A New Coach Isn’t Fixing LeBron and the Lakers | The Bill Simmons Podcast 

I feel like the “did your wife leave you” line didn’t get nearly enough love 😂

"did you wife leave you" lmao i love russillo

Bill should make a draft list of best coaches for the lakers

Vogel: He won a title LeBron: Bubble Chip

The Russell Westbrook trade dismantled Laker's short-term future. One of the worst trades in the team's history. FO should've never listened to Lebron and AD.

Ive never in my life seen one of the so called goat players lose and role players get blamed. Its always someone elses fault. First it was ADs fault, hes been great then they moved onto Dlo then the coach then random role players. They will keep scapegoating because nobody wants to admit they lose because of lebron himself.

Guy hasn’t played defense in 10 years. He isnt winning without playing both sides

So sick of the “ why don’t yall love lebron more” convo

LeBron plays on the Lakers but he ain't a laker. LeBron's always been about 1 thing.... LeBron.

I don't know why people love Lebron's game lately. He hasn't played any defense in like 13 years. How do you win when one of your guys isn't trying on the defensive end? When you lose, they blame everyone else even though he's not giving effort where it counts.

As a life long lakers fan, the only fix is Lebron takes a discount and they build depth

The problem is they traded picks for nothing lol

Speaking as a Laker fan we should move on from LeBron. His time has run its course.

LeBron can never fail he can only be failed

Van-- that Kobe story was amazing. Gave me the goosebumps. My boy and I grew up with him. He's still living in our hearts.

Here for the hats🤠

Lakers not getting past the wolves, nuggets , okc next year. West gonna be tough with spurs getting better and SAC

Austin Reaves basically told Lebron to fugoff after Lebron yelled at him for his own defensive fuckup in game 5 lol. Austin Reaves is a great piece and they should keep him. If they can part w/ Lebron for damn near any all-star caliber point guard or small foward and keep a roster around w/ more or less what they have for a long enough time to gel they’ll be better off than with any Lebron team i can imagine them assembling going forward here.

I like how Van being here forced Bill and Russillo to say something resembling positive about Kobe.

I'm a Laker fan and local that used to think Lebron was better than Kobe, but in reality his time as a Laker made me appreciate Kobe fully and respect Lebron less. Its not the back end of career thing, I get that. It's the phonyness, the desire to put praise and stat padding over winning, he's not a great leader especially noticable when he had the young core, but still noticeable to this day. The undermining every coach we've had, the load management against the tough teams but suits right up against bad to average teams. The new scapegoat every year, the treadline headaches with him. I was completely fine watching the young core develop. I've never thought "Oh thank goodness Lebron pulled us out of darkness". My thought was he kind of keeps us in s weird dark place because he's a bit toxic for our franchise in my opinion.

LeBron thinks of one person and that is LeBron

Bill: "I went back read about lebrons first lakers season....." (RR processing) RR: "did your wife leave you?" lmfao low key howling! love RR humor, you can see the gears turning for the joke lol

The comparison between A.Rod and Bron was really spot on

You trade him and don't draft bronny... They will do the opposite though

I’m a laker fan and thank you Bill for bringing up what Lebron does to the rest of the team.

Everyone knows the right thing to do is move on from Lebron. Let another team kiss his ass and draft his son and deal with all the BS!

LeBron was a mercenary for hire with the Lakers and the Heat. Those fanbases understand that, which is why he'll never be thought of like Wade or Kobe.

Pelinka has done a good job with the roster with what he's been given. That first year with the zubacs trade and taking Lonzo, that was all Magic.

Has lbj not taken steroids? Him and Alex Rodriguez might have more in common

Bills right about Lakers fans showing up regardless. You can go back and look at attendance and jersey sales in those horrible years between Kobe and LeBron. They had a 97- 98% attendance rate and were top 10 in the league. They were still top of the league in jersey/merch sales. Bills finally starting to figure out how it works in LA. The Lakers are THE sports franchise here. Everyone else is a distant second at best. I think it bothers him a little too. Boston loves the Celtics but not like LA loves the Lakers.

Kobe is revered in China... all I have to do is play "See you again" and so many of the students are singing it with tears in their eyes... with a plaintive "Mamba out" at the end.

Kobe lived and breathed purple and gold, worshiped it and embodied Laker culture. LeBron came in with a list of demands and under delivered while demanding respect from a very proud fan base that expects to win every year like the Yankees do. I’m not a Laker fan but live in LA and I was a Kobe hater but I totally understand why Kobe gets all the love and LeBron doesn’t. One was a Laker for life, the other came to the Lakers to crown his own legacy.

Pelinka did great last year at trade deadline and every one unanimously applauded him before this year. Lol sometimes it's not coaching or the gm sometimes the players just aren't getting it done

Can someone explain wtf is going on with the cowboy hats?

