Trade Idea

Tyson Chandler and Iman Shumpert for Dwyane Wade... Who says no?
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) June 2, 2013

Really??  Even if Isiah Thomas was still running the Knicks he would laugh and hang up the phone.  Tyson Chandler is one year removed from being defensive player of the year.  Shumpert finally got back into form of being one of best perimeter defenders in the league and he extended his range on his jump shot to 3pt line on offense.  Shumpert is also on his rookie contract and one of few players Knicks have who doesn't have a locker full of bengay.  Wade on the other hand?  He is getting outplayed by Lance Stephenson in ECF as the tweet was being sent out.

Simmons on MLK

“I didn’t realize the effect [the King assassination] had on that city. [...] I think from people we talk to and stuff we’ve read, the shooting kind of sets the tone for how the city thinks about stuff. We were at Game 3. Great crowd, they fall behind and the whole crowd got tense. It as like, ‘Oh no, something bad is going to happen.’ And it starts from that shooting and it’s just that mindset they have.”

After a weekend in Memphis this is what Bill Simmons came up with.  This might be the dumbest thing Simmons has ever said.

One Series > Whole Career

That's the craziest Round 1 subplot: As recently as two weeks ago, I believed Bradley, Tony Allen and LeBron were the league's three best perimeter defenders. By Game 5 of the Knicks series, Raymond Felton had eviscerated Bradley to the degree that (a) Bradley's offensive game fell apart, too; (b) Bradley lost the ability to dribble and cut; (c) Bradley kept letting Felton go right even though Felton goes right E — V — E — R — Y — S — I — N — G — L — E — T — I — M — E; and (d) Doc had to ride Terrence Williams down the stretch because Bradley was starting to look like the proverbial ninth-grader who had been promoted to varsity and completely fell apart in that first Friday-night game.
Celtics Fan Bill hopes Felton was just too wide and too strong for Bradley; that it's just a lousy matchup for him, the same way Ali hated going against Ken Norton. Objective NBA Writer Bill wonders if Bradley was severely overrated, and whether his Round 1 meltdown might be a death blow for his NBA future. 

When evaluating a player it is always a great idea to completely ignore a player's whole career and focus on one playoff series where they are playing out of position in a slowed down half court game.  I am sure every GM in NBA said this series is the only tape I will ever look at when seeing how good Bradley's D really is.  I mean, it is not like Celtics season was completely turned around when Bradley came back, or they went from 14th ranked D to 5th, or he regularly shut down players like Stephen Curry on nightly basis.  The death blow has been dealt.

Rudy Gay 2.0

Bill Simmons rankings of course have laughable knee jerk reactionary rankings all over, but this one stuck out the most to me.

Whether George becomes a true franchise guy remains to be seen. Right now, he's "Rudy Gay 2.0" — a feistier defender and much better all-around player, but someone who doesn't shoot well enough to carry an offense (you know, just like Gay). This year, George made 64 percent of his shots at the rim and 34 percent of his shots everywhere else. The league shot 40 percent from 3 to 9 feet, 42 percent from 10 to 15 feet, 38 percent from 16 to 23 feet, and 36 percent on 3s. George went 26 percent, 34 percent, 37 percent and 36 percent. In other words … below average. But he just turned 23, and maybe these next few Knicks-Pacers games could alter his NBA destiny.

 Yea, lets breeze over everything about basketball besides shooting.  So pretty much any athletic SF who doesn't shoot well enough to carry a team is a Rudy Gay 2.0, right?  Paul George is one of the furthest things from Gay.  He is not a gunner, a great teammate, MUCH better defender, passer, and better on the boards.  And no, a series vs. NY to see who gets beat by Heat next is not going to change his NBA destiny.  Maybe he will rise or fall 20 spots in these rankings, but real NBA fans opinions will not hinge on this series.

A couple other rankings that stood out.  Melo at 6 with some horrible Skip Bayless type logic. "He wants it more and isn't scared!"... Okay.  Curry at 3.  WHAT?  Don't get me wrong, I love watching Curry, but you can't write 7 paragraphs about Irving's injuries and then not even mention Curry's repeatedly sprained ankles.  Talk about short term memory.

Too bad Simmons didn't write this article a couple weeks later or Nate Robinson would of been in the top 10.