The Best Book of Basketball Facts and Stats - Softcover

Strasen, Marty

Softcover

ISBN 10: 155297782X ISBN 13: 9781552977828

Publisher: Firefly Books, 2003

Synopsis

Everything you need to know about the teams, players, coaches, and history.

The Best Book of Basketball Facts & Stats is a handy reference of detailed and up-to-date information. All 28 NBA teams are covered from the four major divisions: Eastern Atlantic, Eastern Central, Western Midwest, and Western Pacific. Team facts include date of entry into the NBA, number of championships won, and a concise history of the club.

Profiles of the game's 80 greatest players are profiled and include such legends as:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Larry Bird
Kobe Bryant
Wilt Chamberlain
Julius Erving
Patrick Ewing
Walt Frazier
Michael Jordan
Karl Malone
Hakeem Olajuwon
Shaquille O'Neal
Dennis Rodman
Bill Russell

A section on basketball's renowned coaches features Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson, K.C. Jones, Don Kundla, Dick Motta, Don Nelson, Jack Ramsay, Pat Riley, Jerry Sloan and Lenny Wilkens. Basketball's most memorable games are described from 1947 to the 2002 league championship, including the 1992 Olympic Dream Team.

The final third of the book contains detailed statistics that cover:

Career regular season
Career playoffs
Individual single season
Final standings
NBA finals results
All-Star Game results
Hall of Fame inductees
NBA awards

About this title

About the Author:

Marty Strasen is the sports producer for Tampa Bay Online (TBO.com), the two-time Edward R. Murrow Award-winning news site in Tampa, Florida, and writes regularly for The Tampa Tribune. He has co-authored the Michael Jordan Scrapbook and Basketball Almanac and is a former assistant editor of Basketball Weekly and Football News. He is a 1989 graduate of the University of Notre Dame.

STATS Inc. is North America's most comprehensive agency for sports statistics. Based in Chicago, they supply the media with facts and figures on basketball as well as many other sports.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Introduction

Dr. James Naismith never could have imagined when he first hoisted a peach basket at a YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts what a global phenomenon he had tipped off. Some 55 years after that day, the Basketball Association of America -- a forerunner of the National Basketball Association -- was formed. The average salary was $4,500 per year and the average player stood a shade under 6 feet, 4 inches.

If Dr. Naismith would have been stunned by the growth of his game in its first half century of existence, imagine his reaction if he sat courtside today watching the 7'5" Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets battle the 340-pound Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Yes, basketball has grown in a myriad ways since Naismith first threw a ball into a peach basket and needed a latter to retrieve it. At its basic level, however, it remains among the purest athletic tests of all -- a sport that has captivated a world-wide audience in recent years while remaining a mainstay in American towns large and small.

This book takes you inside the game at its highest level. The Franchise Histories chapter relives the glory years of the Boston Celtics, tracks the movement of the Lakers from the cold of Minneapolis to the glitz of L.A., charts the absorption of ABA clubs into the NBA and documents highlights of every team.

Selecting the best of the best for the players section was not unlike trying to win a game on a tightly-guarded 3-point shot. So many legends have graced the hardwood, from early stars like Joe Fulks to incomparable centers like Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell to more recent greats Julius Erving, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. We have settled on 80, with apologies to those who weren't far behind.

Basketball coaches are among the most visible in all of sports, and the NBA has had its share of greats. We will introduce you the most innovative and successful, though most of their names you probably know already. Red Auerbach, Jack Ramsay, Chuck Daly, Lenny Wilkens need little introduction.

Of course, we remember these teams, players and coaches mainly for what they do once the game clock starts ticking. Games can be memorable for a variety of reasons. Some, like Chamberlain's 100-point outing, are important as a statistical feat never before reached. Others, like the many Jordan capped with buzzer-beating heroics, become etched in our memories for the drama that unfolds before our eyes.

We've selected some of the most significant and memorable outings in NBA history to help mark the league's progress from the early days to the 2002-03 season.

The book concludes with a comprehensive Facts and Stats chapter that lists career statistical leaders, single-game and single-season leaders for both the regular season and playoffs. This chapter also features complete standings and NBA Finals results for every season and a complete list of Hall of Famers, MVPs and other award winners.

Marty Strassen
June 2003

About this edition

• Publisher: Firefly Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 155297782X
• ISBN 13: 9781552977828
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304