The Bill Simmons Podcast - Ep. 67: NBA w/ Joe House & TV w/ Alan Sepinwall

Episode Date: February 22, 2016

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons rolls on another Monday with Joe House to break down Warriors-Clips Saturday night, Curry vs. CP3 (5:00), Celtics-Dubs April Fool's edition (11:30), Lillard's Blazers (17:00), the bad Rockets (19:00), the Wizards' moves (24:30), and the potential dud 2016 NBA draft (35:00). Then, Alan Sepinwall joins to talk Louis C.K.'s 'Horace and Pete' (46:00), Damien Lewis as Bobby Axelrod (56:00), recasting 'O.J.,' (1:02:00) and proclaiming 'The Walking' IS 'Dead' (1:04:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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on Twitter at Ringer. And we're off. Let's go to Monday rolling. Monday morning rolling. We rolled last Monday. We'll roll again this Monday. We'll roll any day of the week, for real. We're going to roll all the time.

This is Joe House on the line. Later, Alan Sepinwall coming. I haven't talked to you since we launched TheRinger.com. Are you excited? I was thrilled. I mean, another place for me to write corny jokes about the Washington Wizards and pastrami sandwiches. I'm in.

I know. If we'd had our newsletter ready in time, we could have had a post-trade deadline newsletter where you could have written stuff about Markeith Morris. Well, I wrote 140 characters in six different tweets tweets that's about all that I had on that one anyway yeah well I want to talk about that in a second let's talk about the Warriors first I went to the Warriors Clipper game on Saturday night it was on ABC and I brought my daughter who does not miss the Warriors when they're in town because she loves Steph Curry. It was a weird game. The refs really sucked. The refs were terrible. It was three refs that I haven't really seen on a big

stage in a game like that before. And there was a little drama because the Warriors had gotten their asses kicked the night before for their fifth loss of the season. Dame Lillard basically eviscerated them. And all of a sudden all of a sudden, the 73-win thing, it was looking like their first back-to-back losses of the year, potentially, all this stuff. Clips came out, disjointed game, and then the infrastructure just went out. The Warriors are really, really, really, really good at basketball. Did you watch that game?

I did. I watched the whole thing. The word for the Warriors to me is relentless, but I want to do a very quick shout out to Dame Lillard. So that was an awesome performance right after the All-Star break. Dame sending a message, and I already made this observation, hey James Harden, suck on this. This is what it looks like against the best team in the league. I'm going to drop it like it's hot from all over the joint. This is what it looks like against the best team in the league. I'm going to drop it like it's hot from all over the joint.

And he did it, and it was awesome. I saw on Twitter that it was heated up, and I jumped over to League Pass to watch a little bit of it. He did a curry on curry. I loved it. It was so good. So ballsy. I like that the Warriors got a little salty about that they were getting a little too excited during that game in Portland.

The Warriors, nobody gets more excited and struts and does all that stuff more than the Warriors do. That's right, especially that bench. I mean, the bench is jumping up when it's 6-4 and Klay Thompson nails a three. Oh, the bench is all crazy. Take it easy, Warriors. Take it easy. But yeah, I watched that game Saturday night. I thought, why did the refs call it so close at the beginning?

I don't know. They took it out. And what's weird is they were calling it super close. And yet Chris Paul is allowed to just demolish anyone he's defending. He is the handsiest. I tweeted this during the game and I don't know if it translates on TV as much as it does in person. He is the handsiest person and just starts doing it from the first quarter on. And the refs can either call it right away or they have to let it go. And once they let it go, that's it. He's all over. He's molesting Curry during these games.

The move that he makes on Curry is like a line of scrimmage chuck. He squares him up and he chucks him right at the top of the free throw circle. He holds him. He grabs his jersey. He pushes him. He touches him. He's just always kind of touching him and making him uncomfortable. And then on the other end, he's really physical. He kind of tries to lurch into Curry because the Clips always try to get Curry to get a couple fouls early. But I will say, watching this is the second time I've seen these teams play in person this year. And then last year, when Curry had his MVP run, I noticed this as well. I think the whole thing pisses Chris Paul off.

Yeah. He takes it personally, right? It goes beyond that. I think he thinks he's better than Steph Curry. I think he's annoyed by this whole thing. The way he carries himself and the way he treats Curry is almost like

Curry's on his corner. It's like Chris Paul's the last person who realizes that Steph Curry is the best player in basketball. Chris Paul really thinks he's better than Steph Curry. That was my takeaway from watching it for two and a half hours. I love it. Yeah, I do too. The Clippers, through force of will, made it possible to have a shot to tie the game at the end of the game.

Yeah, it was gone. Just will. That wasn't anything but effort. We had left at that point. It was a 12-point game with three minutes left, and Curry was out. And I had no idea that the Warriors, A, almost blew the game, and B, did not cover. That was amazing. Yeah, that was pretty crazy.

So I don't know if this is a huge problem, and I don't think it would hurt them in a seven game series but it does seem like they have trouble sometimes the warriors defending these these quick point guards who can get hot and but you know i watched it in person with john wall i mean the reason that that um the washington almost bullets hung in with the warriors the outcome was never in doubt but wall torched them. They had no answer for him. He got to the rim relentlessly. Yeah, we're never going to have a perfect basketball team.

But all these teams, all the great teams, have always had a hole or two. And it does seem like that's their hole. And when you think about what this team is going to do during the regular season, can they roll off one of the best playoff runs ever? Can they go, I don't know, 89-10, something like that? Can they get to 90 wins for regular season plus playoffs? You hear me?

I'm knocking on wood right now. Just knocking. Come on, guys. Stay healthy. That's it. Knock on wood. I mean, 90 wins isn now. Just knocking. Come on, guys. Stay healthy. That's it. Knock on wood. I mean, 90 wins isn't inconceivable. Not inconceivable.

You get 16 for the playoffs, so they'd have to go 74-9. Yep. And, you know— 74-8. 74-8, right. Yeah. So conceivably, they could go 90-10, or 90-9 even if they rip through the playoffs. I do not think that they're going to break the Bulls record.

How about that for a hot take? Okay. Why not? How's some glad you asked? Here, there are tough games left. They have two against OKC. One against February 27th in OKC one at home

March 3rd is it fair to say they're going to split those I don't know did you just watch OKC recency bias warning did you watch the last two games of OKC Tate is your mic on I just heard you snicker

turn your mic off oh Tate wants your mic on? I just heard you snicker Turn your mic off Oh Tate wants in Let him in Tate we'll come to you and we'll tell you When to turn your mic on Rookie mistake by Tate Tate fired up after the North Carolina thing last week You guys gave him all that time on the ringer

We're going to call on Tate because there's a couple things We're going to hit him with Okay see I didn't get too carried away from that game because sometimes their 3-12 guys just suck. Well, it wasn't one game. It was two games. The OKC?

