Ben Simmons, TV vs Books, Dame in NY
Rambling about a bunch of things
I thought long and hard about even publishing this — much less sharing it with people. I don’t even fully understand why it was important for me to put this out there.
I committed to writing in college, and I’ve been singularly focused on the Knicks from day one. Lately, I’ve wanted to branch out and work on different content. Of course, never straying too far at all from the Knicks.
Something like this isn’t at all what I had in mind, but hopefully, it helps me figure out what I want to do next. I’ve rarely ever included my personal life in my writing. I never thought anyone would find my life interesting, so what was the fucking point?
But I shouldn’t be writing this for anyone else. I should be writing it because I want to. So I am, and I do.
It’s easy for someone like me to just write off Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman as shameless cartoons who can’t possibly believe all the nonsense they say.
But then SAS goes on TV and reads a text message that he just happened to receive during his lame-ass show, which happens to lambast Ben Simmons as someone who doesn’t work and doesn’t listen.
Are there people out there who actually believe this shit? Smith doing his best to remain stoic while reading the “text” makes it all the more absurd. That’s journalism, folks.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, Simmons is really going through it right now. The Sixers gained the №1 seed in the East for the first time in 20 years but failed to make the Conference Finals again. Much of the blame was placed on their point guard.
In the seven-game series with the Hawks, Simmons only attempted three 4th quarter field goals. That includes a goose egg in Games 4–7. A 3x All-Star & max player didn’t attempt a single fourth-quarter shot in four straight playoff games.
This included the already infamous wide-open dunk that Simmons passed up late in Game 7. To make things worse, Simmons’ free throw struggles — he went 15-for-45 in the series — forced Doc Rivers to remove his point guard at the end of games.
I can sympathize with Ben Simmons. I never thought I’d say that about a professional athlete. Not for what happened in the fourth quarter of the Sixers playoff games, but because Ben’s clearly got some shit going on in his life that he’s probably never wanted to talk about.
I assume that everyone I meet hates me and deal with it. I’ve convinced myself that every piece of content I create stinks. I deleted Twitter off my phone but still check it from the App Store constantly because I’m fucking crazy like that.
It took me four times to sit down and finish this before I finally actually finished it. I got distracted by (in chronological order): KFS podcast (that’s on you, Macri), soccer, and the TV show Ed.
(Seriously, Ed was really fucking good. Very underrated show. They filmed it in my town. Like right down the street from where I’m currently sitting. And there I go again.)
Simmons’ high school coach thinks that believes that the former All-Star can fix things. But he suggested the Sixers could put a shot quota on Simmons. I’ll tell ya; I don’t see that happening.
I don’t know what’s going on with Ben. That’s his business, and I hope he deals with it in his way.
My sister had a graduation party recently, and my uncle started a conversation about an Ernest Hemmingway documentary. I was already thinking, “I’d rather drink bleach,” before he mentioned it was on PBS.
Clearly, I’ve never been much of a reader, but I’m 32 years old, so now I say things like, “I need to read more.” I actually said that out loud like it was a come to Jesus moment. I know, what an asshole.
In reality, it was Prime Day, and the Kindle was $50 off. I’d much rather finish my latest rewatch of “Happy Endings” or even start “The West Wing” for the umpteenth time than read a book.
I’ll go to my grave defending Happy Endings as one of the best sitcoms of the 21st century. Happy Endings only lasted three seasons, so it went unappreciated. But it was fun, quirky, and featured a great ensemble cast.
I’m sorry to the Sorkin fans; I can’t get through the West Wing. I love Moneyball as much as the next nerd and Rob Lowe as much as the entire world, but I just can’t get into a show about politics.
But I still had to buy something on that $80 Kindle. If there was one type of book, I was always capable of staying focused on throughout, it was the celebrity autobiography.
Tina Fey is fucking awesome. She created 30 Rock, one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, based on her tenure as head writer at Saturday Night Live. So I bought her autobiography “Bossypants” and read/listened to half of it. I’ll finish the book at some point.
And we’re back to the Damian Lillard dance. I assume Knicks Twitter will start a fight over who/what to give up over one of the best players in the NBA. As a group, we react to the word trade like Kristaps Porzingis reacts to adversity.
Lillard told his pen pal Chris Haynes (reportedly) that the fan backlash he’s received over Chauncey Billups being the next Blazers head coach and the front office’s inability to build a title contender may push him out of Portland.
We’ve heard that the Knicks were on disgruntled star watch from the time Leon Rose was hired. To my knowledge, Leon has never been betrayed, killed, and brought back from the dead, so I won’t make that joke.
This is the NBA. It’s a superstar league, and if Dame wants to go to the Knicks, odds are he’s gonna end up a Knick. Portland may even feel compelled to do the right thing by Dame and send him where he wants to go, as Oklahoma City did with Russell Westbrook.
The Blazers had their shot. Lillard gave them nine incredible seasons. That’s longer than Kyrie Irving gave the Cavs and Kawhi Leonard gave the Spurs. That says a lot considering both of those players won championships with their respective teams.
If I’m Portland, I want RJ Barrett and enough picks to make Sam Presti jealous. You can immediately start to rebuild with RJ while you pray to hit on just one of those picks.
If I’m the Knicks, I counter with Mitchell Robinson and/or Immanuel Quickley plus picks. I don’t think any team can beat that. The trade probably all depends on what Dame wants.
He’s a West Coast guy, born in Oakland, so the Warriors will be the favorites. But would the Blazers really rather have Andrew Wiggins and his contract than whatever Quickley and Mitch could turn into? I can’t imagine that.
