HoopsHype.com Rumors

Mark Cuban has taken a lot of heat this off-season for his personnel moves — or lack thereof. The Mavericks owner decided to take a few shots of his own Sunday night on Twitter. In response to a tweet ESPN’s Bill Simmons made Friday night, in which the columnist and editor-in-chief for ESPN’s Grantland.com said “Put it this way: I wasn’t crazy about Elton Brand and Chris Kaman playing together in 2006 when they were still good,” Cuban said: They (sic) next smart personnel comment you mae (sic) will be your first Dallas Morning News

Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, Owners, Bill Simmons 

Cuban later responded to a fan tweet that said “…Simmons also didn’t let an entire championship team minus the superstar walk away for nothing” by saying “possibly because he has never had any involvement with a championship team.” Dallas Morning News

Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, Owners, Bill Simmons 

One that ought to be equally prominent is "No wagering on the teams or players you're covering." ESPN's Bill Simmons has just learned that latter lesson in a very public way. He has given back his ballot for the NBA's MVP award, because it was well known that he had bet on LeBron James to win. USA Today

Miami Heat, LeBron James, Media, Bill Simmons 

ESPN, which also doesn't seem overly concerned with the matter, felt compelled to issue yet another statement this week concerning an employee who likes to gamble. (Seems to be happening a lot lately.) Here was the word from on high: Bill (Simmons) had never received a ballot before and didn't find out he had one until two-thirds of the season had passed. By that time he had made multiple MVP bets, two of which he had discussed on podcasts. He ended up withdrawing his MVP vote to avoid the perception of any conflict. Deadspin.com

Bill Simmons 

Ted Leonsis: I was one of the co-founders of Aol’s Digital City – Bob Smith and Paul DeBenedictus helped to create it – we opened a city operation in Boston – and Bill Simmons wrote a clever little column about Boston sports. He was a talent; very ambitious and quite a good writer. He got his start as did many other bloggers at Aol; back in the day. That is the history – Bill was discovered by Aol. Bet you didn’t know that? Ted Leonsis

Washington Wizards, Ted Leonsis, Bill Simmons 

Anthony Tolliver: Bill Simmons said that the @NBPA & NBA players have "limited intellectual capital"..wow! Does he think that we cant read between the lines? Twitter

Minnesota Timberwolves, CBA, Anthony Tolliver, David Stern, Lockout, Billy Hunter, NBPA, Bill Simmons, Adam Silver, George Cohen 

Anthony Tolliver: I want to personally apologize to all the #NBA fans and every1 else affected by this stupidity. I really hope that this can be resolved soon Twitter

Minnesota Timberwolves, CBA, Anthony Tolliver, David Stern, Lockout, Billy Hunter, NBPA, Bill Simmons, Adam Silver, George Cohen 

Bill Simmons: Best-case scenario: NBA season starts in Feb. And that's the best-case scenario. I don't think I've ever been more disenchanted with Stern. Twitter

CBA, David Stern, Lockout, Billy Hunter, NBPA, Bill Simmons 

Mike Prada: Listening to @Bill Simmons's podcast: Sean Grande says Presti was going to trade James Harden instead of Green, then changed his mind. Twitter

Oklahoma City Thunder, Trade, James Harden, Jeff Green, Bill Simmons 

John Hollinger: Wyc Grousbeck taunts @Bill Simmons for hating on Doc in the early yrs...said they had a plan to get a top-50 all time player. Twitter

Boston Celtics, Wyc Grousbeck, Bill Simmons 

Bill Simmons: So much fun tonight, Jackson and Shulman could not have been more helpful. I am crossing "announce an NBA game" off my bucket list! Twitter

Media, Bill Simmons 

Bill Simmons, NBA analyst? A few minutes ago, ESPN leaked to USA Today that Simmons will be working the Heat-Warriors game Friday as an NBA analyst alongside Dan Shulman and Mark Jackson. Interesting year for Simmons, huh? He’s getting more fill-in duty on PTI. He broke some news on Randy Moss getting traded from the Patriots. He got embroiled in a mini-feud with Keith Olbermann. His website project is in the embryonic stage. And now, he’s getting some work as an NBA analyst. The Big Lead

Media, Bill Simmons 

Kevin Love: I wanna end this first post with a message for my man over at ESPN, Bill Simmons. I heard that on his podcast, he was going through all the Vegas over-unders for every NBA team's 2010-11 season win totals. Apparently, according to Vegas, the over-under for our team is the lowest in the league, just 23.5 wins. Well, first of all, fuck them. No, I'm just kidding! But then I heard Bill took the under on our team—he said he thinks we're gonna win LESS than 23.5 games. Well, OK, Bill. You're my guy. You're a good friend. But you take it out on the Timberwolves a little too much. You need to give us a little more respect! And don't worry, that respect will be earned. We will GLADLY show you. Mark my words: we're going over 30 wins this year. GQ.com

Minnesota Timberwolves, Kevin Love, Bill Simmons 

Appearing on the Dennis & Callahan Show, ESPN's Bill Simmons predicted that the Celtics will prevail in the Eastern Conference, citing a deeper bench than Miami, and an advantage in the match-ups against Orlando. Regarding the Heat, Simmons remains skeptical heading into Tuesday's night season-opener at the TD Garden. "I think there's a much better chance that it's dicey than everything goes fantastic," Simmons said of the Heat. Regarding the construct of this season's Celtics' team, Simmons points to their depth as being a big difference from last season. He specifically cited the presence of Delonte West, and how he could protect the C's if something happened to point guard Rajon Rondo. "I do think the one difference between last year's team and this year's team is they have a bench," he said, proceeding to then go on to talk about West. "I've got to say, I was shocked at how good Delonte was in the preseason … I think he's back to where he was, from what I saw." WEEI.com

Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Bill Simmons