Yeah. Lost to the Pacers at home with a lead in the fourth quarter. Lost to Cleveland at home. Not competitive. When your supporting guys are up and down, you can't ask Durant or Westbrook to just win 65 games by themselves. Well, anyway, I think they can split. I think they're going to split one of those two.

Sure, fine. March 18th, March 19th, they're at Dallas, at San Antonio, back-to-back. Feels like a split. Feels like a split. Feels like a split. Now we're at seven losses. Utah, March 30th, second game of a back-to-back away. And then in second week of April, Memphis 4-9, San Antonio 4-10, both away.

Now, one more X factor. they haven't lost at home yet they haven't played that just that random shit game at home they actually played the shit game at home that they should have lost to Brooklyn Brooke Lopez missed like a little two footer at the end of the game and that was also the one where Iggy hit a three with five seconds left

like some off bounce that was the shit game at home they should have lost. So they're due. And if you factor that in and they have a lot of home games left and I'm not sure which one will be the one. They also, their schedule's a little stacked. They didn't play a lot of games compared, like the Celtics have played, I think, 57 games already.

So I don't know. They only played 54. And the last part is the Draymond Clay or Steph injury, if they get one, you know, a little sprained ankle for a week, a little calf strain. That's the one I'm knocking on wood for. I don't want that to happen, but that happens. That's basketball. Right.

So they're 49-5 right now. They have 28 games left. And they basically have to go 24-4. Yeah. Actually, to beat the Bulls, they'd have to go 25-3. I don't know. I don't see it. I would bet against it.

I don't know what the odds are, but I would bet against it. You would bet for it, it sounds like. No, they only need to win 24 games to beat the Bulls. 73 beats the Bulls. Oh yeah, you're right. 73 beats the Bulls. My bad. So 24 and 4. Yeah, that's pretty... I'm just not

ready at this point to rule it out. I'm not ruling anything out with this team. I mean, you know, it remains to be seen whether we get a rolled ankle or somebody comes down with the flu. Speaking of the flu, I need to get over this. I'm done. But, you know, it's we don't know what we don't know.

And those will be the things that derail it. At the schedule stuff that you just described, I'm not blown away by the challenge of the Utah game. So I wouldn't count that as one. You know what game I didn't mention? What? Celtics. Friday night, 4-1. Oh, yeah.

Where is that? It's in Golden State. Oh. Yeah, I wouldn't. That's not. I'll tell you what team's going to show up with a lot of fight in their hearts. Boston Celtics on April 1st. So, another thing I noticed from that Clipper game,

and granted, no Blake Griffin, who didn't play because he punched the equipment manager in the face repeatedly and broke his hand. That happened? Yeah, he wasn't in the game. Blake. Draymond just goes at DeAndre. I know DeAndre finished with good stats,

but it didn't reflect what I actually watched in person at the game. Draymond just went at him. He was strutting around with Draymond's swagger. Jay-Z and Beyonce were there. So Draymond from the first three minutes was just chest puffed out, doing his whole thing. Well, that's where the true I think it's slightly underrated. One of

to me, Draymond's true assets is how fast he is. DeAndre couldn't keep up with him. Draymond kept penetrating. He kept getting the ball at the free throw line. He had a choice of pass, shoot, or penetrate. And a bunch of times he penetrated, DeAndre could not keep up with that first step he just kept attacking him and i i just don't think

you're gonna beat the warriors with deandre jordan i don't see it i i don't think anyone is gonna beat this team unless they just match that the match the smaller guy lineup i don't think you beat this team with a center. They're just too good at exploiting whoever. And I think the destiny of OKC, I don't know, what five OKC crunch time guys would you want against this team? I mean, just OKC is a terrible matchup.

I just don't see them. I conceded the split for the purposes of the argument about 73 wins or not. You think it's a terrible matchup for who? OKC. OKC. Really? I don't think you can name a five that's good enough. They screwed it up again.

God forbid they got a fifth guy for their crunch time five. But Westbrook's a bad matchup for this Warriors team, and they can go Durant and Abaka as their two big guys. The Warriors have shown that they're willing to let even two players try and beat them. They'll

let Durant and Westbrook have theirs. Both of those guys can combine for 65 or 70 points. The Warriors don't care. They dare the rest of OKC to beat them. And so far, OKC isn't even really that competitive in the games we've seen. If you were OKC, would you have offered... What was that noise?

You really are sick. Did you just blow your nose? No, no, no. I don't think that was me. Oh, all right. If you were OKC, would you have offered Brooklyn kind of a little bit of a godfather offer for Brooke Lopez? Maybe a little canter? Dion Waiters, your number one pick? I think it's too late. This trade deadline for the teams that are really in contention,

it wasn't the kind of trade deadline where it seemed like it would make sense for the top four or five teams to greatly alter the chemistry. You wouldn't have tried to get Brooke Lopez? I think they all made the decision. Huh? You wouldn't have tried to get Brooke Lopez? That guy's playing great this year. He's single-handedly murdering the Celtics pick.

He's won six Nets games by himself. OKC has been on a crazy tear. I think they're now like 16-5 or 15-5 over their last 20-some games. They've been great. I don't know how you take a player like Lopez and seamlessly incorporate him in without taking some lumps on what the identity of the team is. And Billy Donovan has, to his credit, I think been, this is going to sound like faint praise, but he's been better than Scotty Brooks on the offensive side of things.

No, there's no question. But you just told me you didn't like the way they played the last two games. I did not like the way they played the last two games, but I just don't think you can make a great big change in chemistry at this point in the season when you're on the brink. You're one of the top four or five teams. It's just too much risk to me. That's fair.

The biggest missed opportunity of the trade deadline was, I really think Portland should have traded for Dwight Howard. That's interesting. That trade was just sitting there. It was Myles Plumlee and somebody else, and you save the Rockets a ton of money, and you just make kind of a half-hearted, let's see what it looks like three-month run because the way

their two guards are playing it's it's it just feels a little sacrilegious but it's starting to remind me a little of the kj hornacek sons remember that oh going way back like 89 90 when it was just like these two guards and they're just going to score 50 points a game and do stuff and get the crowd into it and really hard to match up. And they made a little run. I think it was 90 when they made a run. I think they made the conference finals. It's pretty crazy with the Blazers.

538 has them projected out at 43 and 39 and a 91% chance of making the playoffs. And so your thesis, why not get Dwight, rent him for three months, see what kind of noise we can make in the playoffs. We have an excellent chance of making the playoffs. We're really clicking. Dwight could be an addition. That's not a situation where I would worry about the chemistry aspect of it. And then you come to the offseason, and as long as the price was fair, I'm not sure if you could do it with, who did you say, Miles Plumlee and who else?

Mason Plumlee. They have one of the Plumlees. I think they have Mason. There's Marshall, Miles, Mason, just two of them. I can't. It's a rental. You're renting Dwight for three months. You're seeing what it looks like, seeing if he clicks,

seeing if the soccer moms can get him going. I'm very focused on the tail end of the Western Conference because the Celtics have Dallas' pick. It's top seven protected. Dallas is 30-27. We're taping this on a Monday morning. Portland's 29-27.