The gm rob has to be on the hot seat too . Because that Westbrook trade is was the real death sentence. Them giving kcp and Caruso free walks also .

LeBrons like a case of herpes at this point. He's just never going away. If/when that last season does unfold, he's going to be milking it for all it's worth; he's going to be worse than Cher during her farewell tour.

Russillo's defense on LeBron - in the context of LeBron James versus Kobe Bryant - is admirable.

Lakers are for Kobe. Lebron could never be at this level.

Y'all remember when Bill said Nuggets are a top 3 team he's seen in the 2000's and he wasn't so sure about the 2013 Heat? Lol that aged very well

Ryen and Bill are so far in the anti-Kobe camp they can’t even consider the guy who is actually knowledgeable and still prefers Kobe over LeBron. All fan bases have irrational fans, but honestly Kobe has traits LeBron doesn’t and vice versa so that comes down to preference. You can’t truly have a definitive list of who is better than who due to differences in positions, rules changes, teammates, playing styles, refs, etc.

missing the key point-- IMPATIENCE. The obsession year after year to win immediately. A lot of blunders came from that.

As a Lakers fan I’ve never once thought a single one of those players homeboy mentioned

Lefraud Blames

Sometimes GM’s need to remind everyone they run the league, not the players. Take a page from the Krause playbook.

Russillo hating on Kobe that hard was unnecessary. Bron as a Laker hasn’t been anywhere near Kobe and that’s ok to say. The Kobe/Bron conversation is a lot closer than people give it credit for and I’m not mad at people for choosing Bron but Kobe has a legitimate argument to be the better player lol. It’s not egregious

This an awesome convo.

Lebron will never be a Laker all timer.

I"m a Laker season-ticket holder and it makes me sick to think the Lakers are going to pay Lebron max dollars for three more years. I would LOVE it if the Lakers hit the reset button - at least there would be some hope. Great discussion btw -the three of you are spot on.

Didn’t Kobe win 5 rings? Lebron bubble champ

Bill is the MJ of constantly not letting people talk lmao

Kobe’s passion is what makes him so loved

This convo really taps into something that never gets talked about enough: the instability around Lebron. Also, most great players make their head coaches HoFers. But Lebron always bailed when things got tough. The “Lebron is a great leader” thing actually is really problematic.

I feel like it's next to impossible for folks to admit what's staring them in the face. If not for the pandemic, LBJ would still be sitting on 3 rings. That's it. We're looking at not just another roster turnover (one for every season he has been on payroll I might add which of course nobody's willing to talk about) on top of another coaching search (4th since LBJ arrived). Old Man James isn't bulldozing this conference the way he did the East. We know this to be factual moving forward. LBJ as noted, is a literal team cancer. You're never truly safe around him, he can get you gone the SECOND things start to go south. We've had 2 decades worth of this with the only glaring exception, being his time in Miami and that's probably the biggest reason he ran home after the 2014 Finals. Cause he couldn't have his way and they weren't going to bend to his will the way Cleveland did. (Which even when they did, still wasn't enough to his liking cause he left.) LeBron may get his kid there. He may get his coach this Summer. He may get yet another roster that he's happy with until he's not. He's still going home after the 1st round ends. The Lakers will have maybe two more seasons of this before he hangs it up and then the true rebuild begins which as the Cavs can attest to, is pretty nasty once you realize you have nothing to build with. It doesn't matter who coaches LeBron at this point. It'll never be good enough. He's not coachable. Signing off on Redick is suicidal in every sense of the word. A new coach with a whole new roster. Also, how do you take him seriously when he's literally sitting on a pod with LeBron just retconning parts of his playing legacy? Also, let's stop pretending like it matters who the Lakers didn't take in the Draft when we know even IF they took the right guy, the rookie is either not playing with the Lakers or sent packing at a moment's notice. It's one thing when you consider what the next two seasons look like, it's another entirely when you consider what this looks like when LeBron retires and you gotta see the post retirement Lake Show.

Excellent podcast spot on

Couple of Celtics homers talking about what it means to be a Laker. GTFOH 😂😂😂🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️

Him not being bad this late in his career is honestly kinda hard to watch as a bron fan

LeBron got hurt in 2018-19 right?

lmao ryan in the hat wasnt expecting this

If he don't take less money he won't win.

Kobe is easily a better Laker than Bron..but overall its hard to say Bron isnt better..i think thats closer to what the L.A. fan believes..they dont care bout any player that hasnt worn a Lakers jersey

Celtics have 1 title in 38 years. Tatum is incredibly overrated, and all Celtics fans know it without admitting it. Lakers are an 8 seed who didn't win this year. Celtics are contenders, if they don't win its legitimately embarrassing.

