Mon, Nov 4, 2019
Chapter 1: Future Hall of Famer Steve Kerr joins Bill to discuss a quarter-century of learning "The Secret" in Chicago (with Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson), San Antonio (with Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich), and Phoenix (with Steve Nash), and then how Kerr watched it unfold during his historic run as the coach of the three-time champion Golden State Warriors.
Mon, Nov 4, 2019
Chapter 2b: No 2010s NBA game unleashed more "what ifs" than Game 6 of the 2016 Western Conference finals. It's impossible to figure out Stephen Curry's phenomenal decade without hashing through everything that happened that night. So what happened? In the pilot episode of TBOB Rewatchables, recorded earlier this year on 'The Bill Simmons Podcast,' Bill re-lives that historic night with The Ringer's Chris Ryan and Joe House.
Mon, Nov 11, 2019
Chapter 3: Was Shaquille O'Neal the one Pantheon player who could have been top five if he really wanted it? Would vintage Shaq have been better or worse in 2019? Were Shaq and Kobe always destined to turn on each other? Was 'Kazaam' better than 'Steel'? And where does Shaq rank on Bill's 100-player Hall of Fame Pyramid?
Mon, Nov 18, 2019
Chapter 4: Is Harden the NBA's best scorer since Michael Jordan? Was the Harden trade the NBA's biggest "what if?" ever? How much should Harden's playoff stumbles matter for him historically? Where does his beard rank among the NBA's greatest facial hairstyles ever? And where does Harden rank on Bill's 100-player Hall of Fame Pyramid?
Mon, Nov 18, 2019
Chapter 4b: Up 2-0 in the Western Finals and riding a 20-game winning streak, the seemingly invincible Spurs are demolished by Kevin Durant and a Thunder team that peaked at the perfect time. How did the series flip? Was this the best-played and most-loaded series of the decade? Was this OKC's Apex Mountain? Why was the last minute of Game 6 so emotional? Were the 2012-14 Spurs historically underrated? And how the hell could OKC ever trade James Harden after Game 5?
Mon, Nov 25, 2019
Chapter 4c: After becoming the spiritual leader of the Advanced Metrics Revolution, Daryl Morey spends the 2010s building a contender around James Harden and Chris Paul, only to watch his title dreams vanish in a gut-wrenching series against the defending champion Warriors. What inefficiencies did Morey first exploit last decade in Boston and Houston? What was the thinking behind the Harden trade? What could the 2018 Rockets have done differently? And why did the NBA take so long to move into this modern era of basketball? Bill breaks it all down with Houston general manager Daryl Morey.
Mon, Dec 2, 2019
Chapter 5: How did the 2011 playoffs change Dirk's destiny as a top-35 player? Would he have been even better in the current 3-point-happy era than the previous one? Is he the most popular Dallas athlete ever? And could Dirk crack the Pantheon in Bill's 100-player Hall of Fame Pyramid?
Mon, Dec 9, 2019
Chapter 5b: On the verge of blowing yet another playoff series, this time after building a 3-1 lead against San Antonio, the Mavs dig down deep in a classic Game 7. Was 2006 a wildly underrated NBA season? Has Dirk Nowitzki ever been better? Could that Spurs team have won five straight titles? Is Mark Cuban the first and only owner-chemist? And what the hell was Manu Ginobili doing? Bill breaks it all down with Marc Stein from The New York Times.
Wed, Dec 18, 2019
Cleveland won a championship? The Cavs rallied back from 3-1? LeBron delivered on his promise to Ohio? The Warriors blew a chance to become the greatest team ever? How did one dramatic Game 7 yield The Shot, The Block, AND The Stop? Why wasn't Stephen Curry a bigger goat? Was this LeBron's greatest performance ever? And did this nudge Kevin Durant to the Warriors and change the course of NBA history?
Mon, Dec 23, 2019
Remembering the Game 7 when Kawhi Leonard became immortal, the Jimmy Butler era ended in Philly, Joel Embiid cried, the 2019 playoffs shifted gears, and Kawhi sank the greatest (and craziest) series-winning shot of all time. Would the NBA ever be the same? Was this one of the greatest performances ever? And why did Kawhi shoot 39 times while still obeying the Secret? Bill Simmons breaks it all down with The Ringer's Ryen Russillo and Chris Ryan.
