Rating: 
Summary: REPLACES ONE FLAWED LIST WITH ANOTHER!
Review: "Bob Cousy wasn't that good a player."
--Lenny Wilkens to a reporter in Savannah, Georgia in 1995 during the Atlanta Hawks preseason training camp.I couldn't resist browsing through Elliot Kalb's WHO'S BETTER, WHO'S BEST AT BASKETBALL when I saw it a local bookstore.
He's thought about something I saw immediately, too, that the so-called official NBA 50 GREATEST PLAYERS list done in the late 1990s is badly flawed. And so Kalb gets together with a bunch of broadcasters, writers, current and former players and makes sure the reader knows all about his knowledge of basketball statistics, and then makes a strong case for something I've been saying for the past 10 years, that SHAQUILLE O'NEAL IS THE GREATEST PLAYER OF ALL TIME!!! Kalb also corrects something that made the official TOP 50 list ridiculous, he includes Dennis Rodman as THE BEST DEFENSIVE FORWARD OF ALL TIME!!! But in between he makes a number of weak arguments, like naming Wilt Chamberlain as the 2nd best player ever, and better than Kareem because he scored 50 points in a game more often, which is easily countered by the fact that Wilt played most of his career against 6'9 and shorter centers, while Kareem played against nearly every great player who ever played, except Bill Russell, who had enough sense to get out just before Kareem arrived! Other questionable rankings include the placement of Larry Bird over Magic Johnson:Magic won more championships, sorry, Elliot, and even Larry Legend himself will tell you that CHAMPIONSHIPS meant more to him than statistics! Another flawed choice is including Bob Cousy, who could only dribble with one hand which wouldn't even get him in NBA games today, and leaving out Lenny Wilkens--a lefthander who nobody could stop!--and who once told me, "Bob Cousy wasn't that good a player." Also, aside from the placement of Shaq at #1, and the inclusion of Rodman, Kalb's list simply juggles the order of the official list, and the same oldtimers like George Mikan, Dave Cowens, and Dolph Schayes are still there, and none of these guys could even start today, and I consider myself THE ULTIMATE DAVE COWENS FAN!!! (But he just wouldn't be tall enough to play center in today's NBA!) But I must salute Elliot Kalb for doing two things:one, he had the intellectual guts to go against popular thinking and name Shaquille #1--and Shaq has both the statistics and the championships to prove it!--and two, he included Dennis Rodman--with great rebounding statistics and 5 NBA championships!!!--who was only left off of the official list because he isn't cleancut enough, which was a disgrace! But I just can't see how NBA TOP 50 guys like George Mikan, Bob Cousy, and Dave Cowens could start in today's NBA, let alone be some of the 50 GREATEST PLAYERS OF ALL TIME. Kalb calls himself Mr. Stats, but the problem with his statistics is that the players since the 1970s are MORE ATHLETIC than the players of the 1960s and earlier, that, period, with only about 2 or 3 exceptions like Chamberlain, Russell, and the Big O. And I'm not even sure that Rick Barry could start in today's league, because even he once said in a SLAM! interview that he wished he'd had hands like Dr. J's, and I don't see how he could have guarded him MR. STATS NEEDS TO SPEND LESS TIME LOOKING AT BASKETBALL STATISTICS, AND MORE TIME LOOKING AT PLAYERS to MAKE A BETTER TOP 50 PLAYERS LIST!!! AND MOST OF THEM BETTER HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DRIBBLE AND DUNK!!!
Rating:
Summary: REPLACES ONE FLAWED LIST WITH ANOTHER!
Review: "Bob Cousy wasn't that good a player."
--Lenny Wilkens to a reporter in Savannah, Georgia in 1995 during the Atlanta Hawks preseason training camp. I couldn't resist browsing through Elliot Kalb's WHO'S BETTER, WHO'S BEST AT BASKETBALL when I saw it a local bookstore.
