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Bill Simmons Finally, Begrudgingly Acknowledges LeBron on the Sixers is Working
By Matt Schultz
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Bill Simmons hates the Sixers. Bill Simmons also hates LeBron. So it came as no surprise that the Boston superfan began his concern trolling the moment LeBron chose to go to Philadelphia, and then continued his “I don’t buy it, Embiid can’t stay healthy, I’m taking the under” bit through the first month-plus of the season. This was always what he was going to do.
But as the Sixers kept on stacking wins, improving to 7-1 while flashing some of the best vibes I have ever seen in my life, I began to wonder: When is Bill going to say the Sixers look sick? Is he ever going to do it? How much longer could he possibly do this concern trolling schtick and still pretend to be a reasonable, logical voice on the NBA? The guy has an MVP vote. He is supposed to know what he’s talking about. Will his spite and jealous rage over what’s happening in Philly dictate his comments about this team forever? If the Sixers were 70-3, would he still be saying, “Look, I just don’t think LeBron being on this team is good for VJ Edgecombe’s development”? Is this the hill the podfather is prepared to die on?
Then I saw this clip from Bill’s latest podcast. Sounds like Bill is finally, slowly, very begrudgingly coming around:
“LeBron seems like — you could see the lightbulb going off with him, like, ‘Holy shit. I might actually have a chance to make the Finals. And, yeah. I’ll play some center. Sure. I’m gonna bring this, like — did MJ ever play center for a team that was a possible Finals contender?’ So, you can see — I agree with you, he seems super happy. He obviously has a great relationship with Maxey. I don’t think the relationship with Luka was good. And I think we can safely say that. I don’t — LeBron last year seemed pretty miserable the whole season, and knew he wasn’t — it wasn’t his team. This time he goes on, he’s like, he knew it was Maxey’s team. He signed up for it. Anyway, good start for them.”
Very funny clip here from Bill. You can hear in his voice how much it pains him to admit any of this. The last thing he wants to do is suggest that the Sixers could potentially be a Finals team. That the “There’s only one ball / There are too many mouths to feed / Too many egos” narrative that he and the rest of the national media tried pushing in the offseason has already been proven incorrect and dumb as hell. That LeBron is having a blast and is clearly very comfortable with the Sixers being Maxey’s team. It’s truly a joy to watch.
He saved the best for last, too. You can tell how much Bill doesn’t want to talk about the Sixers’ success by how abruptly he ended the conversation: “Anyway, good start for them.” Might as well have said, “I don’t like thinking about this. I’m going to stop thinking about this now. No one can make me think about things I don’t want to. I’m in charge of my own thoughts, and now I want to think about other stuff. No one is the boss of me.”
You’re right on all counts, Bill. Thank you for the kind words. Good start for the Sixers indeed.
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com