Universally recognized as the greatest basketball team ever assembled, the 1992 United States men's Olympic team genuinely earned the nickname "The Dream Team" by their performance on and off the court. Amazingly, it wasn't until 2012's "Dream Team" by Jack McCallum that the full story of that experience was told.
McCallum is a long-time sportswriter and author who has long been recognized as one of the greats in his field. This book is an instant classic offering everything a basketball junkie like me can appreciate - from little personal anecdotes to the broad historic perspective on the impact that team had on the popularity of basketball worldwide. What makes this book special is the fact that McCallum himself traveled with this team every step of the way and later was able to procure interviews with everyone - from the players and coaches to the FIBA organizers who originally thought of allowing NBA players in the Olympics. McCallum is an enjoyable read and he works through the selection process, preparatory practices, qualifying tournaments, and finally the Olympic games themselves. He skillfully blends in biographical sketches of each of the players too, capturing their personalities and what made them individually great. My favorite part of the book is his minute-by-minute breakdown of what's now become a famous inter-squad scrimmage right before the Olympics in Monte Carlo. The scrimmage, like all practices, was video recorded, but copies of the game are extremely rare. McCallum had the connections to get his hand on a copy and he details the ultra-competitive pick-up game that pitted Michael against Magic, Ewing against Robinson, and Barkley versus Malone. My memories as an 11-12 year old kid are crystal clear. I remember initially desperately hoping that my hero, Larry Bird, would be selected even though his health was deteriorating. I remember them demolishing every opponent but doing so in such a poetic and beautiful way. This team had plenty of egos but never played selfishly. Reading this books account confirms what had stuck in my memory. It was the greatest game being played at the greatest level. The way we remember things and the way they actually happened are not always in line. Thankfully in this case, it was as spectacular as I thought it was.
I saw a trend on Twitter a week or so ago that had people tweeting pics of their favorite books without comment and challenging their friends to do the same. I got challenged and accepted because it seemed kind of fun. So, I'll be setting aside my long-running "Music Mondays" to feature this "Book Blog" (I'm great at titles aren't I?). Here, unlike the Tweets, I will be providing commentary on the books and why I recommend them. I'll try to go with the order of my Tweet Challenge and maybe go from there. First up, The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons. Ever since he became a featured writer on Espn.com, I've enjoyed reading Simmons' sports takes. It didn't hurt that he was a big Celtics fan like me and that he loved the movie Hoosiers. Published in 2009, my wife got it for me as a Christmas gift and I immediately immersed myself in it.
I'm not sure, but I've read it a total of 6-8 times I'd guess. I normally do it piecemeal as the different chapters and sections make it perfect for reading in spurts. My favorite parts are hard to choose. I love the whole thing. But his fundamental premise is one element that shines. His theory is that greatness in basketball is not about basketball, it's more about making others better. This is a team game and individual talent only matters to an extent. The history of the NBA has shown that things like skill, selflessness, and sacrifice are as important as athletic ability. As a former player, this resonated with me as being absolutely true. I also loved his breakdown of the classic Wilt vs. Russell argument. Basketball junkies have long debated these two rivals and many experts consider Wilt as the singular greatest player ever before Jordan. Simmons destroys this revisionist history with facts comparing the two. It's a detailed and sound argument that undermines all the assertions of the "Wilt was better" crowd. Simmons' greatest contribution is his Hall-of-Fame pyramid, ranking the best 96 players of all time. But the ranking is done in tiers. The thinking is, not all Hall of Famers are equal. What if there was a way to put each player into proper context. So he goes about the painstaking work of ranking the greatest players of all time via these levels. Each player has his career accomplishments listed as well as specific commentary about his game and career. Simmons has done the video and statistical research and his rankings are well-supported, even if one may not agree with them. In the past ten years, he has publicly mentioned how his rankings have changed, so my edition is a little dated. But it is still good fodder for guys who love the history of this sport. For my top 13 players, see the end of this entry. This is a basketball masterpiece, though I imagine if his writing style doesn't connect with you it may not resonate as much - there is plenty of off-color language, bad jokes, and more pop culture references than you can shake a stick at. I highly recommend this book if you like professional basketball and honestly can't give your basketball opinions any credit if you haven't read this book. Now, for my top players of all-time (with short explanations) These rankings take eras into account plus their grasp of The Secret - which is how Simmons evaluates the players too:
13. Shaq - dominant at his best, but didn't always max out his potential.
12. Hakeem Olajuwon - immense skills plus astounding all-around stats, 2 rings.
11. Oscar Robertson - great individual talent, I was convinced by Simmons' write up that he has been a little over-rated historically.
10. Kobe - killer scorer who learned The Secret through Phil Jackson.
9. Jerry West - the biggest victim of the great Celtics' dynasties, he was a phenomenal player even when falling short.
8. Wilt - his lack of winning was on him more than it was due to Russell. Reading the accounts of his day plus Simmons' analysis knocks him down my list.
