ABSTRACT
The Book of Basketball is a read—the juiciest pro sports book since Jim Bouton’s Ball Four (or maybe if you’re a Celts’ fan, Jack McCallum’s Unfinished Business). Unlike Bouton (who experienced his game from the inside as both a star pitcher and washed up reliever), Simmons has never played his game. He can’t provide an NBA equivalent to Bouton’s comic ethnography of baseball’s major leagues. (Back to Business if you need that.) The Book is a fan’s mash note that goes on for 700 + pages. It’s not all about balling. Giving in to period style, Simmons stuffs his pages with pop references and snarky shtick. His taste in pop matters is relentlessly conventional. But when it comes to the game he sees the floor like an aesthete. (And he’s got some heart too.) One example of his noticings:
