Wednesday, October 31, 2007


I used to read Bill Simmons' column over at ESPN page 2 all the time - like I didn't miss one for at least two years running. But then I discovered the Wages of Wins, and my feelings began to change. Now, Bill openly admits that he is an entertainment-focues writer, and that he writes about sports from a fan's perspective. And that's fine. But he has an awfully big readership, and therefore has a lot of sway, and he explicitly derides statistical analysis. So I haven't read many of his articles lately.

The other day I saw that he wrote up an NBA preview, and a few of his predictions are laughable. He has Milwaukee in the playoffs, and the Cavs as a lottery team. Really? The Cavs are the same team except for Varejao, and while that will hurt them does it really take them from 52 wins to 39? And who is new on the Bucks this year? You guessed it - Bobby Simmons, Bill's pet ever since he did an interview with him after the '05-'06 season.

They also have Jinlian Yi, who might actually be solid. But the Bucks sucked last year and that's all they got.

He also has Denver finishing with the same record as the Spurs, which illustrates the same scoring bias that plagues the rest of the NBA. Denver is the same team as last year after the Iverson trade, the same trade that improved the 76ers. Iverson is not good, and neither is Carmelo. They are both average. The Nuggets are all about Camby, Nene and Reggie Evans (do they still have him? He may have been traded).

I love his writing, it is very entertaining, but when he acts like a know-it-all it is immensely frustrating.

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