Who are the best national NBA writers?

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I trust Woj and Stein more than I do anyone else on NBA news, and I also like their writing.

I also like Jackie Mac and Paul Flannery.

[D.o.s.]

Overall, his podcast though is one of the top 17 podcasts of the last 13 years.   

I see what you did there. I laughed.

Well is the standard good writing?

And that's not a snarky question, because a lot of what makes Simmons (and by extension) Grantland so popular is his editorial disdain for what he calls "English Majors," and his site skews pretty heavily in that direction.

Well, I have a different measuring stick for sports writing than I do for a long-form piece in something like NYT Magazine. Lowe's writing is pretty good for what it is; I mean, there's only so much you can do with the subject matter.

That doesn't extend to Simmons, though. I like the BS Report, but I have started skipping his articles. I don't know if I've changed or he has, but I just don't find them interesting or funny anymore.

I don't agree with you about that particular measuring stick, although I can understand why you feel that way. I think that you can see the difference when you look at some of Pierce's articles and compare them to Lowe, although Lowe is a lot more "nuts and bolts" analysis--something I don't find particularly interesting.


The last really good Simmons article I read was his McGrady piece. I think the best thing he's ever written is his Page 2 article about his dog passing away.

[LooseCannon]

Also, I don't get the Woj bashing, but I also don't read his stories regularly.

Woj has good sources, but I think some people are annoyed when he is shrill and self-righteous about some crusade.

There are really two components to this question.  Who is a good writer and could produce excellent prose about a non-sports topic if necessary?  Who is the best person for breaking, confirming, and debunking rumors?

There are probably writers out there who you have to pay attention to because they will be on top of a story as it breaks, but are not very good writers or analysts.  So, some may report that Ainge has been calling around with Rondo deals and interpret that as Ainge being desperate to unload Rondo, when the truth may be that Ainge is willing to trade, but only if he gets a bona fide All-Star in return.

[Snakehead]

I am trying to find some choice Woj pieces on LeBron so you can see the wild swings, but in doing so, came across this gem of a post from Deadspin.  Not only shows some of the sensationalism, but wow some real corny lines, especially to end columns.

http://deadspin.com/5811311/every-overwrought-thing-adrian-wojnarowski-has-said-about-lebron-james


I'll link to Woj's specific bandwagon hating LeBron to wildly celebrating him once he won if I get time a little later.  But if you go to that Deadspin post and go through their links and read a bit you can see how wildly he will swing, singing LeBron's praises when he wins and calling him a loser and coward when he doesn't, painting him as a man who would rather be doing a thousand things besides playing basketball.

It's part of why he is corny.  He writes almost as if his piece is way down the line, looking back on a completed career and making the hard judgements you can at that point.  Yet he takes this tone with things in progress.  He leaves zero room for gray area and nuance.  You are the hero or you are the villain. 

It's as if he is writing a Victorian novel or something.

[D.o.s.]

I am trying to find some choice Woj pieces on LeBron so you can see the wild swings, but in doing so, came across this gem of a post from Deadspin.  Not only shows some of the sensationalism, but wow some real corny lines, especially to end columns.

http://deadspin.com/5811311/every-overwrought-thing-adrian-wojnarowski-has-said-about-lebron-james


I'll link to Woj's specific bandwagon hating LeBron to wildly celebrating him once he won if I get time a little later.  But if you go to that Deadspin post and go through their links and read a bit you can see how wildly he will swing, singing LeBron's praises when he wins and calling him a loser and coward when he doesn't, painting him as a man who would rather be doing a thousand things besides playing basketball.

It's part of why he is corny.  He writes almost as if his piece is way down the line, looking back on a completed career and making the hard judgements you can at that point.  Yet he takes this tone with things in progress.  He leaves zero room for gray area and nuance.  You are the hero or you are the villain.

I actually think the worst offender on that front is Grantland Rice, and I think it's mostly a product of the times. Woj strikes me as distinctly "throwback" in that sense.

And deadspin did a great one on him, too:
http://deadspin.com/5810019/why-grantland-rice-sucked

[Snakehead]

I am trying to find some choice Woj pieces on LeBron so you can see the wild swings, but in doing so, came across this gem of a post from Deadspin.  Not only shows some of the sensationalism, but wow some real corny lines, especially to end columns.

http://deadspin.com/5811311/every-overwrought-thing-adrian-wojnarowski-has-said-about-lebron-james


I'll link to Woj's specific bandwagon hating LeBron to wildly celebrating him once he won if I get time a little later.  But if you go to that Deadspin post and go through their links and read a bit you can see how wildly he will swing, singing LeBron's praises when he wins and calling him a loser and coward when he doesn't, painting him as a man who would rather be doing a thousand things besides playing basketball.

It's part of why he is corny.  He writes almost as if his piece is way down the line, looking back on a completed career and making the hard judgements you can at that point.  Yet he takes this tone with things in progress.  He leaves zero room for gray area and nuance.  You are the hero or you are the villain.

I actually think the worst offender on that front is Grantland Rice, and I think it's mostly a product of the times. Woj strikes me as distinctly "throwback" in that sense.

And deadspin did a great one on him, too:
http://deadspin.com/5810019/why-grantland-rice-sucked

Interesting.  Not familiar with his work really, just knew they took his name.  But yes just reading those passages and lines there that is very Woj.

[Mazingerz]

Zach Lowe, Chris Forsberg, Woj, the immortal Bob Ryan, P. Flannery, Jackie Mac;

[Kane3387]

Woj, Simmons, and forseberg.

[abbmack9]

Woj, Forsberg, Macmullan, and Simmons for me. Simmons wrote an excellent article on Tracy McGrady a few months back. I'll include the link in case anyone is interested. It's a real good read.
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9616069/the-unfortunate-tale-t-mac

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Reporting.

Woj, Marc Stein, Jackie Mac.

Insights.

ZACH LOWE! (Zach Lowe readers would know)

[D.o.s.]

Reporting.

Woj, Marc Stein, Jackie Mac.

Insights.

ZACH LOWE! (Zach Lowe readers would know)

Sanders got that title taken away from him a couple weeks ago.

Jeez, I'm not even a Lowe fan and I know that.

[Eja117]

Bill Simmons. FLCeltsfan. nickagneta. Tommy. RedsArmy. Loy's Place at Celtics Green Blog.   

[indeedproceed]

Anyone else think the point forward isn't what it used to be?

[PhoSita]

Matt Moore at CBS / Hardwood Paroxysm . . . largely for his Twitter antics, but still.

J.A. Adande, while an L.A. guy, is a good writer.

Bob Ryan and Jackie Mac should go without saying.

Chad Finn covers all Boston sports, and I like him.

Paul Flannery is really, really good.

Ethan Sherwood Strauss is a good one.

I also like Tom Ziller's work.

Kevin Arnovitz is solid, and Henry Abbot, while occasionally irritating, does good work pretty often.

Zach Lowe is obvious.


Bill Simmons can write really well when he wants to, but mostly just does easy mailbag type stuff these days.


On CB, I'd like to give a shout out to Kevin O'Connor, who does good work on a regular basis, and also Eric Weiss, whose pieces are always well-written and interesting.

[Fafnir]

Anyone else think the point forward isn't what it used to be?

Its garbage now.

Rarely do they have interesting pieces, instead its just game/play recaps and other repostings.

Similar to how Truehoop is pretty much crap. yay for videos that I don't watch because I'm at work or on my mobile and its slow to load.