Flashback Friday: Bill Simmons Showing Love to Giannis

Giannis Antetokounmpo is the best basketball player in America. Some might say LeBron, but right now, Giannis is that dude. In 2013, Giannis was a virtual unknown. It is hard to believe that in the 2010s, the NBA had an unknown player, but that happened. People didn’t know really who Antetokounmpo was due to poor footage plus Giannis playing in the secondary league in Greece. It also didn’t help that Giannis was a babyface and looked like a young deer (Pun intended) out there. Bill Simmons and Jalen Rose used to do a basketball television show, and Simmons was all-in on Giannis early in his career. This is pretty fun to watch.
October 2013 – I jumped on the Giannis Bandwagon but @JalenRose refused to climb on.
(BTW: I also picked the 2014 Bucks to make the playoffs … they went 15-67.) pic.twitter.com/KQwJBTltby
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) April 2, 2020
I love this throwback. Simmons is so excited about Giannis and had this thing nailed for a long time. Jalen sounds like such a hater through this whole thing. He is acting like what Antetokounmpo is doing on the court isn’t that good. To be frank, it’s not that great, but you can see some potential in those arms and legs. Also watching people bungle his name is always good. It blows my mind that people still mispronounce his name in our year 2020, but it still happens in our society.
Charlie.