The Bill Simmons Podcast - Ep. 70: NBA w/ Joe House and Kirk Goldsberry

Episode Date: February 29, 2016

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons brings on Joe House to break down Saturday's GSW-OKC matchup and Curry's game winner (6:00), defend LeBron's '09-'15 run (10:30), discuss Curry's defense (16:00), and debate whether Steph entertains on an MJ or Bird level (24:00). Then, friend and former Grantlander Kirk Goldsberry joins to talk about three-point-line possibilities (36:00), Curry's ridiculous range (48:00), Kevin Love's anachronistic game (56:00), and whether the NBA should expand the courts (1:00:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode of the BS podcast is brought to you by SeatGeek, our presenting sponsor and favorite app for buying and selling tickets for sports and music. Go to SeatGeek.com slash BS to start using SeatGeek and don't forget to download the free SeatGeek app and our promo code BS. SeatGeek sends you 20 bucks upon your first purchase. Today's episode is also brought to you by Trunk Club. They take the hassle out of shopping by finding the best clothes for you and your style. Go to trunkclub.com slash BS and answer questions about your style preferences and size.

You'll be assigned an expert stylist who takes it from there. Get started and Trunk Club will style you for free, even better free shipping. Only pay for the clothes you keep. Go to trunkclub.com slash BS. And finally, today's podcast is brought to you by my new website, The Ringer. Don't forget to subscribe to our upcoming newsletter, which launches in about two weeks at theringer.com. Let's go.

We've been doing a lot of Monday rolling lately. We are rolling on Monday. Kurt Goldsberry, my old Grantland colleague, is coming up later right now. Joe House. Saturday night's Warriors. Thunder game. Three, I think three years ago, you just forwarded me the link. Three years ago, I wrote that the Bulls Miami game, when the Bulls broke Miami's 27 game winning streak at the end of March, 2013 was the greatest regular season game ever played

because it was a true playoff game. There were real playoff stakes. Miami was going a hundred percent full tilt and Chicago was also going 100% full tilt, trying to stop them. Great location in Chicago. Awesome game. Couldn't imagine it being topped. Did Saturday night, Warriors-Thunder, did that top it for you?

I loved the drama of Saturday night. I still think that Bulls-Miami game, because of the streak and what was at stake, still ranks slightly ahead of it, but that does not diminish at all what we witnessed Saturday night. And I really feel like we witnessed something. I agree with you. I don't think the stakes were quite as high, although I did really like there was a point in that fourth quarter when it became really clear that OKC was going to be a problem for Golden State in the playoffs just because of the Westbrook-Durant combo, which we knew already. But it's just a team that can go

toe-to-toe and throw some haymakers and throw some uppercuts and take a couple punches and throw one back. And that's the type of team, I just think from a talent standpoint, you're going to need just a crap load of talent to even hang with this Warriors team. They have two of the best five players in the league. So I was recalibrating my ceiling for them, and then they fell apart in the last minute of regulation. Now I don't know what to think. What did you take away from OKC from that game?

Well, a week ago, we were rolling on a regulation. Now I don't know what to think. What did you take away from OKC from that game? Well, a week ago, we were rolling on a Monday. I expressed skepticism about the Thunder's ability to compete with Golden State in the way that they showed Saturday night. And the reason

I was skeptical is because I doubted their ability to play the kind of defense that they showed through really the entire game and the overtime. I thought their defense was extraordinary. I thought they were physical. I liked very much how crowded the lane felt. Pardon me. I liked your cough.

Are you still sick? Yeah, I'm still sick. I'm almost done with it. I had a very... I didn't mean to interrupt you. I had a soul-clearing run yesterday morning. Okay, good. Fluids came out of virtually every orifice.

Well, wait a second. I feel much better now. You're saying that you love the OKC defense. To me, the coaching really made me nervous. It brought me back to Scott Brooksland. I didn't understand why he was playing Kyle Singler down the stretch. I didn't understand some of the lineups. There was chances to go offense, defense,

and maybe bring Cantor in to try to score on the undersized lineup. I would have played the rookie point guard. I like the rookie point guard. All of those things are fine points. They don't take away from how good the defense was. And the single, the only thing you didn't mention that was the single most, and I haven't yet had a chance to run through the stories. I didn't see any yesterday.

You have to call timeout when Durant's trapped. He's standing in front of you. He's barely 10 feet away. Run your ass onto the court and call timeout. The refs are watching Durant hold the ball in that moment. Get on the court and call timeout, Billy Donovan. Great play by Golden State to not foul, which always works in the NBA and teams never do it. I'm so spoiled by watching President Brad Stevens because he'll call timeouts.

The moment he doesn't like something, he'll run on the court and call timeout. And it's not just a play like that. It'll be on offense when the first play they're running in the last minute doesn't work. And he'll just come on the court and call timeout with nine seconds left on the shot clock. It's going to be a do-over. By contradistinction, what I was really super impressed by was Coach Kerr did not call timeout for either of the game-ending possessions. Neither regular time nor overtime did he call timeout to run an offense. They secured the ball in the backcourt there with, what, three and a half seconds left?

Maybe three seconds left before they advanced it up to AI. Yeah. And by the way, the degree of difficulty for the steal, like Draymond's ability to get up off the floor, save the ball inbounds to Thompson, Thompson's catch, Thompson seeing AI at the three-point line and advancing it, it was, you know, an 11 out of 10, the degree of difficulty for that play. It was, it was, uh, you know, uh, an 11 out of 10, the degree of difficulty for that play. It was awesome. One to trap them without fouling them, two to get the steal, three for Draymond to

save the ball while also not throwing it to Oklahoma city, which I'm not sure how he, how he pulled that off. And then the other, the other thing I was wondering when I'm watching stuff like this is Thompson knowing how much time was left. Because sometimes you see guys panic and they'll just shoot a half-court shot with like three seconds left. He must have glanced at the shot clock. Still, in the moment, perfectly calm and no timeout by Kerr. Yeah, it was great. It was great.

So before we get to the Curry part of this, my takeaway from OKC is that all the stuff I saw that I didn't like is fixable. They have a lot of time to fix it. Fundamentally, the Durant-Westbrook combo can go toe-to-toe with this team. And now they just have to figure out who are the people to put with them. Because if they call a timeout with seven seconds left, they just win the game in regulation. They inbound the ball, Durant gets fouled, he makes two free throws, the game's over. So they were there.

And I don't know. I just think – Well, I still – I don't know how many more years we're going to go where it's crunch time and OKC has six or seven or eight consecutive possessions where they miss shots and don't get to the free throw line. Before Durant's three, I think they were either 0 for 6 or 0 for 7 from the field. All of those are, how about that one, the most important possessions of the game. The most important possessions of the game,

and they let the Thunder battle all the way back up right to the precipice. It still required two extraordinary plays for the Dubs to tie it up. But, you know, there needs to be something between those two transcendent, incandescent superstars inside of three minutes where they have a couple set pet plays that either get to the free throw line or get guys easy shots. I haven't looked at the shot chart. Maybe Kirk has, and you can ask him about this. But why are they 0 for 6 or 0 for 7 inside the last two and a half minutes of the game?

