Can't Knock the Hustle: Inside the Season with Brooklyn Nets Superstars of the Future

Prokorov · Post #1 » by **Prokorov** » Mon Sep 13, 2021 7:26 pm

"Can't Knock the Hustle: Inside the Season of Protest, Pandemic, and Progress with the Brooklyn Nets' Superstars of Tomorrow" by Matt Sullivan.

Anyone read this? I like many others saw the excerpts and headlines and media spin off of interviews... but I hadn't yet read the book. I just picked up the knidle version and read the first few chapters and its outstanding.

It talks about so much more and focuses on stuff much deeper then the trash headlines "KD's dad told him to go to the knicks" and junk like that. Its a great insite into the players, but also the franchise, the inner working of the sport, and it has a great grasp on nets history. it fills in alot of the business blanks from ratner to prok to tsai hat is really interesting. talks alot about how players think now, with regards to racism and empowerment.

also stands out... KD, Kyrie and others... winning and rings is a part, but there are much bigger things to them basketball and otherwise. and that those things don't detract but help them with their on court success. its great to get a non-sensationalized narrative behind the senses of KD/Kyrie, where everything they say and do is turned into a hit piece or headline

anyhow, would love feedback from anyone who read it, and encourage those who havent to pick it up. it was (pleseantly) alot different then i anticipated

Prokorov · Post #2 » by **Prokorov** » Wed Sep 15, 2021 1:26 am

Almost through the book. man, what a great read. And after reading i will say this.

This book is not about the nets or basketball. it is about black players and their struggle to obtain empowerment for black people within the NBA and the US.

people grabbing headlines for the KD/Kyrie stuff are pulling like 0.01% of whats in like the prologue, out of context, and has nothing to do with the book or its subtext.

Great read. eye opening. insightful. well written. and really sheds light on the ongoings of players and their struggle to empower themselves while trying to navigate through the strong arms of capitalism.

MGrand15 · Post #3 » by **MGrand15** » Wed Sep 15, 2021 1:12 pm

I bought the audiobook and ran through it in like 2 to 3 days. Probably a little too quick.

I don't really know how to describe my thoughts on it. It was definitely a great peak into the organization + the shift that happened when Kyrie and KD came. Good and bad. It felt like the writer had A LOT of access early on and you really got to know the team. By the later part of the book, it felt like he potentially burned some bridges or something and we got a lot less of the insider stuff. I think that also speaks to a lot of the weird tension + dynamics we had on the team that year.

It was a good book - definitely recommend it to any Net fan - but I think it'll age better over time. I bought the book right when it came out and the COVID stuff + all the BLM/police brutality stuff hit a little too close to home. All of it felt so recent. Second - I was turned off by the author's clickbait tactics to try and promote the book. I know it's part of the game but I thought it was slimy.

Prokorov · Post #4 » by **Prokorov** » Wed Sep 15, 2021 5:48 pm

MGrand15 wrote:I bought the audiobook and ran through it in like 2 to 3 days. Probably a little too quick.

I don't really know how to describe my thoughts on it. It was definitely a great peak into the organization + the shift that happened when Kyrie and KD came. Good and bad. It felt like the writer had A LOT of access early on and you really got to know the team. By the later part of the book, it felt like he potentially burned some bridges or something and we got a lot less of the insider stuff. I think that also speaks to a lot of the weird tension + dynamics we had on the team that year.

It was a good book - definitely recommend it to any Net fan - but I think it'll age better over time. I bought the book right when it came out and the COVID stuff + all the BLM/police brutality stuff hit a little too close to home. All of it felt so recent. Second - I was turned off by the author's clickbait tactics to try and promote the book. I know it's part of the game but I thought it was slimy.

agree on the click bait stuff. its why i only recently caved and read it.

There was a TON of content on non-nets stuff with regards to player empowerment. like the clippers/sterling thing and the Lebron/Kyrie stuff with blacks being shot by police turning their time in cleveland. he goes away too, some stuff in 2010. i expected it to be a book on the nets season, but 1/3 to 1/2 of that is other nba/fringe nba/social issue stuff, which was nice cause players often dont speak their mind on those things, and some of his behind the scenes stuff spells out why.

The moreys comment while lebron and the nets where in china stuff was a good read