Bill Simmons had Ryen Russillo on Part 2 of his Monday podcast, and they had a unique idea for content in a dead period in the NBA. Simmons and Russillo conducted an expansion draft, looking at how Seattle and Vegas would create their teams.
Simmons represented the new Seattle SuperSonics, while Russillo named his team the Las Vegas Regrets. The 30 current NBA teams can protect eight guys, and only one guy can be taken from each team. Therefore, if Seattle takes a player from the New York Knicks, Vegas can’t take one, and vice versa.
Russillo took a player from the Minnesota Timberwolves late in the draft, and Simmons had no idea who it was.
“I’m gonna start digging into my ol’, like I know I don’t have to start worrying about it,” said Russillo. “Gimme Josh Minott.”
“Who do you want?” Simmons asked, perplexed.
“Josh Minott,” Russillo said before a pause.
“You alright?”
“I don’t know who that is,” Simmons said, baffled.
“He’s the incredibly, incredibly skinny dude who has all sorts of skills,” Russillo said, snickering. “He’s on the Timberwolves. I guess I could’ve taken him a little bit later.
“I think this is another good segue.”
“I never saw him play one minute of basketball last year,” avers Simmons, fending off the segue.
“You didn’t see him in the Summer League at all?” asked Russillo.
“Nah,” dismissed Simmons.
“Yeah, alright,” Russillo said. “There’s just something about him.
“Now we’re letting some of the area scouts get more influence here, going, ‘What if? What if this guy put it together?’”
Then Russillo dropped a doozy.
“I don’t think it’s a certainty they would leave,” he said, searching for words, “that they would protect Rudy Gobert.”
“This is exciting right now for me,” said Simmons. “This is gonna be the most exciting pick of the draft. This is gonna be the breakout.”
“Okay, but can we touch on the Rudy thing for a second?” Russillo asked. “Do you think that –”
“Whether you would leave him out?” asked Simmons, cutting Russillo off.
“Right,” Russillo answered.
“You and I would,” offered Simmons, “but I don’t think they can.”
“That might be the right answer,” Russillo agreed.
“You can’t because then you’re just admitting, ‘We’ve made the most damaging trade of the last 25 years,’” offered Simmons.
“Also, I have a zag,” Simmons added.
Russillo laughed, anticipating the zag.
“I’m glad you’re sitting down,” offered Simmons.
“They probably did the best job against Denver in the playoffs out of the four teams. Like, they gave – those big guys, nobody gave Jokic a s—load of trouble. But he kinda had to work the hardest against them.
“I have to go through Jokic to win the title, and I want size. I want big dudes. And Minnesota has him and Naz and Towns, and you can talk yourself into it if that’s the team you have to go through.”
Saying that the Timberwolves gave the Nuggets their best series is hardly a zag. But suggesting that Minnesota needs to keep Gobert to win in the playoffs is. And Simmons and Russillo are ultimately right, the Wolves wouldn’t leave Gobert unprotected in an expansion draft.
However, it’s a little surprising that Simmons has no idea who Josh Minott is. He’s not alone, of course. But he’s a huge basketball fan, and Minott showed out in Summer League. One of the best things about Simmons’ pod with Russillo is that they get into the weeds, but they’re both at the same level.
Minott said he wants to make a name for himself. Perhaps he plays well enough this season that Simmons knows who he is a year from now.