Houston's 28-28 in the eighth seed. And then Utah's 27-28. And I think Utah's going to make a run because they're finally healthy. And the Portland-Utah last night was excellent. I don't know if you saw that one. I didn't see it. But the fourth quarter of that one was really good. And I think both of those teams are playoff teams.

I think Dallas is going to drop out. Oh, you think Dallas, not Houston, will be the one that drops out? I think Dallas is going to drop out. I think Houston's going to, going to play better as the year goes along because Harden, I know you took a shot at him earlier, but I still think Harden's one of the best seven guys in the league. I mean,

you just, just watch them just game to game, all the stuff he does for that team. He's one of the best seven, eight offensive player. He's definitely one of the best 5 offensive players, but I think from an impact standpoint, he's in the top 8. Yeah, I'm just

angry with him. That's all. I know you are. I don't dispute anything having to do with his talent or what he brings to the table. He's the only guy on that team. He is the engine. There's no other engine on that team, which confounds me still. Can I defend him for a second? Go ahead.

He made the mistake of dating Khloe Kardashian. We talked about that. And Dwight Howard's his teammate. And he's got a weird team with a bunch of guys that I'm not sure. Who's good on that team? Like, just go guy by guy on that team. Ty Lawson's not good. Well, Beverly used to be good.

What happened? Beverly got hurt last year, and he's fine good. Well, Beverly used to be good. What happened? Beverly got hurt last year, and he's fine. Montes Unis can't stay healthy. He was a big contributor last season. Terrence Jones has been terrible. Terrence Jones has been terrible. Like, really terrible. I actually thought he was going to be

a good basketball player. I thought he was going to be, you know, an on-the-rise guy, but I just... Capella's pretty good, I guess. I like Capella, but he's a solid role player. But you just go guy by guy. Who's good in that team? I don't know.

Well, they were good last season. That's the thing that's so confusing. I guess. They played well together. So the Clips are at a real crossroads. And the Jeff Green trade, which I didn't love, and then when I actually watched him in person on Saturday and was just kind of seeing how he fit in,

it was a good trade because it was a protected pick, and what he gives them is more important to them than what Lance Stevenson gave them, which is he's got some size. They can play small ball four with him. They posted him up. It's funny because after, like, the fifth Jeff Green ISO, I think he was, like, one for five on the ISOs. By the fifth one, everyone in my section was grumbling.

They were like, all right, enough. Because it's bad enough that they have to run plays for DeAndre Jordan on the low post, which are just absolutely a disaster every time. But Jeff Green, not really the greatest ISO guy either. And they lost. The reality is they should have gotten annihilated in that game. But Jamal Crawford made a four-point play. He made a ridiculous three-point.

He got hot for like two minutes and it kind of kept the clips around. I love that version of Jamal Crawford. That gives me a tingle. Yeah. I think he's fool's gold. The thing that's crazy, why is Jeff Green so much better than Josh Smith? They tried. You know, the Clippers, to their credit,

Doc tried to build a bench entering this season. Josh Smith, you know, propelled the Rockets to the brink of the Western Conference finals there. Because he can't shoot? You can't play him and DeAndre together because neither one of them can shoot? The green felt like a better fit. I'm not sure. Oh, here's the other thing, and I said this on the podcast on Thursday.

I do think he was Blake insurance in case Blake isn't able to come back. But the whole team, the demeanor of the team, the body language, just watching them in the timeouts and stuff. It seems like a team that knows that they don't have it. Who, the Clippers? Yeah. That's interesting. Yeah. I thought they were, they had a little chip on their shoulder, I thought, that whole game.

Nah, Chris did. I don't think the team did. I think. Well, Redick was playing his ass off, too, and was really angry about the fouls that were getting called on him. Yeah, yeah. He had some bad calls. And he's played really well this year.

I don't know. I just, the fans don't feel like they have it. You can just feel it in the stands. Crawford had a great game, too. Did he he though? You were there. You were there. You were feeling the vibe in the building.

I don't know if Crawford had a great game. I think he made a couple great shots. Okay. You know? I think the more they rely on Jamal Crawford, the more fool's gold it is. I just don't love the team. I want to like it because we have tickets. It would be fun to keep going to playoff games.

What if Blake comes back in April? With his broken shooting hand? First week of April. We're still six weeks out. Crawford had a good quote about this. He was like, basically, this is it. It's year five. Chris has been here five years.

They haven't even made a round three yet I do think there's some urgency and uh and I I just don't love DeAndre well they acknowledge the urgency would they would they have been better off if they if DeAndre had just signed with Dallas am I crazy to think that seems unlikely how could they have been better off it's impossible to break out the DeAndre variable what would the replacement have been how would they have been better off? It's impossible to break out the Andre variable. What would the replacement have been? How would they have protected the rim? How would they have rebounded?

Now, forget all that stuff. They couldn't have replaced him because they were so far over the cap. It's almost like they were better off getting him. But I don't know. I don't like what I see. And I think the Warriors never for one second thought they were losing that game, which would worry me if I'm the Clips. And I know they didn't have Blake, but the whole time they just felt like they were there.

So the Eastern Conference, the Celtics are in the three spot right now. Miami's got this Chris Boshosh thing who knows what's gonna happen then they're four indiana is in the five spot atlanta is kind of free-falling all that trade deadline stuff uh you know it seemed like it screwed them up and then charlotte and chicago are the last two and detroit's on the edge and then they're your wizards at the 10 spot right you almost had a stroke last week because it seemed like for one second that there was a chance your team might be dumb enough to trade for Dwight Howard, but that didn't happen.

That was the best thing that happened to me all week last week was that Dwight Howard did not come to Washington. Right, because you actually would have had to give up something for Dwight Howard. You would have had to give up Gortat. It would have been Gortat, that pick, and probably one other guy, maybe somebody like Otto Porter or something. Yeah. Just to get in the neighborhood of the salary.

Can you think of a worse fit than the Wizards fans and Dwight Howard? Oh, my God. Well, somebody, oh, the Washington Post beat writer observed, and I think it was after the comment that john wall made about the fans getting more excited for a chicken sandwich than for a win the washington post beat writer observed how quiet the building is yeah and and what a sort of lack of energy and i mean i i would you know my gentle rebuttal is like okay after the last 35 years of futility and outsized contracts

and very bad luck with health, you know, guilty as charged. Although when the team is good, when the product is good, the city shows out. I mean, when we had the little run with Arenas and Caron and Antoine Jameson and a little bit of a rivalry with Cleveland going. That was exciting. Buildings were packed. Energy was high. The last two years, the playoffs, Washington winning in each of the first rounds,

those playoff crowds have been solid, not embarrassing. Properly attuned to the game. Smart basketball crowd here in the DMV. But, you know, this idea that because Washington's kind of dudsville regular season-wise, and especially any time you get a team like this one that has high expectations and comes in and underperforms, people are out. That's a D.C. thing. You have high expectations and don't meet them. That's it.