Honestly hate the “you gave everything away for AD” take every time I hear it. LA gave away a guard that can’t stay on the floor and a collection of players that have essentially done nothing in exchange for a perennial top-10 player and a ring. Stop it. Behave yourself. Every single team in the league would do it in a heartbeat for a guaranteed chip.

Lebron is crazy if he stays in the West…

Continuity is so important.

Yeah, unless they can somehow swindle Lue out of the Clippers, it ain't getting better

The Lakers should draft Bronny and then trade LeBron.

Bron and the Lakers have as many titles in the 2020’s as Jokic and the Nuggets, Giannis and the Bucks, Curry and the Warriors, more than Tatum and the Celtics, Kawhi and the Clippers, KD and the Nets/Suns, Kyrie/Luka and the Mavs, Embiid and the Sixers and Jimmy/Spoelstra but for some reason everyone talks about it as if its this massive failure, its so weird man

The Lakers should let Lebron walk and trade AD for assets. Let Lebron go wherever Bronny goes, he got you 1 title thats enough

“True alpha males make their coaches into legends” never let this guy talk ball again

it was true what micheal said at his wake on tv "he left it all on the floor" you cannot hate a man who gave everything he had even on his last game Kobe bled purple and gold

Russillo's Kobe hate is quite disturbing

The guy on the left needs a hat 😂

Russillo loves creating scarecrows and ghost fans he can eviscerate with his sports logic.

Faithful laker fan here, Call me crazy but I honestly had more fun watching those scrub teams than having a completely different roster every year and every coach we have being the scapegoat of a failed season even though Ham was a big part of this failed season

Tyron Lue, Stotts, or Atkinson

“JJ would have to be a lunatic to take this job.” - Bill Simmons. One month later… 😂

Imagine pretending to not understand the Kobe thing lol Not saying it's right or wrong or whatever but it's pretty easy to understand. He played 20 years, cared about being a Laker, was exceptionally great, won titles and worked extremely hard at getting better. It's not complicated.

Vince makes an excellent point. While many Kobe>Bron fans focus solely on LeBron’s recent years, they tend to overlook the fact that Kobe struggled during his last four years in the league. Additionally, LeBron had a stronger first 16 years overall.

he ain't Kobe

I love when Bill is reaching out for a hot tag like WWF reaching, really reaching and Ryan just cuts him off hard instead of taking the hot tag

Lebron is never winning another championship with the lakers. He is only interested in taking all the glory for the good things and none of the blame when they fail.

Old school Laker fans appreciate the character of the teams Dr Buss and Jerry West assembled. It appears those days are long gone.

A lot funny stuff in here but the Kobe discussion is very refreshing. To me it kinda been a topic nobody wants to breach for good reason as it is very hard to speak on. I’m from the south and I know ppl just how you describe ab him. Die hard, I also preciate the shoe point bc I would bet a lot of money it’s the most popular shoe among HS/College/NBA. And the love is deserved but It’s strange how many casual Kobe fans there are.. ig it speaks to his overall mindset in the fact that casual and real junkie fans can all relate to

Lebron and Doc Rivers would be a comical amount of finger pointing

When LeBron got eviscerated in 2011, he decided then and there that he will not be blamed for losing moving forward. And since then, all the blames went to his coaches, teammates, and gm's.

Russilo's cowboy hat is on backwards

3 grade A haters lol… bills first point that “we already have seen lebron and AD can’t win a title” literally four years ago they won a title?!

Is Labron the only Laker to NOT do the whole shirt press conference meeting when he got to LA?

Russillo wasnt in LA in the Kobe era and he is a celtics fan so he is never going to get it

I lived in SE Asia for 30 years and Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines all love basketball. The Lakers were far and away the most popular team in the area but, really, they were all Kobe fans. Once Kobe retired, they all became Warriors fans.

As a Kobe guy, people like Russillo & their opinion on Lakers/Kobe fans only makes me laugh. It’s a losing battle, at the end of the day. And the comment about “Kobe jerseys outside the arena” is disrespectful to working class LA fans who can’t afford to buy tickets to the Lakers tickets. Kind of classless if you ask me

Ryen with the hat on looks like Michael Gira if he abandoned music for sports podcasting

Are Ryen and Bill ever happier than when they talk crap on the lakers and their fans?

Van and Russillo auditioning for a Wild Wild West reboot and I'm down with it

We don't need Tmz guy in this convo. Bill & Ryan are more than enough

The arrogant white guy that isn't bill is the reason i rarely watch this show. Hadn't seen the black guy before, he seems intelligent.

Vogel was not fired because Lebron didn't like him. Vogel was fired because Pelinka and Buss didn't like him.

the reality is GM Lebron has failed in yet another location

I love how Ryen is getting more and more tired of Bills shit and calling him out for the casual hes become

Rick Fox more of a laker than LeBron? Cmon man