Bad Take Generator Kevin O'Connor Is At It Again

Where O’Connor’s takes belong

I don't like to talk about the same person in 2 consecutive weeks, and this comes off as big time trolling, but The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor was at it again on "The Ringer NBA Show" this past Tuesday. Also, I don't care trolling someone when they are as stupid and contradictory as O'Connor has proven himself to be time and time again.

This most recent episode had me giving in and saying that I am only going to give the pod one more listen because O'Connor's takes have gotten worse and worse and he has gotten so high and mighty that it is insufferable. On the most recent episode there were 2 instances where he made himself look like a total asshole and idiot.

The first was his pure love for Luka Doncic and his recent tear, wherein he is averaging near a triple double. O'Connor praised Doncic. He has been on the bandwagon since before last year's draft, I will give him that. He then went on to talk about how he is a top ten player currently, I personally have him just outside the top ten, and an MVP candidate right now, of which I agree with. I like Doncic as much as the next NBA fan. I just don't love him as much as O'Connor does. And, when Chris Vernon, who is the only saving grace of this pod and website right now, pushed him on how he dogged Russell Westbrook for averaging a triple double 2 years ago, O'Connor's response was so god damn stupid that I continued to call him an idiot to my phone multiple times.

O'Connor went into some nonsense about how he wished that Westbrook was a better shooter, and how he wished he didn't hunt stats and how he thought Westbrook's two triple double seasons were empty. He then praised Doncic's passing. He said he loves that he shoots threes, even though he isn't a great shooter yet. He also talked about how important he is to the Mavericks and to the league. This is all ridiculous and further proves that The Ringer hates Westbrook and loves Doncic. They're so protective of their pet projects and guys they like, and when they don't like someone, they go in so hard to prove how "bad" they are. But, here is the truth. Westbrook is a better player than Doncic. He isn't the shooter, and he isn't as young, but he has done so much more, for a longer period of time, including deep playoff runs, than Doncic can dream of doing right now. Westbrook one hundred percent deserved his MVP when he won it, and him averaging a triple double was astounding.

The fact that shit writers like O'Connor, and his boss Bill Simmons, keep putting down Westbrook is so pitiful. Westbrook is a once in a generation talent, and they are taking him for granted because they don't like the way he plays basketball. To praise Doncic, who is totally stat hunting as well, and trash Westbrook is just in poor taste and proves how hacky the takes are from O'Connor.

Then, when I didn't think he could be more stupid, he comes out and says that the Spurs need to trade one or both of DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge and embrace the youth movement. While I don't think that the Spurs embracing youth is bad, O'Connor's reasoning was what made me scoff. He said that if they keep both guys, they will be a 6, 7 or 8 seed and get beat in the playoffs, and who wants that he asked. I'd say the majority of Spurs fans would want that. The fans in San Antonio have become so used to being in the playoffs, so I don't think they'd care if they are a lower seed, as long as they are still in the playoffs. I wonder if he would say the same thing about Tom Brady right now, and the Patriots. Yes, the Patriots are better, but Brady has looked pretty washed this season. So, since he is all about youth, why not move on from Brady? Is it because he is a winner, and you trust him to figure it out? Wow. Maybe that is how the Spurs fans feel about Greg Poppovich and his staff. They always seem to figure something out, and they are always competitive. Just because this younger group of writers like O'Connor are so obsessed with drafting based on potential doesn't mean that people who have been winning for multiple decades now have to do what they want them to do. It is 15 games into an 82 game season. They have so much time, and seeds 5-8 are still very much wide open. Then, when Vernon said he wouldn't trade DeRozan because he is good, O'Connor went into nonsense about how he doesn't shoot enough threes and they need to trade him to get younger guys willing to shoot the three. That is so god damn stupid. Also, he kept talking about how the youth on the Spurs barely plays together, and I say again, it is 15 god damn games into the year. I'm sure Poppovich will fix some stuff and make some adjustments. Hearing takes like this every week from a dude that I can guarantee didn't even play high school basketball is so absurd. I'm sure front offices also have people that listen to these pods and think, I'm glad that moron doesn't work for us.

Kevin O'Connor has seemed to do something that makes me dislike, and lose respect for him, every week on the podcast. I already stopped reading his writing because it is poor, and now I am one step away from ending listening to him on pods because his takes are worse than ever. It is sad that he is so porous at what he does, yet he is one of the bigger names at this ridiculous company. Every week I lose respect for him, and continue to ask myself, why do I listen to anyone besides Zach Lowe and Jackie MacMullen talk basketball. They are good. O'Connor is not.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He had an uncomfortable experience with a lie detector test. It was quite uncomfortable, know what I mean?

