Bill Simmons and Celtics Fans Want the Nets to Be Good and Markelle Fultz to be Bad

Bill Simmons has been previewing the NBA season on various Ringer podcasts this week. While discussing the Philadelphia 76ers over/under he voiced all of his concerns about #1 pick Markelle Fultz. These concerns all stand in stark contrast to things Simmons said about Fultz back before his favorite team traded the #1 pick. Crossing Broad has edited those clips together. (Warning: Simmons drops an F-bomb at the end for anyone who wants to take his comments out of context.)

Who didn’t see this coming? Or predict that as soon as Boston traded the 2018 Brooklyn Nets pick that the Nets would be sneaky good this season. Simmons’ reasoning for that? The Nets have no reason to tank. Just like they had no reason to tank last season, but now that a different franchise owns the pick, they’re going to suddenly play harder.

Simmons – and by extension, Boston Celtics fans – want the Nets to be good and Isaiah Thomas to stay injured this season so that the Kyrie Irving trade doesn’t look bad. They also want Markelle Fultz to fail so that their team wasn’t the one to pass on a superstar. Lonzo Ball being a superior player to Fultz would be a consolation prize because then they can claim that no one could have predicted which player would be better and besides Jayson Tatum is the next Paul Pierce anyway.