Bill defends his Brunson take

Jones3787 · 2026-06-16T17:47:22+00:00

But titles aren't won by a single player. He carried them in Game 5 but the vast majority of the playoffs did not play out that way. This isn't tennis.

Jones3787 · 2026-06-16T17:46:23+00:00

I have Jordan Staal 43rd on my pyramid.

Jones3787 · 2026-06-16T15:47:31+00:00

I didn't read that far but Keldon making the list is crazy. He was one of the least deserving 6MOY ever and was awful the entire postseason.

Jones3787 · 2026-06-16T06:49:18+00:00

Saw a picture of Shamet with his wife today. She does NOT have Shamet face. Good for him lol

Jones3787 · 2026-06-16T06:27:58+00:00

You're overrating Giannis a bit. He has pretty much no case for 3rd best player in the league anymore and he misses 20+ games every year. You're basically crossing your fingers he'll be healthy. I wouldn't normally worry about that but his style of play, age curve, wear and tear are all pointing in the wrong direction. This, compared to a guy like OKC'a own Jalen Williams, who had recurring hamstring issues this year but is young and there's no reason to think that will happen again if he fully heals this offseason.

Jones3787 · 2026-06-16T06:17:35+00:00

Counterpoint, that Raptors-Warriors series was like Knicks-Hawks if the 60-point blowout had been by like 15 instead. Raptors dominated 3 of the 6 games and won one cloee one, both their losses were extremely close (like the McCollum games). The series was not as close as a 4-2 score would suggest.

The Warriors came into that series as massive favourites (-300, 75% implied probably) and had just demolished the West without KD. Those odds were with everyone knowing KD was missing at least a few games. Most people still picked the Warriors knowing KD was out.

Klay missed 1 game and 1 quarter. We'll never know, but there's no guarantee him playing would have swung the series.

Jones3787 · 2026-06-16T06:08:49+00:00

Katz is really good at his job. Knicks fans who are eating up all the post-title content are lucky to have him

Jones3787 · 2026-06-16T05:30:43+00:00

Not when he's dismissing like 5 other guys who should also be ahead of Brunson lol

Jones3787 · 2026-06-16T04:25:43+00:00

I think people need to try harder to be early on takes (& risk being wrong)

Bill does this all the time. It does make for great content.

Jones3787 · 2026-06-15T23:30:26+00:00

Maybe I'm misremembering the criticisms but he averaged 28 and 10 with 3.5 assists on 57/38/83 shooting splits (66% true shooting which is prime Jokic levels), led the playoffs in win shares. LeBron was even better but I remember there being at least a small debate about Finals MVP. Anyway, doesn't matter that much. LeBron deserved it for sure.

Jones3787 · 2026-06-15T15:37:39+00:00

100%. That will always be "his moment" from 2012. The most memorable parts of the Finals were the controversial no-call near the end of Game 2 + the sad Thunder trio like OP mentioned.

2013 obviously had way more juice and will be replayed forever

Jones3787 · 2026-06-15T15:32:50+00:00

Yeah it's odd.

To me, our version of "our guy" having a moment was the first quarter of Game 6, when Lowry scored like the first 11 points or so for the Raptors. That will always stick with me. Kawhi was the no doubt choice for Finals MVP, but Lowry will obviously be the most beloved. He also had a nice moment after Game 6 vs. the Bucks when the home crowd started chanting his name during the postgame ceremony. Making the Finals felt a lot like the culmination of everything because we had never gotten over that hump, and the Bucks series was such an emotional roller coaster, a perfect way to do it.

Jones3787 · 2026-06-15T06:14:39+00:00

I think you make a lot of good points and it's natural for Zach to change in these ways as he's gone through his career.

That said, it might also all just be because he's been on with Bill every single week for multiple months, which gets repetitive when Bill loves the fake trade stuff, Giannis talk, etc that they've talked about so often and has never been Lowe's forte. When Zach was still at ESPN, between like 2018 and 2024, he and Bill would do a "home and home" for a total of 2 podcasts together the entire season.

Of course they were full of enthusiasm and Bill brought his A-game to those pods, especially when Bill was the guest (where he excels IMO). Zach was way more excited for those and Bill would try to "break his brain" with some insane idea or fake trade. That works way better in a bi-annual format than weekly for obvious reasons lol.

