The Official "Good Basketball Books" Thread

[Ginoboleee]

Has anybody written a calm (boring) straight-forward History of the NBA?

[parsnips33]

Showboat by Roland Lazenby for anybody interested in Kobe

I also liked Eleven Rings by Phil Jackson

[Doctor MJ]

"Wartime Basketball" by Douglas Stark

Focuses in on the period surrounding World War II, which was an absolutely critical time for the development of the game. Without going into too much detail: Basketball had a momentum in terms of nation-wide play going into World War II partly on the back of some aesthetic rule changes, and then during World War II, in addition to kids, high school, college and pros ball, basketball was played competitively on all the military bases.

[sp6r=underrated]

I know Charley Rosen is kind of a joke because of Jackson lackey status but this is a fine book about a different era in basketball

The Scandals of '51: How the Gamblers Almost Killed College Basketball

[trex_8063]

Somewhat on topic [for anyone who has subscribed to the Disney+ app], there's a documentary called "Free Spirits" which is kind of interesting. It's about the 2-year run of the ABA franchise: the Spirits of St. Louis [centering in particular on Marvin Barnes]. Good stuff.

[Owly]

Has anybody written a calm (boring) straight-forward History of the NBA?

Thinking otoh (but checking dates)
Hoop Lore by Connie Kirchberg (a touch expensive and given other writings maybe not an NBA expert) through to 2007
24 Seconds to Shoot: Leonard Koppett (through to circa '68 though I think different editions might give an extra year or so).

Some encyclopedias will have yearly summaries along with the data for each season (e.g. official NBA encyclopedia, Neft and Cohen's Sports Encyclopedia Pro Basketball or Shouler et al's Total Basketball).

[Owly]

I know Charley Rosen is kind of a joke because of Jackson lackey status but this is a fine book about a different era in basketball

The Scandals of '51: How the Gamblers Almost Killed College Basketball

I am not absolutely averse to reading Rosen but would also note that it's not just Jackson-alignment that gives Rosen some negative pub. Have seen some reviews of his books really critical of Rosen's practice as an author ... see for instance
https://airjudden2.tripod.com/books/thepivotalseason.html
(not necessary advocating for reviewer as neutral but it quotes an example and cites the Gross complaint).