A Bypremier Book Review

Despite popular belief, yours truly doesn't just watch movies and sports. Occasionally, I also read. Sure, I read books about movies and sports...but it still counts as reading.

Anyway, this years book review comes courtesy of 'The Sports Guy". That's right. Famous sport writer, twitterer, and podcaster...Bill Simmons.

Mr. Simmons recently wrote his second book. The follow up to his book about the Red Sox was a mammoth, seven-hundred page book on basketball. Fittingly titled, "The Book of Basketball". So after plowing through the book in only six months (it was a Christmas gift), I am here to give you readers my faithful review.

First off, let me preface this by saying I'm a huge basketball fan. It's my favorite sport to play.

Secondly; let me say when I first got the book, I skimmed through it...saw Simmon's pyramid rankings and could not help myself from reading his thoughts on the players I knew. So technically, I read the book out of order. Once I ran through the rankings, I read the book from the start. That's why it took me so long to read the book.

Anyway, back to the book. It's broken down into several chapters:

1. Simmons history with basketball.
2. The secret of basketball.
3. His thoughts on ending the Wilt vs. Russell debate once and for all.
4. MVP redo's.
5. His thoughts on redesigning the NBA Hall of Fame.
6. His debatable pyramid rankings.
7. Best Teams of All time.
8. Players that make up his all time team.
9. Closing thoughts.

So let's get to review already...bypremier's final take: The book is a great read. Simmons definitely knows basketball and is probably one of the most knowledgeable basketball people living. The rankings are the highlights. There is definitely a bit of homer/bias to the book: Simmons loves the Boston Celtics. However, he is fully aware of this and tries to curb his bias (for example, ranking Magic above Bird...Kareem above them both). But you can't write a book based on your opinions without your own personal biases seeping in. That's understandable and Simmons doesn't knock you over the head with it. Some of the other parts are a little slow (Wilt vs. Russell debate, best teams of all times...), but still enjoyable to read because Simmons absolutely does his homework and backs it up with intersting stats. And that's argubly the most impressive thing about the book. Simmons has really done everything he could to write this back. He's read every relevant book (including placing a listing of all the books and their helpfulness). He's watched thousands of hours of game film. He's even talked to almost every person imaginable about the sport. So give him credit for putting his heart and soul into the book. So all that boring stuff aside, let me just finish this review with a few intersting thoughts.

1. If you are a writer (or a wannable writer like me), you've probably tried to write a ranking or list about a certain topic. For me, I like to write a column for my fantasy football league and I try to include everyone in my league in my writing. And you know what? It's hard to write for some people...and very easy to write for other people. After reading Simmons pyramid rankings, I thought the same thing. For some people in his rankings, he wrote wonderfully. Particularly, the current players and any Boston old-timers. However, some other people (mostly very old players) were not very well written and had short paragraphs. Because it's not easy to write something great for everyone.

2. Nobody...and I mean nobody...compares sports to pop culture better than Bill Simmons. My favotire comparison of his was Magic vs. Bird to the two Shannons (Whirry and Tweed). My favorite growing up with Shannon Whirry.

3. My favorite part of the book was when Simmons thanks everyone involved in helping make the book possible. Simmons is a talented writer and extremely funny. But he also gets help. His friends make him infinitely funnier. When he thinks of a great idea or someone passes along a great idea, he gets input from his 'creative team' to come up with funny thoughts, good names to talk about, and basically write his brillant responses. So I'm glad he thanked his friends. I think if I ever was able to write professionally, I would do the same.

So overall, I highly recommend the book. It's a great read for any sports fan. A must read for any basketball fan. And an absolute read for any fan of the Sports Guy.

Lastly, I can't wait for the revised edition. Another beauty to the book: You can revise it multiple times and milk it for everything it's worth. Kind of like the guy who wrote the book "1001 Movies to see before you die" and updates it every year for that year's movies. Talk about a money maker. Another idea that goes into the "Why Didn't I Think of That" category.

