"The Book of
Basketball" by Bill Simmons, is primarily about basketball and its past great
teams and players, with some occasional crude humor. Something interesting that
Simmons does is, even though he is a professional sports writer he still tends
to have a small bias for his favorite team, the Boston Celtics.
In all of his analysis of
the greatest rivalries, the top ten players, and the best teams, he always
seems to make room for Boston. In the defense of Simmons, he does back up his
claims with pages and pages of evidence. For example, Simmons claimed the
Celtics star Bill Russell was a better player than Superstar Wilt Chamberlain
because he was more focused on winning. Another example is he claimed Celtics
player Larry Bird as the 5th best player of all time because of his
ability to pass, shoot, and rebound.
Although Simmons backs up
his claims thoroughly, he seems to sometimes get carried away with his favorite
team. In reviews of the book, many people think Simmons is way too biased and a
lot of his writing is not accurate. His high opinions on the Celtics players
created a controversial aspect to his book. Some readers might read the book
without noticing his favoritism and for some readers it might really stick out.
In conclusion, “The Book
of Basketball” had very outlandish claims that rose arguments in the basketball
world, but sometimes it’s the controversy that makes sports so interesting.