And that's where, if you have a chance to go offense-defense even once, just what somebody like Cantor brings to the table for them at least makes you think about it. It opens the floor a little bit. I don't know. In OT, it was just Westbrook going one-on-one, which I never felt great about. He's a great player.

They damn near won. I mean, they were throwing three guys at him. They weren't even guarding Roberson. Well, that was the thing that I was most impressed by. The layup that he got Roberson with, what, 10 seconds left or whatever it was? Great cut. That's a play that I want to see inside of two minutes out of OKC. That's a pet play, a set play they should be able to run. With both Durant and Westbrook on the floor at the same time. Yeah, that's what I like that. That's good stuff. One thing I don't totally love about this

Curry thing, which I love every single thing about it. let's not throw dirt on how great LeBron was. I don't like when we just jump to the next guy. LeBron from 2009 to 2013 had one of the greatest five-year runs in the history of the league and cemented his place in the all-time pantheon and is one of the seven best players ever and from 09 to 2013 he averaged a 28 8 and 7 in the regular season with a 30 plus pr play throwing dirt i this i'm just making the point playoffs 20 28 9 and 6 uh 29.1 pr played 42.4 minutes per game during that five-year playoff run. Four MVPs and two finals MVPs. I'm just reminding America. LeBron was incredible. And I know Curry is the best shooter we've ever seen. Curry's amazing. Curry's going to win back-to-back

MVPs. Everybody wins with their... Everybody's got their hoops head on, right? I'm just making sure. He hasn't cracked the top 20 yet of all time. No. LeBron's inside the top 10. Yeah.

I don't like the, we've never seen anything like this. You can say we've never seen a shooter like this. Well, we've never seen a shooter like this, and we've never seen an offensive magician like this. But I just pay respect to LeBron. LeBron is amazing. It's not disrespectful to LeBron to enjoy Steph, but I guess maybe there is a creeping, you know,

once a week now I've got to talk about recency bias, this creeping feeling like, you know, are we ready to thrust Steph inside the top 15 or top 10 all time? And obviously that's premature. I did love quite a bit, my main man Nate Duncan confirmed this, Steph's game Thursday night against Orlando leading into the Friday night game was the most efficient 50-point game in the history of National Basketball Association. You'll never guess who has the second most efficient 50-point game.

Paul McKeskey? No, Dana Barrows. Oh, wow. I might have actually watchedpoint game. Paul McKeskey? No, Dana Barrows. Oh, wow. I might have actually watched that game. All right, now that I just laid that LeBron thing down quickly, I just want to say Steph Curry is unbelievable. Yeah.

I mean, this is like every story I've heard about Maravich, if Maravich got red hot, it's just been like this for the entire season. And what was weird is when he pulled up from 35 in OT, I thought he was going to make it. Didn't you think he was going to make it? I really thought he was going to make it. If you paused it and said, bet your life, is this going in or not? I would have said, I bet my life it's going in. I smiled. I was sitting there watching.

I got a big grin on my face as he was, you know, rising up, as he was pulling himself, collecting himself and rising. I was like, ah! And I couldn't believe that they didn't play up on him more. And yet it's just ludicrous that you would ever play up on anyone who's 35 feet from the basket. It was so funny as Roberson caught himself that half step. He was doing what his basketball brain has taught him to do

the entirety of his basketball life, which is it's okay to retreat past the hash mark. And you see the moment where he realizes, I've taken a half step too far. I need to sprint back out, and it's just too late. So Steph in February 10 games is averaging 36.7 points a game. 7.3

assists, 5.6 rebounds. His splits, 55 from the field. 55%. 54% from the three front line. 88% from the foul line. He's averaging 6.7 made three-pointers this month. And he has vaulted himself back into my favorite club

that he has single-handedly created, which we talked about in a podcast, I think late November or early December. The What the Fuck Club. Oh! 30 points, six assists, five reb rebounds and five made threes per game it's the 36 5 5 club it doesn't exist it doesn't exist in the planet he created it uh and he's taking 11 threes a game which is amazing uh yeah he's also just in case you're wondering

oh yeah he's also having the 50 40 90 season90 season. He has the highest PR of all time. So that's just a quick stat check-in. But, I mean, I really can't imagine him doing better than this. This has to be a career year, right? You can't top this. I do feel like this is it. This is the peak. This is the apex.

It feels like it's untoppoppable How would he top it? What would he start making threes with his dick? What else could happen? It could be 50-50-90 50-50-95 55-55-95 I guess The thing that

LeBron was so great at his absolute apex, but it was the little stuff. Like, I reread the piece I wrote about when the Heat's win streak ended. Yeah. And there was that play. He did it twice near the end of that game where he let Heinrich go by him. Yes. And then blocked the layup two times in a row.

I remembered it when I read it. Yeah, yeah, remember that? He was so great that he had figured out these little nuances, and those things are more subtle and harder to pick up for casual basketball fans, whereas what Curry is doing is stuff like that my 8-year-old son can just figure out and enjoy and completely appreciate. And I think that's why he's resonated like he has with everybody.

In fairness, it will be an accurate, I guess if you have to come up with a criticism, I hate to criticize, he does have the luxury of taking defensive possessions off. The teams have not yet punished him, figured out a way to punish him. He was on Westbrook a fair amount, but he wasn't on Westbrook to the extent that it had the effect of taking his legs away, which was one of the ways that folks were trying to come up with. How do you beat the Warriors? How do you slow down Steph Curry?

By the way, you just described Bird and Magic. Which is in what respect? They always were hidden on the least threatening offensive player on the other team. I mean, it's smart if the guy's not an elite defender and you're saving their legs a little bit. But I think what he has in common with Bird and Magic is he's active. He gets a couple steals a game, but he's also— Crucial, too.

Crucial steals. Not wasted steals. Like, important time of game steals. Right. But he's in the moment. And even if they're hiding him a little bit, he's always ready to pounce. And you saw it at the end when they had that great tip by that great tip by Draymond they get the rebound and Curry's off like he's running to his spot and he's in the moment moving it was a little chaotic there's like seven guys bunched together and he's

and he's just always there I think he's omnipresent and that's what Bird was like Bird wasn't the great defender but he was always kind of roaming and and he was there, and he was involved, and he was just ready to pounce at all times. And Magic was like that too. And, you know, I think from an offensive standpoint, first of all, he's kind of top to what Nash did, which I didn't think was possible. Because when we watched Nash 10 years ago, he'd be like,

Jesus, my God. Yeah, the triple threat. This guy is just so efficient. He's so good. He's so good at making everybody else better. Curry makes people better because he's so good and from the spacing and all that stuff. But there's a confidence that he gives now.

