Bill Simmons is leaving ESPN

[SDC]

Lon Babby and Ryan McDonaugh out, Bill Simmons and Zach Lowe in.

[Mori Chu]

Let's not.

[The Bobster]

The idea that Bill Simmons could run a team is ridiculous.

[SDC]

he'll do a better job than mcdo, who still needs training wheels.

[Mori Chu]

Bill is an entertaining and savvy NBA analyst. But being a GM, running a team, that is a totally different ballgame. You have to be intelligent, hard-working, driven, and capable of managing a ton of connections with players, agents, coaches, other GMs, and more. You have to go out on lots of scouting trips and start tracking players from a very young age so that you'll know their value when they get to the NBA. You have to meticulously track free agents and contracts and be aware of who's going to be on the market, who'll be under- or over-valued, who would come to your town, who's friends with whom, who has beef with whom, who their agents are. You have to know which of your own players are up for extensions or expiring, whether they want to stay, what kind of money they're looking for, are they happy with their role, who their agent's other players are. You have to be a hard-line negotiator who can get good value on FA contracts and in trades but still be able to get deals done. You have to do all of these and many more things while under a lot of time pressure and scrutiny from many sides.

Oh, and the job also involves a lot of mundane crap like deciding what bobble-head to give away and who to hire to be in the mascot suit.

I love Bill Simmons but it's extremely unlikely that he's actually built for such a job. He might be good at some parts of it, but I doubt he'd be an above-average GM. He's already doing what he's good at; let's just enjoy his writing and not try to pretend he could be something he's not.

[Cap]

Bill is an entertaining and savvy NBA analyst. But being a GM, running a team, that is a totally different ballgame. You have to be intelligent, hard-working, driven, and capable of managing a ton of connections with players, agents, coaches, other GMs, and more.

Yeah, forget Simmons. Let's hire Adrian Wojnarowski.

[TOO]

Bill Simmons as a GM? That screams of a certain posters trollish ideas..

[Mori Chu]

Bill Simmons as a GM? That screams of a certain posters trollish ideas..

He was the one who suggested it. I guess you guys have him on block.

[TOO]

Bill Simmons as a GM? That screams of a certain posters trollish ideas..

He was the one who suggested it. I guess you guys have him on block.

Yup, Mark Eaton'd long ago.

[carey]

I love Bill Simmons but it's extremely unlikely that he's actually built for such a job. He might be good at some parts of it, but I doubt he'd be an above-average GM. He's already doing what he's good at; let's just enjoy his writing and not try to pretend he could be something he's not.

Oh, God no. By all accounts Bill is way, way too thin skinned to be a GM. He takes a lot of things personally and holds grudges for a long time. I don't think that is a quality you want to have in your GM. In a writer, though? I can not wait to see what he has to say about his time at ESPN. In fact, I hope he writes a book about it. On one hand you don't want to burn bridges (See the return of Olbermann or Michelle Beadle to the nest) but I kind of hope he does. I think he's playing it perfectly so far by staying silent. You know he's seething though, he has to be. Skipper screwed him hard by going public 4 months before his contract expired. It hurts his negotiating position with other media outlets. It also leaves him in limbo with all his current work. Hell, he hasn't been tweeting during all this Brady stuff. It's got to be killing him.

Skip Bayless and Colin Cowherd are also up for contracts very soon. A lot of people are saying they cut Bill loose because they didn't want to pay him $6M+. It would set a bad precedent for the 2 contracts they care more about. Most of Bill's ventures, though successful (Grantland, 30 for 30, The B.S. Report) have been very hard to monetize. I'm eager to see what happens to Grantland without Bill. They should be able to continue the 30 for 30 without him. Most people didn't know he helped create it. The B.S. Report should be dead but a lot of people are saying ESPN is already floating ideas on who could take over the podcast as if B.S. stood for anything other than Bill Simmons.

[SDC]

Bill simmons on the suns spurs 2010 playoffs.

I have Spurs-Suns 2010 ranked as the second-most entertaining/memorable/dramatic NBA playoff sweep ever. All four games stood out for different reasons, each game was supremely entertaining, the subplots in the series were sublime, and the overriding theme (Phoenix finally lifting that Spurs monkey off its back) was tremendous. Only the 1995 Finals (Houston over Orlando) trumped it because of the stakes, because it had a better ESPN Classic game (the incredible Game 1, or as it's more commonly known, the Nick Anderson Game), because it had a pantheon performance (Hakeem sticking it to Young Shaq with averages of 33 and 12 over four games), and because it took on added weight over the next few years for destroying a Magic team that really should have evolved into a juggernaut. It's nearly impossible to have an entertaining sweep. As the Magic and Hawks just proved. Painfully.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ons/100510

[Indy]

Speaking of Colin Cowherd, Carey, is there anyone less talented or with less real things to say than him?

[carey]

Speaking of Colin Cowherd, Carey, is there anyone less talented or with less real things to say than him?

S. A. Smith. I cackle endlessly whenever I see Pharoah's impersonation on SNL.

[Indy]

Speaking of Colin Cowherd, Carey, is there anyone less talented or with less real things to say than him?

S. A. Smith. I cackle endlessly whenever I see Pharoah's impersonation on SNL.

Oh, true. I thought he left ESPN though.

[Mori Chu]

How about Skip Bayless? That guy is a 100% blowhard.

[carey]

Oh, true. I thought he left ESPN though.

How about Skip Bayless? That guy is a 100% blowhard.

Oh no. Both Bayless and Steven A. are on every morning for 2 hours. I read recently that of the ESPN personalities Bayless brings in the most money. He is super annoying though & that's probably why. People tune in to see what dumb shit Skip will say next.

[Indy]

I'm glad I don't consume any part of ESPN.

[The Bobster]

I just don't understand why people would sit in front of their tvs and watch idiots argue about sports.

[Indy]

I just don't understand why people would sit in front of their tvs and watch idiots argue about sports.

Same reason people sit in front of their TVs and watch idiots argue about politics, or how well someone can sing, or why they voted someone off the island. We are a culture that consumes shit and likes it. That's why McDonald's has served billions and billions and why WalMart seems to have every single person on the planet in their stores at all times.

[The Bobster]

I just don't understand why people would sit in front of their tvs and watch idiots argue about sports.

Same reason people sit in front of their TVs and watch idiots argue about politics, or how well someone can sing, or why they voted someone off the island. We are a culture that consumes shit and likes it. That's why McDonald's has served billions and billions and why WalMart seems to have every single person on the planet in their stores at all times.

Sadly, there is a lot of truth to this!