Simmons Praises Zombie Sonics

If you’ve never heard of Bill Simmons, he’s a know-it-all writer. He’s like radio shock jocks. Simmons is pretty knowledgeable but is sometimes hard to swallow because of his condescending demeanor.

If you’re familiar with Simmons’ work in a 700-page book on the NBA that’s drawn rave reviews, you also know he trashed Clay Bennett for “stealing” the Sonics. Simmons refuses to use the nickname Thunder, instead referring to Oklahoma City’s NBA team as the Zombie Sonics.

Here’s the ironic twist: Simmons is becoming a Thunder fan.

Answering reader’s e-mails on ESPN.com in a million word file (exaggerating but not much) one of his interesting responses was Simmons was asked if he was GM of his beloved Celtics, given the No. 2 overall pick in 2007 Boston was supposed to get before getting ripped off in the draft lottery, would Simmons:

(1) take the NBA title the Celtics won by trading for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett
or
(2) given the No. 2 overall pick the Celtics were supposed to get, take Kevin Durant and not make those trades.

Simmons said he would take Durant in a heartbeat and surrender the title, Garnett and Allen. It has to be killing Simmons his Celtics suddenly are looking very old. But it’s what Simmons wrote after his assessment that should excite Thunder fans.

“This is like my 10th or 11th year with NBA Season Pass,” Simmons said. “I have never gotten attached to a non-Celtics team before. And I’ve never played favorites if there were multiple non-Boston games happening at the same time. This year? I find myself gravitating toward Zombies games night after night.

“It’s a real team. They like one another. They’re better as a group than they are as individuals. And Durant is the most special non-LeBron talent in basketball. Not only is there nobody like him, but there’s never been anyone like him. He’s an original prototype.”