Sprawlball
Sprawlball

Author: Kirk Patrick Goldsberry

Publisher: Mariner Books

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1328767515

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"Beautifully illustrated and sharply written, SprawlBall is both a celebration and a critique of the 3-point shot. If you want to understand how the modern NBA came to be, you'll need to read this book." --Nate Silver, editor of fivethirtyeight.com From the leading expert in the exploding field of basketball analytics, a stunning infographic decoding of the modern NBA: who shoots where, and how. The field of basketball analytics has leaped to overdrive thanks to Kirk Goldsberry, whose visual maps of players, teams, and positions have helped teams understand who really is the most valuable player at any position. SprawlBall combines stunning visuals, in-depth analysis, fun, behind-the-scenes stories and gee-whiz facts to chart a modern revolution. From the introduction of the 3-point line to today, the game has changed drastically . . . Now, players like Steph Curry and Draymond Green are leading the charge. In chapters like "The Geography of the NBA," "The Interior Minister (Lebron James)," "The Evolution of Steph Curry," and "The Investor (James Harden)," Goldsberry explains why today's on-court product--with its emphasis on shooting, passing, and spacing--has never been prettier or more democratic. And it's never been more popular. For fans of Bill Simmons and FreeDarko, SprawlBall is a bold new vision of the game, presenting an innovative, cutting-edge look at the sport based on the latest research, as well as a visual and infographic feast for fans.

Basketball on Paper
Basketball on Paper

Author: Dean Oliver

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2020-02-15

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 164012389X

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Journey "inside the numbers" for an exceptional set of statistical tools and rules that can help explain the winning, or losing, ways of a basketball team. Basketball on Paper doesn't diagram plays or explain how players get in shape, but instead demonstrates how to interpret player and team performance. Dean Oliver highlights general strategies for teams when they're winning or losing and what aspects should be the focus in either situation. He describes and quantifies the jobs of team leaders and role players, then discusses the interactions between players and how to achieve the best fit. Oliver conceptualizes the meaning of teamwork and how to quantify the value of different types of players working together. He examines historically successful NBA teams and identifies what made them so successful: individual talent, a system of putting players together, or good coaching. Oliver then uses these statistical tools and case studies to evaluate the best players in history, such as Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, and Charles Barkley and how they contributed to their teams' success. He does the same for some of the NBA's "oddball" players-Manute Bol, Muggsy Bogues, and Dennis Rodman and for the WNBA's top players. Basketball on Paper is unique in its incorporation of business and analytical concepts within the context of basketball to measure the value of players in a cooperative setting. Whether you're looking for strategies or new ideas to throw out while watching the ballgame at a sports bar, Dean Oliver'sBasketball on Paper will give you amazing new insights into teamwork, coaching, and success.

The Midrange Theory
The Midrange Theory

Author: Seth Partnow

Publisher: Triumph Books

Published: 2021-11-16

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 1641256974

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From one of basketball's foremost experts in the field of analytics, a fascinating new perspective on how to watch and think about the game. At its core, the goal of any basketball team is relatively simple: take and make good shots while preventing the opponent from doing the same. But what is a "good" shot? Are all good shots created equally? And how might one identify players who are more or less likely to make and prevent those shots in the first place? The concept of basketball "analytics," for lack of a better term, has been lauded, derided, and misunderstood. The incorporation of more data into NBA decision-making has been credited—or blamed—for everything from the death of the traditional center to the proliferation of three-point shooting to the alleged abandonment of the area of the court known as the midrange. What is beyond doubt is that understanding its methods has never been more important to watching and appreciating the NBA. In The Midrange Theory, Seth Partnow, NBA analyst for The Athletic and former Director of Basketball Research for the Milwaukee Bucks, explains how numbers have affected the modern NBA game, and how those numbers seek not to "solve" the game of basketball but instead urge us toward thinking about it in new ways. The relative value of Russell Westbrook's triple-doubles Why some players succeed in the playoffs while others don't How NBA teams think about constructing their rosters through the draft and free agency The difficulty in measuring defensive achievement The fallacy of the "quick two" From shot selection to evaluating prospects to considering aesthetics and ethics while analyzing the box scores, Partnow deftly explores where the NBA is now, how it got here, and where it might be going next.