Nobody goes. Everybody's out. So, you know, it is quiet. Dwight would have been terrible here. Terrible here. People would have been mad. Mad, mad. Would you have rather

traded for Tobias Harris or Marky Morris? I love Tobias Harris. I've liked him for a long time. Me too. The difference in age between the two would have tipped me towards Tobias. I don't know what the price was, whether Washington could have come up with the price to get Tobias.

Well, he just went for two expiring. So if you'd used the first-round pick, the protected pick you gave for Marquise, and throwing the Nene expiring. Wouldn't that have been a better trade than what Detroit gave up? On the face of it, yes. I don't know whether or not Washington had any conversations with Orlando. I'm still pissed that Channing Frye is somewhere other than here. I've been pissed about it for two years now.

Yeah, although he hasn't been good in two years, so maybe it worked out for him. Well, he was hurt the season before, and he's still a plus player when he's on the court for net rating. He's still a plus player because of the spacing that he represents. And for a team like Washington that had a goal of adopting a pace and space, pace and pace, you know, style of play, and then brought in players not really capable of effectuating that and splitting up Nene and Gortat, you know, as a defensive force.

That plus the injuries for Washington makes for this lackluster season. But I would prefer Tobias is the answer. When does Bradley Beal come back? Because I see a big 33 next to him. That's not nice. I see a 33 next to him, which is for games played, which is 21 less than John Wall.

Yeah. So, I mean, this has been going on since he entered the league. I mean, when's the first season that he's going to play 82 games? Or 80 games? Did he give you a boner when you saw John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins sitting next to each other at the slam dunk contest? I pretend I don't see things like that. It's too much of a tease.

I can't handle it. I see it, and I just pretend I didn't see it. I unsee it. So are we headed for the most boring first round in the history of the playoffs? Who knows? There's still 30 games to play. Give me a first round matchup

you're excited about. Let's go through the way these things are presently. Here it is right now. Let's just say it ended right now. Here are your matchups. Cleveland and Chicago. Toronto and Charlotte The Celtics and the Hawks And the Heat and the Pacers

That is a catastrophe I don't like it I'm a Celtics fan and I don't want to watch that first round So then The West has Golden State Houston Get your broom ready for that one San Antonio Portland's kind of fun Portland has Golden State Houston. Get your broom ready for that one. San Antonio Portland's kind of fun.

Portland, wherever Portland is fun. That's the one I'm interested in. Yeah, Portland's fun. I like Portland. Portland's a good league pass team. OKC in Dallas. Jesus. That's a sweep. And then Clips Grizzlies. Does anyone

want to see another Clips Grizzlies series? Because I know I don't. It's the 30th time of that knock-down, drag-out Clips Grizzlies. It's like the homeless man's version of the Knicks Heat series from the late 90s that just never seemed to end. Now we're getting Clippers Grizzlies for the 90th time. That is an awful, awful first round. Now, hopefully some of the matchups will knock around.

Yeah, there'll be some stuff that makes it a little interesting. So what's the most fun team that could play Golden State in round one? I think it's Portland. I agree. Because I don't think Utah is ready yet. They're not mature enough. Yeah, they're down two last night against Portland. And with like 20 seconds left in their play to try to send it in overtime

was to have Derek Favors back up and throw a jump hook off the backboard. I didn't like it. Not a great one. Yeah, not a fan. Not the one I would have called. Yeah, Utah Golden State would be like the Pelicans Golden State last year. Yeah. Interesting, some plot lines, but still sweet.

So the Pelicans are five games back in the loss column. They're out. You're out. You're wiping them out. Okay. You said the Pelicans, right? Yeah. Yeah.

That was an astounding performance last night by AD. One for the ages. Did you see how bad his teammates were in that game? I did not. I saw the highlights. I didn't watch it happening live. I'm just going to give you... Hold on.

I'm going to give you the actual... These were his teammates for that game. This was starting lineup was Dante Cunningham, Omer Asik, Norris Cole, and Dijon Jones. That was his starting five. Coming off the bench. Which one of those other guys is a legit NBA player, would you say? None of them. We're 0 for 4.

I mean, I agree. Then coming off the bench, Drew Holiday, who's been playing great lately. And Ryan Anderson, who went 1 for 12. Tony Douglas, who's been on almost every team in the league. I think there's five left. Alexis Ajinka. He was supposed to be something.

Alonzo Gee. Wow. We've had him. And the corpse of Kendrick Perkins. Coach's decision. Luke Babbitt. That is an awful basketball team. It's an awful team. It's one of the worst teams.

I mean, how do you put up a 59-20 with those teammates? I've been complaining about the talent deficit here in Washington and how, you know, a little too much Ramon Sessions, Garrett Templato, Porter rotation for my liking. But what you just described, I mean, goodness gracious. I have a question. I know you're sick.

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at checkout. Your face will appreciate it and as anyone who is in my life knows, I do not have those cuts on my neck anymore. Yeah, maybe I need to get some Harry's in my life. Harry's on my face.

Remember, Jack, I always used to have a joke about how it should be a television show to watch me shave because I'd put way too much shave cream on my face. And then I'd cut my neck in seven places. There's your coughing fit. Yeah, yeah, there it goes. So we got like 28 games. We have probably seven weeks left in the NBA season. Other than this Golden State thing, is there anything you're excited about?

Do you like watching my Celtics? I think my Celtics are turning into a little bit of an America's team. Probably not. Maybe not. Maybe I'm thinking about it too much. Definitely not. You don't appreciate guts and hard work and good coaching? The good coaching is something that I definitely appreciate.

They didn't address the problem that they have had for two years now. And I don't begrudge them not overpaying for somebody at the trade deadline, but they still have a crunch time scoring problem. But I'm very impressed. We were bullish on the Celtics before the season started. We both liked over 43.5 or 44. We both loved that. And, you know, all credit to them.

They play their asses off. Coach Stevens is terrific. He's probably like a plus-five wins coach. Is there a stat out there? Is there a wins above replacement for coaches? I think he's like plus six or seven. Yeah. He has to be.

Hey, would you have traded the Brooklyn pick for Okafor? Yes. Definitely. I think I would have too. Definitely. I think the Celtics wanted to as well. He can play. Yeah.

I saw him live in San Antonio in November. I like him. Dirty secret about Okafer and the Celtics. I can't believe Philly didn't do that. It's just cup eight. You really put that on the table? Oh, that was on the table. Oh.

Philly, there was, on Friday, Ainge gave a radio interview and said they had a deal for the Brooklyn pick they thought, and then the other team backed out, and that it was Okafor. And I think Philly's... Why wouldn't they want the increased chance at Ben Simmons? Philly? Yeah. Listen, I don't know.

Two shots at Ben Simmons that way. Greatly enhanced the ping pong ball odds. So what that told me is that the Celtics don't like this draft. Because if you watch Ben Simmons, he just won't shoot. I mean, I want it to work. I think we can agree, though, that That has everything to do with that situation. Now, he deserves to be criticized, he and whoever is in his corner, for choosing LSU.