That Warriors team really just feels like they're going to win every game. It's so weird. I thought they were going to lose that game probably a dozen different times. I thought the Warriors were going to lose that game at least double-digit times. They kept missing layoffs. Draymond was 0 for 8 from the field. He was terrible. They got crushed on the boards.

They got annihilated on the boards. By the way, that's a really bad sign for them. I'm glad you brought that up. That doesn't bode well for their playoff destiny if you're just thinking about they're going to rip through the playoffs. You can't get out-rebounded like that in the playoffs. I don't think. They were out-rebounded by 30.

And by the way, that is exactly the formula that Cleveland used to almost be three games up in last year's finals. We have to keep reminding ourselves. That series almost, but for Kyrie's injury, and honestly LeBron missing a makeable, not making a play at the end of, I think it was game two.

Right. The Cavs were very close to being up three games to none. They controlled pace and controlled the boards. The Warriors had a little deer in the headlights in those first couple games, though. For sure. For sure. And it requires a composition of talent. Now, I think OKC, I was really impressed.

That Adams-Cancer combo. Yeah. Pretty good. I like this OKC team. I really think that the pieces are there to give the Warriors a lot of trouble. And I love the fact that, like, a couple good things, right? They can play good defense, even though they gave up, what, 115 or 120 points that game. That's just pace.

That's just pace. They can get stops. They have Durant who can go toe-to-toe with Curry at any time. They have Westbrook who athletically is a tough one for Curry. It's like

trying to tackle some crazy running back 40 times a game. Even if it wears him down 5%, that really helps. They got a lot of different options. It's a flexible team. They can go small, big, stuff like that. I'm not sure if the coach can figure out all those options, but they're there.

And then they can rebound. That rebounding thing is a real thing. I want to look at the box score. How many minutes did Payne play? How can that be? I don't understand why he did it that way unless he's saving that. There's a chance he's just saving it. He didn't want to show it.

He didn't want to pull it out. DNP, coach's decision. Payne. Payne. Wow, DNP. I didn't realize he was DNP'd. Who we've seen the most interesting spark from the last 15 games, a month and a half, right?

Well, what's funny about it is— As a burgeoning weapon. Yeah, and it moves Westbrook to shooting guard, which, you know, not technically shooting guard, but yeah, shooting guard. And I don't know. I like what he does for them. Maybe he's just waiting.

Maybe he didn't want to drop that one yet. This is your boy Dunham playing chess. I'm going to have to break that one out. Dunham playing chess. Or he's playing checkers in that explain the last whatever. Well, that call in timeout with his superstar six feet away in front of him, that's a checkered play. That was terrible.

The Warriors are 53-5. We're taping this on Monday morning West Coast time. They're 24-0 at home. The Spurs are 28-0 at home. Somehow those two teams combined are 52-0 at home, which is just inconceivable to me. The Warriors are averaging 115.4 points a game. God bless them.

They're making almost 13 threes a game. They're shooting 42% from three, which would be a record if we didn't have that stupid season in the mid-90s when they moved the line too close. They only have seven road games left. Did you know that? I did not know that. They have 17 at home and seven road games left. Oh. Did you know that? I did not know that. They have 17 at home and seven on the road.

And the toughest one is March 19th at San Antonio. Yeah. Well, we get the replay with OKC this coming Thursday. Right. That's in Golden State. I'm saying. Yeah, yeah. Oh, you're talking about the most difficult road game.

Yeah, I'm saying there's a chance they go to San Antonio, and San Antonio's going to be like 31-0 or 32-0 at home. And playing the Warriors. That's a Saturday night game, too. The other thing that's interesting about the Warriors is that they've beaten everybody that matters. Here are their five losses. They're all on the road.

Milwaukee, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Portland. See any contenders in there? I didn't. No. So they take care of business. This is what the 86 Celtics did. Yeah. The 86 Celtics were 67-15, but they killed all the good teams.

They beat the Lakers both times that year. I think they were something like 17-1 or 18-1 against the good teams, and they would lose to all the stupid teams. They would lose to the N teams. Like, they beat the Lakers both times that year. I think they were something like 17-1 or 18-1 against the good teams, and they would lose to all the stupid teams. They would lose to, like, the Nets. So, fingers crossed, San Antonio,

everybody's healthy. We get to see Duncan Ginobili and Parker all play. Is Ginobili going to be back? I hope so. Let's make PDs legal for him. Let's get him back.

PDs legal for all the Spurs. Well, look, it's leap day. Anything goes. Let's go ahead and let's get him a dose. Let's send him a dose today. There's no rules today. There'll be no record of it. It's leap day.

Four years ago and some change, you, me, and Kevin Wilds were in Indianapolis for the Super Bowl. And we did a podcast, and I introduced my theory about how on leap year, everything should go. There are no rules or laws on leap year. Today's the day. I know. Once every four years, it's just like no rules, no laws, no record, no newspapers. You were advocating for friendly chaos. Yeah, and both of you were frightened by it

because you didn't think it was friendly enough. And I was like, no, no, you can do whatever you want on Leap Year. And we went back and forth on it. And then like a year and a half later, The Purge came out. I basically laid out the entire blueprint for The Purge. It's on there. You can see it. It's somewhere in the ground.

You went for a verbal trademark, and it's a shame that we didn't get it up and running for this one. I do love the horror franchise where the movie only comes out on leap day once every four years. Yeah, I got to trademark that one. Yeah, every four years the killer comes back and goes in a sorority house, takes out everybody there, just takes out like 25 people and then disappears again.

Well, I'd like it if there was a cult of kids born on leap year day because we had a hard time with that. What if you're born on today? Do you exist? No, you don't exist. So that's got to be part of the plot for the horror movie, right?

All these kids that don't exist. Do you... Last question, and then we're going to go to Goldsberry. Yeah. Has Curry reached a point to you that Bird and MJ reached when you're just watching them day to day? Yes.

And let's include LeBron. LeBron was must-see TV, just because you were worried about, you know, people throwing dirt. LeBron was must-see TV for quite a bit of that Miami run. He was. There's some sort of one higher level that Curry reached in him as an offensive player, though. Okay. All right. The sheer enjoyment of watching.

You have to set aside these three hours. I love the email that our mutual pal Hershey sent Saturday night about the lengths he went to to clear out his house. So there was not one single possession interrupted. That was funny. He's going to be mad you mentioned that, but I don't care. Now, I think the difference with Curry and LeBron is that LeBron could get there a couple times. He got there in Game 6 against Boston in 2012. And he got there in that nine-minute stretch at the end of Game 6 in the 2013 Finals, where he would just take over and he was awesome. Curry is routinely ripping the heart out of the opponents and he's better on the road, which I love

because that's what Bird was like, where it's like knowing that these people are coming to see him only once or twice a year, he feels like he's got to put on a show. The way he's affected, like when you watch the OKC bench as he's lining up that three, it's like none of them, like all of them kind of saw it coming. It was a super old school bench reaction. It was like, oh my, like that's what Bird was like.