Bron Bron

By now we've all seen the Lebron "decision". We've witnessed the fallout. The bizzare introduction at the Miami Heat arena. Just a weird two days...there is no other way to describe it. But regardless of what opinion you have (where he should have gone, Miami - good or bad decision, the manner in which he made the annoucement, etc...), I think we can all agree on this: We are glad we did not have to make that decision. I say this while I am trying justify the logic...or find any logic in the decision. And honestly, the only rationalization I can come up with is this...Lebron was in a lose lose situation. No matter what decision he made, he would have been vilified if the yet to be determined outcome (i.e. Lebron winning a championship and becoming one of the greatest basketball players ever) did not turn out in a story book fashion. And since that is the outlook Lebron is staring at, then I think it's safe to say that not one of us would want to have to make that decision. Yes; we'd all love to have Lebron's talents, we'd love to have the millions, but would we enjoy the pressure that comes with it? I doubt it. Can you imaagine the pressure when there was no right answer to this. No easy way out. Because the decision was much bigger than just Lebron. Cities, a professional basketball league, friendships, and entire franchises were hanging in the balance. And no matter what he decided (stay in Cleveland, go to New York, go to Miami, etc) he risked alienating a group of people and disappointing others. All while trying to figure out his legacy. Because there are no certainties in professional sports, just higher percentages of favorable outcomes.

So if he made the 'safe' choice and stayed in Cleveland and never brought home a title, he'd go down with the Charles Barkley/Patrick Ewing/Elgin Baylor/Karl Malone's of the NBA. He'd be just another great NBA player, but not a winner. A guy who couldn't get over the hump and people would then start to question just how good he really was. I mean people are already starting to do that after playoff exits to quality Orlando and Boston teams the past two years. Imagine if the same outcome were to happen the next five years. Would people honestly say, well at least Lebron was loyal and stayed in Cleveland. It's ok if he never won a title. Look, we've all seen how far loyalty can get you in professional sports. Kevin Garnett was loyal to the Minnesota franchise and he wasted his prime. Ask him if he made the right decision. Hundreds of players are loyal to their teams, but when they get past their primes, they come to find that their teams are no longer loyal to them...just ask Patrick Ewing or even Brett Favre. So in truth, saying he should have stayed in Cleveland isn't as simple as that. (And I say this as someone who still believes he should have stayed in Cleveland). Plus you have to remember that he plays in Cleveland (no offense Clevelanders), it's not Los Angeles or Chicago or any other major city in the US. You can't compare his situation to Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant. Not everyone is lining up to play for Cleveland. Look no further than Chris Bosh, who chose to play in Miami instead. If Bosh has picked Cleveland, than I'm sure Lebron would have stayed. But Cleveland isn't attractive to people who have no ties to the area. But people want to play in Chicago. Shaq wants to go to Los Angeles. You get my point. In this case, being Cleveland actually hurt Lebron's chances to pull in another marquee player. So that means Lebron is pretty much going at it alone with the Antawn Jamisons/Mo Williams/and JJ Hicksons of the league. Not exactly Pau Gasol level here (and remember that...Kobe couldn't win by himself until Gasol came - you can't win in this league as a one man show). So there goes option #1.

Option #2 was to go to another team not named Miami (Chicago, New York, LA Clippers, or Dalllas). I group them all together because the impact/hatred would have been a little less than going to Miami. At least he'd be going to a team where'd he still be the alpha dog and that team's success/failure would still lie squarely on his shoulders. So say he did that? Again, no guarantee of championships...not even the best odds (although you could argue Chicago had better odds than Miami, but then you're arguining that a complete team is better than having 3 of the top 20 players in the league...Rose/Noah/Lebron does not compare with Wade/Bosh/Lebron). On top of that, you still alienate the Cleveland fans, because you left. And if you fail to bring home a championship (which would have been extremely difficult if he went to New York or LA Clippers), then you would be regarded as a failure and not one of the best ever to play. So there goes option #2.

Which brings us to option #3. Miami!!! A cheap way out by any true fans account, but you can understand why he would decide to go there. He basically did the opposite of what Kobe did. Instead of being the guy that other superstars come to play with, he choose to be the superstar that leaves to play with another superstar. He had to make that choice, because Wade wasn't coming to Cleveleand. Bosh wasn't coming either. Nobody in that level wants to play in Cleveland. Plus Cleveland didn't have the money. So if he can't get people to play for Cleveland, then he has to leave and go where they are. Instead of being Kobe, he was Gasol. Does that make him a villian...absolutely. Will people think he took the easy way out...yes. But in the end, if he wins multiple championships...it won't matter. He'll still be up there with Shaq and Hakeem as one of the best 10-12 players ever. Just not one of the top 3 players ever. And maybe he's ok with that. It was the easiest pick, yet also the hardest. He had to turn his back on his home town. He had to become a hated man. He had to tarnish his legacy and his reputation. But he did what 'felt' right and what made him happy. And nobody ever said that the 'right' and 'happy' decision was always the easiest one to make.

Only time will tell how we view this decision and Lebron as a player and person. And that's the problem Lebron had with the decision in the first place. He wouldn't know if he made the right answer until he was too old to change it.