During the dog days of summer, sports fans wait in anticipation for October when the NBA season begins. As Team USA is currently dazzling the world with their home-bred otherworldly talent, and as you look forward to another great basketball season full of ups and downs, we at Off the Shelf decided to compile a short list of great basketball books. And as avid college basketball fans, we’ve included books that you may not have heard of, but show the brilliance, resilience, and spectacular stories of some of the game’s most memorable characters, both on and off the court. Enjoy!
Swish! 9 Books for Basketball Fans
The Last Great Game: Duke vs. Kentucky and the 2.1 Seconds That Changed Basketball
In The Last Great Game, ESPN columnist Gene Wojciechowski turns the game we think we remember into a drama filled with suspense, humor, revelations, and reverberations.
The Last Great Game: Duke vs. Kentucky and the 2.1 Seconds That Changed Basketball
In The Last Great Game, ESPN columnist Gene Wojciechowski turns the game we think we remember into a drama filled with suspense, humor, revelations, and reverberations.
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The Hustle: One Team and Ten Lives in Black and White
The experiment was dreamed up by two fathers, one white, one black. What would happen, they wondered, if they mixed white players from an elite Seattle private school - famous for alums such as Microsoft's Bill Gates - and black kids from the inner city on a basketball team?
The Hustle: One Team and Ten Lives in Black and White
The experiment was dreamed up by two fathers, one white, one black. What would happen, they wondered, if they mixed white players from an elite Seattle private school - famous for alums such as Microsoft's Bill Gates - and black kids from the inner city on a basketball team?
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Rise of a Dynasty: The '57 Celtics, the First Banner, and the Dawning of a NewAmerica
On a fateful day in 1957, the country saw the Boston Celtics and the St. Louis Hawks face off in one of the most dramatic NBA games in history. But the score at the final buzzer told only part of the story.
Rise of a Dynasty: The '57 Celtics, the First Banner, and the Dawning of a NewAmerica
On a fateful day in 1957, the country saw the Boston Celtics and the St. Louis Hawks face off in one of the most dramatic NBA games in history. But the score at the final buzzer told only part of the story.
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The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever
With unerring insight into the deeper truths of professional sports, John Feinstein explores in riveting detail what happened one night in December 1977 when, as a fistfight broke out on the court between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers, Kermit Washington delivered a punch that nearly killed All-Star Rudy Tomjanovich.
The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever
With unerring insight into the deeper truths of professional sports, John Feinstein explores in riveting detail what happened one night in December 1977 when, as a fistfight broke out on the court between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers, Kermit Washington delivered a punch that nearly killed All-Star Rudy Tomjanovich.
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The Book of Basketball
Bill Simmons, the wildly opinionated and thoroughly entertaining hoops addict known to millions as ESPN.com’s Sports Guy, has written the definitive book on the past, present, and future of the NBA.
The Book of Basketball
Bill Simmons, the wildly opinionated and thoroughly entertaining hoops addict known to millions as ESPN.com’s Sports Guy, has written the definitive book on the past, present, and future of the NBA.
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Don't Put Me In, Coach: My Incredible NCAA Journey from the End of the Bench to the End of the Bench
An irreverent, hilarious insider's look at big-time NCAA basketball, through the eyes of the nation's most famous benchwarmer and author of the popular blog ClubTrillion.com. Mark Titus holds the Ohio State record for career wins, and made it to the 2007 national championship game. You would think Titus would be all over the highlight reels. You'd be wrong.
Don't Put Me In, Coach: My Incredible NCAA Journey from the End of the Bench to the End of the Bench
An irreverent, hilarious insider's look at big-time NCAA basketball, through the eyes of the nation's most famous benchwarmer and author of the popular blog ClubTrillion.com. Mark Titus holds the Ohio State record for career wins, and made it to the 2007 national championship game. You would think Titus would be all over the highlight reels. You'd be wrong.
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Drive: The Story of My Life
"Of all the people I play against, the only one I truly fear is Larry Bird."--Magic Johnson, from the Foreword.
Drive: The Story of My Life
"Of all the people I play against, the only one I truly fear is Larry Bird."--Magic Johnson, from the Foreword.
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A Season On The Brink
Twenty-five years after it spent sixteen weeks atop the New York Times bestseller list, A Season on the Brink remains the most celebrated basketball book ever written.
A Season On The Brink
Twenty-five years after it spent sixteen weeks atop the New York Times bestseller list, A Season on the Brink remains the most celebrated basketball book ever written.
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The Miracle of St. Anthony
In a city mired in endless decay, where the youth suffer through all the horrors of urban blight, hope comes in a most unassuming form: a tiny brick schoolhouse run by two Felician nuns where a singular basketball genius takes teenagers from the mean streets of Jersey City and turns them into champions on the hardcourt.
The Miracle of St. Anthony
In a city mired in endless decay, where the youth suffer through all the horrors of urban blight, hope comes in a most unassuming form: a tiny brick schoolhouse run by two Felician nuns where a singular basketball genius takes teenagers from the mean streets of Jersey City and turns them into champions on the hardcourt.
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