I think ppl need to remember that Bill Simmons writes like a sports fan, not an analyst. Hence him being on ESPN Page2, not the ESPN nba section. He's a really good blog writer who makes some keen observations and takes some giant leaps of faith that certain things will happen. Sometimes he hits, sometimes he misses. ppl get too hurt by his negative comments towards their teams/players but he's a Boston fan who loves his teams first and the sport second. I agree about 50/50 with what he says, but still enjoy the ways he expresses his thoughts and observations.
I don't expect him to write like an analyst, but I do expect him to know more about the league than he always seems to, which is always my issue. For as much basketball as he supposedly watches, getting paid to watch it, basically, he seems to know his Celtics, and not a ton else. I suppose that's fine. People like his comedy writing I guess. I just think it seems more suited for a Boston site, and not ESPN. Abbott is a Blazers fan, but not to that level. Just seems odd that they would select a columnist that is just a huge fan of one team, and not someone that is at least a big fan of the NBA in general, or, while being a fan, understands more of the league than he does. But, to each their own. I stopped reading him a while ago, when the jokes got stale(although will admit I read most of his article/mailbag today since it was on the front page), and I see he still is making his Rocky IV jokes. It was funny the first few times. Still talking about Rocky IV gets lame after a while. But the jokes got tired, adn his view of the sports world outside of Boston seems ever diminishing.
Bill Simmons is fine. He doesn't pretend to be anything other than what he is. I don't particularly agree with a lot of stuff he has to say, although he's frequently funny, he just loves to needle people and get a reaction ... Blazers fans are some of the worst I've ever seen at biting at what he prints; let it go people.
I think Simmons' point is that there is a buzz every time Oden gets the ball in the post that simply isn't there for any other player, except perhaps Roy isolated in the 4th quarter. I would imagine that that pressure helped contribute to some of Oden's offensive problems at the start of last year.
