The Game Within the Game

Clyde gives it to you straight and he's right on the money - about the game itself and today's NBA.

Walt Frazier hits the nail on the head with his insights into the game as it is played today compared to the way it should be played.

Everyone involved with the NBA should read this book. From my viewpoint, as a 40 year old fan and as someone who loved and played basketball through my freshman year of college, Clyde cogently points out the attraction of the game and most importantly where today's professional game has gone dangerously awry. I'm old enough to remember Clyde's championship Knick teams and still take inspiration from the way those incredible individuals all focused on teamwork. As the NBA stumbles and bumbles (a nod to Clyde) and becomes more and more irrelevant to a formerly passionate fan base, David Stern and company should take Clyde's analysis to heart. If things don't improve the NBA could soon stand for Nothing But an Afterthought in the world of professional sports.

"It's an excellent and provocative book." I don't think there's a former great with more cogent things to say about the game of basketball than Walt Frazier. I enjoyed this book immensely and I think it's great for old-timers who remember watching the grace and skill Clyde played the game with and "newbies," who want to learn how to play winning basketball. The chapters on Money, Race and The Players' League are particularly insightful and honest. If you like basketball and care about its evolution, then pick up this book and read it.

The Game Within the Game by Walt "Clyde" Frazier with Dan Markowitz is an entertaining, if lighthearted meditation on the game of basketball. Clyde takes modern ballplayers to task for the way they approach the game, but the book is at its best whenever he casually mentions his own youthful indiscretions, like the time he invited two women to the same game and was so worried they'd find out about each other that it wrecked his concentration on the court.