The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy

This is the best of the many books that I have read on basketball, not because it is full of statistics (it is), but because of the anecdotes and the feel of it. It's like jazz musicians can listen to someone for a few seconds and know whether or not they can really PLAY, Bill Simmons bases many of his comparisons not on the numbers but on a player's game. I've been playing ball for 40 years now (yeah, I still lace 'em up now and then), and I look at players and make quick judgements on whether or not they can play, fellow hoops junkies know what I mean. Whether it's a player who's loafing on defense or who takes a shot when a teammate has a better one, or who doesn't reward a big man for running the lane, or who tries to reward a big man for running the lane but throws him a pass which leads to a turnover...if you know the game, you can just tell. And Bill Simmons knows the game. Not only that, I agree with most of his assessments. For instance, a night that is indelibly etched in my mind is the night in 1995 when David Stern presented David Robinson (whom I admire) with the MVP trophy and the Admiral went out and got ABUSED by the Dreem. Bill Simmons knows that although their careers overlapped for many seasons and their numbers weren't that different, Hakeem had more of an impact on the game than either Ewing or Robinson. And in the end, that's what it comes down to. When you go to the gym or the playground and play, you don't necessarily want the players who jump the highest or are the most physically gifted if they don't help your team stay on the court. And it's the same thing in the pros, you want to watch winners. I like to read winners too, and "The Book of Basketball" is definitely one.

I learned so much about the history of basketball from this book. Its a thick book but a very quick read due to the amount of interesting information. The book is also has a great deal of Bill Simmon's unique. He has the best analogies!!

I am a definite basketball and NBA junkie and love the columns by ESPN writer Bill Simmons, so when I found out his new book on the topic of basketball was coming out this fall, I had to put in a preorder this summer to get my copy. Released the same day as the beginning of the NBA season, I finished it in two days and want to read through it again just to make sure I didn't miss anything. This book is jam packed, with over 700 pages of material. Simmons is first and foremost a fan, so he writes in a tone that isn't objective, but from a fan's perspective, specifically a Boston Celtics fan. That includes obvious biases and jabs at the Los Angeles Lakers and some of their specific players, but Simmons doesn't let his hatred of the purple and gold overtake the book. He does, however, keep an informal tone throughout the book that makes it easy to read and understand for any fan, even if you don't completely agree with Bill's opinion. I never get the feeling of superiority or confusion that I do with some sports books. Reading this book is like sitting at the bar with one of you buddies, drinking beers and debating if Michael Jordan is really the greatest player of all time. Though the size of the book might seem daunting, if you are an NBA fan you'll have no problem breezing through it with ease. Simmons runs the gauntlet of topics, ranging from his opinion on who was better in the Wilt vs. Russell debate, to what team really was the best NBA team in history to the origins of the Clippers curse to the Patrick Ewing theory, the referee scandals and his "feud" with Isiah Thomas. One topic I really enjoyed learning more about was the ABA. I've read many sports books and basketball books in general and none have ever really talked about the ABA. Simmons compares and contrasts the ABA with the NBA and it's really interesting and informative. Of course, the book is hilarious and quite funny. Formerly a television comedy writer, Simmons never gets too serious or melodramatic with any of the topics. He includes many footnotes, which really act as humorous sidebars on different topics. At times, I did feel these went a tad overboard, but it wasn't to the point where it took away from the book or annoyed me too much. If you're a sports fan, an NBA fan, or a Simmons fan, you will love this book. It's a book for the fans written by a fan himself.

I need to preface this by saying that I've been reading Bill Simmons for over 8 years now, before the fame, before the podcasts and almost frightening fan following.I've seen him mature from the old Boston Sports Guy to this all-media presence now, and in the process, his writing has greatly improved. The culmination of such an improvement is this wonderful book, "The Book of Basketball". I managed to get an early copy of this book, and spent the next 48 hours plowing through it as fast as I could. It's very clear that Simmons put everything he had into the book. There aren't a lot of loose words around. Even the genitalia jokes are well-constructed. Yes, it's pretty good. The basis of this book is determining who mattered in the NBA. Which teams, players, coaches, etc. played the biggest role in getting us to where we are today, in shaping our perception of what it takes to win in the NBA, and how we remember different players and events. It's very interesting to see him go back into the 60s and 70s and try to write about Walton, Russell, and Chamberlain and how they were perceived then, and try to get to see what forces created and changed that perception. This is ultimately what the book is all about. It reads almost like a history of the NBA, in a very easy-to-read style. My personal favorites are his ABA pieces. Not nearly enough has been written about this crazy league, and Simmons did a very good job looking at just how things broke down, at what could have been, and how the ABA led to many fundamental changes in the NBA itself. Finally, this is definitely a book for the NBA junkie. It's comic style and easy-to-read writing style does make it accessible to those with only mild-to-intermediate interest in the NBA, but at its core, it's for the junkies who want to fill up with as much NBA knowledge as possible. It's a great book, and for its price (as of October 27, 2009), a great deal.