Simmons founded The Ringer, a sports and pop culture website and podcast network, in 2016 and serves as its CEO. He hosted Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons on HBO for one season in 2016. At The Ringer, he hosts The Bill Simmons Podcast. Simmons is known for a style of writing characterized by mixing sports knowledge and analysis, pop culture references, his non-sports-related personal. Look man, I know Ley already posted about it earlier but for real, get a fucking load of this Bill Simmons column that dropped today. It’s a fucking disgrace. There have been so many awful Bill.

Bill Simmons Angers NBA Twitter With James Harden-Luca Doncic Comparison

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Bill Simmons angered NBA Twitter this week when he chose to bash James Harden while praising Luka Doncic.

During his most recent podcast with Ryen Russillo, Simmons made the argument that Doncic was the Larry Bird of the modern NBA.

While that in itself is not a particularly illuminating take given that Doncic and Bird have little in common aside from pigment, what really ticked NBA Twitter off was Simmons opting to bash Harden while making his argument.

“The thing with Luka is the assists aren’t, like, cheap assists,” The Ringer boss said.

“He has the typical James Harden type of assist, where he brings the second guy over and hits the guy in the corner, the cross-court, all the stuff he’s doing to get guys open threes. But he’s also creating these cutter passes.

“Guys learn how to play with him and they’re more active, more engaged.”

Bill Simmons: “Luka’s assists are like Bird’s… they’re not cheap assists… like the James Harden type of assists.” #Rockets#OneMissionpic.twitter.com/MTzWw52HBF

— Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) August 10, 2020

Simmons’ comments prompted immediate mocking on social media.

Ah yes https://t.co/ABCcs2XREwpic.twitter.com/VrEeJQDydQ

— Jasmine (@JasmineLWatkins) August 10, 2020

Here’s an entire two minute video of Harden’s assists that Luka did once and Bill Simmons is freaking out about Luka’s https://t.co/O0QzTaUUvWpic.twitter.com/dTfHIddGMK

— Abdul Memon (@abdulamemon) August 10, 2020

Bill Simmons Praising Luka Doncic Is Understandable

Simmons being a fan of Doncic is not in itself shocking. The 21-year-old is an excellent player, and led the Mavericks to a very impressive showing against the Los Angeles Clippers in the playoffs this year.

The young Slovenian star is objectively special.

What really sparked the ire of NBA Twitter was not Simmons praising Doncic. That was justifiable and understandable. It was his decision to bash Harden, who has been one of the league’s premiere starting talents for the past eight years.

It is no secret that Harden’s playing style has won him some critics, but his results and stats are undeniable. He is a perennial top-two NBA MVP voting finisher for a reason.

Everything that Doncic can do, Harden can do as well. In time it may prove out that Doncic is superior to Harden, but that certainly is not the case in any capacity yet.

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Bill Simmons Twitter Feed

The Racial Component

Any time a professional entity is mostly comprised of one race and a star of a different race emerges, the subject of how that plays into it is unavoidable. Whether you are talking about Eminem’s place in rap or Tiger Woods’ legacy in golf, the racial component cannot be avoided.

As such, there are two racial issues at play here.

The first is how Doncic’s race factors into fans’ perception of him – on both sides.

As illustrated by Shannon Sharpe, the opinions here are anything but unanimous.

.@ShannonSharpe on Luka Doncic’s performance vs the Bucks:

“He’s special, he can do it all. Skip, he’s been a professional for 6 years, this is not anything new to him. It’s just a matter of time, he’s going to win the MVP, he’s that good, he’s the real deal.” pic.twitter.com/zFu4c2C67P

— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) August 10, 2020

The second is how race shapes perceptions of Harden – and in this case how Simmons views him.

The Bill Simmons Podcast everytime James Harden has a good game pic.twitter.com/hbemMnuM35

— LebronJamesHarden™ (@LBJamesHarden) August 10, 2020

Bill Simmons is a true blue (green) Celtics fan, in that he’s a closet racist. https://t.co/4wuiGMehhQ

— Andre Brock (@andreibrock) August 10, 2020

One way or another, this conversation as it pertains to both Doncic and Harden will persist. Both players are too good for it not to.

At the moment, Simmons is the one catching heat for it, but inevitably it will happen again with someone else as well.

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As Hideki Matsuyama tapped in for bogey on the 72nd hole to win the 2021 Masters, Jim Nantz said “Matsuyama is Japan’s first Masters champion.” Will it go down as one of Nantz’s most memorable calls? No, but it certainly wasn’t a bad one. He made an emphatic statement about an emphatic moment with Matsuyama becoming the first male golfer from Japan to win a major championship.

Dr Bill Simmons Twitter

It’s safe to say that the majority of viewers weren’t expecting some elaborate call from Nantz. For the most part, it was an uneventful Sunday at Augusta thanks to Matsuyama beginning the final round with a four-shot lead and doing just enough to get the job done.

Bill Simmons Twitter Page

Nantz’s call was fine, but it wasn’t good enough for Bill Simmons.

Bill Simmons Twitter Matt Damon

During his recap podcast with The Ringer’s Kevin Clarke, Simmons went off on a tangent about how disappointed he was with Nantz’s call. He even brought up cancel culture and how he believed Nantz was scared during the final moments of the broadcast.

“We were hoping for one of his classic pre-baked one-liners when Matsuyama won The Masters. I think he was scared off,” Simmons said. “He felt nervous to me the last twenty minutes, um, cancel culture, I don’t think Nantz wanted to go near anything. He kept kind of throwing it to Faldo and then when Matsuyama hit the…Nantz basically said, ‘Hideki Matsuyama, the first Japanese golfer to win The Masters.’ I’ve never heard him put less thought, energy, creativity, anything into one of his calls and it was a scared Jim Nantz, let’s be honest.”

Jacko Twitter Bill Simmons

Being a broadcaster himself, Simmons obviously watches and listens to sporting events differently than the regular viewer. He’s looking and listening for things that stand out, and to him, Nantz’s call was flat-out boring. Simmons wasn’t done there, he even made a point to bring up how Nantz recently signed a new contract, which somehow makes his call of Matsuyama’s win even more disappointing in Simmons’ opinion.

“He just played it chalk. You know what? You just signed a new contract Jim Nantz. We don’t want a scared Jim Nantz. Come up with some sort of line. Anything? Disappointing.”

It’s clear that Simmons didn’t think Nantz referenced Asia or Japan enough during the broadcast, or in the manner Simmons would have liked to hear, but he must have missed Nantz referencing the Land of the Rising Sun a handful of times throughout the broadcast while reminding viewers every two holes that this would be Japan’s first major winner in the men’s game.