Mon, Jan 6, 2020
Chapter 6: What's the second-best thing you can win if you never win a title? Critical acclaim. Bill made Hall of Famer Steve Nash rewatch Game 4 of the infamous 2007 Spurs-Suns series-when the Suns were derailed by suspensions, bad luck, and one terrible commissioner decision-before breaking it all down. Did the Suns get screwed? What would Nash do-over in that series? Were the Suns way ahead of their time or not ahead of their time enough? And did Phoenix's front office sabotage that season more than the Horry shove did?
Wed, Jan 22, 2020
Was Larry Johnson's 4-point shot the last truly great Knicks moment? Was he fouled in the first place? Why was basketball so BAD back then? Why did people still love it so much? And was it a coincidence that James Dolan took over the Knicks shortly thereafter and ruined all the fun? Bill breaks it all down with The Ringer's Sean Fennessey and Jason Concepcion.
Mon, Feb 3, 2020
Chapter 18: In December 2012, Kobe Bryant wasn't even halfway through his last elite Lakers season, but he was putting more thought into the bigger picture than ever before. What was leadership all about, anyway? How could he use social media to advance his message? Would he rather be remembered as a winner or a great teammate? And what made him want to pick up the phone and call Bill Simmons out of the blue?
Mon, Feb 10, 2020
Dwight Howard was the league's best center for five straight seasons. He even toppled LeBron in a conference finals to make the 2009 Finals. So what derailed him from being an all-time great? Was it injuries? Was he just kind of a jackass? Had the level of competition at center dipped so much that it made him seem better than he was? How do you explain his redemption with the 2019-20 Lakers? And why was Dwight the most properly rated NBA star ever?
Mon, Feb 17, 2020
Everyone remembers Kobe's Lakers finally winning a title without Shaq in 2009. But why don't they remember Orlando's epic Game 4 collapse? Was this one of the biggest Finals meltdowns ever? Should the Magic have won the the series? How did those two missed free throws change Dwight Howard's legacy? And just what the hell was Jameer Nelson doing?
Mon, Feb 24, 2020
Remember the night when Tim Duncan's Spurs basically ended Shaq and Kobe's quest for a four-peat, only they blew a huge lead and got saved because Robert Horry MISSED the game-winning shot? Remember when Duncan won a series against Shaq and Kobe in their primes? Remember when the thought of Duncan winning five titles seemed absurd? Remember the season when Kobe looked the most like MJ? Bill breaks it all down with The Ringer's Shea Serrano.
Mon, Mar 2, 2020
What made Bill Russell so great? Was Russell a pioneer, a genius, or both? Why did he mean so much to the 1960s? Why did he walk away after his 11th title and never look back? And why wouldn't he forgive the city of Boston? In 2012, Bill Simmons flew to Seattle and spent two days with the greatest winner in sports history, hoping to find these answers and more. It ended up being the highlight of his career.
Tue, Nov 24, 2020
Bill Simmons and Jackie MacMullan explain why Kevin Garnett's career should have been even greater than it was, compare and contrast him to Tim Duncan, break down what it was like to cover him every day, reveal why he may have been the most secretly impactful player of the past 25 years, and decide where KG ranks in Bill's Hall of Fame Pyramid.
Wed, Dec 9, 2020
Bill Simmons, Malcolm Gladwell, and Tony Kornheiser explain why Rick Barry was one of the 35 greatest players ever, as well as one of the most influential stars of the league's first 40 years. However, his prickly personality and a few unfortunate mistakes somehow overshadowed much of his basketball legacy.
Wed, Dec 16, 2020
Bill Simmons and Joe House explain why Chris Webber should have been one of the best power forwards of all time had bad luck, bad timing, and bad decisions not conspired against him. He may have one of the ultimate "What If?" careers of all time, yet wasn't he memorable and talented enough to make the basketball Hall of Fame anyway?