And that's what Jordan was like too when you think of like Jordan in the 98 finals when he made the game winner against Utah in game one, which was the forgotten great Jordan show. Or 97, I'm sorry. When Malone got the MVP, he missed the two free throws in the finals in game one. And Jordan came down and hit the game winner. And we're all watching that game going, Jordan's going to hit the game winner. I don't know if LeBron ever got quite to that point,

and I don't think Kobe did either. Yeah, Steph is different because anything is possible. 35-footer to win the game. I mean, it's incredible when you go through sort of regular old basketball logic. What do teams do when they get possession with a game tied in overtime on the road? The very first thing they do is call timeout. Right. So you advance the ball to half court and have plenty of time

to run something, run some set play that gets you a super you know, the most optimal efficiency-wise close to the basket as possible shot. Not Golden State because they have Steph Curry. And Steph's immediate retelling of the mandate that he had from Coach,

well, Coach said if we get the rebound and I can push, that I should just go ahead and push up comfortably. And I didn't really know how far away I was from the basket. I just was counting dribbles and getting myself to where I could rise up rise up comfortably. I felt pretty good. You know, they showed Kerr and Kerr seen some unbelievable moments, right? Like he was there for the second for the post-baseball MJ run. And even he looked like kind of shocked, like not even shocked. I shocks the wrong word. It was more like kind of in awe. It's just just like I just can't I can't believe I get the wrong word. It was more like kind of in awe.

It's just like I can't believe I get to coach you. It was the same look he would have with MJ. Like, I can't believe I get to play with you. It was the same type of thing. And I don't—LeBron is the greatest two-way player I've ever seen, and he's one of the seven greatest players I've ever seen. I don't remember him evoking that kind of reaction from people on a day-to-day basis. It's never been the case with LeBron where you felt like

he is going to win this game right now. He's going to win this game right here in this moment. And there's nothing you can do. I mean, he can put his head down and get to the line. And occasionally he'd get hot from outside, things like that. But this is like one other level that I don't really remember him getting to regularly. You know? Anyway.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it would have been surprising if Steph had missed. You know the other thing? God, now this is like turning into a Stephgasm. I wish Jim Nance was there. It always does. Another Curry eruption! That was Mike Breen.

But yeah, great Mike Breen, who was somehow like a split second ahead of the feed, which I kind of enjoyed. Bang! He was ahead of the feed. How did that happen? It made me so happy. I knew it was going to happen.

But the other thing that Steph doesn't get enough credit for is how great he is when these guys jump out at him and just kind of navigating and shooting these weird reverse layups and running floaters and like all the shit Nash used to do. But he's kind of mastered it. I've never read the right story on how he's mastered these little off one leg, off balance, all the, he just, he does, he finishes beautifully. Yeah. It does. The degree of difficulty on his finishes for the most part, you know, are, are, are incredible. They shouldn't go in. They're half the time. You're like, that should hit the rim and go out.

Exactly. And the last thing I'll mention is that he hit 12 threes in that game. And I think we've become numb to those numbers at this point. But just think about that. Like if Bradley Beal came back for the Wizards tonight and made 12 threes, like you'd lose your effing mind. You'd have a heart attack. It would be insane.

Oh, my God. Bradley Beal hit 12 threes. I can't believe it. And Curry just hit like 10 and then he hit 12 in back-to-back games. I would like them one time. It's not in their DNA. They would never believe it. And Curry just, he hit like 10 and then he hit 12 in back-to-back games. I would like them one time. It's not in their DNA. They would never do it. But the silly record

that he keeps sharing with, you know, other guys. Yeah, just get it. Just go for the 13, Steph. Exactly. Just go get 15. That's true.

How hard is that? Go get 16. That's four a quarter. Come on. Yeah. Man, 12's really hard. Go get 16. That's four a quarter. Come on. Yeah. Go do it. Man, 12 is really hard. 12 is incredible.

It took overtime. The other thing, I don't like this whole thing about, we're going to talk to Goldsberry about this, about people panicking now and should they move the line, all this stuff. Like, Steph Curry's a freak. Like, you can't move the line just because he's a freak. Oh, no.

That's a silly thing to say. Don't move the line? It's like when freak. Oh, no. That's a silly thing to say. Don't move the line. It's like when they would talk about raising the basket with Shaq. Oh, we got to raise the basket. It's like, what? Shut up. Yeah. No.

Definitely not. All right, House. Everything's good. Hey, it was fun. I hope you survive the rest of the day. Did you enjoy Chris Rock's Oscars performance or no? I didn't love it. I don't like the Oscars performance or no? I didn't love it.

I don't like the Oscars. I like movies, but the three-hour, three-and-a-half-hour jerk-off is just too much. The self-importance has gotten to me at this stage of my life. Where it's like, yeah, you guys, you're not exactly curing cancer here. I'm glad it's Spotlight 1. It was... It's a crucial subject and I appreciate the good thumbs up that journalism got out of it, but otherwise I'm not a big fan of the Oscars.

They knew! They knew, Robbie! I was so glad they played that for Ruffalo. I predicted it. I predicted it months ago. I predicted it again last week, and then they ran that part for his Oscars thing. Yeah, that was great. Leonard Nimoy was a shock as the hammer for the death montage.

Did not see that one coming. I thought it was going to be Omar Sharif anyway. Yeah, I like that, the odds you had there. House, I hope your seven-week cold finally clears up so you don't cough on next week's podcast. Talk to you later. I'm going to do my best. Hopefully it'll coincide with another Washington Almost Bullets winning streak.

We're pushing up on the playoffs. Markeith Morris likes the chemistry. See you later. Say hey to Goldsberry for me. Love that guy. All right, I will. All right, great. We're going to call Goldsberry, but before we do, to run a successful business,

you need to make the most of your time and your money. That's why LegalZoom is such a savvy way to start your business. Right now, when you incorporate or form an LLC, you'll save money on some of the basics to get up and running, like a three-month trial of QuickBooks Online accounting software or a domain name for a year through Web.com, both at no charge. After your business is set up, LegalZoom can help with a lot more. Reviewing contracts and dealing with day-to-day legal hurdles takes time away from growing your business. That's why LegalZoom's business legal plan is for you.

You get legal advice for your business from independent attorneys licensed in 48 states. You also get access to NDAs, lease agreements, and more. You won't get charged by the hour because LegalZoom is not a law firm. Instead, you pay a low monthly fee. Save time and money starting and running your business during National Small Business Month. I didn't realize it was National Small Business Month. Wow.

At LegalZoom.com. Go there today. Don't forget to enter BS in the referral box at checkout. And while we're here, let's also talk about Slender Tone. If you're like me, you love exercising, you love walking around, you love getting your blood going. Maybe you don't love going to the gym. Maybe you don't love doing sit-ups.

