I am a big fan of Bill Simmons, arguably ESPN.com's top columnist. I think he's hilarious and I enjoy the way he connects sports with pop-culture references. He's also a diehard Boston sports fan, which further attracts me to his writing.

But Bill, GM of the Timberwolves? Seriously?

His reasoning is that his hiring would increase Minnesota's nationwide publicity and overall ticket sales. This is true... but to an extent. Sure, Simmons is well known across the country and has a very devoted fan base (myself included), but most of his readers are from the Boston area. I'm surely not going to fly to Minnesota to support him. The team needs to do well in order to fill the seats in the arena. Fans don't buy tickets because they like the GM, fans buy tickets because they enjoy watching the team play. If the Timberwolves are trotting out a lineup that includes Mark Madsen, Brian Cardinal, Kevin Ollie and Jason Collins (all of whom started of their last game of the season), I wouldn't watch the game on TV, let alone shell out $75 to watch it live. I'm sure Minnesota fans feel the same way.

There's also a considerable amount of luck involved in being an general manager in the NBA. Or any other professional sport for that matter. A GM could assemble the perfect team. The ideal mix of talent, chemistry, player salaries, veterans vs youth, along with fact that the starters & bench players recognize their respective roles. Suddenly the organization's superstar is injured and their championship hopes are all but lost. It isn't the general manager's fault when this happens. Now I'm not saying Minnesota had any chance to win the 2008 NBA title, but would last year's duo of GMs, Kevin McHale and Jim Stack, have taken the same amount of criticism if Al Jefferson hadn't torn his ACL midway through the season? Of course not. Jefferson was the franchise's best player. If he hadn't been injured they would have won more games and either McHale or Stack would likely still be the General Manager.

Simmons also contends that he can't possibly perform the job worse than awful GMs like Isiah Thomas and Elgin Baylor. While this also may be true, an NBA team, regardless of how terrible they are, is not going to hire a general manager that lacks the experience necessary to run an organization. Simmons has never even possessed an entry-level administrative job in the NBA. If he is seriously interested in becoming a GM (which it sounds like he is), he needs to get his foot in the door first. Shadow a general manager to see the daily duties and responsibilities. The position is much more than simple decisions like, "No I'm not going to give up two first round draft picks for Eddy Curry!"

Bill, you have the hook-up in Houston. Your boy Daryl Morey is the GM of the Houston Rockets. Learn some more about the position and maybe even take a lower role within organization.

Better yet, be the "VP of Common Sense" that you've always talked about. This experience will give you the credentials you need to become a general manager down the road.