City/Game
City/Game

Author: William C. Rhoden

Publisher: Rizzoli Publications

Published: 2020-02-11

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 0847867625

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The players, people, flavor, and contributions New York has given the game. From the playgrounds to the NBA, New York has invented a way of playing basketball, and City/Game is not only about the three renowned NBA teams--the Knicks, the Nets, and the Liberty--and their predecessors, but also the many high-school and college basketball teams with legendary rivalries. Through art and testimonials from the fans, coaches, and players, we learn about Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), Kenny Anderson, and Chris Mullin, all birthed on the city blacktop and who took their skills to the NBA hardwood. Explore the famous street-ball courts on a map of the five boroughs, including Rucker Park and the Cage on West 4th Street, home to Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kyrie Irving; read about New York's style of play--like the infamous one-handed jump shot--and glossary of NYC-style trash talk and slang; see "celebrity row" photographs courtside at the Garden and Barclay's Center; revel in the images, headlines, and objects related to the 1970 and 1973 championship Knicks. Packed with new and archival images, this book brings the energy of the sport through original essays by noted writers and highlights from players, fans, and rising stars of the New York scene and features interviews with NBA greats including Queens-born Kenny Smith and Bronx-born former Knick Rod Strickland. A great book for any basketball fan to relive old memories and learn new details.

Sports Analytics
Sports Analytics

Author: Benjamin C. Alamar

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2024-05-28

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 023155589X

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Data and analytics have the potential to provide sports organizations with a competitive advantage both on and off the field. Yet even as the use of analytics in sports has become commonplace, teams regularly find themselves making big investments without significant payoff. This book is a practical, nontechnical guide to incorporating sports data into decision making, giving leaders the knowledge they need to maximize their organization’s investment in analytics. Benjamin C. Alamar—a leading expert who has built high-performing analytics groups—surveys the current state of the use of data in sports, including both specifics around the tools and how to deploy them most effectively. Sports Analytics offers a clear, easily digestible overview of data management, statistical models, and information systems and a detailed understanding of their vast possibilities. It walks readers through the essentials of understanding the value of different types of data and strategies for building and managing an analytics team. Throughout, Alamar illustrates the value of analytics with real-world examples and case studies from both the sports and business sides. Sports Analytics has guided a range of sports professionals to success since its original publication in 2013. This second edition adds examples and strategies that focus on using data on the business side of a sports organization, provides concrete strategies for incorporating different types of data into decision making, and updates all discussions for the rapid technological developments of the last decade.

Movies (And Other Things)
Movies (And Other Things)

Author: Shea Serrano

Publisher: Twelve

Published: 2019-10-08

Total Pages: 867

ISBN-13: 1538730200

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INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER BARNES & NOBLE BESTSELLER AMAZON BESTSELLER "Paging through Serrano's Movies (and Other Things) is like taking a long drive at night with a friend; there's that warmth and familiarity where the chat is more important than the fastest route from Point A to Point B...It's like a textbook gone right; your attention couldn't wander if it tried." -- Elisabeth Egan, New York Times Book Review Shea Serrano is back, and his new book, Movies (And Other Things),combines the fury of a John Wick shootout, the sly brilliance of Regina George holding court at a cafeteria table, and the sheer power of a Denzel monologue, all into one. Movies (And Other Things) is a book about, quite frankly, movies (and other things). One of the chapters, for example, answers which race Kevin Costner was able to white savior the best, because did you know that he white saviors Mexicans in McFarland, USA, and white saviors Native Americans in Dances with Wolves, and white saviors Black people in Black or White, and white saviors the Cleveland Browns in Draft Day? Another of the chapters, for a second example, answers what other high school movie characters would be in Regina George's circle of friends if we opened up the Mean Girls universe to include other movies (Johnny Lawrence is temporarily in, Claire from The Breakfast Club is in, Ferris Bueller is out, Isis from Bring It On is out...). Another of the chapters, for a third example, creates a special version of the Academy Awards specifically for rom-coms, the most underrated movie genre of all. And another of the chapters, for a final example, is actually a triple chapter that serves as an NBA-style draft of the very best and most memorable moments in gangster movies. Many, many things happen in Movies (And Other Things), some of which funny, others of which are sad, a few of which are insightful, and all of which are handled with the type of care and dedication to the smallest details and pockets of pop culture that only a book by Shea Serrano can provide.

The MVP Machine
The MVP Machine

Author: Ben Lindbergh

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2019-06-04

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 1541698959

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Move over, Moneyball -- this New York Times bestseller examines major league baseball's next cutting-edge revolution: the high-tech quest to build better players. As bestselling authors Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik reveal in The MVP Machine, the Moneyball era is over. Fifteen years after Michael Lewis brought the Oakland Athletics' groundbreaking team-building strategies to light, every front office takes a data-driven approach to evaluating players, and the league's smarter teams no longer have a huge advantage in valuing past performance. Lindbergh and Sawchik's behind-the-scenes reporting reveals: How undersized afterthoughts José Altuve and Mookie Betts became big sluggers and MVPs How polarizing pitcher Trevor Bauer made himself a Cy Young contender How new analytical tools have overturned traditional pitching and hitting techniques How a wave of young talent is making MLB both better than ever and arguably worse to watch Instead of out-drafting, out-signing, and out-trading their rivals, baseball's best minds have turned to out-developing opponents, gaining greater edges than ever by perfecting prospects and eking extra runs out of older athletes who were once written off. Lindbergh and Sawchik take us inside the transformation of former fringe hitters into home-run kings, show how washed-up pitchers have emerged as aces, and document how coaching and scouting are being turned upside down. The MVP Machine charts the future of a sport and offers a lesson that goes beyond baseball: Success stems not from focusing on finished products, but from making the most of untapped potential.