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The Ringer's Kevin O'Conner is a Bad Take Generator

Home to Kevin O’Conner takes

I am very tough on the website The Ringer. I feel like it is filled with hot take millennial BS that is pointless. All the majority of the hosts of the podcasts, and their writers, it is all about the quickest and hottest take out there. I don't feel like they do a ton of research, and they just want to put out stuff to get clicks on the site. Also, Bill Simmons is one of the biggest has beens in the sports writing business. He is such a non factor in the NBA world now. I do not trust a word he says anymore, and while he was once a solid writer, he has only shown since starting The Ringer, is that he wants so badly to still be in his 20's, even though he is approaching his 50's. It is sad. That much is true. Also, his interviews with Malcolm Gladwell have been horrendous and awful, in so many different ways.

While I do not read the website anymore, it feels like a total waste of time, I do subscribe to 2 of their podcasts. I listen to their NFL show, and I listen to their NBA show hosted by Chris Vernon and Kevin O'Connor. I do like Chris Vernon. I have talked about that before. He has some of the better takes on the pod, he seems to understand the NBA pretty well, and he isn't a yes man, of which this company is filled with. I also enjoy his passion for the game, and his love for his hometown team, the Memphis Grizzlies. Yes, he can be obnoxious from time to time, he can be a little loud, but again, he seems like the smartest person that is involved with the whole Ringer crew.

Then we have Kevin O'Connor. Boy oh boy do I not like him. He has one, maybe 2 good takes per episode, but everything else is so absurd and contradictory and asinine and flat out stupid. He takes credit for the few things he gets right, and when he is very wrong, which is a lot, he almost always deflects the blame. He is never wrong, it was something out of his control that caused his shit take to be off.

For example, I was listening to their most recent episode, and twice he said some shit that was so off that it made me audibly gasp and call him an idiot to my iPhone. First, Chris Vernon called him out on his "bright future Suns" comment, and when he was pushed by Vernon, he kind of just blahed his way through his speech. Vernon pointed out that when he called them the "bright future Suns", they had so many other players. In fact, the only player that is still on the team when O'Connor coined them that is Devin Booker. Every other player is gone. But O'Connor, in his infinite stupidity, tried to claim that Booker was the only reason he called them "the bright future Suns". That is false. You can go back and listen to him say he still liked Dragan Bender, gone, or any other number of players that the Suns have since traded or let go in free agency. The team is incredibly different from who O'Connor dubbed "the bright future Suns".

And then, the comment that really irked me, he said that the Knicks need to lose. I hate, hate, hate that this whole new tanking thing is what the younger generation of basketball writers are so enamored with right now. Why would any fan of any team ever want their team to lose purposely? The 76ers did it for half a decade, and when you talk to their fans, they talk about some dark thoughts during that time. I am a lifelong Michigan fan, and the Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke eras where unbearable. I'm sure Houston Astros fans are happy now, but when they were regularly losing 100 games, that couldn't have been fun. I am now rooting for the Memphis Grizzlies, and while Ja Morant has been a blast to watch so far, it stinks that they get beat pretty much every night. I think it is easy for someone like Kevin O'Connor, who is a Boston guy, to talk about how these teams should actively tank because in his whole sports fandom life, the Patriots, Celtics, Bruins and Red Sox have all been really good, or even won titles. The teams he roots for haven't had to tank, yet. So when he said that the Knicks should continue to tank, I was flabbergasted. He kept saying that this would help them get young talent, and lure free agents. I need to say, how did that work for them this past offseason? They didn't sign anyone of note, they ended up taking RJ Barrett, more on him and another O'Connor comment in a moment, and they have no real shot anymore at getting the number one pick in the upcoming draft. They did this exact same thing last year, losing because they were certain they were going to get Zion Williamson, and sign one, or both, of KD and Kyrie Irving. Well, none of that happened Mr. O'Connor. So what makes you think it will happen this offseason, or next or next? Hell, KD even said no one wants to go sign with the Knicks because they haven't been relevant since the late 90's.

As for that RJ Barrett comment, he said that the Knicks are playing him too much. What in the actual hell?! I mean, if the kid wants to play, and the team wants him to play and the coach wants him to play, let him play. Who cares? You can throw all the too many minutes thing, and the rookie wall at me, but if Barrett feels good, and they took him third overall and they want to build around him, let him play. O'Connor is obsessed with coddling the young generation coming into the NBA, especially Duke players. That is ridiculous. Also, if David Fizdale was only playing him 20 minutes a night, O'Connor would be the first one to say that the Knicks need a new coach who would let Barrett play.

