Book Review: Bill Simmons' "The Book of Basketball"

ESPN's pop culture raconteur the "Sports Guy" Bill Simmons has written his prolific tome to the NBA "The Book of Basketball". The Book of Basketball is really the ultimate fan guide to the NBA. Simmons has broken down everything about the sport, culminating with his basketball Pyramid, a multi-tiered, well, Pyramid, of the greatest basketball players in NBA history. He ranks what he believes to be the greatest players of all time in levels on a pyramid, with the top level being the "Pantheon" where the greatest of the great reside.

Simmons breaks it all down in this book. Rick Barry and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar especially incur the wrath of Simmons. He goes so far as to call Kareem a "ninny". Simmons, however, is only spouting personal opinions about what he thinks of them as people. He does not doubt either player in terms of their ability to play the game. He does admit that Barry's complaining as a teammate damaged his teams' chances of winning an NBA title. While he dislikes Kareem, Simmons gives him his just due in the Pantheon, ranking him highly among the greatest of all time.

Of course, Simmons as a Boston area native gives lots of time to the Celtics, in particular, Bill Russell and Larry Bird. He lengthily compares Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, claiming that Russell was ultimately better than Chamberlain because Russell was the quintessential teammate, whereas Wilt concentrated on his own individual statistics.

Most interesting is Simmons' vignette about a conversation he had in Las Vegas with Isiah Thomas, who revealed "the secret" about winning championships in the NBA. Simmons uses this understanding of the secret as a measuring stick throughout the book to judge the great players and teams. He finishes his book with a conversation he had with Bill Walton where the two discuss "the secret."

Simmons uses many pop culture references, as always, and drops in his fair share of spicy, adult language. It's a humorous book that will definitely draw some laughs. But, it could be offensive to some, and it is not appropriate for younger readers. Nevertheless, Simmons has written a highly entertaining and highly informative book about the history of the NBA. It's written from his own perspective, and he shows his personal bias for the Celtics. But he doesn't allow his own feelings destroy his objectivity. The Book of Basketball should be on top of the essential reading list for any serious NBA fan.