I recently checked out two of my favorite sports writer’s podcasts. Bill Simmons interviewed Tyson Chandler earier this week and posted an interview of David Stern this Friday. Here are my quick takes on these. Stern’s is a must-listen.
ESPN’s Bill Simmons Interviews David Stern
Simmons and Stern discuss New Orleans extensively. Stern seems convinced they are going to hit 10,000 season ticket holders. He also says that while about “5” buyers have approached the league, they are not “ready” to sell yet. He says the business community is committed and that the Hornets can make money with some financial support from the state.
Simmons also grills stern about ticket prices, marketing the clubs “enough” and the NBA’s business model, as business need to promote their products to make money online and is when services like agency backlinks can be helpful. They also discuss (with some heated exchanges) the union’s position on revenues and the potential for a full-season lockout. Stern seems firmly committed to his position on the league’s revenues and seems logical about the amount of money the players can and should be making.
Stern provides some interesting insight on the potential for a 2011-2012 NBA Season. I consider this one a must-listen. There is some great discussion about the New Orleans Hornets, the future of small market teams and the lockout.
ESPN’s Bill Simmons Interviews Tyson Chandler
Interesting interview with Tyson Chandler in which he talks about his progression as a basketball player, including the fact that he and Bill conveniently forgot the 56-26 2007-08 New Orleans Hornets. Both referenced that he had never been on a “good” team, and Tyson even seems to interject that he was once on a 50-win team in New Orleans, but then gets cut off by Simmons’ insistence that it was the team, not Tyson, that wasn’t any good. Of course we all remember a different, injury-prone Tyson. But we’re all glad that he finally won a ring, too.
Also some interesting talk about if he had been traded to OKC during the ’08 season, which was aborted because he failed a physical, and the team had concerns about his injured ankle.
2 responses to “ESPN Podcasts Reference New Orleans Hornets”
I just listened to both of these today and I was pretty upset about Simmons mentioning that he had never played for a 50 win club before the US tournament. I guess it was just one year that Chandler was on a team with 50+ wins but there are also 3 years where he was under by a game or two. For a guy with 8 seasons under his belt and half were almost 50 win seasons I think its fair to say there is a quite a disparity between reality and the notion that Simmons was giving in that.
I didn’t like the sentiment that Tyson “never played on a good team” either. People forget the Hornets so easily after they time and again prove to be a strong team. Geaux Hornets!
I think people (unfairly) think that the team would be bad without CP3. In 2007, input an average point guard instead of CP and we are still a .500 team. Maybe not a 56-win team, but still.
Ariza, Okafor, Jack and West could and probably would easily start for most of the teams in the league. While the same can’t be said for Mo Peterson, you might have made that argument in 2007.