I am only about 150 pages through the book, and I like it so far but do have some issues with it.
First, in the Isiah chapter, it drives me insane that even by his own account, he is completely cordial to Thomas and appears to cave during their conversation, saying that it is due to a mutual love of basketball. In the book, he goes right back to bashing him. I don't know that this is a very honorable aproach to take.
Second, he makes the argument that players today are no better than players of previous eras, using the analogy of comedians to try to make this "work" and to prove his point. He essentially uses his own arbitrary opinion of comedy and tries to make the parallell to basketball (a far more measurable and objective entity). I know this is his style, but this is supposed to be a serious basketball book.
The Russell/Chamberlain chapter was good, and had some great points in it, but at the same time didn't sit all that well with me. The whole point of the chapter is based on "the secret" (the secret about basketball is that it's not about basketball). In the case of Russell/Chamberlain this is definitely true, Russell showed up when it mattered, his teammates loved him, and he would do anything he had to in order to win. Fine, agreed. But in the same breath (somewhere in the 150 pages I read) he praises the 01 Lakers as one of the best team ever, and conveniently pretends that "the secret" doesnt exist.
I'm not bashing the guy, and I quite enjoy reading his columns. But I was hoping for a serious and well thought out basketball book when I bought this, not a series of stories, antecdotes, and opinions that loosle come together and often conflict (so far). That being said, this comes across more as a 700 page column than a serious basketball book...but again, I am only 150 pages through the thing. I'll update after another 150 or so.
Topic: The Book of Basketball (so far) (Read 3689 times)