Friday, February 29, 2008

Simmons for GM!

We are on to the next step. Matt posted about a Bill Simmons article last week Thursday, in which Simmons casually mentioned in his basketball blog that he would like to apply for the Larry Harris' GM job.

Fast forward 1 week. Simmons I guess received numerous emails from Bucks fans begging him to follow through with his plea. He actually devoted his next ESPN the Magazine article to reasons why he should be the next Bucks' GM.

He makes the usual good points about what's wrong with the current state of the franchise (ie...the Bobby Simmons, Dan Gadzuric, & Charlie Bell contracts) and gives a couple of jokingly other tricks he would pull (a free beer and kielbasa the next home game if the Bucks get blown out at home) if he were GM.

But his best point in the article would have to be this:
"And you can't build for the present and the future at the same time. The Bucks did that, too, when they drafted Yi Jianlian last summer. Trying to juggle two agendas at once—contending and rebuilding—is, more than anything else, why the team is floundering now."

Here's the real question: Is this an actual story or is this just Simmons taking something a little too far? I have read enough Simmons over the last 4 years to realize this guy knows an ABSURD amount about the NBA. He knows the basketball side (players, coaches, GM's, officials) and through his work at ESPN he gets a unique feel for the business side (executives, salary cap implications, TV contracts, etc.).

Of course, the odds of this happening are extremely remote. You don't "apply" for the GM position of a major sports franchise. This isn't like faxing over a resume. The Senator probably has a short list of 5 guys that he'll be calling once this season is over.

Will Simmons ever make that list? Doubtful. One guy who emailed him mentioned he might get a petition going. Here's what I know, if I see a petition that would ask me to sign if I wanted Bill Simmons as the Bucks' next GM, you can bet it would have my signature on it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately I think this is just Simmons being Simmons. I really wish something like this would happen though. The Bucks have nothing really to lose, and think of all the publicity it would get them. If we can have a black man and a white woman run for president, we can certainly have a sports columnist be a GM. Let's face it, he can't be any worse than Harris.

Anonymous said...

I don't mind this idea. However, as opposed to going with "Yes We Can!", Simmons should go with the above mentioned, "Can't be any worse than Harris!"

Anonymous said...

There should be a reality show for the job. Call it something like "Who wants to be a Millionaire, and destroy a franchise." Or "Smarter than an NBA Executive." Any other ideas? I actually think this would work. Donald Trump hires his winners for million dollar jobs...

Matt said...

If it involved having Herb Kohl on TV as much as the Donald is on TV, I'll pass on that idea. Herb is creepy.

Anonymous said...

Here's the petition:

www.hirebillsimmons.com