He's thought about something I saw immediately, too, that the so-called official NBA 50 GREATEST PLAYERS list done in the late 1990s is badly flawed. And so Kalb gets together with a bunch of broadcasters, writers, current and former players and makes sure the reader knows all about his knowledge of basketball statistics, and then makes a strong case for something I've been saying for the past 10 years, that SHAQUILLE O'NEAL IS THE GREATEST PLAYER OF ALL TIME!!! Kalb also corrects something that made the official TOP 50 list ridiculous, he includes Dennis Rodman as THE BEST DEFENSIVE FORWARD OF ALL TIME!!! But in between he makes a number of weak arguments, like naming Wilt Chamberlain as the 2nd best player ever, and better than Kareem because he scored 50 points in a game more often, which is easily countered by the fact that Wilt played most of his career against 6'9 and shorter centers, while Kareem played against nearly every great player who ever played, except Bill Russell, who had enough sense to get out just before Kareem arrived! Other questionable rankings include the placement of Larry Bird over Magic Johnson:Magic won more championships, sorry, Elliot, and even Larry Legend himself will tell you that CHAMPIONSHIPS meant more to him than statistics! Another flawed choice is including Bob Cousy, who could only dribble with one hand which wouldn't even get him in NBA games today, and leaving out Lenny Wilkens--a lefthander who nobody could stop!--and who once told me, "Bob Cousy wasn't that good a player." Also, aside from the placement of Shaq at #1, and the inclusion of Rodman, Kalb's list simply juggles the order of the official list, and the same oldtimers like George Mikan, Dave Cowens, and Dolph Schayes are still there, and none of these guys could even start today, and I consider myself THE ULTIMATE DAVE COWENS FAN!!! (But he just wouldn't be tall enough to play center in today's NBA!) But I must salute Elliot Kalb for doing two things:one, he had the intellectual guts to go against popular thinking and name Shaquille #1--and Shaq has both the statistics and the championships to prove it!--and two, he included Dennis Rodman--with great rebounding statistics and 5 NBA championships!!!--who was only left off of the official list because he isn't cleancut enough, which was a disgrace! But I just can't see how NBA TOP 50 guys like George Mikan, Bob Cousy, and Dave Cowens could start in today's NBA, let alone be some of the 50 GREATEST PLAYERS OF ALL TIME. Kalb calls himself Mr. Stats, but the problem with his statistics is that the players since the 1970s are MORE ATHLETIC than the players of the 1960s and earlier, that, period, with only about 2 or 3 exceptions like Chamberlain, Russell, and the Big O. And I'm not even sure that Rick Barry could start in today's league, because even he once said in a SLAM! interview that he wished he'd had hands like Dr. J's, and I don't see how he could have guarded him MR. STATS NEEDS TO SPEND LESS TIME LOOKING AT BASKETBALL STATISTICS, AND MORE TIME LOOKING AT PLAYERS to MAKE A BETTER TOP 50 PLAYERS LIST!!! AND MOST OF THEM BETTER HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DRIBBLE AND DUNK!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Should be NO stars. Kalb is ridiculous.
Review: Anyone who puts the brutish, relatively poorly skilled Shaq at the top of the list is missing more than half of his brains. Kalb, a stat geek, makes the cardinal sin of doing what should never be done: comparing players of different eras. It cannot be done. Example, he compares Bird vs. Erving based on a 1981 playoff matchup. At the time, Bird was approaching his prime, while Erving was already well past his. That's the kind of slippery thinking that is found throughout this book. In the end, this is just one guy's subjective take, certain to anger scores of NBA fans and basketball historians.
Rating:
Summary: He's wrong
Review: Decent read...except he's wrong. How he could list Shaq as the #1 player of all time is beyond comprehension. I could understand the argument for Chamberlain, but MJ's teams were far more dominant, due to his airness exclusively. But his forecast includes Shaq winning at least 3 more titles. One gets the feeling he ranked the players like this to create controversey...but that doesn't make him right.