I mean, you know, I get that they wanted to do something unconventional. Oh, I was so scared when you said I get, because that could have gone in about 45 different directions. He ended up on a on a team with with a mediocre supporting cast and a really bad coach like a rick barnes with kevin durant level bad coach who just like you watch the games and you just get mad i get mad every time i watch an lsu game i stopped watching after that um what was it the lsu oklahoma game that's it i put it down i said that i'm putting the remote down i'm not watching lsu anymore this season.

Somebody had a good piece. I'm sorry I can't give you the credit. I can't remember where I read it, about how the last half of the lottery last year is actually better than this draft. Oh. How when you go from Stanley Johnson, Winslow, Kaminsky, Miles Turner, Trey Lyles, Devin Booker, all those guys would be in the conversation

for like top seven. And with this draft, it's like Ben Simmons, who refuses to take jump shots anymore, Brandon Ingram, who's like 14 years old. And then... I like his game, by the way. The Oklahoma... Tell Tate to cover his ears.

I like what I saw. I know he went 7-0 for 21 against Carolina, but I thought he had big balls. I like Ingram's game. I like his game, too. And it might be in play now, him versus Simmons. Simmons probably isn't even going to make

the tournament. You know? You still take Ben Simmons 11 times out of 10. I think so. He's dying for a coach. He's dying for a situation where he can learn

some basketball. I hope he has the drive to go into a gym and shoot 10,000 jumpers a day. Would be my hope. We had this conversation about Wiggins, and it worked out okay. Did it? What do you mean, did it?

Wiggins is awesome. Is he? Yes. Yes, he is. He's awesome. Is he really? I mean, Minnesota is. I like Minnesota.

I do, too. Why aren't they better? Why don't they win games? Because their coach and GM passed away at the beginning of the season. They put through them in a complete disarray. They have Wiggins and Towns on the same team. Shouldn't they win games every once in a while? I don't know how. They also, KG is a nice veteran mentor.

They could have used another guy like that, Kevin Martin, I don't think, fits the bill, who could actually play. I really like Wiggins. It bothers me that his team doesn't win. There's a driftiness that he has that I also see with Ben Simmons, where on the flip side you see somebody like Draymond who's like, Jay-Z is here. I'm going to play out of my mind, and I'm going to attack DeAndre Jordan. I don't like that comparison.

Draymond got drafted the second round. He's out there proving everybody wrong every single time he steps on the floor. Yeah, you're proving my point. Wiggins was the number one pick and Ben Simmons is going to be the number one pick. Who does he have to prove wrong? The best thing that could happen to Ben Simmons

would be going second if some NBA team said, you know what, Brandon Ingram's better than you. That'd be the greatest thing that ever happened to Ben Simmons. Instead, he's going to miss the tournament and he's going to go first anyway, even though he won't shoot a jump shot anymore.

Tate, turn your mic on Tate. Tate, you watch college basketball. Yeah, I do. Who would you take, Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram? I would take Simmons just for upside. Just for upside? Just for upside and personality. Does he seem soft to you?

Yes. personality does he seem soft to you yes do you fit do you feel like he has the eye of the tiger when things are going wrong where he's like all right guys get out of my way i'm gonna take this over not right now not yet does ingram have that ingram wants to take the shot have you recovered from duke beating north carolina yet no who it's been five days yeah it's been yeah five days wednesday night house controversial uh email i got actually i got two different readers emailed wondering why tate was so upset that the panthers lost the super bowl when he's a professed jets fan that is true wow tate your response my response is i you know i always did pull for the Jets, but I'm a Cam Newton fan first. That was my number one.

That's my heart. That's my favorite athlete in the world. Sports big to me. It's a shame, House. It's a shame. The kids these days. Kids these days. I don't know.

Yeah, I think this is a bad draft. And unfortunately, the Celtics have a top five pick and possibly another lottery pick from Dallas, and this might be theeltics have a top five pick and possibly another lottery pick from dallas and this might be the worst draft in a while i'm bummed i'm not ready to pronounce it a bad draft well i did i was exchanging emails with chad ford this weekend who i've forgiven for appearing in the trade value comp and uh it this is right around the time when everybody just hates the draft right late february. Everybody's just, oh, these guys suck, this guy sucks, this draft's awful. And then it'll come around.

We're going to see the tournament. We're going to see guys under the bright lights. I'm really psyched to see Buddy Heald. I think Buddy Heald's got a lot of Dwayne Wade in him. I really think that he's going to be a tough SOB. I think he's got a go-to-the-rim aspect to him that he doesn't have to deploy in college, but that I think he'll be more than willing to go ahead and trot out in the pros.

I'm very bullish on Buddy. I like Buddy, too. And I like what I've heard about the Providence Guard. Yeah. He's the other one that seems... But yeah, this is right around the time where you and I start watching a lot of college basketball and we become enamored by certain kids.

We'll fall in love with a half dozen guys. Yeah, I'm sure there's two guys on that weird Kentucky team that'll end up being good, too. Right. It's hard to say who. All right, so you would have traded the Brooklyn pick for Okafor. Oh my gosh, yes. Yeah, I think I would have too. God, is he terrible on defense.

I was watching some of him last night. Well, that's where Coach Stevens comes in. He might be a good stats, bad team guy. That might just be his destiny. It's impossible to say. He plays for the Sixers. He might be like a... A historically bad team on a historically bad run.

Hmm. Anything else? Did we cover everything? I'm going to call Sepp and Wall. Nice. TV with Sepp and Wall. Are we done? We got it all, I think.

All right, good. All right. We'll talk to you next week. Thanks, Sass. Nice. Talk to you, boys. Before we call on Sepp and Wall, I want to discuss our friends at SoFi. It's a new wave company that's designed for the 21st century, unlike the big banks.

Actually, because SoFi is not a bank, they can provide services and rates that the banks cannot. They won't judge you by your FICO score, but by your potential and by your promise. And they would absolutely, if they felt like it was warranted, back you for life. So if you've just invested in an emu farm, if you get your financial advice from fortune cookies, if you think 401k is an internet speed, if you see the lottery as a possible retirement plan, or if you're currently investing in a Nigerian prince, you definitely should not go to SoFi.com. But if you're interested in being backed by somebody who believes in your potential, I would go to SoFi.com. Discover why banks aren't the future of banking anymore.

SoFi.com. Terms and conditions apply. NMLS number 112-1636. Again, that is SoFi.com. All right, as promised from HitFix.com, one of the original pop culture guests we used to have on the old BS Report on ESPN.com, and now he's here, Alan Sepinwall. How are you?

I'm good, Bill. How you doing? Nice TV run right now. Some stuff's happening. TV. TV's looking good. TV's looking good. It's just there's too much of it. But, you know, that's a high-class problem to have.

