Reddit reviews The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy

This is like the exact opposite of what happened. He was a serious commentator for Grantland. Then he started the ringer, and has become a shitty hot-take artist.

E: More context on how the guy above me is talking out of his gaping asshole. Bill wrote The Big Book of Basketball. It's basically the Hive Queen to Shea Serrano's Hegemon in terms of basketball literature (sorry for the enders game reference, it's all I got here). He basically got a show on HBO when he started the Ringer to be a hot take artist. The show tanked, but clearly he wants to keep doing it, because htat's all he's been doing since.

Holy shit at Dan saying Bill Simmons has a lot of Stugotz in him. I never really made that connection but it’s so accurate. Simmons has published his own personal record book

1: If we dont trade Love we are going to try to compete for the 8th spot in the west. If we do trade Love its back to rebuilding for the next few years.

2: He played his heart out here for us with his time here and we did everything in out power to unsuccessfully rebuild for the next decade.

3: I havent seen one in particular for the Wolves but I would suggest the Book of Basketball which does a great job of covering the NBA in a whole with fun back stories.

4: Best game in Wolves history

5: I am not a big beer drinker but I am sure there are alot of others here that could suggest some great ones.

From this book:

• "he was selfish and hard to coach"
  
  
• "Bob Ryan said 'he is one of the most boring players and worst human beings that ever lived'."
  
  
• "Others mumbled things about how difficult Hayes could be."
  
  From this book:
  
  
• "a toublesome player to coach"
  
  
• (his 1st 2 coaches) "neither of whom had good things to say about the Big E"
  
  
• on not wanting to play for a certain HOF coach's system: "The Big E insisted it would hurt his offensive stats"
  
  
• Peter Vescey's nickname for him in the clutch: "The Silent E"
  
  From this book:
  
  
• quotes Sports Illustrated piece in Feb '74: "During his 4 years with the Rockets, Hayes was variously considered a ball hog, a rotten apple, a dumbbell, and a guaranteed loser."
  
  
• "I wonder if the other players respected him that much. I'm guessing no."
  
  
• quoting a Sports Illustrated feature during the '78 Finals: 1) "Individualism overcame Elvin in yet another big contest", 2) "Hayes once more disappeared in the moments of crisis", 3) "It's imperative for the Bullets that their only real 'name' player justify his status by not dissolving at the end of the 7th game" (spoiler alert: he fouled out at the start of the 4th quarter of a tight Game 7 on the road, and they rallied & won without him)
  
  
• quoting Rockets coach Bill Fitch telling young Ralph Sampson, who an end-of-career Hayes said he was going to mentor: "You stay away from that no-good fucking prick."

As controversial as he is around these parts, Bill Simmons wrote a great book for beginners called "The Book of Basketball"

It's a history of the game from the beginning and a survey of the game's history. Now, it is biased, as almost any history of anything will be biased. But the nice thing is that you can easily spot the bias with Simmons. First off, he usually admits it upfront. But also he tends to overrate Celtics players and underrate Lakers. He also tends to overrate individual player achievement, while paying less attention to the luck of team construction and coaching... unless it suits him to do so.

Overall it's a great survey book for someone just jumping into the sport.

If you like his writing i suggest his book "The Book of Basketball". Its a great read I'm about halfway done with the book.

You might start with Bill Simmons' The Book of Basketball. Simmons is opinionated and says lots of things with which I disagree strongly, but he's always entertaining and the book is a great overview of the history of professional basketball. Once you are done with that, you can turn to books about specific players or eras -- just look at the list in that link marked "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought."

"Last decade" -

Book of Basketball

Dream Team

When the Game was Ours

Not Last Decade, but you should read anyway -

The Jordan Rules

try here

https://www.amazon.com/Book-Basketball-NBA-According-Sports/dp/0345520106/

https://www.amazon.com/Book-Basketball-NBA-According-Sports/dp/0345520106

you ever read the book of basketball?

David Halberstam is probably the most well-known NBA author in long-form content. "The Breaks of the Game" is an incredible account of the Blazers 79-80 season. "Playing for Keeps" is a narrative about MJ's career and impact. These are older works though.

As far as newer stuff, the Bill Simmons "Book of Basketball" is a monstrosity that has amazing in-depth content, provided you like Simmons.

The "FreeDarko Presents: The Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History" is from 2010 and has amazing artwork and a unique perspective. I would highly recommend it.

