels on Jordan Love. Because that they, they, that offensive line isn't quite 28th in, in run block win rate, the Packers. So they don't, they don't intimidate you with establishing the run, Green Bay. And they can't set up play action because teams aren't taking the run serious. So.

• 1:21:31Bill Simmons?

  But in that game too for this.

• 1:21:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:21:35Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, this is a nice Eagles. We've now reclaimed our territory.

• 1:21:39Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:21:39Bill Simmons?

  Spot. I like it. So Eagles plus two and a half. That's our third pick.

• 1:21:44Bill Simmons?

  The Niners. This is my pick. I just think it's too many points. And I can only name four guys in their defense at this point. But Niners plus four and a half at home against the Rams. You're getting an extra three points from the missed field goal that the Rams are going to have during this game. So it's a flash sale. It's really, you're getting it at nine or seven and a half.

• 1:22:08Bill Simmons?

  I just think these games are going to be close with all these NFC West games. I just feel like that's how it's going to go all season.

• 1:22:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:22:15Bill Simmons?

  They're all going to come down to the wire. Is it maybe Seattle can elevate above these teams, but um.

• 1:22:22Bill Simmons?

  You know, the Niners, it's a little bit of a, I hate the word must win, but it's. It's a, you don't want to go six and four. Lose.

• 1:22:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, but they stole their split.

• 1:22:33Bill Simmons?

  With the Rams.

• 1:22:34Speaker 01

  They stole, they stole that split with, by winning in week five, the way they did.

• 1:22:40Bill Simmons?

  Yeah. I just don't want to be six and four with half my team in the hospital.

• 1:22:46Speaker 01

  Fair enough.

• 1:22:48Bill Simmons?

  And then if you're the Rams, it's a little bit of a must win because you don't want to lose every tiebreaker to the Niners potentially. But I don't know. It feels like there's some voodoo against the Niners. Fanduel asking me to cash out of my Niners under 10 and a half made me suspicious. We'll see, we'll see if they can fight the voodoo off this week. Texans plus one and a half at home against the Jaguars. Trevor Lawrence favored. In Houston against one of the three best defenses in the league. What are we doing?

• 1:23:21Speaker 01

  No, no, no.

• 1:23:24Bill Simmons?

  Here's my impression of Trevor in the third quarter.

• 1:23:32Speaker 01

  With that, the beautiful locks.

• 1:23:32Bill Simmons?

  Here's my impression of Trevor in the fourth quarter.

• 1:23:37Speaker 01

  Eyes in the back of the head, eyes, hands covering the eyes, hands covering that back of the head.

• 1:23:43Bill Simmons?

  D'Amico Ryan's owes us too.

• 1:23:46Speaker 01

  Little bit.

• 1:23:46Bill Simmons?

  He owes us.

• 1:23:47Speaker 01

  Little bit.

• 1:23:48Bill Simmons?

  The, the 14 second drive with the minute 14 left.

• 1:23:52Speaker 01

  Good God.

• 1:23:53Bill Simmons?

  On your own 10 yard line.

• 1:23:54Speaker 01

  My word.

• 1:23:56Bill Simmons?

  So anyway, we're taking the Texans plus one and a half. So to recap, Bucks minus two and a half, Ravens minus two and a half with Bill's money line parlay minus 120, Eagles plus two and a half, Niners plus four and a half, Texans plus one and a half. I like that we have a couple of home dogs this week too.

• 1:24:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, me, I feel the same way.

• 1:24:15Bill Simmons?

  Some home cooking and I can't believe we win against my team, but that was the Ringer 107 and it was presented by FanDuel. Did you like the Sauce Gardner trade?

• 1:24:26Speaker 01

  I did. I, I understand the.

• 1:24:29Bill Simmons?

  You're always a mark for trading multiple firsts for a good player. You've always loved that.

• 1:24:33Speaker 01

  You, because he's a good player. Like you don't have to wonder, he, he's a first round pick that is like, how, how many of those first round picks that they traded are going to be as good as Sauce Gardner? Tell me the answer to that and then, and then we can assess this. But look, this, this Colts team recognizes the, the window and recognizes they have it. It's, it's the part of their team that is, you know, the, the most vulnerable because of injury and, and, you know, the talent that they had there. I, I have absolutely no issue whatsoever with them going for it.

• 1:25:08Bill Simmons?

  It's kind of like when you went and got Marshawn Lattimer last year.

• 1:25:11Speaker 01

  It was.

• 1:25:12Bill Simmons?

  He's one of your favorite commanders.

• 1:25:14Speaker 01

  That's not true. And good luck to him and the rest of his, I don't think he's going to have much of a football career after this, but to the rest of, to, to whatever happens to him in life, good luck to him.

• 1:25:27Bill Simmons?

  Can we talk about the Guillotine League really fast?

• 1:25:29Speaker 01

  Go ahead.

• 1:25:29Bill Simmons?

  Where we go.

• 1:25:30Speaker 01

  Go ahead.

• 1:25:32Bill Simmons?

  Are you still alive in the guillotine league?