So give me your power rankings. Favorite show right now. Favorite show right now, probably Broad City. Broad City? What channel is that on? Broad City's hilarious. What channel? Comedy Central. Oh. What was the one what was

Magic City was stars um yeah Magic City I got confused for a second at the top of any power ranking

I'm old okay so Broad City how many seasons how much do I have to catch up on it's in the third season they do 10 episodes a season it's not much

it's really funny it's these two actresses Abby Jacobson and Alana Glazer um they were doing a web series and Amy Poehler found it and said these two actresses, Abby Jacobson and Alana Glazer. They were doing a web series and Amy Poehler found it and said, these two are hysterical. We should get them a TV show and she produces it. It's really good. Number two in the power rankings.

Well, I mean, does the Triumph special count as a show or just a special? Because that's one of the best things I've seen lately. Probably a special. I almost wish they had split it up over three half-hour shows. It was too good. It was like having this 19-course dinner that after nine courses, I couldn't eat anymore and I kept stuffing my face. It was great.

It was. It's painful, but really, really good. Let's see. So number two, if we're not counting that, what the hell? I'm going to go with Horace and Pete, which is the Louis C.K. digital series he's doing. And how many episodes are there? Were there three and four in now? There are four in now, and they release every Saturday. Nobody knows how many there are going to be.

He doesn't tell anybody anything about it. They just sort of appear in your inbox on Saturday morning. Give us the background of this Horace and Pete thing, because there was no fanfare whatsoever. Didn't he release it on Saturday of the Super Bowl? I think so. Yeah, suddenly I start seeing these tweets from people saying, did you know that Louis C.K. did a new show? And I didn't know what they were talking about. And I downloaded it. It's great. Basically, it's like a series of filmed plays. It's him, Steve Buscemi, Edie Falco, Alan Alda, Jessica Lange, all hanging around in this dive bar in Brooklyn.

It's not really comedy, although there's some funny bits in it. It's very serious, very stagey, and really good. And what do you think was his motivation in doing this? I think he just wanted to try something he hadn't quite done. I know Louis is a big fan of TV and the history of TV. This feels a lot like a throwback. In the 1950s, that's what TV drama was. They would just film plays like Requiem for a Heavyweight

or 12 Angry Men and things like that. Is this a sign that maybe the Louis FX show doesn't come back? The sense I'm getting is if it comes back, it's going to be a while because he doesn't have any ideas for it. I think he went through that last season really quickly. And the deal he has is it's the Larry David Kirby enthusiasm deal is when he has an idea, he can do it. And when he doesn't, he doesn't.

And right now he certainly sounds a lot more jazzed about this. Right. How about American Crime? American Crime, I did a 180 on. I didn't finish the first season, sort of admired it but didn't like it, felt the same way at the start of the second season, and then I kept going. And now that would be probably like third or fourth in these power rankings.

It's incredible. I think it's been extraordinary this season. I liked last season too. I was into it, but I binge watched last season. I don't know if I would have liked it as much if I was just watching once a week. This season, not to give too much away, just in case people haven't watched it. We're going to try not to spoil any TV. Maybe if we spoil stuff, we do at the end but uh the the character whose mom decides that something happened and that he was assaulted and

that's kind of the that's the rabbit hole that the whole storyline goes down that character i've become incredibly attached to and everything kind of culminated last week and and what I thought was my heart was pounding. I don't remember watching a TV show in a couple of years where I felt like my blood racing and I was really uncomfortable and unhappy

and it just was so well done. I was really impressed. No, that's exactly how I felt. I forgot to breathe for a little while there watching that episode. The actor playing the kid is Connor Jessup. He's amazing and I think that's exactly how I felt. I forgot to breathe for a little while there watching that episode. The actor playing the kid is Connor Jessup. He's amazing. And I think that's the difference I feel between this year and last year. Last year, I could sort of admire everything it was doing, but I didn't feel connected to any of it. It felt more like, okay, this is the thing about important issues. And here, I think this kid and the other kid, Eric, have really given the show a little bit more humanity and a bit more of an emotional connection. And now it messes me up the way The Wire used to. Yeah. And without giving too much away, the plot that happened with Eric in the last episode,

I did not like. I actually didn't think they should have. I didn't think they should have done that. But everything that's going on with this other kid, and I gotta be honest, like I don't know who the top Emmy contender is for this show and maybe network TV. It's really hard to win. I know Regina King won last year, but Lily Taylor was incredible in the,

in this last episode. I think the kid is great. And Felicity Huffman has finally found her destiny. She's playing the most hateful character I can remember. And why other than out of like game of Thrones, but this is a, this is like like she's just finally mastered it. Hate this person. I like that the character from season one and season two seems so different.

Like that last year she was very poor. This year she's wealthy and polished. And yet she's the worst person on both seasons. That's hysterical. Yeah, she's good. The way they film it is really cool it's distinct like they'll just keep the keep uh keep the camera on one character the whole time and it'll be a whole scene three minutes where it'll just be like one camera angle and that's

just like kind of one of the distinctions of how they do this series and it's cool it's different it's kind of feels a little more intimate like we're we're like voyeurs watching it or something i mean what's great about it is john ridley the guy who created it he won the oscar for writing 12 years a slave and he's been a writer for a long time and it turns out he's a better director than he is a writer i mean it looks amazing yeah better call saul you you love this show yeah better call saul that would be you know third or fourth there that's that's a lot of fun it came back last week you know second episode tonight which I've also seen really good Bob Odenkirk is just like a revelation like we always knew he was funny but he's a really good dramatically too second season is better than the first season I heard I mean it's early yet but it

feels like you know it's like with Breaking Bad they know a little bit more about what they're doing and how to use all the characters and stuff I mean it's never going to with Breaking Bad, they know a little bit more about what they're doing and how to use all the characters and stuff. I mean, it's never going to be Breaking Bad because Saul can't be that kind of character, but it feels really confident so far. Girls came back last night. Big wedding. I actually enjoyed it. I thought it was good. It's just a show that just keeps getting weirder and weirder and weirder.

It does feel like – is this the last season? No, next to last season. There's going to be one more next year. So what did you think of that one? I thought it was pretty good, and I've seen the first four. I think they're good. Girls as a show, because it started out, they were all 22, 23, and it's about that really specific time in your life.

I feel like they're struggling a little bit with the fact that they're getting older and trying to be more mature and, and that's giving them some material, but it's definitely, it's less surprising and it feels a little bit less specific than it did, but I still enjoy it a lot. It's funny. Yeah.

That's a good point. The whole, when they created the show, the whole point was that, um, it was like that time in your life, you're out of college. What the hell do I do next?

