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

Bill Simmons

Oct 2009 · Sold by ESPN

About this ebook

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The wildly opinionated, thoroughly entertaining, and arguably definitive book on the past, present, and future of the NBA—from the founder of The Ringer and host of The Bill Simmons Podcast

“Enough provocative arguments to fuel barstool arguments far into the future.”—The Wall Street Journal
 
In The Book of Basketball, Bill Simmons opens—and then closes, once and for all—every major NBA debate, from the age-old question of who actually won the rivalry between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain to the one about which team was truly the best of all time. Then he takes it further by completely reevaluating not only how NBA Hall of Fame inductees should be chosen but how the institution must be reshaped from the ground up, the result being the Pyramid: Simmons’s one-of-a-kind five-level shrine to the ninety-six greatest players in the history of pro basketball. And ultimately he takes fans to the heart of it all, as he uses a conversation with one NBA great to uncover that coveted thing: The Secret of Basketball.

Comprehensive, authoritative, controversial, hilarious, and impossible to put down (even for Celtic-haters), The Book of Basketball offers every hardwood fan a courtside seat beside the game’s finest, funniest, and fiercest chronicler.

Ratings and reviews

I laughed and cried and spent countless minutes trying to read portions of this book to my friends. If you have any love for the NBA, you really ought to read this book. Even on my second time through I find myself calling friends and leaving voice mail's (yes. not even getting them on the phone) of full paragraphs and chapter explanations from this book. Wonderful stuff. My kids will read this.

I only read the sample, but Bill Simmons is way too bias. He thinks Russell is better than wilt cuz he had more rings and that bird is better than magic. He is a huge Celtics fan and he just says random stuff just to support any Celtics player againsta lakers counterpart. Heck, he probably thinks rondo, kg, or pierce is better than Kobe which is totally off

As an Aussie, I grew up wanting to watch NBA games as a kid but the only games we saw were late night in a Friday and sometimes once week on pay TV or channel ten. This fills in so many holes for me over the years, especially pre internet years. Also, the internal monologue way of writing tickles me in a funny place. Love it. So happy I have experienced the boos, even if Bill is prima Donna and doesn't respond to my gushing praise on the line

About the author

Bill Simmons is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Basketball and Now I Can Die in Peace. He is the founder and CEO of The Ringer and the host of The Bill Simmons Podcast, the most downloaded sports podcast of all time.