And what did Simmons later
say about that pick? "The lesson, as always: Don’t have a strong opinion heading into an NBA draft about someone you didn’t see enough." Same thing as the other Grantland writer we discussed earlier -- Simmons saw a little of Kyrie, bought into the narrative about him being overrated and injury-prone, and declared that Derrick Williams would be the better pick. And of course, his opinions were delivered with his usual smirky, superior, "anybody with half a brain knows this" tone.
Simmons' take on Kyrie/Williams hints at another reason why all amateur-GM types need to be taken half-seriously at best. In amateur-GM land, any moves you suggest can be immediately forgotten, and you don't have to live with the consequences. Simmons can conveniently forget that had he been Cavs' GM, he would have Williams instead of Kyrie, and the Cavs would be headed down a completely different path. He can come back and blast the Cavs for not taking Victor Oladipo, or trading for Thomas Robinson, or drafting Isaiah Canaan (the guy who has played all of 51 minutes this season). (All of which he did here:
http://grantland.com/features/the-nba-midnight-run-part-2/). Real GMs don't have that luxury.
But that's not the worst of it. Ultimately, all of this amateur-GM discussion is benign. What really pisses me off is when a media member makes accusations/innuendo that can actually hurt a player's career. I'm thinking particularly here of Ryen Russillo, who was on a podcast with Simmons last June when he said that Nerlens Noel's stock was dropping because Noel had some "epic bad dudes" around him. It was a story for a day or two, long enough for the rumor to be debunked (Noel had actually moved to another city to rehab his knee, and the "epic bad dude" with him was ... his mom). And who knows the motivation for saying it ... maybe Russillo was just trying to get noticed, maybe he was doing a favor for an agent of one of the other high draft picks,could be anything. Point is, it was an irresponsible thing to say, and had the potential to damage Noel's draft stock. Yet Russillo can simply move on to the next target, without consequence.
Remember the scene in "Training Day," when Denzel holds up his morning newspaper and says "it's 90 percent bullshit. But it's entertaining. That's why I read it"? When it comes to the Internet, we might need to up that number a bit; and maybe it's not so entertaining after all.