Tag: Bill Simmons

Far more satisfying for Wagner, he …

Far more satisfying for Wagner, he said, was that he was able to pull off “a big time troll” of his friends who were Cavaliers fans by telling them what had eventually become The Decision was his initial idea, published by a high-profile columnist for the network that aired the show. “It was just funny to me,” he said, “and frustrating for them.” On July 8, 2010, Wagner said he watched The Decision live at his home in Columbus. “I was very surprised,” he said. “I didn’t think he was going to Miami. I figured he’d stay in Cleveland. The only reason to do that is to make your hometown fans excited and announce you were investing more years and staying put. I couldn’t believe he said, “I’m out of here for Miami.’ It was pretty shocking.”

A week before the draft, family invited …

A week before the draft, family invited us to stay in a borrowed beach house at the Jersey Shore. My kids were little, at home we barely had air-conditioning. This was a nice change, being in a busy time of year while raising a one- and four-year-old. Each morning, I commuted a few blocks to the public library, where I was glued to the laptop. That’s where I got a weird call from an editor, upending all of our draft plans. Hey, we had a great idea. Whole new plan, and one that was not attending the draft and certainly not liveblogging it. What was going on? Nothing, he said. It took four or five phone calls to find out: Simmons did not want me to liveblog the draft. Simmons threatened not (or, depending who you asked, never) to write about the draft if I did. I emailed Simmons, asking if we could talk. He replied he didn’t think we needed to talk, we were fine, but “i didn’t want to do my annual running diary if you were live blogging it from the exact same ‘watching it as it happens’ perspective, just because i feel like i’ve earned that territory over the past 6 years. but they say you’ll do it from a different angle so i’m fine with that.”

After eliminating the top-seeded Dallas …

After eliminating the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the 2007 NBA playoffs, the “We Believe” Warriors etched their names into Golden State lore. The underdog band of Warriors could be getting treatment similar to The Last Dance. Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes recently joined The Bill Simmons Podcast to talk about the 2006-07 Warriors. While the rest of the details are still unclear, Barnes mentioned a documentary about the We Believe group could be on the way.

Stephen Jackson: Anthony Davis is like ‘Tim Duncan on steroids’

Anthony Davis is the most talented teammate LeBron James has ever had, Stephen Jackson said on the Bill Simmons podcast.

Before the season started, former NBA player Stephen Jackson thought the Los Angeles Lakers were going to win the title.

That belief didn’t waver as the year went on, and when league play shuttered to a stop in mid-March, Jackson felt the same way.

On the Bill Simmons Podcast on Friday, Jackson said he thinks that if the season resumes, the Lakers will win the NBA Finals.

The reason: LeBron James has never had a partner like Anthony Davis.

“I called Anthony Davis Tim Duncan on steroids because Tim wasn’t athletic and he didn’t shoot 3s,” Jackson said.

That’s not to take anything away Jackson’s former teammate Duncan, a five-time champion who is widely regarded as the best power forward in league history.

But Davis is attempting 3.5 3-pointers per game this season, by far the most in his career. His percentage hasn’t dropped off either, still making about a third of his attempts.

Nobody has ever averaged at least 25 points, 2.0 blocks, 1.0 steals and 1.0 3-pointers per game in a season, according to Basketball Reference.

With averages of 26.7 points, 2.4 blocks, 1.5 steals and 1.2 3s, Davis is on pace to crush those marks.

With his scoring, rebounding and defense, Davis is a two-way big that James had never had as a teammate.

“I just haven’t seen LeBron with that dynamic of a big man like Anthony Davis,” Jackson said. “I never seen LeBron with a guy with that much talent.”

The only team that could legitimately challenge the Lakers, Jackson thinks, is the Clippers.

“If anybody gave them a chance, it would’ve been the Clippers,” Jackson said. “The only way they can beat them is by punking them and the Clippers have that capability.”

Matt Barnes thinks the Clippers have the edge in a matchup. Jackson’s co-host of the “All The Smoke” podcast, Barnes appeared on Simmons’ pod, too.

“They had a cage full of dogs,” Barnes said. “Adding the Morris twin at the end, Kawhi (Leonard) and Paul (George) are going to do their thing, but to me they had so much more chemistry and camaraderie as a team.”

The Ringer, a sports and pop-culture …

The Ringer, a sports and pop-culture outlet founded by former ESPN commentator Bill Simmons in 2016, has a podcasting network that attracts more than a 100 million downloads a month. In addition to “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” the Ringer produces “The Watch,” a discussion show about TV and pop-culture; “Binge Mode,” which dives deep into pop-culture franchises; and “The Rewatchables,” a show that breaks down popular movies.

Bill Simmons calls Jameis Winston ‘most exciting player in the league’ after Lamar Jackson

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons thinks Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston is the most exciting player in the league after Lamar Jackson.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are looking for their fourth-straight win on Sunday when they take on the Detroit Lions. The Bucs may very well be one of the hottest teams in the league right now, having gone 4-1 since Week 10.

The big story of their season, of course, has been quarterback Jameis Winston, who is playing on the final year of his rookie contract. He’s on pace to throw for 5,000 yards, but also has a league-high 23 interceptions, leading many to wonder what the future holds for Winston and the Bucs franchise.

The main issue for the quarterback has been consistency. You never know which Winston is going to show up on Sundays — the one who will throw for over 400 yards and a few scores, or the one who will throw three interceptions.

That perplexing weekly question might be why Bill Simmons of the Ringer thinks Winston is the most exciting player in the league to watch after Lamar Jackson. You might think Simmons is joking, but the more he explains it, the more sensible he sounds.

Take a look.

[lawrence-related id=26176,26165,26155,26150]

Bill Simmons: Harden trade biggest ‘what-if’ in NBA history

Simmons said what is “now known as the Harden trade” impacted at least four NBA Championships and three MVP awards.

There have been a lot of bad trades throughout NBA history (the Clippers trading an unprotected draft pick to Cleveland for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon comes to mind).

Bill Simmons believes that Oklahoma City trading away James Harden in 2012 just happens to be one of the worst.

Oklahoma City was coming off a season in which they were the Western Conference Champions. Harden was the reigning Sixth Man of the Year. And yet, the two sides were unable to work out an extension.

So the Thunder dealt Harden following the 2012 season, sending him to Houston along with Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook, and Lazar Hayward in return for Kevin Martin and Jeremy Lamb.

In a recent episode of Bill Simmons’s Book of Basketball for The Ringer, Simmons talked about how everything went down, saying that the Harden trade is the “biggest what-if” in league history. 

“I believe, what if OKC kept KD, Russ, and Harden together, is the biggest NBA what-if of all time,” Simmons said. “Known now as the Harden trade, it swung at least four titles and at least three MVP awards.”

Simmons likened trading Harden to the Red Sox trading Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees, and how it’s still discussed by fans a century later.

“How would our hypothetical great-great grandkids comprehend that trade? Three future MVPs made the 2012 Finals, all 23 years and under, they never played together again and it happened because OKC wanted to avoid the luxury tax.”

If Oklahoma City had been able to work out an extension with Harden, would the Thunder have eventually won the NBA championship that’s eluded them? Would KD have ultimately stayed?

Too bad we’ll never know.