Rating: 
Summary: Martin Taragano's Basketball Book Review
Review: Hurray! Hurray! This 416 pager contains some of Kalb's finest comprehensive analysis on who he feels are the NBA's All-time greatest superstars. It's a powerful mix of narrative & stats to perhaps once & for all prove to the entire world who are and more importantly WHY they are selected as pro basketball's 50 legends. In terms of comprehensiveness -- not that such is required in a book of this type or any type but...?-- the fact that the author chose to focus only on the Top 50 instead of say the Top 100 is a mere crochet of taste, and that surely will sit well with most readers of the work. Nevertheless Kalb really knows his NBA basketball and his expertise pounds and blasts home in each of the 50 entries with an overall insight of analysis colossally keen, honest and pure. This reviewer could not seize or sense anything at all fallacious(false) here; furthermore, there's seems to be very little author subjectivity in this book -- usually difficult in a "Who's Better, Who's Best..." type offering. Personally, this reviewer would have preferred 100 players instead of 50 only because 100 seems more of a definitive assessment. That or else to compile a 400 pager on JUST the Top 10 of All-time(once selected)-- now that would be a fun, satisfying, insightful hoops read. But what's contained in WB,WB in BBL... is a very enjoyble & edifying read: it works both as a primer for the uninitiated NBA historian as well as a pungent and forceful critique and overall "Yes, HE is without question THE Number One Player of All Time and here's all the proof you need to prove it" Answer for those who simply must know who is #1 and why as assessed by a remarkably gifted & acutely sensitive NBA sports writer -- all with cogent and rational logic to back the choices up yet sans the subjective hubris a basketball writer the caliber of Kalb could've very easily've offered here.
Rating:
Summary: Gonna be a SlamDunk
Review: I found this book to be informative, entertaining and thought-provoking. Elliott Kalb not only gives the stats and the ratings, but gives much insight about how these great superstars faced the challenges of playing with other great players and opposite other talented players.
I highly recommned this book to basketball fans as well as to novices of the game, and to everyone who wants a good read written in a warm and personal account.
Rating:
Summary: Loving the controversy
Review: I have read this book and love reading the reviews of it almost as much as the book itself! Many basketball fans consider themselves an authority on the subject, but Mr. Kalb clearly is a true one! Nobody will agree with his choices as is very obvious from the reviews. However, anyone with the guts to name the top players so vehemently and with so much ammunition is a must read for even the most moderate basketball fan. I have seen Elliott Kalb on a few of his televison appearances and all I can say is THIS MAN KNOWS BASKETBALL!! I am sure you will not agree with his rankings 100% and might even get pretty mad at him...... but read the book and see for yourself!
Rating:
Summary: Loving the controversy
Review: I have read this book and love reading the reviews of it almost as much as the book itself! Many basketball fans consider themselves an authority on the subject, but Mr. Kalb clearly is a true one! Nobody will agree with his choices as is very obvious from the reviews. However, anyone with the guts to name the top players so vehemently and with so much ammunition is a must read for even the most moderate basketball fan. I have seen Elliott Kalb on a few of his televison appearances and all I can say is THIS MAN KNOWS BASKETBALL!! I am sure you will not agree with his rankings 100% and might even get pretty mad at him...... but read the book and see for yourself!
