Simmons is out of Control!

[wolf754life]

Wow, ok I am usually on the side of Simmons, but he has gone to far on this one. The guy was clearly pulling for the Mavs. His rant about the Officiating winning the title for Miami and victimizing the Mavs is humorous to me. Where was the outrage when the Zebras stole Games 3 and 4 from us?

I guess the spurs just aren't sexy enough to give a damn, I have tried to find his email address to ask him straight up, but alas, I can't find it.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060622&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1

He also says in this column that David should have never won the MVP in 95. These pricks, national east coast sports writing bitches, wish the spurs never would have won and they continue to insult all of the fans like all of us here in this forum!

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

For the billionth time, he and Cuban are friends. What do you expect?

Damn, get a life and quit worrying about hack journalists and what they think.

[Mr. Body]

Simmons gets on my nerves now. He goes out of his way to attack the Spurs, for some reason. Dumb Boston sports fan.

[aaronstampler]

He doesn't seem to remember that in '95 Robinson was getting doubled every time he touched the ball and we were playing Hakeem straight up. I'm not saying it was the smartest strategy or anything, but those were the facts.

[strangeweather]

It's not his email address, but at least it's a webform for sending him stuff:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=feedback/sportsguy

[RonMexico]

What I don't like is how he contradicts himself - he complains about the way the game is played today but then glorifies the Mavs - complains about officiating only when it happens to D-Wade - he bitches about the Suns and Nash getting the MVP, but I don't remember Nash scoring 5 total points in the 4th quarter of 4 straight games - and lastly he calls the Suns of all teams "cheaters and floppers" How can the team that shot the least FTs in a season in NBA history be either of those things?! I know everyone is going to call Raja Bell a flopper, but Ginobili is just as much a flopper, so they cancel each other out. At least both of those players flop on the defensive end, unlike Dirk who flops on the opening tip... oh yeah, and Simmons said D-Wade gets more "benefit of the doubt calls than LeBron" uhhh... what about Dirk stepping on Duncan's foot??

I used to like Simmons, but I can't stand his articles anymore because he applauds the Boston teams of old so much, but he doesn't realize that they actually played as a team and had superstars that stepped up and took over the game, and had one of the biggest floppers of all time in Danny Ainge... oh yeah and when they're giving up 110 pts per game in their championship season of 1986 (I think), they weren't playing much defense... but they did outscore everybody... kind of like Phoenix (who has a big-man in Amare waiting in the wings)

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I really feel sorry for you guys.

He's friends with Cuban. How hard is this to grasp? Cuban's probably writing the referee part by proxy.

All writing to him does is prove to his bosses that people are reading, which is all they care about. You're giving him more job security.

Damn I hate the insecurity of Spurs fans.

[wolf754life]

The point Aggie is he is a National Voice for ESPN, people read his columns, he shapes perceptions and influences opinions of Sports Fans. Alas, if you are an NBA fan and you read Simmons and you talk to Mavs fans then you get into an argument that Miami didn't win it the refs did. Its more ammo for the WHINY ASS BITCH AND MOAN MAVS.

When the spurs were being robbed blind, Pop didn't act like a little schoolgirl spoiled brat like Avery did, Holt wasn't running his mouth and spouting f-bombs everywhere. The Mavs have no class and now they can't even lose with any dignity!

Smut like this just fuels their fire. And If i don't like reading it, its my opinion to say so, and if ESPN is a "national website" which they are not, or the "world wide leader in sports" then clean up your act.

Bottom line, Karma is great, what goes around comes around for all those classless scumbags, J. Terry for punching, Stackhouse for being a thug, Niwotzki hitting the wall, Avery for Whining and Cuban for being, well, Cuban.

[Darrin]

Wow, ok I am usually on the side of Simmons, but he has gone to far on this one. The guy was clearly pulling for the Mavs. His rant about the Officiating winning the title for Miami and victimizing the Mavs is humorous to me. Where was the outrage when the Zebras stole Games 3 and 4 from us?

I guess the spurs just aren't sexy enough to give a damn, I have tried to find his email address to ask him straight up, but alas, I can't find it.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060622&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1

He also says in this column that David should have never won the MVP in 95. These pricks, national east coast sports writing bitches, wish the spurs never would have won and they continue to insult all of the fans like all of us here in this forum!

Why does every complaint about the officials have to be biased? I've never understood how reasonably-thinking human beings can completely dismiss an argument because they cannot wrap their minds around it.

[DarrinS]

Why does every complaint about the officials have to be biased? I've never understood how reasonably-thinking human beings can completely dismiss an argument because they cannot wrap their minds around it.


So the refs made some bad calls. They always give the calls to the aggressor. Did the refs have anything to do with Dirk, Josh, and Stack clanking 3 pointer after 3 pointer?

:wakeup

[J.T.]

Media Bias is a Wonderful Thing.

[Spurminator]

Writing him angry emails is a great way to get him to write more negative stuff about the Spurs... Good call guys.

[Darrin]

So the refs made some bad calls. They always give the calls to the aggressor. Did the refs have anything to do with Dirk, Josh, and Stack clanking 3 pointer after 3 pointer?

:wakeup

Why do the Mavs have to overcome more obstacles than the Miami Heat? When does the fact the Heat's best player shot as many free throws as the entire Dallas Mavericks team rise to a level of incompetancy? Attacking the basket more is one thing. Shooting 40 more foul shots than any other player in the entire series is something else all together.

