What Bill Simmons should say: "I'm an idiot"

[jdpapa3]

He's waiting for the Cleveland series to start "I told you so" tweets.

I don't blame him for being down on the C's this year, but he loves being right most of all.

True, to the point where I legitimately question whether he'd rather see the Celts lose, just so he can brag about it.  He's lost touch as a "fan".

That's exactly how I feel guys. I'm annoyed with myself for being a Simmons reader for so long. I like it when people understand you can be negative, while also praising things that should be praised. Criticizing the team for giving no effort and Rasheed is fine, but also realize that you can at least act a little excited when the Celtics truly show signs of life.

I'm here in my living room jumping around like a maniac and the biggest "Celtics voice" in the entire media doesn't even mention it. Not a good way to endear yourself to the fan base. But, I should stop caring. We have this Celticsblog army here that knows what the deal is.

[RebusRankin]

Reading his stuff makes me think he's just a messed up individual.

[fairweatherfan]

Sunday's Celts-Heat game might be the worst NBA playoff crowd ever. Down 3-0 + shaky fans + weekend + 12:30pm in South Beach?     about 3 hours ago  via web 

Jermaine O'Neal (5 for 31 in the playoffs) is right on track to get a 3-year, $18.9 million offer from Boston this summer.     about 3 hours ago  via web 

Not a single word about Pierce and his gamewinner.

Pretty fair to say that if Durant hit a gamewinner, there would be 8-10 tweets about it and an emergency column. Trying to find a Godfather reference here, but I can't so I won't force it...

Yeah, wow - I'll generally support Simmons, but those scream "I'm getting p---y because I look like a moron right now."  A sportswriter should be willing to pick against his own team, but a fan should be thrilled to see that buzzerbeater no matter what the pick was. 

I chalk it up to Simmons getting older and moving into "cranky jaded old fan" mode.  We've all met that guy who seems to be secretly hoping his team screws up so he can gripe about it and predict future, bigger screwups. Simmons is just one with a column.

[Meadowlark_Scal]

Some of those guys get paid to write opposition articles....because who gets mad and replies to an article that they agree with...?   Don't let 'em get you out of your game....we know the score..!!!

[dlpin]

He's waiting for the Cleveland series to start "I told you so" tweets.

I don't blame him for being down on the C's this year, but he loves being right most of all.

I agree, And I think it's absolutely classless how he calls out people on twitter who have different opinions who are proven wrong. Simmons himself has as many if not more wrong predictions, but he always has an excuse when he is wrong, or he just pretends he never is wrong.

Take the Durant/Oden thing, for example. Now he is all obnoxious about how right he was about Oden. But a quick look at his archives reveals the following gems:

"If you want to compete from now until 2020, take Oden"
"You'd bet your life that, barring injury, Oden will be a valuable center on a perennial contender. Would you bet it all on Durant's becoming a valuable forward on a perennial contender? I would, but you just hesitated for a split second. So ... "
So if you're picking first in the 2007 NBA draft, and you have a sneaking feeling that Oden spent his entire freshman season in third gear so he didn't reinjure that wrist ... is there any way you could pass him up after seeing that awesome Ramar Smith block? That's the lingering question.

[Roy Hobbs]

He's waiting for the Cleveland series to start "I told you so" tweets.

I don't blame him for being down on the C's this year, but he loves being right most of all.

I agree, And I think it's absolutely classless how he calls out people on twitter who have different opinions who are proven wrong. Simmons himself has as many if not more wrong predictions, but he always has an excuse when he is wrong, or he just pretends he never is wrong.

Take the Durant/Oden thing, for example. Now he is all obnoxious about how right he was about Oden. But a quick look at his archives reveals the following gems:

"If you want to compete from now until 2020, take Oden"
"You'd bet your life that, barring injury, Oden will be a valuable center on a perennial contender. Would you bet it all on Durant's becoming a valuable forward on a perennial contender? I would, but you just hesitated for a split second. So ... "
So if you're picking first in the 2007 NBA draft, and you have a sneaking feeling that Oden spent his entire freshman season in third gear so he didn't reinjure that wrist ... is there any way you could pass him up after seeing that awesome Ramar Smith block? That's the lingering question.

Yep.  The guy has a grating personality, and it's not just his public persona, either.  He's a whiny, front-running jerk who can't stand having people critique him.  He's the ultimate "I'm taking my ball and going home" type of guy, who would rather mock people who disagree, rather than debate them.

[fairweatherfan]

He's waiting for the Cleveland series to start "I told you so" tweets.

I don't blame him for being down on the C's this year, but he loves being right most of all.

Take the Durant/Oden thing, for example. Now he is all obnoxious about how right he was about Oden. But a quick look at his archives reveals the following gems:

"If you want to compete from now until 2020, take Oden"
"You'd bet your life that, barring injury, Oden will be a valuable center on a perennial contender. Would you bet it all on Durant's becoming a valuable forward on a perennial contender? I would, but you just hesitated for a split second. So ... "
So if you're picking first in the 2007 NBA draft, and you have a sneaking feeling that Oden spent his entire freshman season in third gear so he didn't reinjure that wrist ... is there any way you could pass him up after seeing that awesome Ramar Smith block? That's the lingering question.

To be fair though...it's debatable whether an injury-free Oden would be a top center by now.  But he did talk out of both sides of his mouth on that one.

But Simmons is also the guy who thought Orlando were idiots for picking Dwight Howard over Emeka Okafor.

[dlpin]

To be fair though...it's debatable whether an injury-free Oden would be a top center by now.  But he did talk out of both sides of his mouth on that one.

But Simmons is also the guy who thought Orlando were idiots for picking Dwight Howard over Emeka Okafor.