So why not get some help with your ab workouts? Use Slender Tone Connect Abs to actively tone and tighten your abs. Slender Tone's abdominal toning belt is controlled via a smart app that creates your personal training plan. It tracks your workouts. It sends customized tips to keep you motivated. I know I need to be motivated with this stuff. Their EMS technology sends deep pulses that engage your stomach muscles, causing them to flex and contract, just like in regular exercise, giving you a stronger core.

You can even watch TV as you're doing it. Oh yeah. Join the 100% of users that reported firmer, more toned abs with real results in six weeks. There's even a money back guarantee. Visit slendertone.com today. Receive 20% off using offer code BS at checkout. Once again, slendertone.com, offer code BS. And now, my friend, Kirk Goldsberry. All right. My old Grantland buddy, Kirk Goldsberry, who has disappeared from the Internet. He's disappeared except for his family and his friends. He's been working. He's been doing stuff. He's been up to stuff. But now he's here to talk about Steph Curry and three-point lines and where the basketball sport is going.

How are you? I'm great, Bill. Thanks for having me on. It's great to be back on the internet. I've missed it for a while, but it's good to make an appearance. It's great to be back on the internet. I like how you put that. Can you say what you're up to or are you not allowed? No, I could say. Yeah, I made a career change. I'm very excited. I'm working with the Spurs. I can't say too much because of that. But, you know, I continue to live in Austin and do NBA stuff. I'm really excited to work with this team. And most of it I'll just learn from them.

But I'm really also just sort of excited to watch a season unfold participating on the team side. But, yeah, I'm also here because of what happened on Saturday night just blew my mind. And I'm giving a lecture at the Sloan Conference, like I normally do, next Friday about the three-point line. I thought it'd be a perfect chance to sort of talk with you and pick your brain about how I think that's going. All right, so this is a preview of your Sloan conference talk in Boston on Friday.

Three-point line. I just said to House, I hate when somebody's doing extraordinarily well at something and then there's an overreaction that we have to somehow change the rules to kind of accommodate for what's happening here. I don't think we should change the rules with Steph Curry because Steph Curry has kind of mastered shooting, for lack of a better word. But your point is it's some of the other guys that are kind of ruining the three-point line,

and maybe that's why we should fix it. So make your case. So, yeah, like Mark Cuban and other people that have come out recently, I don't think this is about Steph Curry at all either. But I do think it's time for the NBA to at least consider moving the line. I do think that, you know, I wrote two things on Grantland about this one, about is it time to move it back in 2014? And the other one was about how the three-point line has killed the power forward. And it's that second one that I think is really important to consider. So a couple of points I wanted to run by you on that is,

you know, Kevin Love is shooting 6.23s per game this year. He's supposed to be a power forward. In his entire career, Reggie Miller averaged more than 6.23s per game once when the arc was shortened. So we have a player like Kevin Love shooting as many threes as Reggie Miller used to. In fact, more than Reggie Miller usually did. And same with Dennis Scott. Do we really want our power forwards out there shooting threes?

And I think it's about the rank and file ho-hum three-point shooters. It's certainly not about the clays and reddicks and best of the world. And I think that's what is sort of driving me to think about, should we move the line so there's less of that? So, I mean, there's two separate things going on here with the power forward position. One is you're almost better off sticking your power forward behind the three-point line if he can make even 35% of his threes.

That's something Boston has been trying with Sollinger for two years and then finally kind of gave up on, on him launching those. But, um, what's, what's weird to me is that we still have a lot of power forwards in basketball and yet they can't play nearly as many minutes as they used to. And you can't kind of put them, you can't play nearly as many minutes as they used to. And you can't kind of put them, you can't play two power forwards together. You can't play a power forward in a center really, unless those guys are really above average.

And you're seeing the, the David Lee, Tyler Zeller, all these type of guys, they just can't find minutes. Now, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Maybe that's just where the game is changing.

Maybe it's gravitating toward those athletes who are from 6'4 to 6'7 over the taller rebounder guys. No, 100%. I'm not here to advocate either way. It's way above my pay grade to make that kind of assertion. But the other indictment I think here is the fact that the Clippers play so well without Blake Griffin, who's unquestionably probably

one of the top five in his position in the league. They don't miss a beat when he's off the court. What does that say? Are they better off with a guy who just stands behind the three-point line and then running pick-and-rolls with Chris and DeAndre? That's the kind of thing I've been thinking about.

I don't know if we want that or not, but I do think the fact that the league is going to set a record this year by taking 28% of its shots from downtown, so to speak, when just 10 or 15 years ago it was 16%. I think that we should really address that before it gets out of hand. Because the other thing, Bill, is like it's not a static thing. Like it's a trend upward. percent um i think that that we should really address that before it gets out of hand because the other thing bill is like it's not a static thing like it's a trend upwards and i think at this point it's really just it's a good time to take the temperature and be like do we want this to be like college hoops where a third of the shots are from beyond the arc or do you want to

intervene it's definitely ruined college basketball for me i just don't think it's a very good product. I think the difference, there's a couple of differences this time around with the NBA. One is that the shooters are all better than we see in college. The line's closer in college, but I just think the mastery of being able to shoot on the run and the pull-ups from 25 feet, things like that are guys, things people in college can't do. The thing that I don't love, and I don't know if there's any way to change it at this point, because over the last 10 years, all we've heard is that three points

is better than two points, and people have kind of moved that way. But here's what I don't love. On fast breaks, guys cut out to the sides now. Yeah. Like, when we were growing up, the basketball we watched, even the basketball we played, and when you're playing pickup or whatever,

you're basically taught on a three-on-two to try to get a layup. And now the DNA is to just go for a three. And now on fast breaks, everybody's going to spaces that are behind the line i don't know how you change that i don't know if the if changing the three-point line changes that dna is it even possible at this point i don't know it's a really good thing yeah it's like it it's driven me crazy too it's like i don't want to see a guy what three on two that's when you see dunks so that's where you see really athletic plays or and ones. Now we see, you know, catch and shoot 25 foot shot.

But, you know, I think the league has really four options. And this is one of the ones I wanted to run by is the first option is to not doing it, do anything. A lot of people aren't complaining. Not a big deal. But if they do decide to do something, I think there's three things they could do. The first thing is to get rid of the line. That's not going to happen.

