Bill Simmons actually thinks he should get a shot as an NBA general manager
Last year, when the Bucks had a GM opening, Bill Simmons started a campaign to fill the position. Fortunately, the Bucks hired John Hammond.
Fast forward a year, and Simmons is campaigning for the open Minnesota GM job, punctuated by this beauty in his so-called “epic” conversation with author Malcom Gladwell (the guy who thinks all underdogs should utilize the full-court press).
NBA teams rarely, if ever, think outside the box, and that’s one of at least 50 reasons why I could succeed as a GM.
This started out as a semi-joke, but I think over the course of the last year, Simmons’ ego, along with a few thousand emails of support from his readers, have convinced himself that he’s actually qualified to run an NBA franchise.
Look around the league and you’ll find that NBA general managers are usually former players, had front-office experience prior to getting the keys to a franchise, have advanced degrees in business and have an deep understanding of the salary cap and of how the fiscal side of the NBA works. Bill’s greatest strength is his ability to compare an athlete to a character to some random movie from the ’80s. What’s he going to do — sit Kevin Love down and tell him that his game reminds him of Chubby from “Teen Wolf”? How does this get the T-Wolves to the playoffs?
To me, the big question is whether or not Simmons keeps this up. Is he going to campaign for every open general manager position until he gets one (or more likely, dies of old age)? Or is there a certain point when all this I-can-run-an-NBA-team talk becomes so sad that he eventually just gives it up?
There’s no doubt about it — Simmons is an entertaining sportswriter, maybe the best in the stream-of-consciousness/pop-culture business. But he needs a reality check, and there’s no way to give it to him.







just read bill simmons articles, and you’ll see his nba knowledge. and check out the reasons why he says to press, they are all legit. dont talk on the man i look up to unless you do a little more research.
I probably read 70% of his stuff. He’s an entertaining writer. No doubt about that.
But read this, Boris.
Bill talks a good game, but when it comes down to it, he lacks the basketball knowledge necessary to run an NBA franchise.
Kind of ironic that Boris attempts to slam somebody for (supposedly) not doing enough research, yet he clearly didn’t do enough research himself to check out John’s countless other Simmons pieces.