Bill Simmons Has a New TV Gig, and Some N.B.A. Predictions Bill Simmons of ESPN, the Sports Guy and founder of Grantland, a sports Web site, has a new addition to his résumé. ESPN has added Simmons and Jalen Rose to "NBA Countdown," the network's N.B.A. pregame show, and the two will join the 2011-12 holdovers Michael Wilbon and Magic Johnson. In an interview, Simmons spoke about his role on "Countdown" and his predictions for the 2012-13 season. The Q.&A. was condensed and edited. How are you going to reconcile your identity as superfan, someone who watches the games as a Celtics fan or a Clippers fan, with the pressure to remain unbiased? How are you going to deal with the biased/nonbiased question? I'm not going to hide from it; I'm definitely going to have fun with it. And, you know, it's going to be interesting. If I'm coming out after a big Celtics game and they lose a heartbreaker, my demeanor the next 10 minutes after that game I don't know how I'm going to respond. You know, it's different. If you're writing something, especially if you're writing a column, you tilt whatever thesis you're trying to do to your favor. And I don't think you can do that as much on TV. You have to be a little more balanced. I've put a lot of thought into the best ways to be a little more balanced while keeping the fan stuff. Dealing with Magic Johnson, in particular, are you going to be a Larry Bird surrogate? How are you going to deal with him ribbing you, as a Celtics fan, because there's no way that doesn't come up half a thousand times? Yeah, we shot a bunch of "SportsCenter" segments a week ago and between the segments, when the crew was setting up, I was just going at Magic about the '87 finals when Mychal Thompson jumped over Kevin McHale's back. The best thing about Magic is that you can bring up any of that stuff and he immediately gets riled up. Not in a way like he wants to fight you but he just gets riled up. And we would just be arguing about this and then, a second later, he's talking about Oklahoma City or something. But it's actually a good energy to the show. He loves arguing about all that stuff and he keeps going back: Magic's Lakers won five times and Boston won three times and 'you can talk all you want but all I know is we won five and they won three.' That's his trump card for everything. It's fun. He's a great guy and I think he was really good the last year he was on TNT. When he was with Chuck [Barkley] and Kenny [Anderson]. He was a counterpuncher for those guys. He knows so much and he's really wired into the league and he can watch a game and watch all 10 guys at the same time. I just think he can be a real asset, and the key for us is to set him up better and put him in a position to tap into the fact that he's a Buddha of the N.B.A. When broadcasters start fitting into the chemistry on that TNT show, you can really see it. I don't think it's rocket science. On TV everybody is filling a role. And if TV works correctly, it's because people are doing different roles correctly. I don't think it's very different from basketball. Everybody fills a role and brings something different to the table. If you're in a situation where you're putting people in the wrong role, I don't know if you can blame those people if they're not succeeding. I think with the way that "NBA Countdown" is set up now, everyone brings something different to the table and we complement one another. I think they leaned on Magic too much last year. He was the first guy you heard from every time they came out of a game. They just put this enormous pressure on him to have be-all and end-all revelations constantly. And I think he's a counterpuncher; I think he wants to play off other people and play off their opinions. I think he's going to be great this year. Is this something you're discussing explicitly, the kinds of roles you're looking to embrace, or are you hoping to just subtly push these kinds of dynamics? Part of it is the discussions that you have. I don't want to use the word "generic" but I think you want to talk about stuff that makes people say, "Wow, that was interesting," or "Wow, I actually learned something that time," or "Wow, I've never heard anyone have that conversation before," because if we're going to try to beat TNT just purely on talking about the same things they talk about, well, they have Barkley and we don't. We have to be smarter and more sophisticated and funnier and we have to outthink them. Because if it's just a case of talent against talent, Barkley is the best studio guy who ever lived and we're going to lose. I still think we can be as good as TNT's "Inside the NBA." O.K., now I'm just going to mine you for information. What exact percentage do you think the Heat have of repeating? Well, I thought they were going to repeat before the Harden trade. Now I think their chances are even better, obviously. The Lakers and the Celtics would be the two teams that I think would have the best chance to beat them. I would say it's at least 60 percent that they'll repeat, and in Vegas I think they're about even odds now to win the title. Can you pick four surprises -- two teams, East and West, that will surprise everyone and make the playoffs and two teams, East and West, that will miss them? Well, I think Atlanta's going to be good. I think they have a chance to be a three seed. I like that team. I think Toronto has a chance to sneak into the playoffs; I don't know if it'll happen but if someone bumps out, I think they have the best chance. Brooklyn's going to be in. For teams that could fall out: Philadelphia, definitely, especially if Andrew Bynum doesn't come back or if he's battling knee problems all year. I didn't really love what they did in the off-season anyway; they finished the season last year, I think 9-18. I think Indiana could be potentially in trouble if Danny Granger's knee doesn't get better because that was a team that was built on depth and everybody chipping and you pull somebody out of it like that it could be like a house of cards. And then the West. Dallas looks like it's out; Dirk's out for the first six weeks and I wasn't crazy about them anyway and I could just see them bottoming out and going for a lottery pick, kind of regrouping for next year. And then Utah I think is going to be better than people think. They could get to the four or five seed, potentially. The Clippers are going to be a little worse than people think. I think they'll still sneak into the playoffs, but I don't think they're a contender. And then I think Houston, with this Harden trade, might be able to sneak in now. You think Harden is a star player? He was somewhere between No. 15 and 20 on my list and I think he's definitely a max player. He's somebody who can score at the end of the game and somebody who has been at the big spot. And he's 24. Any time you can stumble into a top-20 guy who's under the age of 25 without really giving up anything gigantic, that's just a great trade. What do you see Chicago doing? The two toughest teams to peg this year are Chicago and the Lakers. The Lakers, I don't know who's healthy and I don't know what I'm getting from those top four guys. I could get 300 games from them or I could get 200, I just don't know. And then Chicago: there's a feeling that they might just not want Rose to come back this year. So if he doesn't come back, they're not a playoff team. Some of the moves they made this summer make you wonder if they're going to throw it in this year and tell him not to come back. I mean, who knows. After seeing Adrian Peterson come back in nine months, I wouldn't be shocked if he was back in January and I also wouldn't be shocked if they were just supercareful and didn't even bring him back. Regardless, I don't think he's a contender. What about the Timberwolves? There's a lot of chatter about them. A lot of chatter but Rubio isn't back until the All-Star break and Kevin Love broke his hand doing push-ups and he's out for at least six weeks. What are you most excited about for the season in general? From a season standpoint, I'm really excited as a Celtics fan. I think they're going to be good this year and I love the fact that people seem to think they missed their window and they're a four seed and they're not really a contender. I think it could be the best Celtics team in four years. I like the fact that they're getting counted out. I think the Ray Allen thing was great for them; I think it was a galvanizing thing for them.