Add Jay Williams to those in Jalen Green’s corner after Bill Simmons made negative remarks about the Rockets’ rookie earlier this week.
Speaking on his podcast earlier this week, Simmons said that he put Pelicans forward Herb Jones on his all-rookie ballot over Green.
“F–k Jalen Green,” Simmons said, in a tongue-in-cheek manner. “I don’t care that you’re scoring 40 points when your team’s 19-60. Congratulations! Herb Jones is like guarding people in real games.”
Simmons accurately prophesied the ire of Houston fans.
“Now the Houston people are going to be mad at me,” he said. “I’m sorry, I like winning players. I’m sorry. Jalen Green will get there! That team was 21-61 or whatever this year.”
Jalen Green was left off Bill Simmons’ all-rookie team ballot for Pelicans forward Herb Jones. Getty ImagesThe Houston Chronicle wrote up the segment, and Simmons, as he tends to do, took issue with the aggregation.
“This is ridiculous,” Simmons tweeted. “I think we were laughing during 80 percent of this. My point was: I’m always leaning toward a rookie like Herb Jones who was meaningfully contributing to a decent team over someone putting up stats on a bad team. Jalen is gonna be excellent. But congrats on getting your traffic Houston Chronicle… keep churning out those subs!”
Bill Simmons drew the ire of Houston fans for saying ‘F–k Jalen Green.’ Getty Images
Jay Williams called ‘BS’ on Bill Simmons’ Jalen Green take. Getty ImagesGreen made an indirect but apparent reference to the situation, tweeting, “It is what it is,” with crying and shrugging emojis.
Williams, an NBA analyst for ESPN, sided with Green.
“Naw man. That’s BS. It wasn’t right. Keep shining my man,” Williams tweeted in response.
