Bill Simmons has been doing it so long that there are now NBA Draft picks who were born after he joined ESPN’s Page 2 for good in 2004. One of them is Duke wing Kon Knueppel, the projected top-five pick next week who recently revealed he and his family have long bonded over Simmons’ content.
In an interview with For The Win released Tuesday, Knueppel recalled his Uncle Jeff launching his Simmons fandom when he gifted a young Kon The Book of Basketball, Simmons’ extensive history of the NBA released in October 2009.
From that point on, Knueppel said he became enamored of Simmons’ written columns and The Bill Simmons Podcast. Knueppel’s father is a big fan of The Rewatchables, the old-movie podcast that Simmons hosts (and occasionally uses to take shots at fellow sports commentators).
But it all comes back to The Book of Basketball, which made a big impression on a young, basketball-loving Knueppel.
“I just fell in love. I always loved the history of basketball. But the way he would compare it to pop culture and all that: From then on, me and my dad would always read his columns,” Knueppel said. “We were big fans. We loved listening … the movies and sports were all wrapped up in that book. It’s one of my favorites. I’ve read it a lot of times.”
In a twist of irony, Simmons has developed quite a love for Knueppel as a prospect dating back to the NCAA tournament, when the freshman-laden Blue Devils nearly won a national title.
What a compliment for Knueppel, who has read Simmons’ book and therefore has digested what Simmons called the Secret. It comes from a conversation with Isiah Thomas in which Simmons realized that the game wasn’t about physical ability or athleticism, but selflessness and interpersonal chemistry.
Perhaps Simmons sees that in Knueppel, the ultimate compliment to a hooper raised on the Sports Guy’s work.