Rating:
Summary: Unconvincing, shallow, unintelligent and weak
Review: It seems every year there is another writer pointing out his opinions on why certain players are better than others. It seems that the authors of these books try to prove how much they know by putting someone ahead of Michael Jordan. But in this process, they all end up proving how shallow their true knowledge about the game really is. If you really intellectualized the argument, you'd only prove why Jordan will never be surpassed. It's silly to even discuss this issue because Jordan isn't just considered the greatest basketball player ever; he's widely considered the greatest athlete of the century. I'm going to destroy Mr. Kalb's weak book here so prepare yourself. As a statistician, Mr. Kalb cherry-picks stats to bolster his arguments. Shaq, Wilt and MJ are the top 3. Of course anyone can cherry-pick stats to prove almost anything but what is funny is how even cherry-picking Shaq against Jordan still shows Jordan's superiority statistically. Of course, it doesn't matter because Kalb just gets defensive about it. Stats are also just one part of the story but that's all he goes on here and it makes for a weak argument and discredits his entire book. But the need to cherry-pick is there because if you took all the stats, the only two people to talk about are MJ and Wilt. But what truly makes this book weak is that his approach doesn't prove to me that he really watches games or understands them. One thing I hate are people who just read the stats to prove who's better. But it's exponentially idiotic to use only offensive stats while rarely mentioning defensive stats. Coaches will most often point out that what truly set Jordan above everyone else was that he played defense even more seriously than offense. He knew everyone's weaknesses and tendencies and every team's offense concepts. If anyone really knows Shaq, he tends to lose interest on defense and that's a big weakness. Combine that with his atrocious free-throw shooting (like Wilt) and you have a #1 and #2 player with certain skills that are worse than mine. If I were about to perform violin scales better than Joshua Bell, there would be something seriously wrong. Of course Wilt is another story which deserves a whole separate review. One of the best arguments against Wilt is that he fell off dramatically after his early thirties. Centers are the best at keeping their stats steady as they age because they always remaine bigger than everyone physically. But, the focus is going to on Shaq since he's wrongfully placed ahead of Wilt AND Jordan. And of course there are the intangibles. We all know Shaq and Wilt dominate mostly with size so they don't need certain skills like a game past 15 feet. But does that really make a player better? And, we all know Jordan had the greatest work ethic with mental toughness and knowledge of the game with the most spectacular, asthetic moves but can you point that out in his Points Per Game which is still #1 no matter how you cherry-pick it? Maybe we can revisit what Jordan did to Shaq. Does Kalb remember Jordan scoring 64 on Shaq when he first visited the Bulls? Does Kalb remember the Bulls sweeping a full-strength Shaq and Penny Magic team the first full year of his comeback? If I recall, the only success Shaq had against Jordan was when the Magic beat the Bulls after Jordan returned from baseball and played a rusty 19 games before the playoffs. Of course Kalb doesn't remember these things since he has no long term memory. Kalb puts Kobe Bryant at #17 which is odd. Kobe's case is tough because obviously he's superior in skill to Shaq but his success is due to Shaq as well. Aside from copying MJ's mannerisms and being somewhat successful in trying to copy his moves, Kobe still has a lot to prove since has doesn't have any personal awards (no scoring title, defensive title, MVP, nor Finals MVP). If you really had the #1 and #17 players of all time together, shouldn't that diminish their positions because of each other's help? There's no mention of that. The thing is, Shaq, Wilt and Kobe being ranked so high smells of a Laker bias. Each player gets 3-4 pages of the weakest arguments which makes the book a pointless read. If you really want a good argument, try "The Biographical History of Basketball". There is a chapter in the end which compares Oscar to MJ as the greatest. It's the best I've ever read on the issue but it's still not going to convince anyone to put MJ aside. But since that book has come out, Oscar has proven to me that he really was MJ without the flash and asthetic appeal. Watching old games shows that he truly knew the other team's weaknesses and concepts and played to exploit them. He was constantly learning. Shaq is not a very intelligent player for that matter and that is another glaring weakness. You just can't put a player with so many weakness on top. It's such an insult to players AND fans. That is why the best answer will always be MJ. He's Oscar with the impossible moves, nerves of steel, stats, titles, defense, athletic superiority, skill superiority, durability, and everything else. Who are we to argue against Phil Jackson, Tex Winter, Bobby Knight, Doug Collins and every player who actually played with, coached or watched the man? Of course you will always have 0.01 percent of this world ignoring blatant facts due to stubborn personal preferences, rebellious need or delusional beliefs but if these people really wanted to start to change the anyone's mind on things, they would have to come up with a much better book than this one. But really, there just isn't much room for serious debate here right now so there's no need to write anything.
Rating: 
Summary: Thought provoking, but flawed
Review: Kalb is a good writer and has access to many of the top observers of basketball. His opinions are interesting and he backs them with some statistics, although not as many as I would have liked. For an author known as "Mr. Stats", much of the analysis revolves around how many times a player finished in the top 10 in MVP voting. In my humble opinion, the MVP voters are completely ill-equipped to determine who played best in any given year. Overall, I think this book will have great appeal for most fans. I very much enjoyed its content. However, for those interested in higher level analysis of statistics and topics beyond who are the best players, I would strongly recommend Dean Oliver's "Basketball on Paper".
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