Bill Simmons is perpetuating "the myth". (our second championship)

I don't have a problem with his article.

I don't know how anyone can disagree with this. While I believe we would have beaten the Bulls if the matchup actually occurred, it doesn't mean people don't have a right to wonder what if. Any unbiased NBA fan would be wondering what if.

Those who say without hesitating that the Bulls would've definitely won those titles with MJ are ignorant to say the least. That's not what Simmons is saying though.

There should also be a footnote on the year we traded for Ron Artest. The Rockets with a healthy, Yao, McGrady, and Artest was a championship contender for sure.

 

From Simmons:

- (With that said … I'm reasonably confident that the greatest player ever would have figured out something. Hence, we're giving this a 16-point Harlow Solid Italic footnote.)

- "But winning it the season after the league's greatest player ever briefly and inexplicably retired at the peak of his powers? Come on. That's earning a 48-point WTF footnote. At least."

How can I not disagree with that? Simmons wants it both ways. On the one hand, he says that the Bulls match up badly with the Rockets both seasons. On the other, he slyly says that it wouldn't have made any difference. They were playing against Jordan, and Jordan "would find a way." Bull ****. The dude doesn't have any balls. Must have lost them at the mall while shopping for more ways to talk out of both sides of his mouth. The dude disapponts me. A lot.

 

Why do people have a problem with this? By saying there is an asterisk on those titles, that doesn't mean he is saying the Bulls would have stomped the Rockets in those years. Just that given the absence of the GOAT from the 3 time defending champs means that most likely the Rocket's path to the championship didn't cross with it's most formidable competitor that year. We all know the Rockets had the Bulls number in the regular season so it obviously would have been an amazing series which is why there is an asterisk.

 

Bill Simmons can be more than a little flippant, but he's usually entertaining, and his opinion is no different than the vast majority of the NBA fan population.

That said, MJ had returned in our 2nd championship year but thanks to the absence of a dirty-work PF---Horace Grant was gone, Rodman would show up a year later---he couldn't even advance to the Finals, great as he was.

 

Because championships are won on court, not by "what if" opinions. No championship should have an asterisk unless it was rigged. You can say "what if" about EVERY year's championship.

There are too many "what if's" that the article conveniently ignores. What if Yao's foot didn't break? What if McGrady stayed healthy? What if Sampson didn't have that fall? What if cocaine didn't ruin our entire backcourt? And he just picks and chooses what he subjectively deems important, and they aren't all that factually accurate.

 

As much as I'd love to organize the "Rockets Fans, send your hate mail to HOUSTONHATESBILLSIMMONS_18_1_BEERANDFRIEDCHICKEN_GISELESHUSBAND@gmail. com" campaign, I'm taking a more measured approach. For all his books, ESPN backing, his 1.6M Twitter followers and podcast where he got an interview with the freaking President (!), he's still a bleacherreport level writer who latched onto the internet at exactly the right time.

This has both its good and bad; back in the day, when Boston was probably even lower than Houston is right now in terms of sports misery, the fact that he wrote without a filter, word limit or standards and practices meant that we got a true fan's perspective that mainstream writers couldn't and wouldn't touch. The number of fans who are upset and disappointed about their team at the end of a season vastly outweigh those that get to taste a championship. The '90s in Boston was probably even worse than the '00s in Houston in terms of sports misery; when Simmons was the voice of the loser, it was much easier to put up with bombastic claims, poorly researched missives and wild homerism.

Then the Patriots won. And won again. And slowly but surely, Simmons executed a masterful heel turn, where he went from living and dying with his team, willing to give up his first born for a World Series flag, to someone obsessed with legacy and staying on top; dismissive of small-market teams and bottom-dwellers. You can even point to that exact moment in time, when he penned this gem, sticking it to the aggrieved fans who commiserated with him during Boston's climb to executing the Grand Slam of Sports Championships:

He went from the guy everyone wanted to see win if only for the sake of his own health, to the guy whom everyone wants to see lose in order to mock him. I can't tell you how much I ended up enjoying this clip, and how much I look forward to Boston losing at anything now.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lgoV5u2WWJs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

So don't fret about what he says. He's supposed to piss you off; it's like getting upset at Michael Cole in the WWE, or Clyde Drexler at Rockets home games; they're just intentionally inciting hate to drive viewer interest. Simply embrace it and laugh it off. It's what binds us together as fans of this particular team, through the highs, lows, and seemingly endless middles. It doesn't matter what others think about the championships; all that matters is how we remember them. It is a test of loyalty, a test of character, a test of faith, something that the fans of the Lakers or Yankees never have to endure. It is just one quirk of the franchise that you must accept; a price to pay for the privilege of watching Hakeem, for experiencing Clutch City.

Asterisk that, b****.

 

The way that I interpreted his "rankings" was to mean that the higher ranked teams would be the least likeliest to win. Thus, the 93-94 Rockets being the most dubious champion in league history.

These have been brought up on numerous occasions, but let's just revisit Jordan's stats vs. Maxwell and the Rockets.

http://https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al21_JWLPKhodEJFbldzaUFFN3RETjN6RlV3aHNNVHc

(Sorry I'm not fancy like Carl, and cannot figure out how to post tables)

I'm not saying that the Rockets definitely would have won versus a Jordan led Bulls team that year; however, I am saying that the fact that he listed them as the least likely team to win a championship (given his "Asterisk reasoning") is complete bull****.

 

Apparently I can't even link to a table correctly. Let's try that again.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al21_JWLPKhodEJFbldzaUFFN3RETjN6RlV3aHNNVHc

 

You could put asterisks on every NBA Title and season if you wanted to.

 

But...I don't understand...
We would've beat the Bulls, no matter the year. What is there to not get?

Might as well put asterisk on the Celtics '86 title, due to the Rockets having their backcourt dismantled, or on the Lakers '09 title due to Yao and McGrady being out.

Those fit the criteria, right?

 

I always forget that HE AVERAGED 31ppg uh huh real rusty so rusty he slipped and nick the brick stole the ball from him please that magic team owned the bulls that series Shaq was a beast. Bill Simmons is an idiot. MJ and tiger are similar in that they always win ahead MJ never had his back against the wall for a whole playoffs (4 rounds)....now that might be saying something bout MJ and Dream take it for what it's worth

 

there should be an asterik on Boston title in 2008 because both Bynum and Ariza were injured for the Lakers for that series.

Of course you'll never see that asterik

 

lol. That was in the article.

 

one thing about 95 though, the bulls had thought they might need to be going through a retooling process, and had released Grant to Orlando.

Had MJ not 'retired', he likely would have still been at Chicago and they would have certainly not lost to Orlando.

 

REALNESS

 

this is so stupid. you can't use "what-ifs" in sports. what happens happens

 

and had the bulls not lost to orlando, they likely would not have gone out and landed Rodman.

YOU CAN'T REWRITE HISTORY*

 

www.whatifsports.com