Books are just like music, there's the mainstream stuff everyone has heard of, but there is also tons of stuff alot of people have never heard of but are still great. Also the classics never die, a good book 20 years ago is still a good book today. There is a lot of good basketball books out there if you want to do a little digging.
Foul! : The Connie Hawkins Story - came out in '72 and really thick, but a very good read and a very interesting story, talks about Connie Hawkins growing up poor, in college, the point shaving scandal, playing for the Globetrotters, playing in the ABA, and finally making it to the NBA after being black balled for so many years, very good stuff I think. Also has a good historical perspective on the battles between the ABA and NBA for players and how the players decided to play in which league. On Amazon it has 14 reviews, and all 14 reviewers gave it 5 stars. Also contains some classic underground basketball references about guys like Jackie Jackson, Roger Brown, and Jack Molinas (in case you really want to impress your friends with your basketball knowledge
).
Spencer Haywood's Rise, Fall, Recovery- this book first came out in '92. Talks about Spencer's very poor upbringing, about him playing in the '68 Olympics (which most top tier players like Kareem boycotted), talks about him challenging the NBA's established rule of only drafting players who graduated from college (so if you don't like all the young players in the NBA you can blame Haywood cuz he started the whole thing), and also talks about choosing to play in the ABA, crossing over leagues to the NBA, and Haywood's battle with drugs and recovery. Good stuff again, and again a good historical perspective on the battles between the ABA and NBA for players and how the players decided to play in which league.
The Fab Five: Basketball Trash Talk the American Dream came out in '93. I love this book, and I think it realy captures the players and phenomenon that helped transformed the culture of the NCAA and NBA to what we see now. Basketball meets hip hop (although you have to wonder about its accuracy a little after Webber lied to a grand jury).
Sole Influence: Basketball, Corporate Greed, and the Corruption of America's Youth Came out in 2000, a great book especially if you were into mid 90's high school and college basketball and the behind the scenes recruiting of it all. Great for the hardcore basketball fan because there are a lot of references to now seldom heard of basketball stars of the mid to late '90's (Felipe Lopez, Korleone Young Jaron Rush, Marcus Taylor, etc.) , and also many current NBA stars and players (Carlos Boozer, Tracy McGrady, Gerald Wallace). Talks about college recruitment and why some players may have chosen the programs they chose. A lot of players mentioned here, enough noticable names to entice even the casual fan, but it mention tons of players that will really draw the hardcore fans in.
Shark Attack: Jerry Tarkanian and His Battle With the NCAA and UNLV Came out in '93. You have to be careful when you read this book because it obviously is biased and tells only one side of the story, but it's a great story of how Tark built a powerhouse at UNLV and had that great team in the early '90's with Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, and Greg Anthony. If you hate the NCAA read this book and you'll hate them even more. You'll be surprised at how hard and unfairly the NCAA went after Tark (it is only one side of the story though). Also UNLV got a new president during Tark's days and this guy was jealous of Tark so he went after Tark too and tried to get him to quit. What a witch hunt! You'll feel sorry for Tark after you read this book. And if you like Tark then
Runnin' Rebel: Shark Tales of "Extra Benefits", Frank Sinatra and Winning It All came out in 2006 is also a very good book and tells Tark's perspective on everything and how he came up.
And the beautiful things about the older boooks is that you can get them used very cheap and build a very impressive library. The books I mentioned are currently listed on Amazon used at great prices: Sole Influence for $0.10, Spencer Haywood's Rise, Fall, Recovery for $3.02, Fab Five for $0.43, Foul! for $7.99, Shark Attack for $2.50.