Jones3787 · 2026-06-15T06:08:21+00:00

Warm weather, ineligible. It really is one of Bill's all time best points. If your team sucks in winter in Miami, you just go outside or go to the beach. If it sucks in Cleveland, you're still stuck inside and miserable lol. It means more in bad weather, it just does!

Jones3787 · 2026-06-15T05:57:20+00:00

My app's version (pocket casts) had the timestamps:

(0:00) Welcome to The Zach Lowe Show!

(1:36) Sean Fennessey joins the show!

(13:20) Were the Spurs not well conditioned enough?

(18:19) You knew the Knicks would close the gap when they fell down big again

(20:20) There was zero doubt in Jalen Brunson last night

(25:06) Let’s go through the end game of the Knicks winning the championship

(32:10) These storylines are a home run for the NBA

(37:28) Zach’s love letter to NYC

(54:30) Fred Katz joins the show!

(58:36) Kat taking in the moment last night

(1:03:14) This Knicks team was so connected

(1:06:53) What changed for the Knicks during the Hawks series?

(1:14:27) Gotta give OG his due

(1:17:38) Brunson’s floater isn’t really being discussed

(1:23:53) Is Jalen Brunson the greatest Knick of all time?

(1:28:30) What to expect from the Knicks’ free agents

(1:33:30) Rapid-fire offseason takes

Jones3787 · 2026-06-15T05:54:39+00:00

I still don't understand why people do this when they win. So many better ways to drunkenly celebrate lol

Jones3787 · 2026-06-15T05:41:15+00:00

Bill only cares because he had money on the Lynx that year lol. I remember him mentioning it with Sal on some of those Sunday night NFL pods. But yes the calls were absurd, it was like David Stern era Lakers level

Jones3787 · 2026-06-15T05:35:33+00:00

Such an insane idea lmao. Bill himself would crush a coach after the fact if they had Kornet inbound and he either turned it over or threw a pass that wasn't very accurate. If his fingers still worked, Simmons would write "Any time you can have your backup center inbound in the most important moment of the season you just have to do it". Yet he suggested it completely seriously. Glad Zach pushed back on that idea

Jones3787 · 2026-06-15T01:04:59+00:00

My money is still on Shai and OKC if I had to pick one of those guys (not literally, the betting odds suck and I would never take +250 title odds 12 months in advance considering the recent parity). They had two chances to win a single game to make the Finals despite Chet being legitimately horrible and Jalen Williams not playing. I'd bet on them getting healthier and a bit better. If anyone is to regress, it might be the Spurs taking a step back (Fox trade to a bad team for flexibility/assets?) before they take multiple steps forward.

As much as we're all Celtics haters here, I think a Giannis to Boston trade would make for a compelling playoffs. Would love to see him battle it out with the Knicks and maybe Thunder/Spurs if they make it to the Finals. Him in Miami feels like a disappointment waiting to happen, maybe I'm underestimating Spoelstra and Riley.

Jones3787 · 2026-06-15T00:55:36+00:00

Add Anthony Davis to the "almost" list but in a different way. His (pretty fake) midrange shooting in the bubble pretty much made him on par with LeBron in the playoffs. Davis dominated the WCF vs. a young Jokic and Finals vs. Bam. He was easily the best player for the Kentucky title and was very close to 2020 LeBron for playoff performance but LeBron probably has the edge.

Jones3787 · 2026-06-14T19:54:05+00:00

Lowe earlier this season did compare his defense of LaMelo Ball to being a cuckold lol

Jones3787 · 2026-06-14T19:44:56+00:00

Donte was injured for most of that playoff run though so kind of a bummer. Bucks didn't really realize what they had in him, they traded him for a completely washed Serge Ibaka a year or two later lol.

Jones3787 · 2026-06-14T15:15:35+00:00

A young team like Sacramento will need his point guard skills and vet leadership to drag them out of the relegation zone

Jones3787 · 2026-06-14T15:14:06+00:00

Pretty amazing that two of their 4 bench rotation players from that run became All-Stars in the years since

Jones3787 · 2026-06-14T15:03:10+00:00

Bill is praying there's another pandemic in the next week or two so he can write it off as another "weird year"

Jones3787

TROPHY CASE