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As I said, I plan to read 50 books this year and this was #1.  Technically I did start the book before January 1, but it’s 700 freakin pages and I still read 300-something this year, so I’m counting it.

Simmons does a handful of cool things in this book which centers around his quest to rank the 96 best players of all time in order to fill out his hypothetical Hall of Fame.  The writeups for each player are enjoyable and well researched, so if you can get past the fact that he’s still a Celtics homer you should enjoy it.  Other fun wrinkles: the top 10 “what-ifs” of all time (What if Dr. J had never gone to the ABA?), the top 10 teams of all time (’96 Bulls got jobbed), his “wine-cellar team” (12 best players’ single years to making an unbeatable basketball team), and a fascinating few pages covering an interview with Bill Walton that makes me wish he was my grandfather.

Yeah it’s long, but it’s one of the best books out there if you want to learn more about professional basketball in America, and want to do it with some humor.

If you like basketball and have a few months to kill, definitely check it out.

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