• 1:25:33Speaker 01

  You took all of my good players. I, I had.

• 1:25:37Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, you're not alive.

• 1:25:37Speaker 01

  The, the beauty of the guillotine. I had a great team. I, I mean, I had an amazing team. I just hit a week. I had Bijon Robinson going up against the Dolphins and he, and he produced four fantasy points. I had Caleb Williams in a good situation.

• 1:25:52Bill Simmons?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:25:53Speaker 01

  I can't remember. You took all my guys. I had Bucky Irving.

• 1:25:56Bill Simmons?

  There's two strategies. One is in the guillotine league, for people that don't know, you start out with 17 teams, 16 teams, however many teams you want to have. Lowest team every week gets voted out. So we, we're, we started.

• 1:26:09Speaker 01

  I voted out, just gets cut.

• 1:26:11Bill Simmons?

  Well, it's just cut. You're just cruelly.

• 1:26:13Speaker 01

  That's it.

• 1:26:13Bill Simmons?

  And your players become available and people can bid on them. And there's two ways it can go. One is you have a thousand bucks to spend bidding war for the guys, like when Bijon Robinson becomes available. Or you try to get cagey and see how long you can last with the team you picked. Pick around the edges, but kind of wait until there's less teams. And I chose the latter strategy. And almost lost twice. Like I, I probably should have lost. I, I don't really think I should be alive, but I lucked out. I had a couple where I like barely made it.

• 1:26:46Speaker 01

  You, you beat me on Monday Night Football with Isaiah Pacheco running for 48 yards or whatever. That's how I got.

• 1:26:52Bill Simmons?

  And we both had terrible weeks and I barely edged you out. But I had the most money this week and somebody's team got cut. And all of a sudden it was Josh Allen was available and James Cook and Jamar Chase and Jalen Waddle, all these dudes.

• 1:27:09Speaker 01

  Good dude.

• 1:27:09Bill Simmons?

  And I had the most money. I had like 630 bucks. Jeff Chow had 500. And then nobody else had more than like 180.

• 1:27:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:27:18Bill Simmons?

  And so I was like planning it out and I actually outwitted Jeff Chow, who runs business for The Ringer and Spotify Studios. I outwitted him. Just flat out, I bid 251 for Josh Allen and 251 for James Cook, thinking Jeff would go for one. Beat him on both of those and then got Jabar Chase too. And now I'm in the driver's seat. And I just stuck it to Jeff Chow. It was great.

• 1:27:42Speaker 01

  I'm sure.

• 1:27:43Bill Simmons?

  Mr. Business. Yeah. Who's the business guy now?

• 1:27:50Speaker 01

  I don't, I don't, I'm not pretty. They, once you get cut, you can't go back and look. And honestly, I don't know why I would, but what did he bid? What child bid on those guys?

• 1:27:59Bill Simmons?

  I don't know. You know what he bid? Not enough. So here's my team. Josh Allen, Jameer Gibbs, James Cook, Amecku Buca, Quentin Johnston, George Kittle, Sam Laporta, and DK Metcalf.

• 1:28:12Speaker 01

  It's a pretty good team.

• 1:28:13Bill Simmons?

  That's a pretty good one.

• 1:28:14Speaker 01

  It's pretty good.

• 1:28:15Bill Simmons?

  And this is what happens. If you can somehow survive.

• 1:28:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:28:18Bill Simmons?

  And then go all in and like week nine, week 10. But now that everyone knows that strategy, I don't know what the counter strategy is to that. I guess it would just be drafting.

• 1:28:26Speaker 01

  Don't get, don't have guys get hurt. That's, that's, you know.

• 1:28:30Bill Simmons?

  Well, that's the thing. The other Guillotine League I was in, we had Lamar and he got hurt in week four. And it was like.

• 1:28:34Speaker 01

  So you're done. That's right.

• 1:28:36Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, you're done. You gotta get a little healthy. But you liked it, though.

• 1:28:39Speaker 01

  I loved it. Are you kidding me? I, I did a good job drafting. I was very proud of myself. I, you just catch a, a dry week and you're done. You just go home.

• 1:28:49Bill Simmons?

  I'd rather be done versus like have the carcass of my mediocre fantasy team drag on for 14 weeks. You know what I mean?

• 1:28:57Speaker 01

  I have a, I'm in a league where my team is one and eight. I did an auto draft and it was the, the rankings that, it was CBS. I'll call them out. I mean, it was an abomination. They, they should be embarrassed claiming that they have fantasy experts. All I did was hit auto draft and went to like the, the 10th overall pick in, in, in a, a, you know, non PPR league. They gave me Lamar Jackson. Like what, what? I need a fucking running back at the 10th pick. Whoever the, the best running.

• 1:29:28Bill Simmons?

  Well, couldn't you have said that in your settings?

• 1:29:30Speaker 01

  This is the point of auto draft.

• 1:29:33Bill Simmons?

  Right.

• 1:29:33Speaker 01

  You're the fucking expert. You.

• 1:29:35Bill Simmons?

  Well, maybe AI will make this better. Maybe this will be, maybe AI will be used for some good.