Its not like football- there is one big important cup (trophy, here) and this is the NBA championship. The FIBA and Olympics are there, and its something to watch, but its not as interesting/fun as the NBA season. Mostly because US is usually very dominant.

Do you have a favorite player? Favorite team? Bill Simmons has a great book on the NBA- its definately HIS opinion, but entertaining nonetheless. http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Basketball-According-Sports/dp/0345520106

the book of basketball by Bill Simmons is a good book that puts how good certain players were in context at the time it was written.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Basketball-According-Sports/dp/0345520106

Bballbreakdown http://www.youtube.com/user/bballbreakdown

on youtube is a cool channel that explains how certain offensives work and what is actually happening on the court.

basketball on paper by dean oliver is a good start to a statistical analysis of basketball.

http://www.amazon.com/Basketball-Paper-Rules-Performance-Analysis/dp/1574886886/ref=pd_sim_b_14?ie=UTF8&refRID=1ZM4AQKYZC4K42KYFDME

A few of my favs

Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court
http://www.amazon.com/Wooden-Lifetime-Observations-Reflections-Court/dp/0809230410

The Book of Basketball (just a ridiculous amount of info)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Basketball-According-Sports/dp/0345520106

Hard Work - (Roy Williams) interesting perspective on the demands of college coaching to a family
http://www.amazon.com/Hard-Work-Life-Off-Court/dp/B006TQV62A

In The Book of Basketball he spends approximately 400 chapters explaining exactly why Bill Russell was superior to Wilt.

No worries man, I have loved watching the documentaries over the last month. Also, if you like reading you should check out The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy. Really big, but good to read book, so you need to enjoy reading to slug though that haha. I'm about 3/4 of the way through it and loving it.

If you're the reading type, The Book of Basketball is a good, fun read that covers a lot of ground.

As a Canadian, the Raptors are a fun team to watch (for now), and since you grew up in the country you won't be considered a bandwagon fan at all. Since Vancouver is so close to Seattle, that would work too, but unfortunately that team moved to Oklahoma a decade ago or so. If you think you'll watch basketball for a while, it may be fun to choose one of the young (promising??) teams like Philadelphia, Minnesota, the Lakers (don't choose the Lakers), or Milwaukee cause you can watch them grow and mature over the next couple years.

Honestly, the game is SUPER fun to watch right now, but it's a little weird because Golden State and Cleveland are so much better than everyone else in their conferences. I thought GS would have to break up for $$ reasons, but players (Durant) took a paycut to keep the core together, so they'll be absolutely dominant for a couple more years at least.

All that to say, it's an exciting time to jump into the NBA! The game has changed a TON in the last few years (faster pace, blending of positions) and looks to continue evolving quickly in the next couple years. Welcome!

I would recomend reading Bill Simmons book "The Book of Basketball". It chronicles the history of the NBA very nicely, including his top players of all time. It is a long book, but it has just about all the background information you could want and more.

• The Last Shot - one of the best books i have ever read.
  
• Unfinished Business - same author as
  
• :07 Seconds or Less
  
• The Breaks of the Game - i have never read it, but all i hear is good things.
  
• and of course, The Book of Basketball - good book, a bit hefty.
  
  i tried to pick things that you could easily find online and off.

Thanks! It’s in my Amazon cart now. Really appreciate the tip, especially as a newer fan.

Any other suggestions for a newer work? The analytics side is really interesting to me as someone who has a background in baseball.

For anyone else looking for the Simmons book:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0345520106/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awdo_t1_tZZBCbWHQCWSF

If you're a fan of Bill Simmons and are an NBA fan, The Book of Basketball is a great. It's like a 700pg Simmons article.

I only read books in school, never outside of school. I picked this up when I was 21 probably, and read it in about a week. Great book

there have been books written about this, for example

I'm not going to try to convince people that he's worth listening to, but it's not like the guy doesn't have credentials:

• Founded Grantland
  
• Founded The Ringer
  
• Was an analyst on NBA Countdown for two years
  
• Wrote a best-selling book about basketball

Although it isn't specifically geared towards basketball tactics and skill building, I think Bill Simmons book The Book of Basketball is really good. At least the section on "the secret."

Check out Bill Simmons, founder/editor of Grantland (which Klosterman is a contributor to). Simmons mostly writes about sports, his best known work includes The Book of Basketball and Now I Can Die In Peace

Simmons' Book of Basketball.