And now all those people are in their late 20s. Yeah, and that's very different. Like, you know, Louis, he could keep doing episodes of that every 10 years and it would feel like basically the same show, but there's such a huge difference between being 22 and being 27. One thing I really like about Girls is how distinct the characters are and how there's enough of a history with them now where certain choices that are made make

sense for what my history with the character is like when, uh, when Adam driver's character, when he makes a move on, on Jemima Kirk, it's totally something that he would do. Right. You're like, like he's misreading the signals. There's no way she would ever sleep with him and yet he kind of goes for it anyway because that's just what that character is he's a dumbass kind of it also feels like they sort of they don't know what to do with him because they don't want to lose adam driver because he's great and now he's kylo ren but they don't know

what else so it's like we'll have him hook up with another girl. But it's not going to go anywhere, though, I don't think. I would be surprised. We'll see about that. Oh, no, you've seen episodes. I can't say. I'm just familiar with girls. All right, fair enough. How about Love with Gillian Jacobs? I like that a lot.

I mean, it's sort of like Judd Apatow co-created it with some other people, and his movies always kind of run long, and so when you put them on Netflix and episodes can be whatever length that you want you run into the problem like the first episode is 40 minutes which is not a great episode a length for a tv comedy but after that it gets really good and Gillian Jacobs and Paul Russ the two actors have good chemistry together and I I raced through all 10 episodes of that in like two days well Jed Apatow is my spirit animal because my columns were always too long. So I always feel like he's having the TV career I would have had. All my episodes would have been too long. Would you call it a star making performance by her?

I guess in that I think some people know of her, but not a lot of people were watching Community. So and Netflix is the flavor of the moment. So her being in a Netflix show is going to be a bigger deal than her being in a really low-rated NBC show. And she's really good in this as a character who is such a hot mess. I think Apatow told me originally they were going to call this show Trainwreck, and then he decided to borrow the title for the Amy Schumer movie. But it applies almost even more here for her than it does for Schumer in the film. Where do you stand on casual? Oh, casual.

I like that a lot. Michaela Watkins, the Hulu show. That's one that's weird because Hulu is the one streaming channel that doesn't release all the episodes at once, which for the most part I'm good with. But that show feels like it should be binged. Like I got, I had the screeners for all of it at once. And I think if I hadn't had four or five in a row, I would have stopped. But I kept going, and she was fantastic. I got late into it and binged it, and you're right.

It's better as a binge. I don't think waiting once a week for it would have been that helpful, but she's great in it and if this really this decade is really the era of like the flawed female character whose life is a train wreck movies and tv it just seems like that's the recurring character and i'm not sure i'm not sure why but it's one of the reasons that i really appreciate maggie siff's character in billions because she's not like that even though she believe me she has her own piccadillos yes she does but at least she's not you know this kind of train wreck that she's going from point a to point b to point c just trying to keep it all together for five minutes she's you know in a in a pretty precarious position handling it pretty well well so far. What do you think of that show?

I think she's the best thing on that show. I had a weird experience with that. Again, I get lots of these screeners all at once, so I'm binging things even if they're meant to air weekly. And because I had six of them, I went out starting like, okay, I like Damian Lewis, I like Paul Giamatti, I like Maggie Siff, but I don't know why I'm supposed to care about any of this or why Paul Giamatti cares about this guy versus six other guys.

And then I'd watch three or four of them, and then I just wanted to know what happened next. And so it's a little bit like Stockholm Syndrome. You spend enough time with the show, and you just start to see its point of view. But I think she's great. Like a show that was about her I would have liked, I think, from the start without reservations. My feeling, has there been five? Or six? Maybe.

Five or six. You are. It felt like last week's episode and then the one that was on last night, the show kind of figured out what it was. And sometimes I wonder with these things, because specifically Damien Lewis, who plays Axee Bobby Axelrod

high-priced guy high-priced billionaire making moves um but he it seemed like he finally figured out that character about four episodes in and his performances in the last two episodes were really good I finally felt like he wasn't Brody playing a billionaire. Well, the thing that sort of I struggled with a little bit is I always used to think he was the best of all the different British actors who they have coming over here and playing American. But it turns out it was because he doesn't he usually doesn't play characters who talk a lot and he talks a lot in this.

And you can tell like, oh, no, he's British trying to fake it. And I think in the last couple episodes, he's been a little bit more mysterious as he's plotting moves and people have to guess what he's doing. And so maybe they figured out, too, like, let's not have this guy talk quite as much. I have a hot take, though. I don't love Giamatti in this show. It's kind of cartoon Giamatti. It's like, let's get a Paul Giamatti type, but we'll just hire Paul Giamatti.

It's like private parts Paul Giamatti. He's basically, he's pig vomit as a district attorney. He could scale it back like about 18%. And I also don't, I don't, I don't really want Paul Giamatti in sex clubs and getting in SMM scenes and stuff. Like, it's just not the part of Paul Giamatti. I'd rather see him in a John Adams wig just trying to read with candlelight or something. Not really ready for the wits.

I mean, that scene where he lectures the guy about the dog poop that he didn't scoop. I mean, that was pig vomit. You might as well have told him to pronounce W-A-N-B-C. Right, right. Yeah, I don't know who I would have... I know you can't say no to Paul Giamatti.

I just wonder, was there a better person to cast in that role? Who maybe, if you're going to have somebody's sexual dark side be that big of the character, then maybe Paul Giamatti's not the guy. You know? But I don't know who the guy is. I'd have to think about it. But it would have to be somebody... It's the same problem I had with Eyes Wide Shut.

For different reasons. But Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut, I never felt like Cruise had this mysterious sexual dark side that he was ready to explore parties because he was Tom Cruise. You know? You're not with me. No, I've just never seen Eyes Wide Shut. Oh, no. Really? Really? me uh no i've just never seen eyes wide shut oh no really you know it's uh me kubrick we have sort of an ambivalent relationship all right well i i think billions is the it's just it's an enjoyable hour you know it's it's stuff happens people are rich guys are yelling at each other. There's an S&M club.

There's a lot going on. I'm also fascinated by the office, like Axe Capital or whatever it's called. They have these huge screens. I can't decide if it's too nice of an office or not nice enough for considering how much money they're raking. But that's the biggest Showtime hit we've had, right? Other than Homeland? Not ever. I mean, Dexter and Homeland were really big hits for a while.

And I think Shameless might be doing a little bit better than Billions right now. But they're both doing well. They're doing better than Vinyl is for sure. Really? Dexter is doing better than Billions was? No, Dexter was like a big hit. That's why that ran forever. And he became a lumberjack at the end because it was too successful to just end when the story showed up I never knew Dexter was a hit

no Dexter was a huge hit that's why it ran that many seasons like that's the defining hit of Showtime wow well the Lithgow season was fantastic I still stand by the Lithgow season the rest of it is not age well it's not if you see it see it, uh, it may, it definitely ran too long. Where, where do you stand on vinyl? How many have you seen? I've seen either five or six. I'm mixed on it. There are parts of it. I like a lot. There are parts of it that just make me roll my eyes and think like, okay, I've seen this 10 million times in either Scorsese movies or other cable dramas, you know, of the last 10, 15 years. But, you know, Cannavale is really going for it.