• 1:29:41Speaker 01

  It's so stupid. So it's fine. But I do diligently set a lineup every week because I have integrity and for the integrity of the league. I mean, I made six trades in the, or acquisitions this, this past week. But yes.

• 1:29:55Bill Simmons?

  Did you just praise yourself for making moves in a fantasy league?

• 1:29:58Speaker 01

  Just maintaining the integrity of the league, not just walking away from my hot trash, auto draft, CBS bot, go fuck yourself, hot garbage scenario.

• 1:30:12Bill Simmons?

  Hey, one other thing before we go, it looks like, it looks like the Sunday Ringer pregame show is going to be available on all the FanDuel RSNs.

• 1:30:22Speaker 01

  Let's go. How about that?

• 1:30:24Bill Simmons?

  So if you have one of those FanDuel RSNs where, you know, like you see Golik and Golik ads, or you have that, like, that's usually one of them, we're going to be on those and we're going to be on them with the Ringer Game Week Show as well. So a little extra, little extra market share.

• 1:30:40Speaker 01

  A great way to spend your Sunday morning. All we do is give out big fat winners.

• 1:30:45Bill Simmons?

  It's 11 a.m. this week, though. We're starting early. It's a two hour show now, 11 a.m.

• 1:30:50Speaker 01

  Why can't we start at 10?

• 1:30:51Bill Simmons?

  All the way to kickoff.

• 1:30:52Speaker 01

  Fine.

• 1:30:52Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:30:53Speaker 01

  Start at 9:30. I'm here. We're doing, we're doing the games. We're trying to give out winners.

• 1:30:59Bill Simmons?

  There's a good chance I'll be sitting in some airport watching it because my flight's been delayed for 19 hours. You might have to host guest lines with Sal.

• 1:31:08Speaker 01

  Just come down to DC. You'll have a great time.

• 1:31:10Bill Simmons?

  I might, that might, that might have to do that, actually.

• 1:31:13Speaker 01

  Come see Kornheiser. We'll have a great time together.

• 1:31:16Bill Simmons?

  Kornheiser. He's never leaving.

• 1:31:20Speaker 01

  Leaving what?

• 1:31:21Bill Simmons?

  He just signed again.

• 1:31:23Speaker 01

  Why, why wouldn't he? It's a great life.

• 1:31:25Bill Simmons?

  He's been telling us he was going to retire for 10 years.

• 1:31:27Speaker 01

  He plays golf and he does the show. It's a great life. I really admire it.

• 1:31:31Bill Simmons?

  Any farewell thoughts for ESPN Bet?

• 1:31:34Speaker 01

  Oh, is it gone?

• 1:31:36Bill Simmons?

  It's gone.

• 1:31:36Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:31:38Bill Simmons?

  They're wrapping up.

• 1:31:38Speaker 01

  They tried. They tried. Best of luck.

• 1:31:42Bill Simmons?

  Too late to the party.

• 1:31:43Speaker 01

  Little bit late.

• 1:31:45Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, they, they, it's a wrap. Anything else before we go?

• 1:31:51Speaker 01

  Nothing.

• 1:31:52Bill Simmons?

  Okay.

• 1:31:53Speaker 01

  Some great golf in Europe.

• 1:31:55Bill Simmons?

  Great golf in Europe?

• 1:31:56Speaker 01

  Well, it's actually, it's the DP World Tour that is playing in their race to the whatever cup. Uh, I think they're in the Middle East. They are in the Middle East. They're playing somewhere in Dubai, but all the best guys are playing. The entire Ryder Cup team for Europe is playing.

• 1:32:13Bill Simmons?

  Ah, the team you won money on.

• 1:32:17Speaker 01

  And Tyrrell had.

• 1:32:17Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, it was your team. Those are your guys.

• 1:32:19Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:32:20Bill Simmons?

  All right, House.

• 1:32:21Speaker 01

  Good times.

• 1:32:21Bill Simmons?

  So you're, my favorite NBA trade that I came up with was which one?

• 1:32:25Speaker 01

  What was the last one? Well, I honestly.

• 1:32:28Bill Simmons?

  The Kobe, Kobe Jones, Kobe Wait.

• 1:32:31Speaker 01

  No, I, I, I like, um, Ja Morant to Miami better.

• 1:32:36Bill Simmons?

  That should, so that was the chalk one.

• 1:32:37Speaker 01

  Makes a lot of sense.

• 1:32:40Speaker 01

  It's a winner.

• 1:32:40Bill Simmons?

  Good for content. All right. See you, House.

• 1:32:44Bill Simmons?

  All right. That's it for the podcast. Thanks to House and Gahal and Eduardo as well. I am going to hopefully have a podcast on Sunday. I'm flying back on Sunday to the West Coast. Is this going to be a good idea with what's going on with airports right now? We're about to find out. So if you see me Sunday night, I'll be happy. You'll be happy. Everyone will be happy. Have a great weekend.

• 1:33:22Bill Simmons?

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• 1:34:05Bill Simmons?

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• 1:34:41Speaker 02

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