There Is No Next
There Is No Next

Author: Sam Smith

Publisher: Diversion Books

Published: 2014-10-28

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 1626815097

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Thirty years after Michael Jordan’s first NBA game comes an oral history of his legendary career, told by the men who played with him and against him, coached him, and witnessed first-hand the iconic greatness of the most dominant athlete sports has ever seen. Featuring interviews with: Larry Bird • Magic Johnson • Phil Jackson • Reggie Miller • Isiah Thomas • Reggie Theus • Chris Mullin • Doug Collins • Dominique Wilkins • Steve Kerr • John Paxson • David Stern • Gregg Popovich • Derek Harper • Bill Walton • Karl Malone • Horace Grant • Joe Dumars • Danny Ainge • B.J. Armstrong • Marv Albert • Grant Hill • Jerry Colangelo • Bill Cartwright • Jerry Reinsdorf • Johnny Bach • Rod Thorn • Rick Barry • Kevin Loughery • David Axelrod • President Barack Obama • and many more! Written by Sam Smith—author of the New York Times bestseller THE JORDAN RULES and recent inductee into the NBA Hall of Fame—THERE IS NO NEXT assembles a cast of Hall-of-Famers, teammates, opponents, coaches, and others who experienced the ferocious drive and unparalleled greatness that defined Jordan’s career. Packed with previously untold stories and stunning insight into Jordan and his six championships, THERE IS NO NEXT is the last word on why there has never been, and will never be, another Michael Jordan.

Personal Foul
Personal Foul

Author: Tim Donaghy

Publisher: Clerisy Press

Published: 2010-06-09

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0615379095

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Uncover the true story behind the Netflix documentary Untold: Operation Flagrant Foul. “The book the NBA doesn’t want you to read.” —Deadspin.com Tim Donaghy loved basketball. In many ways, his zest for the game came from his father, who officiated high school and college games for over 30 years. After graduating from Villanova, Donaghy was unsatisfied with his career until he followed his heart and became a basketball referee, first in the CBA and then the NBA, where he officiated for 13 seasons: 772 regular-season games and 20 playoff games. He loved his job, his family, his life. He felt like he had everything. And then, suddenly, he had nothing. He succumbed to a gambling addiction and to intimidation from well-connected criminals—and began using inside information to win bets for them. Following an FBI investigation, Donaghy pled guilty to two federal charges, and on August 15, 2007, he was sentenced to 15 months in prison. He was released on November 4, 2009, after serving his sentence. This is his story, which provides a stunningly candid admission of his mistakes, as well as his insider’s account of the world of professional basketball. With a foreword by Phil Scala, the FBI special agent who worked the Gambino case, Personal Foul reveals how the fast life of professional sports can tempt and trap the unwary and unwise. Donaghy has written an unforgettable page-turner, one of the most controversial sports books ever published. It will confirm your suspicions about the influence of the front offices of major league sports, while examining the corrosive power of money and fame. From the Introduction: I’m guilty. For 13 years I was a referee in the National Basketball Association, living a glamorous life on and off the court, rubbing elbows with superstar players and celebrity A-listers. I suppose many would say that I had it all—a great job, money, a wonderful family—but it was all an illusion. You see, during my last four years in the NBA, I led a secret life that would ultimately cost me everything: my integrity, my reputation, my career, my livelihood, my marriage, my family, and my freedom.

Cover Story
Cover Story

Author: Alex Wong

Publisher: Triumph Books

Published: 2021-10-26

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 1641256915

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A nostalgic romp through modern NBA history as documented by basketball's most iconic and innovative magazine covers. Every magazine cover is the result of a series of intentional decisions. Cover Story shares the behind-the-scenes stories of these deliberate choices, which led to the most iconic basketball-related magazine covers during a period from 1984 to 2003. Through 100-plus interviews conducted with writers, editors, publishers, photographers, creative directors, and the players themselves, the book explores Michael Jordan's relationship with Sports Illustrated, Shaquille O'Neal and the hip-hop generation's impact on newsstands, the birth of SLAM and the inside stories of their most iconic covers, how the 1996 USA women's basketball team inspired a new era of women's sports magazines, the competition among publishers to put high school phenom LeBron James on the magazine cover first, and much more. Offering an immersive look at some of the most impactful moments in a golden era for modern basketball, this engaging read will appeal to basketball fans, pop culture enthusiasts, and those who want to take a deep dive into understanding how the individual components of a classic magazine cover come together. Features four full-color inserts showcasing a collection of notable magazine covers!