The second thing is they can move it back in some fashion. And I've done a lot of analysis for this one thing on 25 feet, which is exactly half the width of the court. So it's at least justifiable from that sense. But the third thing, which is something I know you love from one random thing I wrote in Grantland was like allowing home teams to draw the line differently in their gym. So theoretically, the Grizzlies, who don't have a lot of historically great three-point shooting, could have a really far line and make teams sort of come into the two-point area to try to beat them. Or the Cavs, imagine if they had a 30-foot line. Imagine the finals with Golden State and Cleveland last year, where in Cleveland, the three-point shot is a very different thing than it is with Golden State and Cleveland last year where in Cleveland the three-point shot is a very different thing than it is in Golden State and that's pretty silly but I think it does demonstrate just how uniformity of the court uh has has played such a major role but you know I

think the I think the most realistic thing is they move it to 25 feet and when you look at that the top shooters in the game still shoot over 40%. Looking at shooting between 25 and 30 feet, like Redick shoots 46%, Curry shoots 44% in that band. It's not exactly a tough shot for those guys, but what you do see there are some of the Kevin Love types. So Kevin Love's efficiency drops to 31% beyond 25. Solinger is 27%. So if one goal is to stay on those fast breaks,

reduce some of those guys jumping out to the line well if you make the line a little further uh then those margins change and those guys might think it's better to attack the basket the carmellos the channing fries the all those guys shooting numbers drop in ways that the reddicks and curries don't you left out one other option. What's that? If you made it so that there were like two stretches of the game where nobody could shoot threes.

Maybe you said it's like the first, from the three-minute mark of the first quarter through the six-minute mark of the second quarter, and then same thing for the third and fourth quarter, just no threes. That's it. I love it. Or,

yeah. Or, or to get your point is like, if there's more than 20 seconds on the shot clock or 20 or 18 or something, there's no three pointers that gets rid of that fast break three that you hate. Um,

but yeah, there's, there's, no, no, no, I like the fast break three. I,

and I enjoy watching the pull-ups and some of the stuff Curry does. I just think it's weird that every time now guys just scatter left and right versus going toward the rim. I just don't know how you change that because I think they learned that in AAU in high school and college. I don't see how that's in the DNA now. Yeah, and to be fair, that's the right play. I mean, anybody would tell you that's the smart thing to do.

And I think the league, one of the things that's interesting is, yeah, now everybody's, all the players have obviously grown up with a three-point line. But just as importantly, all the coaches now have grown up with a three-point line. So you're seeing Steve Kerr, who obviously is a three-point shooter in his own right, teaching tactics to get more three-point lines, whether it's in transition or otherwise. But yeah, I guess I don't, again, I don't have a strong position here, but to the NBA's credit, one of the things they've done so well, and you know this as best as anyone, is they've messed with the rules. When something does, you know, they've created,

whether it's the perimeter touch rule, the restricted area. Let's not pretend that the NBA has been this static rule base. I mean, they've changed things to make the game better. But, yeah, I do think, like, there are things they can do in that sense to maintain an optimal balance between two-point scoring and three-point scoring. And again, I'm not arguing that three-point scoring is out of hand, but I'm arguing that it's heading in that direction. And I think the league should at least consider in the next few off-season ways to sort of temper that effect. You know, I'm looking at everybody who's averaged more than like six three-pointers a game. If you're making 34% of it, if you're taking six threes a game and you're making 34% of

them, didn't we just spend the last 10 Sloan conferences and a lot of this data is saying that that's better than shooting twos because even if you miss them you have a better chance of getting the long rebound yeah I mean I think that's the exact type of character that I will insert my opinion I think that's that's that's which we should target is and I you know I'll put a name on it Kevin Love who is undeniably one of the best rebounders of this generation, has been reduced, given the contemporary economics of basketball, he's been reduced to a spot-up shooter.

I'd love to see that guy or Sullinger on your team sort of return to their native habitat for their position. But, yeah, if you're shooting 34%, it's not a bad shot. I mean, you know, kiss Daryl Morey's ring as we go to Sloan. It's appropriate to bring it up. It's not a bad play. What is a bad play, unfortunately, is this area seven to 20 feet away from the basket where, you know, guys like Dirk lived or Bernard King or Alex English.

Unfortunately, those are the sort of the casualties of this era are a lot of, unless you're an unreal two point jump shooter, you know, it's hard to analytically justify a lot of shots in that area. And I think, I think that's pretty sad as somebody who grew up watching those guys, even Jordan to an extent, you know, he led the league in two point attempts most most of his career. I kind of think one provocative argument is to suggest if he were playing now, he'd be shooting a lot more threes. Is that

really what we love about Michael Jordan? Love to hear your thoughts on that. I think it's something that starts when you're 12. Ironically, the worst thing that's going to happen for all this is steph curry because he's the most popular player in 20 years and it's you you have a whole generation of kids who want to be him and part of being him is shooting threes what's funny is it's so much easier to emulate the threes with the curry experience and not the footwork of him driving house and i were talking about just how he's mastered much like nash did

the off balance off one leg the reverse layups the in motion the that feeling the guy the bigger guy against his body and cutting in front of him to get the contact for the layup. He's mastered that whole part of the game and yet nobody talks about that. They just talk about the threes. It might talk about his three-point shooting, but to your point, I'm sure you guys talked about this,

his handle is literally, if not the best, one of the top three or four in the league. And his ability, the sports science guys did a great job of looking at his release time a couple seasons ago he has the fastest release it's the whole apparatus from gathering his dribble to releasing this incredibly precise shot that's what it is it's the whole package it's not like that's what separates him even from his teammate clay is like he can get his shot unassisted the unassisted three-point shot is

really steph's signature move in my opinion just crossing somebody up getting space out of nowhere and letting the ball fly and then it goes in um and yeah certainly he is so popular for a reason because i think one of the most amazing things the only comparison i could really come up with is like tiger woods is his absolute peak. It's incredible to me that millions of people try to shoot a basketball every day, and there's this one person on the planet who is so much better at it than everybody else who tries it. And I think that he captivates it because everybody can relate to shooting a basketball. Even when Jordan and LeBron were at their absolute peaks, it's hard to relate to some of their feats.

But, you know, you can watch Steph shoot a 28-footer. That shot he hit the other night is big. Oh, my God. I can't even believe somebody would try that, let alone make that in that situation. I think that's why it's so incredible. But you have to remember the whole package from the playmaking ability he's developed, the handle, and the release time um but yeah like the craziest stat like i sent this to you on email over the weekend but as a whole the nba between 30 and 40

feet uh away from the basket essentially shooting 11.5 percent over the last two years um steph curry is shooting 44 percent in that area he He's 11-25 in that zone. He's literally expanding three points in front of our eyes. And it is marvelous to watch. You know, 30 years ago... By the way, the Steph-Tiger thing is a really good one because he comes along and he lengthened the course. Remember when they were talking about,

oh my God, what do we do about Augusta? Yeah, that's right. Tiger's ruining Augusta. He's turning these par fives into par fours and this isn't fair. And it's a little like what's happening now with Curry in the three-point line because it was inconceivable to everybody that somebody could hit the ball that far and that straight and just do it over and over and over again. And then his second drive is 10 feet from the pin.

