First, shoutout Simmons! Simmons has done an excellent job both at Grantland and at The Ringer at consolidating top-shelf NBA writing talent. He’s now expanding into a killer unexploited area by many websites: podcasting. Simmons’ podcasts vary from Boston-oriented talks with his dad to excellent podcasts with a bevy of who’s who in the sporting world. Hopefully, this means Vernon will be bringing his patented attitude and style to a format that is easily consumable for most people.
The downside will obviously be the likely lack of focus on Grizzlies basketball. Vernon will be covering the entire NBA for The Ringer and will be less likely to spend a lot of time on Memphis as he has to spread his time across hot takes and league wide discussion.