Bill Simmons Sets Devious Trap For Stupid Aggregation Culture

Bill Simmons returned from a post-Super Bowl week off to record a podcast on Sunday with Ryen Russillo. The title of the episode promised talk of the best in-person NBA stars, trickiest playoff teams, a trial of Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown and the “Hottest Take,” which used to be a short form Ringer podcast that was left abandoned on the side of the road at the end of 2022.

Anyone hoping for a lengthy segment where Simmons and Russillo traded actual hot takes will be very disappointed. Two total takes were given and neither was very hot: Simmons thinks NBA officiating is bad and Russillo says the Detroit Pistons, who have the worst record in the NBA, are poorly coached.

Yeah. No need for oven mitts when you’re taking your earbuds out after listening to that. It’s especially disappointing when you put it in the perspective of the introduction of the segment where Simmons explains the entire reason for these takes is to bait people into aggregating them because the “aggregation culture” has “never been stupider.”

What are we even supposed to do with that information? He’s already given away the game by saying he might not necessarily believe the things he’s saying. And then the takes that are given to kick off the inaugural segment are two things that wouldn’t have been out of place at pretty much any other point in the same podcast.

You just can’t fake this stuff. Real recognize real and real aggregators recognize real bad takes. If Simmons wants to get aggregated, all he needs to do is sit down and have one of his producers hit record.

You don’t even need to turn on the TikTok camera. The aggregators have it covered.