It's like our second shot. And like, what do we do? But 30 years ago, nobody took 200 three-pointers in a season. Bird led the league with 194 attempts and made 82 of them. Steph is going to make 82 in Februaryary it's on pace yeah incredible but uh oh no actually he won't because it's a short month but maybe he could have if it was a 31 day month but uh you know i i just look at guys like like i'm watching college right now right because the celtics have a top five pick. Ben Simmons can't shoot.

And in the old days, you would have said, oh, he does so many other things. This is great. And nowadays, it's like if you have a guy who can't shoot, you're playing four on five. And the other teams are just like, you watch what happened with Roberson on Saturday night. The other team is just, they're not even thinking about him.

Then he's got to figure out how to keep cutting the basket and keep them honest, all this stuff. If you're playing three on five, which sometimes the Clippers have done with DeAndre and Mababute together, it's just, it's so easy to stop now. So maybe part of this is, do we have to change the defenses, the defense rules a little bit? There's smarter people than me who have looked at the

perimeter touch rules, and they argue that's the real shift that's happened in the NBA landscape, and that's compelling. I mean, the Tigers, just to come back to it, the reason that came into my mind was, I'm not even a golf fan. I just remember the 2000 U.S. Open. He won by 15 strokes.

It was a second place guy. And that's where I feel like Tiger is as a jump shooter. Or, I mean, definitely as a jump shooter. Yeah, he's that equivalent. The next best three-point shooter is that far behind him. And then, yeah, to bring up Roberson,

I mean, that poor guy, real symbolic because who would have thought he should have been guarding him 35 feet from the basket? They're running down that play, and it's just incredible that it wouldn't have crossed any rational defender's mind that he's not in the scoring area yet. Why would I guard him right now?

But I think they'll start guarding him in that situation going forward. But I do think, to your larger point, we should look at defensive rules in any way. Obviously the NBA deserves credit for perpetually evaluating and tweaking things, including defensive rules. But if we're starting to see yeah, this isn't fun or this isn't competitive or some part of the game is being skewed in ways that it hasn't been before, I think we owe it to the league, part of the game is being sort of skewed in ways that it hasn't been before.

I think we owe it to the league, the traditions of the league. And I think that's part of why we're seeing so many of these, like, iconoclasts of NBA history coming out. I think it is kind of alarming when you hear Kareem or Oscar Robertson talking about, you know, displeasure. I mean, sometimes that's sort of old, grumpy guys, but other times, like, we should listen to that and say, you know, displeasure. I mean, sometimes that's sort of old grumpy guys, but other times, like, we should listen to that and say, you know, do these guys have a point about the way the league's going? I just think they can't understand how somebody could shoot the ball this well.

So their instinct is to just blame other things, you know? Yeah. And I don't know i i look at all this stuff and i think like this is the evolution of where basketball was going people are just going to get better at it right like this happened in baseball where these guys would throw 175 pitches to start you know and and you pitched every four days and you're a workhorse and your job's just to, you know, give your team as many innings as you can. And then eventually it moved into like that kind of Greg Maddux Pedro type thing. And those guys, their control was so good and so unbelievably accurate.

And they were just able to give you the most efficient 210 innings possible. And that's just where the sport moved. And maybe this is just where the sport's moving, where you're going to have every year, you're going to have another Klay Thompson enter the league, and you're going to have 20 guys who are just lights out. And then 10 years later, you're going to have 35 guys who are lights out. Maybe that's just where this is going.

I don't know if you can stop it. Yeah, well, I mean mean to your earlier point i imagine every kid at the gym right now working on steph moves and we're gonna have a generation of that coming out and you know i'm not mad about that and not just steph by the way because clay is another good one clay is a six foot six guy there's a million of them that come into the NBA who just got, you know, who's just technically perfect as a shooter. He made that three. Did you see, I think it was in the late in the fourth quarter in OT where Curry threw it to him, and it was a catch and shoot

where he never brought the ball down. It was like he flicked. It was almost like an alley-oop, but he was 25 feet away. It's like, oh, my God. I've never seen anyone do that. I know. It's incredible, and I God, I've never seen anyone do that. I know, it's incredible. And I've heard you say this on other podcasts, but it's incredible these guys are on the same team.

Let's just stop and pause and be like, wow, that's incredible. But yeah, he is. Clay's in the top seven or eight ever from three point, right? Wouldn't you say he's one of the eight best shooters of all time? I'd put him in. I heard you and Volkeris talking about this. I think he's easily up the eight best shooters of all time i'd put him yeah i heard i heard you in vulgaris talking about this i i think he's easily up in the top 10 uh but yeah what are the odds of having two of those top 10 guys on one nba roster it's just it's crazy and and and i and i do agree with

you i don't think he changed the rules because of those guys and i want to be clear like you know this is something i've been thinking about since i remember watching Anthony Davis a couple years ago with my buddy. And he was saying, oh, Anthony Davis is going to start shooting threes. And that's when I really was like, I don't want Anthony Davis shooting threes. Like, I don't want that. I want a person who is built like that and skilled like that in the two-point area dominating in the two-point area close to the basket. Well, it does seem skewed, right? Like Ben Simmons is coming in, and whether he becomes a superstar or not is going to

be made or broken by whether he can shoot 35% from three or not. Yeah, that's exactly right. Nothing else matters, you know? It's like it doesn't matter that he's an incredible passer, that he's basically a 6'11 point forward, he can rebound he can buy nope you got to make threes well imagine and there's a couple other guys tj warren's always the guy i bring up who is a sensational basketball player uh and he can't shoot threes but he's an incredible like bernard king style scorer uh and then you know westbrook's the guard example he's

not a great shooter but he's you's undeniably the most athletic, sort of aggressive attack guard we've seen in a very long time. And even he's less dominating than he would be. Either he could shoot threes a little better, or if there was no three-point line. He's a perfect example. If he got rid of the three-point line, which, again, he's probably not going to do, and they probably shouldn't do, but if they did, he'd become

a much more valuable guard than he is right now. Last decade, Wade was like that. I think if you look at Wade's 2009 season, when he put up the 37-5 every game or whatever it was, it was one of the great efficient seasons ever and didn't take a lot of threes. Yeah, Wade is one of my favorite guys he's very skilled in that five foot to 12 foot area like incredibly skilled i remember looking at the numbers a few years ago it's like him and dirk were the only guys who were shooting over 50 in that ribbon of space um and that's the exact skill set that is being eroded as the three-point shot takes greater and greater hold of the league.