When they do the music scenes, they're incredible. I like Juno Temple a lot. And so I'm sort of, and Terry Winter, the guy who co-created it, did Boardwalk Empire. And that was a show that was always better by the end of the season than the start. So I'm hopeful that, you know, when we get to 10, I'll feel like, okay, that was vinyl. That made sense.

People vs. OJ is everything I've ever wanted from a pop culture experience. Peeking with Malcolm Jamal Warner as A.C. Callings. I did not like the third episode. Now I'm worried. Have you seen all of them? I've seen six. How many are there? It gets better as it goes along. Oh, good.

Okay. How do you feel about the Kardashian stuff? seen all of them i've seen six how many gets better as it goes along oh good okay all right well how do you feel about the kardashian stuff i know why they did it i i you know having lived through it as you did that the kardashian was never that big of a part of the whole thing i mean he was there for the first part of it but i never remember really thinking about him that much i mean who was the one that lost kind of his social standing? That was Shapiro, right? Yeah, Shapiro struggled with that a little bit. Yeah.

I mean, I just felt like he was so much more integral to the whole OJ story. But I mean, not so much Bob Kardashian, but the fact that he takes the kids out to Father's Day brunch and lectures them about fame and they don't get it. The show keeps bringing on little baby Chloe and little baby Kim. No, I know. I know why they're doing it.

It's annoying. I can't say I dislike it, though, because anytime they're all in a scene, I get kind of excited. I love when Schwimmer was like, don't talk about your Uncle Juice that way. And just Schwimmer saying Uncle Juice is incredible and probably what we should have named the ringer if I had to do it over again I would have called it UncleJuice.com

but Schwimmer's been everything I wanted he's my MVP through three episodes every Schwimmer scene makes me laugh he's really as you said about Carnival, Schwimmer's really going for it for some reason. I don't know why.

He made $200 million from Friends. I don't totally get why this is a big thing for him, but I think he thinks it is, which I enjoy. Cuba Gooding is ludicrous as OJ. He's just ludicrous. He's a good seven inches smaller than OJ was and not physically imposing it anyway. Who would you have cast as OJ?

I'm trying to think who's the right age and the right size. Because, I mean, OJ, like you say, he was a god. He was tall. He had a much deeper voice than Cuba Gooding. Cuba's not a good casting choice other than a vaguely high-profile guy

who was willing to do it but you know you know who's great in it and who you're gonna get a lot more of starting this week's episode is Courtney B. Vance as Johnny Cochran

oh great yeah he feels like the Emmy candidate out of everyone Sarah Paulson's been really good too him and Sarah Paulson are the two best things

in the miniseries don't you think Dennis Haysbert like 13 years ago would have been a great oj yeah but now he's much too old he's too old now but i'm saying that's who they they needed whoever 2016's dennis haisbert is big physically imposing a little bit quiet but looks like he might snap but he also has the ability to be very congenial. I don't know who that actor is.

One of, I think, Fantasy said Morris Chestnut would have been interesting. Well, Ricky was always the bigger of the two friends. Yeah, because he had a football legacy and all that stuff. You like The Grinder. I do. Is this the one with Rob Lowe or the one with Stamos? No, no.

Grandfather is the one with Stamos. Grinder is Rob Lowe and Fred Savage. And I mean, part of it's just I'm so damn glad to have Fred Savage back acting. He's a good comedy director and, you know, more power to him for doing that for so long. But I watch him in this and I just watch him getting frustrated with Rob Lowe being Rob Lowe. And he's so funny. And I'm just so glad that he decided to do it again. Last question.

I stopped watching Walking Dead. Did I make the right choice? Absolutely. Okay. What went wrong? It's fine, but there are so many other shows out there that are better than it that anyone who wants to walk away from it, I do not blame you in the slightest. Is it fair to say that they did the Jersey Shore thing

where they just had a great thing and they just went for it and overproduced episodes and tried to extract as much as they possibly could out of it, but long-term it hurt the show. I mean, the comic book's still going, and the comic book's still hitting. They still keep drawing storylines from it, and the ratings are huge. But it feels like the best stuff they always do is when they do their own thing and don't copy from the comic. And they're doing less and less of that as the years go on.

So the source material is not great. Are the ratings still as big as they were or are they going down? They're down a little bit, but it's still huge. Like anyone else in television would weep to have a show this successful. Yeah, maybe I'm overthinking it. It's too bleak. I've seen enough zombies get killed. I've seen enough machetes go through heads.

And I've seen enough gunshots to the forehead. And I've seen enough, hey, let's go to the hardware store. No, we shouldn't. No, let's go. And then, oh, my God, there's zombies there. I don't know how many times you can do it. Were you watching in the fall even? That's when I, they started piling up on the DVR.

There should be a name for this. When you get, all of a sudden, there's three shows in the DVRR and it's almost like you know you're going to break up with the show. But you don't want to tell the show yet. And then there's like those two extra ones that end up on the DVR and then finally you delete it from the season pass. That's where I ended up last fall. DVR remorse? Something like that? Yeah.

We can come up with something. There's something where you just go. But yeah, no, that's something like that. Yeah. We can come up with something. There's something where you just go. But yeah, no, that's an absolute thing. Yeah. Because like billions, two of them piled up on my DVR and I kind of reached a breaking point of I could bail right now and I'm like, eh, kind of what I like. Axe. I want to see what's going on with Axe.

It's a great name. Axe Capital. Anything you're looking forward to coming out in the next week, two weeks, month, whatever? I'm trying to think. We sort of just went through the big surge of premieres,

but I'm just looking at my notes here coming up. Thrones is coming. Well, Game of Thrones, we still have a while until, but Americans is coming back next month. That's still one of the best shows on TV so i'm psyched about that um but yeah thrones this will be the first year where there's no book so everyone's in the same boat which i'm looking forward to all right alan's up and while check him out on hitfix.com as always oh last thing uh are you are you upset they didn't trade Mello or no?

Mello doesn't want to be traded. I wish he wanted to be traded. It would be so much better for the Knicks, for him, for everybody. Mello likes New York. Lala likes New York. And maybe if Kurt Rambis is as bad a coach as he seems to be so far, the season will end so badly that Mello will finally agree to be traded because it's not working out here, and he's too old. This is Porzingis' team now, and you need to build around him

and not around a 32-year-old guy with bum knees. Yet again, more bleak times for the Knicks. It just never ends. At least you have Porzingis. No, no, we have Porzingis. Yeah, we have Porzingis. So eventually things will be okay. It's just not now.

Now it's terrible. All right. Alan Sepinwall, thank you poor zingas. So eventually, things will be okay. It's just not now. Now it's terrible. Yeah. All right. Alan Sepinwall, thank you. Thanks, Bill. Thanks to SoFi.com for sponsoring today's show. Unlike the big banks, SoFi is designed for the 21st century. They're progressive, nimble, and innovative.

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More announcements to come this week on The Ringer. Stay tuned for those. And we will see you later in the week on the BS Podcast. Enjoy Monday. We about this bitch. Anytime y'all want to see me again, rewind this track right here. way on Monday.