7. Tim Duncan - the most under-appreciated star of the last 25 years. Always made his team contenders and won a bunch of rings in competitive eras.
6. Larry Bird - A great scorer and all-time great rebounder, he let his passing be his signature weapon.
5. Magic - Gets the nod over Bird due to a little longer career and more Rings.
4. Bill Russell - the greatest winner of all-time, his stats are phenomenal as well.
3. Kareem - the definition of greatness over decades. Is underrated because of his longevity.
2. LeBron - has an outside shot at #1 because his peak greatness has been lengthy. He drug mediocre teams to the Finals and I don't knock him for not winning it all more because of it.
1. Jordan - I lived through his prime and it always seemed inevitable that his teams would come out on top. His all-around greatness was only matched by his competitiveness.
This upcoming Tuesday is Election Day. Participating in our representative democracy through voting is of the great privileges and freedoms we enjoy. In honor of this special week, I thought I'd pull out my favorite rendition of our National Anthem. It is one I learned of only through the magic of the internet and video recordings. At the 1983 NBA All-Star game, Marvin Gaye put his own spin on "The Star Spangled Banner" that gives me chills every time and clearly moved many who heard it.
Normally, my Music Mondays post features a Christian band or song. I'm a pastor and that is my world. I'm also an avid basketball fan and last night was Game 7 of the NBA Finals. I was pulling for Golden State, mostly because my Celtics were sent home long ago and I've enjoyed watching the Warriors play excellent ball the past two years. They looked headed for a second straight championship after a historic 73-win regular season. But the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers fought back from the brink of elimination and won the series last night in a great back-and-forth contest. In honor of the Cavs winning a championship for their city for the first time in any sport since 1964, here's a song I find perfectly fitting for the moment:
Given the phenomenal performance by LeBron during this series, there's already been a lot of discussion on sports talk shows about his place in NBA history. While this has nothing to do with the song, I thought I'd add my ranking of the best players of all-time since I'm sure millions of people are yearning for it.
A quick preface is needed however. My rankings follow the approach outlined by Bill Simmons in his immense The Book of Basketball which I consider essential reading if you're going to have a valid opinion about basketball greatness. His philosophy is this in a nutshell: to be a great basketball player requires more than great skill or athletic talent. It requires understanding that ultimate greatness is found in making others around you better. He uses the term "The Secret of Basketball" to label it. Basketball is a team game at its core and requires extraordinary unselfishness as well as extraordinary individual skillfulness. As someone who played high school and college ball and also later coached, I couldn't agree more with Simmons' conclusions.
So this ranking isn't based strictly on who would win one-on-one at their peak. It takes into account their greatness within their era and assesses the extent to which they embraced the Secret and combined it with exceptional basketball skill and talent.
1. MJ - for much of his career, Michael didn't totally get the Secret. Phil Jackson helped change that however and unleashed a basketball monster.
2. Bill Russell - the greatest winner in the history of team sports. College, Olympics, and the NBA. He wasn't the greatest physical specimen, though he had talent. What set him apart was how he mastered the psychological warfare and over and over again conquered better individual players (and teams).
3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - All-time leading scorer with incredible durability. I may have put him #2 but he was just enough of a diva at times and was a little overly sensitive to the extent I have to penalize him just a bit.
4. LeBron James - I had him here before this series, but I didn't think he'd ever climb any higher. Now, even a spot at #1 is in play depending on how the rest of his career goes. He does it all as a good rebounder, great scorer, dominating defender and exceptional facilitator.
5. Magic Johnson - A consummate winner who changed the game for point guards. The leader of 5 championship teams.
6. Larry Bird - He is my favorite player ever, but he wasn't healthy long enough to be considered better than Magic. In the public consciousness, he might be slipping into 'underrated' territory. He and Magic both - because stats for their era don't look quite as good as we might expect today.
7. Tim Duncan - He's a machine. He's a model of consistency and shows what excellent fundamentals will do along with a total buy-in to the team concept. He's really a center but whatever, he belongs this high.
8. Wilt Chamberlain - the most talented player ever, but fell short of fully understanding The Secret. And I don't want to hear that he played on inferior teams to the Celtics. Simmons picks that argument apart definitively in his book.
9. Kobe Bryant - Only MJ and Russell can rival his intense competitiveness. That said, a lot of it was "me-focused", even as he was winning rings without Shaq.
10. Jerry West - Truly is underrated because of his inability to beat the 60's Celtics but his overall legacy is truly special.
11. Oscar Robertson - has great stats, but accumulated them in an era where especially rebounds were highly inflated (many more bad shots taken by shooters who were overall mediocre). I rely on Simmons' research here too, because there is significant evidence he was a prickly teammate who didn't make others better as much as you'd think.
12./13. Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaq - In high school our coach kept 13 varsity players in an unusual move allowing me to make the team. I'm doing the same because it's hard to differentiate these dominant big men. Hakeem could do it all and Shaq was an unstoppable force when he had to turn it on. They deserve mention within this tier of players as their accomplishments earn them a spot at this table.
