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TB A L L A N T I N E B O O K S T R A D E P A P E R B A C K S | N
E W Y O R K
THE BOOK OF
BASKETBALLTHE NBA ACCORDING TO THE SPORTS GUY
BILL SIMMONS
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I N T R O D U C T I O N
You might be standing in a bookstore right now. You might be
leaning
against a sofa in someones house. You might be sitting on the
john. You
might be taking a bath. You might be shopping at one of those
dollar
stores, sitting on a beach, riding in a car, reading a free
e-book preview.You might be sitting in a library or a Starbucks and
wondering if the guy
two chairs away is surfing porn on his iPad. You might be
planning on
clubbing someone to death with this thingand really, you
probably
couldand wanted to read the first few pages before you did the
deed.
Regardless, you are thinking one of the following four
things.
1. This monstrosity was a no. 1 bestseller? A 700-page book
about bas-
ketball? How the hell is that possible?
2. I forgot Bill Simmons used to write! Now hes hosting that
terrible
ESPN show with Dan LeBatard, No, Youre Wrong!What a sellout.
3. This is the book that billionaire owner loved, so he hired
Simmons as
GM and it was a total disaster! I think theyre still suing each
other. I al-
ways wanted to read this thing.
4. Wait, I already bought the hardcover . . . now he wants me to
buy the
paperback? Greedy bastard.
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I hear you on no. 4. I do. If I couldnt make the paperback
better than
the hardcover, it wasnt worth releasing. Thats why I tightened
it (cutting
thirty pages of fat), fixed every factual error (all of them
harmless, but
still), then filled the extra space with new material and
seventy new foot-
notes.1 I added two new What Ifs? I updated the Hall of Fame
Pyramid,
changing a few rankings (biggest winner: Dwyane Wade) and
rewriting
the Kobe, LeBron, Wade and Howard sections. Same number of
pages,
better book. And our new virtual guide
(www.bookofbasketball.com) al-
lows you to follow up on any magazine articles, games, plays,
YouTube
clips or anecdotes mentioned in the paperback with one
exception: Greg
Odens dong.
Until the bitter end, I resisted my publishers demands for a
finished
edit. They wanted it after the 2010 Finals; I wanted to wait
until LeBron
made his decision. Every instinct I had told me, Something weird
is
going to happen. Something did. Thats the thing about the book
of
basketballit never stops rewriting itself. After LeBron picked
Miami, I
realized this book will never be finished. For my own sanity, I
needed to
stop working on it. Five years was enough. There will never be
another
version. I promise. You have my word.2
Bill Simmons
September 1, 2010
1. When I told Gladwell that I had spent eight weeks on my
paperback, he laughed andsaid Are you kidding? Nobody does extra
work for a paperback! Yeah but still
x I N T R O D U C T I O N
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Order your copy of THE BOOK OF BASKETBALL
by Bill Simmons!
Amazon.comBarnesandNoble.com
Borders.com
RandomHouse.com
Now updated with spirited new writing on the2009-2010 season;
the Lakers-Celtics final; LeBron
James; Kobe Bryant; Dwayne Wade; Paul Pierce;Dwight Howard; and
Steve Nash.
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345520104http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?defaultSearchView=List&LogData=[search%3A+5%2Cparse%3A+9]&cm_mmc=CJ-_-2193956-_-2665379-_-88x31+logo&type=1&searchData={productId%3Anull%2Csku%3Anull%2Ctype%3A1%2Csort%3Anull%2CcurrPage%3A1%2CresultsPerPage%3A25%2CsimpleSearch%3Afalse%2Cnavigation%3A5185%2CmoreValue%3Anull%2CcoverView%3Afalse%2Curl%3Arpp%3D25%26view%3D2%26type%3D1%26page%3D1%26kids%3Dfalse%26nav%3D5185%26simple%3Dfalse%26sku%3D9780345520104%2Cterms%3A{sku%3D9780345520104}}&storeId=13551&catalogId=10001&sku=0345520106&ddkey=http:SearchResultshttp://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?r=1&ISBSRC=Y&ISBN=9780345520104&afsrc=1http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345520106?ie=UTF8&tag=randohouseinc-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0345520106
