ABC and ESPNUs "Mr. Stats" ranks the NBAUs greatest players of all time in this provocative and comprehensive book.

Guaranteed to spark debate among baseball diehards with its controversial pick for #1 "Elliott Kalb's work is beyond excellent. He thinks in story lines and uses numbers to make compelling and often original points."--Bob Costas In the world of major-league sports, Elliott Kalb, a.k.a "Mr. Stats," is the Sultan of Stats, the Tsar of Trivia, and the Final Word in armchair-athlete disputes. Now, hot on the heels of his controversial bestseller Who's Better, Who's Best in Basketball? comes a book that is guaranteed to raise both hackles and cheers from baseball fans from coast to coast. More than a book of lists, Who's Better, Who's Best in Baseball?: Interweaves numbers, facts, and anecdotes to offer a grand perspective on the entire history of the sport and its 100 all-time greatest of the greats--including players from the Negro Leagues Features interviews with MLB experts, players, and coaches, including Bob Costas, Bud Selig, Vin Scully, Joe Buck, Tim McCarver, Johnny Bench, and others Argues the popular debate--what means more, modern training and modern medicine, overall athletics, popularity, or genetics?

STUFF Good Players Should Know may very well be the best book ever written for basketball players. It is conversational and easy to understand, yet filled with subtle insights into the game of basketball. STUFF is page after page of creative concepts, common sense, and special tips that can not be found anywhere else. ? How do you guard a stronger player? ? How do you set up a game-winning steal? ? How do you ?strip? a rebound? ? How do you score with a strong-handed dribble while going to the weak side? ? How do you practice shooting for maximum game effectiveness? ? How do you recognize defensive changes? STUFF is like having a coach right beside you, in your room, discussing the fine points of the games. How do you think in the minutes of the game? How do you react to mistakes? What is your attitude about fouls? Eating? Superstitions? Injuries? All this and more makes STUFF a book that players will find indispensable. Basketball fans will enjoy it, but players won't do

Are top scorers really the most valuable players? Are games decided in the final few minutes? Does the team with the best player usually win?Thinking Basketball challenges a number of common beliefs about the game by taking a deep dive into the patterns and history of the NBA. Explore how certain myths arose while using our own cognition as a window into the game's popular narratives. New basketball concepts are introduced, such as power plays, portability and why the best player shouldn't always shoot. Discover how the box score can be misleading, why "closers" are overrated and how the outcome of a game fundamentally alters our memory. Behavioral economics, traffic paradoxes and other metaphors highlight this thought-provoking insight into the NBA and our own thinking. A must-read for any basketball fan -- you'll never view the sport, and maybe the world, the same again.

Who is the only NBA player to score 100 points in a game? What team holds the league record with 33 wins in a row? What post player was known for his signature move, the "Dream Shake"? Learn the answer to these questions and more in The Best of Everything Basketball Book.

A powerful novel about friendship, basketball, and one teen's mission to create a better life for his family. Written in the tradition of Jason Reynolds, Matt de la Pe a, and Walter Dean Myers, After the Shot Drops now has three starred reviews * "Belongs on the shelf alongside contemporary heavy-hitters like Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give, Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds's All-American Boys, and Nic Stone's Dear Martin."--School Library Journal, starred review Bunny and Nasir have been best friends forever, but when Bunny accepts an athletic scholarship across town, Nasir feels betrayed. While Bunny tries to fit in with his new, privileged peers, Nasir spends more time with his cousin, Wallace, who is being evicted. Nasir can't help but wonder why the neighborhood is falling over itself to help Bunny when Wallace is in trouble. When Wallace makes a bet against Bunny, Nasir is faced with an impossible decision--maybe a dangerous one. Told from alternating perspectives, After the Shot Drops is a heart-pounding story about the responsibilities of great talent and the importance of compassion.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The wildly opinionated, thoroughly entertaining, and arguably definitive book on the past, present, and future of the NBA—from the founder of The Ringer and host of The Bill Simmons Podcast “Enough provocative arguments to fuel barstool arguments far into the future.”—The Wall Street Journal In The Book of Basketball, Bill Simmons opens—and then closes, once and for all—every major NBA debate, from the age-old question of who actually won the rivalry between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain to the one about which team was truly the best of all time. Then he takes it further by completely reevaluating not only how NBA Hall of Fame inductees should be chosen but how the institution must be reshaped from the ground up, the result being the Pyramid: Simmons’s one-of-a-kind five-level shrine to the ninety-six greatest players in the history of pro basketball. And ultimately he takes fans to the heart of it all, as he uses a conversation with one NBA great to uncover that coveted thing: The Secret of Basketball. Comprehensive, authoritative, controversial, hilarious, and impossible to put down (even for Celtic-haters), The Book of Basketball offers every hardwood fan a courtside seat beside the game’s finest, funniest, and fiercest chronicler.