[DarrinS]

Why do the Mavs have to overcome more obstacles than the Miami Heat? When does the fact the Heat's best player shot as many free throws as the entire Dallas Mavericks team rise to a level of incompetancy? Attacking the basket more is one thing. Shooting 40 more foul shots than any other player in the entire series is something else all together.


Can you really ask this question on a Spurs message board with a straight face?

Bad officiating has been around as long as the NBA. At one point, even Ralph Nader urged the NBA to review its officiating.

The real irony is, the new rule changes that were put into effect to foster high-scoring, fast break basketball, which would benefit teams like the Mavs and the Suns, came back to bite them in the ass.

[ManuTastic]

I think you're missing a couple of things.
A-Simmons is a humor columnist, not 'the voice of ESPN.' His job is to overstate things to provoke laughs. He contradicts himself constantly throughout the course of the season. He's not going to stop.
B-His point, really, was the when the refs protect star players (a la Wade) it's bad for the game, because teams will stop playing fast-moving team ball (Nash, Dallas) and lean more on iso plays for stars. This leads to stagnant offenses and lots of FTs; boredom ensues. On this, I think he's right.
As he pointed out, there aren't many guys like Wade (and Jordan and Kobe) who are so good they can make that sort of ball entertaining. How many 'next Jordans' did teams build one-dimensional offenses around in the '90's? A lot, and it sucked. Clear out for your star, let him drive, and he gets guaranteed FTAs from the stripes. Yawn. I agree that Wade got lots of calls by throwing himself into the defense. Simmons is simply saying that bad officiating that skews the game toward individual stars and away from fast-moving team ball hurts the league for everyone.

[E20]

He's friends with Cuban? I didn't know that.

[Louie Vega]

For the billionth time, he and Cuban are friends. What do you expect?

Damn, get a life and quit worrying about hack journalists and what they think.

Cuban and Simmons like to get together and dress like women. They like to get together and paint each others toe nails and talk about which boys they think are cute. But they can get quite catty when it comes to sharing boyfriends. For instance, I think Cuban has a crush on Dirk and so does Simmons. But I think Dirk likes Cuban more cause he has money. And this hurts Simmons feelings. The bottom line is that they are all a bunch of little bitches !

[Ninja-Defense]

I actually sent him an e-mail after reading this column. It wasn't angry or petty. I read his stuff pretty regularly, though his Spurs ambivalence/hate/whatever is pretty obvious.

The funny thing is last year he was all about the Suns making a title run and going thru the Spurs, which puzzled me cuz the Suns (and now the Mavs) are kind of like the spiritual brothers of the Indy Colts who until recently were always getting owned by the Pats, who are kind of the Spurs spiritual brethren.
So him being such a Boston honk made me think he'd back the Spurs. Guess not.

I think he's still bitter about the Celtics losing the top pick (Duncan) to us in the 97 draft. I'll still read him but yeah I'm liking his NBA columns less and less now.

[Obstructed_View]

Nobody on the face of this planet hates the Spurs more than Mark Cuban. Therefore, anybody who wants to be Mark's friend hates the Spurs. Simple.

[RonMexico]

Seriously, I can't stand his columns anymore and I used to support him a lot - almost even went to his book signing in Austin... lame columns now and way too much Clips/Celtics homerism...

[polandprzem]

I think you're missing a couple of things.
A-Simmons is a humor columnist, not 'the voice of ESPN.' His job is to overstate things to provoke laughs. He contradicts himself constantly throughout the course of the season. He's not going to stop.
B-His point, really, was the when the refs protect star players (a la Wade) it's bad for the game, because teams will stop playing fast-moving team ball (Nash, Dallas) and lean more on iso plays for stars. This leads to stagnant offenses and lots of FTs; boredom ensues. On this, I think he's right.
As he pointed out, there aren't many guys like Wade (and Jordan and Kobe) who are so good they can make that sort of ball entertaining. How many 'next Jordans' did teams build one-dimensional offenses around in the '90's? A lot, and it sucked. Clear out for your star, let him drive, and he gets guaranteed FTAs from the stripes. Yawn. I agree that Wade got lots of calls by throwing himself into the defense. Simmons is simply saying that bad officiating that skews the game toward individual stars and away from fast-moving team ball hurts the league for everyone.

Humor?
I'm never laughing at his "column".

[violentkitten]

the problem with simmons argument (and he is shilling for cuban make no mistake) is that teams like the mavs ultimately rely on the stars. nowitzki didnt become the all time leader in free throws made for any other reason. the mavs arent any better for basketball than the heat or any other team. we're back to the old fullcourt versus halfcourt argument about what makes the game most attractive. what ive found is that people are excited as much by the 3 on 1 break with the dunk to finish as they are by the drive off the screen for the basket and 1. of course mavs and suns fans will say that an open court style is preferable. spurs and heat fans will go with the low post oriented offense. of course, no team in the league can do well without being able to master both styles.

i dont know if the game really has been hurt by a particular style of play dominating the game. i think it thrives more on personalities. evidence why shaq remains so popular inside and outside of the sport. guys like magic, jordan, barkley, etc...made the modern nba with their personalities as well as their play. people bought into them both for their play as well as their celebrity.

at the end of the day, people like simmons will bitch about the game to satisfy whatever hangups, predilections or ass they are trying to kiss. simmons is probably still bitter the c's lost out on duncan after tanking to try to land him.

from a technical perspective, if you want to take away perimeter contact by defenders then you arent going to be able to stop the dominant perimeter offensive player from benefitting from the rules.

from my perspective, how about the league creates a set of rules specifically for the mavericks so that cuban and simmons can fuck each other in the ass and orgasm while gushing about how wonderful the mavs are?