Bill Simmons

"The only NBA player who routinely shut down {Larry} Bird was teammate Rick Robey, a backup center who doubled as Bird's drinking buddy and fellow troublemaker. When the Celtics swapped Robey for Dennis Johnson before the '84 season, Bird immediately rolled off the best five-year stretch in the history of the forward position. This wasn't a coincidence. As soon as we master time machine technology, let's travel back in time and frame Robey for murder right before the '82 season. I just want show more to see what happens."

The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy by Bill Simmons is fork in the path kind of book. If you are not a fan of men's professional basketball and the National Basketball Association, you won't be interested. If you are a fan, and since you're reading this, you probably are, then you'll want to read this book. He's funny, insightful, and the vast majority of the time, right on the money. Why did Bill Russell have so much success against Wilt Chamberlain? What is the Secret (capital S) to winning a championship? Why is Jordan the best player of all time? All the answers ring true. You can quibble with some of his conclusions - e.g. rating Isaiah Thomas above do-everything player Scottie Pippen - really?! But overall he knows his stuff like nobody else I've read, and he's a hoot at the same time.

As in the Bartimaeus books, a lot of the fun is in the absurd footnotes. After describing a Clippers player acquisition during the drug-addled 70s (when the NBA almost sunk) as being for "two first round picks, four kilos of cocaine, and {Denver's} best drug connection as compensation", the footnote to it says, "Be honest: part of you wanted to believe this." After leaving Isaiah Thomas off the all-time team headed up by Michael Jordan that would fight the aliens (you have to read it), he explains why, but also footnotes another reason why Isaiah couldn't be on the team: "Considering MJ hated him enough to keep him off the Dream Team, wouldn't he have said, 'Look, I'd rather see Earth blow up over being teammates with that guy?' I feel like the answer is yes."

There's 700 pages of this, so only NBA basketball wonks need apply. But if you fit that category, you'll have a blast with it. show less

Simmons is, of course, a biased commentator, so don't come to this book as if he's even trying to be fair. His loves--the Celtics, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan--and his hates--Wilt Chamberlain, the Lakers, Kareem--he wears on his sleeve. But most prominent of all is his deep love of the game itself, and that's what really makes this book worthwhile. Simmons is someone who is passionate enough about basketball to make even his blind spots fun. I say this as someone who despised his beloved show more Celtics (being from Philly).

He knows a great deal. He wonders about many things. And he combines the two to make even the silly stuff interesting. show less

Gift from Jim while I was in college. Read on the trip to Portland with the Dordt basketball team. Loved almost every minute of it. Would read again if he does an updated version every 10 years. Definitely agree with his idea of doing a complete overhaul of the basketball hall of fame and utilizing the pyramid scheme. Also explains in detail why Lebron is not the GOAT based on what Bill Simmons calls, "the secret.". This was also my first introduction to Bill Simmons. I enjoy him as a show more writer, not as much as a commentator. show less

Two things need to be said from the outset: (i) if you are not a serious sports fan—and a professional basketball fan, in particular—you probably won’t like this book; and (ii) Bill Simmons is simply hilarious. He is also very, very knowledgeable about the subject. Having read sports journalism all my life, I know how lucky you are if the author is either one of those things; sadly, too many writers are neither.

Beyond the abundant humor—did I mention this guy is hysterical?—the show more most impressive thing about this book is the amazing level of detail. Simmons is a true fan and crammed into 700 pages he addresses the kind of questions that only a fan would think to ask. What if Portland had drafted Jordan instead of Bowie? Despite the gaudy statistics, was Wilt really better than Russell? Would you rather have a couple transcendent years of Walton or a longer but more mediocre career from a journeyman center? What makes Teen Wolf the most iconic basketball movie ever? By far, though, his best insights involve the way he re-imagines the NBA Hall of Fame, including an annotated ranking of the players who really belong there. This is great, imaginative stuff that will challenge the way anyone who loves the game thinks about such things.

The one quibble I have is the way Simmons handles the issue of race relations. Of course, it would be impossible to write a compelling history of the professional game without addressing topics such as how badly the careers of Oscar and Baylor were hurt by the various discriminations they faced or Isiah’s ludicrous statement that Bird would have been considered just another good player had he not been white. However, while he constantly references such controversies, Simmons never brings the same level of analytical scrutiny to bear on them as he does when evaluating the relative merits of the players themselves. His cursory arguments in this regard are a little surprising coming from someone who assumed the alter-ego of Jabaal Abdul-Simmons as a kid.

Let me close by reiterating two comments that Malcolm Gladwell makes in his excellent Foreword. First, this is not a novel and you will be better off not trying to read it like one. Second, you really need to read all of the footnotes; despite there being a lot of them—Simmons is sort of the sportswriter equivalent of David Foster Wallace—that is where the funniest, most irreverent stuff is located. Overall, this is a thought-provoking and highly entertaining book that I certainly recommend. show less