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Been knew the type Bill Simmons was
Simmons and the rest of the sports media was pretty harsh on LeBron for changing teams. But Rich Paul brings up good points that everyone is doing that these days. LeBron merely paved the way, and there was probably a race component to it too.
âI blame the people around him. I blame the lack of a father figure in his life,â Bill Simmons, then a leading columnist at ESPN, wrote. âI blame us for feeding his narcissism to the point that he referred to himself in the third person five times in forty-five minutes. I blame local and national writers (including myself) for apparently not doing a good enough job explaining to athletes like LeBron what sports mean to us, and how it IS a marriage, for better and worse, and that weâre much more attached to these players and teams than they realize.â
Paul saw this as condescension and worse. âThatâs why I donât speak to Bill Simmons,â he said. âA lot of that has to do with race, too. He wouldnât have said that about Larry Bird. He wouldnât have said that about J. J. Redick. You get what I am saying? âThe Decisionâ ten years ago is the norm today. Itâs what everyone wants to do. Kids wonât even decide where they go to college without it being a big production, and Bill Simmons says some **** like that.â
Simmons and the rest of the sports media was pretty harsh on LeBron for changing teams. But Rich Paul brings up good points that everyone is doing that these days. LeBron merely paved the way, and there was probably a race component to it too.
âI blame the people around him. I blame the lack of a father figure in his life,â Bill Simmons, then a leading columnist at ESPN, wrote. âI blame us for feeding his narcissism to the point that he referred to himself in the third person five times in forty-five minutes. I blame local and national writers (including myself) for apparently not doing a good enough job explaining to athletes like LeBron what sports mean to us, and how it IS a marriage, for better and worse, and that weâre much more attached to these players and teams than they realize.â
Paul saw this as condescension and worse. âThatâs why I donât speak to Bill Simmons,â he said. âA lot of that has to do with race, too. He wouldnât have said that about Larry Bird. He wouldnât have said that about J. J. Redick. You get what I am saying? âThe Decisionâ ten years ago is the norm today. Itâs what everyone wants to do. Kids wonât even decide where they go to college without it being a big production, and Bill Simmons says some **** like that.â
LeBron Jamesâs Agent Is Transforming the Business of Basketball
Rich Paul is known for driving hard bargains for star clients, giving them new power in the N.B.A.
www.newyorker.com