But the question is not whether Oden was the right pick, or even a justifiable if wrong pick, at the time. The issue is that he now mocks everyone who picked Oden, and talks about it like it was an obvious mistake, like he's been right all along, except that at the time he also picked Oden.

[JohnBagleyValueMeal]

He's waiting for the Cleveland series to start "I told you so" tweets.

I don't blame him for being down on the C's this year, but he loves being right most of all.

I agree, And I think it's absolutely classless how he calls out people on twitter who have different opinions who are proven wrong. Simmons himself has as many if not more wrong predictions, but he always has an excuse when he is wrong, or he just pretends he never is wrong.

Take the Durant/Oden thing, for example. Now he is all obnoxious about how right he was about Oden. But a quick look at his archives reveals the following gems:

"If you want to compete from now until 2020, take Oden"
"You'd bet your life that, barring injury, Oden will be a valuable center on a perennial contender. Would you bet it all on Durant's becoming a valuable forward on a perennial contender? I would, but you just hesitated for a split second. So ... "
So if you're picking first in the 2007 NBA draft, and you have a sneaking feeling that Oden spent his entire freshman season in third gear so he didn't reinjure that wrist ... is there any way you could pass him up after seeing that awesome Ramar Smith block? That's the lingering question.

Yep.  The guy has a grating personality, and it's not just his public persona, either.  He's a whiny, front-running jerk who can't stand having people critique him.  He's the ultimate "I'm taking my ball and going home" type of guy, who would rather mock people who disagree, rather than debate them.

I agree with this, as a simmons fan who has bought and enjoyed both books and listens to his podcast regularly (though i skip the reality tv ones). But you can see it especially when he has Chuck Klosterman on the podcast with him--Simmons is a baby who can't stand someone pointing out to him that he's wrong, or that someone might be smarter than him. I also think his frat-dude act about women is starting to get a little creepy at his age.

[PosImpos]

It's more fashionable to be anti-Celtics these days.

Bill Simmons is all about staying popular.

[JohnBagleyValueMeal]

To put it another way, he acts the same way that a lot of spoiled only children of divorced upper middle class parents do.

I still read his columns and listen to the podcast, but I don't think he's the kind of guy i would hang out with.

[cornbreadsmart]

It's so true about him wanting to appear smart. I laughed when i read his latest book and he throws in what is s.a.t. score was. Wow. I love when someone tells what their score was, trying to matter of factly tell people, "look I am smart and this number is proof of that."

[PosImpos]

He's waiting for the Cleveland series to start "I told you so" tweets.

I don't blame him for being down on the C's this year, but he loves being right most of all.

Take the Durant/Oden thing, for example. Now he is all obnoxious about how right he was about Oden. But a quick look at his archives reveals the following gems:

"If you want to compete from now until 2020, take Oden"
"You'd bet your life that, barring injury, Oden will be a valuable center on a perennial contender. Would you bet it all on Durant's becoming a valuable forward on a perennial contender? I would, but you just hesitated for a split second. So ... "
So if you're picking first in the 2007 NBA draft, and you have a sneaking feeling that Oden spent his entire freshman season in third gear so he didn't reinjure that wrist ... is there any way you could pass him up after seeing that awesome Ramar Smith block? That's the lingering question.

To be fair though...it's debatable whether an injury-free Oden would be a top center by now.  But he did talk out of both sides of his mouth on that one.

But Simmons is also the guy who thought Orlando were idiots for picking Dwight Howard over Emeka Okafor.

If Oden could stay out of foul trouble long enough to play 30 mpg, he's be averaging like... 12 pts 12 reb and 3 blocks (at least).  That's pretty [dang] good.  He's also had a very good PER during the games he's been able to play.

I think it's safe to say that Oden would be a very good center (top 5 in the league) if he could stay healthy and work on not fouling.  At this point it seems pretty unlikely that'll ever happen.

[hwangjini_1]

He's waiting for the Cleveland series to start "I told you so" tweets.

I don't blame him for being down on the C's this year, but he loves being right most of all.

Take the Durant/Oden thing, for example. Now he is all obnoxious about how right he was about Oden. But a quick look at his archives reveals the following gems:

"If you want to compete from now until 2020, take Oden"
"You'd bet your life that, barring injury, Oden will be a valuable center on a perennial contender. Would you bet it all on Durant's becoming a valuable forward on a perennial contender? I would, but you just hesitated for a split second. So ... "
So if you're picking first in the 2007 NBA draft, and you have a sneaking feeling that Oden spent his entire freshman season in third gear so he didn't reinjure that wrist ... is there any way you could pass him up after seeing that awesome Ramar Smith block? That's the lingering question.

To be fair though...it's debatable whether an injury-free Oden would be a top center by now.  But he did talk out of both sides of his mouth on that one.

But Simmons is also the guy who thought Orlando were idiots for picking Dwight Howard over Emeka Okafor.

If Oden could stay out of foul trouble long enough to play 30 mpg, he's be averaging like... 12 pts 12 reb and 3 blocks (at least).  That's pretty dang good.  He's also had a very good PER during the games he's been able to play.

I think it's safe to say that Oden would be a very good center (top 5 in the league) if he could stay healthy and work on not fouling.  At this point it seems pretty unlikely that'll ever happen.

good point on oden. he is a very good center when healthy.

but...

let assume that oden never was injured and played to his potential. if we were to redo the draft i would still pick durant before oden.

[Fafnir]

good point on oden. he is a very good center when healthy.

but...

let assume that oden never was injured and played to his potential. if we were to redo the draft i would still pick durant before oden.

Based on what Oden showed this year alone if you removed his health as an impediment I'd take Oden in a heartbeat.

Durant is amazing, but a dominant defensive/rebounding big like Oden is what you build championships around.