Leaving alone his assertion that Yao needs to have a bounce-back year (despite having improved every season), Bill Simmons, in part 2 of his NBA preview, lists 7 teams that he considers to have a shot to win the title. He mentions 5 West teams, and Houston missed the cut. Wow. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/051103 Shouldn't be that alarming, since he's routinely dead wrong and not an actual expert. But this isn't the first time he's sold us short. Teams he listed instead of us: Spurs (true) Dallas (questionable) Phoenix (a reach) Lakers (could be just a joke) Denver (mentioned them but said the Hilario injury took them out of the running) Evan
When a well known basketball analysis such as Barkley,Kenny Smith,Marc Anthony,Tim Legler and even Stephen A. Smith all picked the Rockets as the 2nd best out west and a title contender, you know that unknown writer is joking or is clueless. Lakerss, a title contender? Thats rediculous...
probably had to drop 1 team off the list to include his lakers and we were it. amazing he can do a write-up with his head up kobe's ass.
Really people. Did you read the column? His pick of the Lakers is a joke about Kobe nicknaming himself "Mamba" and explaining that the black mamba is a snake that strikes with 99% accuracy. Talk about reactionary.
Make that "99% accuracy at maximum speed, in rapid succession." Yeah, the Lakers pick was an obvious joke about Kobe and his new nickname. It is not to be taken seriously. But he's probably right that Phoenix could be a dangerous team if they can sneak into the playoffs with Amare at 100%. I doubt that Phoenix will make the playoffs while missing Amare for the first 4 months, though. The West is just too deep this year. That being said, The Sports Guy (and several other NBA analysts) are DEAD wrong about the Mavericks being serious contenders this year. They are simply not that good. They kept their team largely in tact which means that they should be in a better rhythm and flow than teams who have changed the make-up of their teams substantially (e.g., Rockets), but they struggled against a savagely depleted Suns team to open the season and got shut down by the Jazz last night. The Mavericks are simply OVERRATED.
I wouldn't really call him unknown. I agree, but I'd say he's only half-joking. Also doesn't change the fact that out of 8 possible WC playoff seeds, he name-dropped 5 of them and left the Rockets out completely. Even if you omit the Lakers and Nuggets, it's a pretty glaring omission. Evan
If Simmons isn't on our bandwagon yet, it's not really a big deal. He'll change his tune next month when we're sitting at 15-2. I mean this is the guy who flip-flopped on Stephon Marbury four times in a two year period.
yeah he is an idiot....he puts us finishing 3rd and in the final 8 teams but we don't have a chance for the finals or championship. who cares what every moron has to say.
he has the rockets listed in his "final eight" section on the lower right of the article, but doesn't have them in his "seven teams that can win the 2006 NBA title." mmmmkay...
Bill Simmons on himself: "The lesson? As always, I'm an idiot" He is a humor writer/pop culturalist who lives to 1. Watch the NBA . . .as a fan, not as a paid anylist. 2. Gamble on the NFL 3. Root for Boston sports. Y'all are getting your panties in a bunch over a whole lot of nothing.
