Bill Simmons and Jalen Rose on the Timberwolves
By Ben Beecken
Let me begin by making it clear that, as a general rule, I enjoy Bill Simmons’ work. Maybe more than I should, given his tired schtick and questionable-at-times takes.
Even as Simmons has moved more towards an editor-in-chief role, running Grantland and rarely gracing the internet with original columns or even the hilarious “mailbag” collections that he made so famous, I’ve generally enjoyed most of what he contributes to his own site.
This includes the Bill and Jalen NBA Preview video series (Jalen being former NBA player Jalen Rose, of course), which debuted last year and has continued in advance of the 2014-15 NBA season.
Grantland is releasing two of these videos per day, and after posting Philadelphia (#30), Utah (#29), Milwaukee (#28), Boston (#27), Los Angeles (Lakers, #26), Orlando (#25), Simmons and Rose arrived at the Minnesota Timberwolves, ranked #24 in the NBA.
I was a bit surprised at how high they had ranked the Wolves, and indeed, the duo questioned themselves midway through the video, realizing that perhaps the Wolves would be much worse than #24 in the league, and might even be a bottom-three team. Glad they put so much thought into the rankings, amirite?
The video even finished with Simmons pondering if Minnesota would be better than the Lakers — Simmons decided that they would, indeed, be better than the team that he himself ranked them ahead of, and Rose disagreed.
As for the content of Simmons’ and Rose’s stream of consciousness…it was even sloppier and more off-base than I could have imagined.
The cliff-notes of the twenty-minute video are as follows:
1) Why did Flip Saunders flip the Miami first-round pick for Thaddeus Young? “Are they competing for a championship?”, Simmons asks.
2) Not five minutes later, Simmons and Rose lament the lack of veteran leadership and playoff experience on the roster. How will the young players SURVIVE?
What about Ronny Turiaf, Simmons asks. Mentors have to actually play, is the response from Jalen. Young, Mo Williams, Corey Brewer, Chase Budinger all say “hello”, Mr. Rose.
3) Andrew Wiggins is in a far worse situation to “live up to the hype” than he would have been in Cleveland, playing on national television 50+ times and having to buoy a newly-assembled roster as the “Scottie Pippen to LeBron’s Jordan”. Because there is ZERO pressure in that situation. None, whatsoever.
4) Jalen Rose literally said, with his mouth, that Ricky Rubio is a “turnstile” and “doesn’t defend”.
I’ll just leave these here. Even Simmons realized how ridiculous this was, halfheartedly defending Rubio’s worth. Rose also said he’s “out” on Rubio, with Simmons reminding him that he’s the same age as the (far inferior) Michael Carter-Williams, and that we live in a world in which Avery Bradley received barely less money than the four-year, $40 million deal Rose said he’d top out at for Rubio. Embarrassing.
5) The Wolves may be a bottom-three team in the NBA, despite being ranked #24 in these very rankings.
Yep, it was more or less a waste of twenty minutes of my life. After the why-would-they-add-a-veteran(!?!?)/there-are-no-veterans(!!!!) vacillation/panic, Simmons pulled it together and was decent for the rest of the video.
Look, there are plenty of things to complain about when it comes to the Wolves — anything since 2004, really. But Ricky Rubio is simply not one of them, and the bad rap he has nationally has to go away. Kudos to Simmons for actually acknowledging that he’s only 23 years old, and is not a “turnstile” defensively. But that’s about the only thing they got right.
Follow the link above to watch the video, but be prepared to be disgusted by the lazy, non-prepared, continuation of the perpetual national narrative surrounding Rubio. Otherwise, the roster balance questions and overall ranking are fair, but that’s about it.
Have a happy Monday, everyone.