Kevin O'Conner is an unreliable, porous and crappy sports writer. He is the definition of a hot take writer who thinks they are never wrong. He seems lost and confused every time Chris Vernon calls him out, and his response is to act like a child who is being wrongly scolded. I hope O'Connor reads this because I really, really want him to know how I feel about him and his crap takes. Of all the crummy writers and podcasters they have at The Ringer, O'Connor is the second worse, behind only his boss, Bill Simmons.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Bad Basketball Bloggers and their Bad Russell Westbrook Takes

I written a good amount about Russell Westbrook recently. After the Paul George trade I talked about how, if he wanted out of OKC, they should let him go. Then, I wrote about the stunning trade to Houston the following Monday, and how much I disagreed with it, and how I do not think it will work out. I still do not think it will work, both Westbrook and Harden are so ball dominant, but I am sick and tired of the slander that is always thrown Westbrook's way.

This all comes about because I was listening to "The Mismatch" on The Ringer Podcast today. This is one of my favorite pods because I enjoy Chris Vernon. He is fun, has a good time, is right around my age and I usually agree with his takes. But, it is getting harder and harder for me to continue to listen to because of the other host, Kevin O'Connor. O'Connor is the prototypical "blog boy" for the modern NBA. All he cares about is analytics and drafting based on projected talent. He said on the show that I listened to today that Brandon Clarke slipped in the draft because he was "old". Clarke is 22 years old. That whole draft for projection thing is so stupid, and so is tanking, but that seems to be, when it comes to the draft, all that O'Connor cares about. And he did go on to say that he thought that Clarke was the steal of the draft, but I cannot get over him calling Clarke old. That is asinine.

When they got off the Summer League stuff, Vernon transitioned into the Westbrook trade. Vernon is a big time believer in Westbrook just like I am. He defends Westbrook and gives him all the accolades he has earned. But, whenever O'Connor talked about him, all he would say is "he is the worst elite point guard", and "he has easily fixable mistakes, if he would just put in the time to fix them".

First of all, I have never seen Kevin O'Connor play basketball. But, if I had to guess, the dude is a scrub. You can watch, and write and read all you want about the game, it does not make you a player. So, for a blogger to call out Westbrook's game, get the hell out of here. Westbrook is so much better than any single player that is on his beloved Boston Celtics team. I feel like he would kill to have a player as good as Westbrook in Boston right now. But, what makes his takes even worse, his takes that put him on a Skip Bayless, Colin Cowherd level, is how hard he goes to bat for Harden. James Harden is an elite, elite scorer. He is one of the best. No doubt about that. But, if you want to talk about easy to fix mistakes, Harden is a horrendous defender, he is a ball stopper and he is usually out of shape. Just because he scores 40 points on 30 shots, that doesn't make him the best player in the league. But the way O'Connor talks about him, you'd think he was the greatest ever. And what was so hilarious to me today, Vernon pulled up their playoff stats, because O'Connor inevitably went there with Westbrook, and they are nearly identical between the 2 guys. They both have nearly the same shooting percentage. They both have similar assists numbers. Westbrook is a far superior rebounder. And, they both have went exactly the same distance in the playoffs. They have both reached the Finals, when they were on OKC. Since Harden was traded, each have been to a conference finals. Last year, Houston lasted one more round than OKC. But if you only heard O'Connor talk, you would assume that Harden has been to the Finals multiple times, and was a champion and MVP.

Here is the truth on James Harden, and Vernon also brought this up, Harden is a known choker. He choked away a series to the Kawhi less Spurs, in Houston. He choked away game 7 of the West Finals last year, leading the charge in the 27 straight missed three point attempts. And this past season, after KD went down, Harden and Paul both choked away their best chance at a Finals appearance. So, don't give me the whole, all of OKC's problems are because of the way Westbrook plays Kevin O'Connor. And, he was insistent on Westbrook changing the way he plays to fit in with Harden. I wonder if he remembers that Harden was the sixth man on that OKC team that went to the Finals, and his job was to be the third option behind KD and Westbrook. I know things have changed since then, but I do not want to hear O'Connor talk about how "bad" of a player Westbrook is when O'Connor couldn't carry my jock on a basketball court.

This dude is just here to make shitty takes on a website that is the sports equivalent of Buzzfeed. The dude is a good writer, but I'm going to start referring to Kevin O'Connor as the "worst basketball blogger that gets paid to do it". That seems fair since he is always shit talking Russell Westbrook. His takes are god awful, and it makes it hard for me to listen to him and not yell at my phone. I feel for him for what he is going through with his dad, I too have a parent that had cancer, she is fine and clear now, and that sucks. But that cannot excuse his horrendous takes on professional basketball players.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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