And again, it might not be something worth lamenting too much, but it is worth noting, I think, that yeah, players like Dwayne Wade, there are certain types of players. Parker. Tony Parker. He's now shooting 46% from three, I think. It's amazing. Remember, he couldn't shoot him at all eight years ago huge hole in his game yeah well I don't know where this is going

I think the idea of home teams deciding before the season what their line is going to look like for every single game regular season or playoffs is fascinating like on the one hand it seems just like the most ridiculous idea ever and on the one hand it seems just like the most ridiculous idea ever and on the other hand that's what we do with every baseball stadium you get to

pick and choose yeah yeah and you made that whole case and it's a great case i really like it i mean all football stadiums are the same i think hockey rinks can vary um some of them are smaller than others. I think soccer has slightly different sized pitches. The other thing, we didn't mention one other thing and then we have to go. Is it worth thinking about expanding the court by

making it like a foot wider on each side? If you go a 25-foot arc, which is, I think, justifiable analytically, keep in mind the arc right now is not an arc. It's 23.75 feet in some places and 22 feet, I think, in the corners. So it's not an arc. But yeah, so 25 foot, I think, is an interesting number. It's not too far from where we are now um but obviously that on a 50 foot wide court it's not big enough to hold uh so the corner three goes away so either we get rid of the corner three

if we go 25 feet keep it where it is or to your point we widen the court and i think it would take six feet um of court space to get three feet uh um where we have now the same amount of three feet between the sideline and corner three. I'm sure the building operations people would have a nightmare trying to accomplish that. We're already jamming things all around the court. Yeah, I was going to say, the reason that will never happen is because you're losing a row of seats potentially. Yeah, but then other people argue,

well, you're getting six or four courtside seats along the baseline. So, I mean, I'll leave it to the economics people at the teams to figure out if this is worth doing financially or not, but I think it would be hard. But what if you just added a foot on each side

and just made that corner three a foot longer? Yeah, I mean, I think they should look at that. side and just made that corner three a foot longer. Yeah. I mean, I think they should look at that. The short corner is very difficult to justify from any analytical standpoint. Guys are making that 38%, 39% of the time. It's obviously the crown jewel of the Sloan Conference for a reason. Six, seven years ago, people were realizing that was sort was a market inefficiency, and teams have been exploiting

it ever since. From an analytical, if you look at field goal percentage, just how that changes over the surface of the court, it's really hard to justify that shot being worth a full point more than the same length shot in front of the basket. It doesn't make any sense. So I think, yeah, making that shot a little longer is something the league should certainly evaluate, Dylan. Or there's another variation where the arc kind of ends before the corner three, and there's that, like, five feet of corner space in all four corners

where it's just not worth a three because the arc's already ended. Yeah, the reason I like that is then you can actually call that an arc because it's not just sort of a geometric snob. But yeah, what we have now is not really an arc when there's this angle and this straight part of it. But yeah, like I think, you know, Van Gundy had a really provocative idea, I think, a couple of years ago. He said the corner three should be worth 2.5 points, which I think is a hilarious idea.

Once you think about it, it's, it's not that hard to implement. But I think it gets to the point that we're all sort of seeing. It's like that shot shouldn't be worth a full point more than a lot of these two-point jump shots that are even the same length in other parts of the court. I can guarantee you a 2.5 shot will never happen. That's the one thing I can guarantee you a 2.5 shot will never happen. That's the one thing I can guarantee you of all this. Decimals are too confusing.

I know. Yeah. The average person, yeah. Could you imagine like late night at a bar, somebody's trying to figure out what their team needs and there's decimals involved and it's just, it's not going to go well at all. I can barely keep track without decibels. Or maybe make it so that maybe every fourth corner three only counts for two points. Yeah, maybe. There's a bunch of weird stuff.

Yeah, you could have a roulette-style wheel. But yeah, I think, you know, I don't know what's going to happen. I think it's fascinating. I mean, more than anything, Bill, I just think it's really interesting. I think the league is, it deserves credit for constantly monitoring itself. And this is its next thing. I think we're a little, you know, we're a ways away from them actually changing it, but I'm fascinated to see what they end up doing. I think the corner is one way to look at it, widening the court, having the home teams have different lines. There's a lot of things they could do,

but what we all want to see is the same. It's just the best league possible. And by the way, the best way to fix Kevin Love's career would have been to just trade him to the Celtics because that shot is open for him. They would have used him correctly. He's really just being used incorrectly by Cleveland.

They do not take advantage of all the skills that he has as an inside-outside guy who can post up, who can run the offense at the top of the key. They just don't use him right. So I don't want to overreact to his 6-3s a game because in the situation he's in, I'm not

sure what else he should do. Yeah, that's totally fair. That's totally fair. I mean, they have a bunch of other guys that can score the ball and they don't want to clog up space. So, I mean, ecologically, they're playing with a full deck.

Would you hear what Bogut said on my podcast last week? He said, Veragiao showed up for the Warriors and he was like, I can't believe how well you guys moved the ball. It's so different from where I was just at. It was a total dig at the Cavs.

It was like, wow, you guys pass. It was basically what he was saying. But anyway, all right. So you can be one of the 2,000 males who will be staring at Kurt Goldsberry as he delivers his lecture. The Sloan Conference, America's greatest nerdy sausage party. That's going to be on Friday in Boston. Supposedly they have at least 27 women are going to be there this year.

They said they might break the record. I'll believe it when I see it, Bill. I'll believe it when I see it. Maybe hoping for 30. 30 women is in play. It's possible. The record was 24. Hey, man, great to see you.

Give your Twitter handle because I can't remember what it is. It's at Kurt Goldsberry. Oh, that's easy. It's the lowest Twitter handle right now. But come give me a follow. I'd love to not tweet at you. All right, cool. Good luck with the Patriots of the NBA. Thank you, brother. Good to talk to you. Good to talk to you,. All right, cool. Good luck with the Patriots of the NBA.

Thank you, brother. Good to talk to you. Good to talk to you, too. Thanks, man. Talk to you soon. Bye. All right, that was fun. Nerding it up with Kurt Goldsberry.

Thanks to Slender Tone Connect, the smart fitness device that tones and tightens your abs using clinically proven EMS technology. Slender Tone Connect creates your personal toning plan, tracks workouts, sends customized tips to keep you motivated. You you'll have firmer more toned abs within six weeks visit slendertone.com today receive 20 off using bs at checkout thanks to legal zoom veritone get the legal help you need to run a successful business during national small business month oh my god i can't believe it's here get started at legaloom.com with an incorporation or LLC.

Plus get ongoing legal advice from independent attorneys in 48 states since LegalZoom isn't a law firm. Go to LegalZoom.com now and be sure to enter BS at checkout for a special deal. Thanks to HBO Now. You don't need cable or satellite to watch HBO anymore. Download the HBO Now app. Start your free one-month trial today. Thanks to SeatGeek, the presenting sponsor of the Bill Simmons podcast,

and Channel 33. Thanks to FrameBridge.com for framing all the posters in my office. If you go there on leap year and enter the code LEAPDAY, you get 15% off all your orders. And don't forget to follow The ringer on twitter at ringer don't forget to subscribe to our upcoming newsletter at the ringer.com and don't forget to go to ckeep.com the presenting sponsor of the bussiness podcast and channel 33 see you later we about this bitch anytime y'all want to see me again

rewind this track right here. Close your eyes. And picture me rolling.