The Bill Simmons Podcast
The Bill Simmons Podcast

Oct 27, 2026 · 2h 14m

Houston tops Simmons’s early NBA hierarchy as documentaries blur truth and performance

NBA Power Poll 1.0, Plus a ‘You Can See Everything’ Breakdown With Wesley Morris

The episode pairs a volatile first NBA snapshot with a searching debate over whether nonfiction can remain truthful when subjects, money, and performance shape the story.

3 key takeaways
  1. 1Houston emerges as an unexpected early No. 1 while Miami, Denver, and Oklahoma City expose different kinds of uncertainty.
  2. 2Wesley Morris and Bill Simmons treat You Can See Everything as a power struggle between Elizabeth Holmes, Nathan Fielder, and documentary form.
  3. 3The film’s ethics debate turns on subject payment, manipulation, reenactment, and whether contemporary nonfiction increasingly behaves like entertainment.

Don't miss

Wesley Morris and Bill Simmons debate whether You Can See Everything is a documentary or a feature film as payment, editing, and performance reshape its truth claims.

The brief

Bill Simmons opens by criticizing the WNBA’s handling of its finals, then ranks the NBA from its bleakest rosters to Houston, his surprising early No. 1.

The poll treats Miami’s 0-4 start, Denver’s shooting concerns, and Oklahoma City’s injuries as warnings against reading too much—or too little—into one week.

Wesley Morris joins to discuss You Can See Everything, where Elizabeth Holmes and Nathan Fielder turn documentary subject, filmmaker, and performance into competing roles.

Their sharpest dispute concerns ethics: whether subjects should be paid, how editing and reenactment manufacture truth, and whether nonfiction can still stand apart from entertainment.

Amanda Seyfried’s arrival gives the film new emotional and noir-like force, while its final questions reach beyond Holmes toward the future of documentary filmmaking.

Weekly email

State of the Pod, every Monday

The week's most-discussed names and stories from podcasts, with the moments behind them. Free, five minutes, unsubscribe in one click.

Listen to the full episode and explore every guest, topic, and moment on PodLume.