Just Ballin' : The Chaotic Rise of the New York Knicks

Rating:
Summary: What can you say?
Review: After reading this book, what can you really say except, WOW! I'm not a Knicks fan at all, but it's amazing how they took all their inner problems and used them to make the most improbable chase to the NBA title ever in '99. Of course I witnessed some of their heroics on national TV, whether it was Allan Houston's lucky bounce that ended Miami's season, or Larry Johnson's dramatic four-point play that killed Indiana's spirit in the conference finals, or Latrell Sprewell's incredible scoring run in Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Spurs, it was all amazing. But even then, I knew that with Patrick Ewing's injury they wouldn't win the title, because of the Twin Towers problem in the Finals, and it proved too much as the Knicks ran out of gas.

Rating:
Summary: What can you say?
Review: As a lifelong Knicks fan, I got caught up in the emotional roller coaster that was the 1999-2000 season. Since the beginning when I was heartbroken to see Starks and Oakley gone to the final game against the Spurs, I would pick up the paper to read on anything new about the Knicks. Just Ballin' fills in all the little holes and answers alot of the questions fans will have about the infamous Camby - Oakley trade, how Spree fit with the team, LJ's leadership role, etc. And although I knew about half of these stories, I felt that the authors did a good job showing the evolution of the time and the pressure they felt. This book is great for any Knicks fan or anyone just interested in learning how the modern NBA operates.

Rating:
Summary: Where were these stories in the paper?
Review: I enjoyed this book - I am a behind-closed-doors junkie and this satisfied that part of me (though 263 pages in large font left me looking for more). The 3-star rating is based on the problem I have with sports writers holding back on material from their primary employers (and dedicated readers) and storing it for their books - This is another self-serving effort (somewhat informative) that I should have read in this amount of detail on my train ride to work in my morning papers.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: I liked the book. It told me a lot about the Knicks and the background politics that I didn't know. But I wanted more history about the Pat Riley days. It's not just about last season. There's a lot of unbelievable stuff leading up to the Knicks getting Sprewell. It could have been better if it had gone back into the team over the last 10 years or so, because there's so much stuff from the Riley era. Overall, the narrative holds up and the authors give some good insight about the reality of NBA life.

Rating:
Summary: The Inside Track
Review: Just Ballin' is a good read which really gives you the inside track of an NBA Franchise owned by a billion dollar corporation. You also see how professional teams are effected internally by things such as bad attitudes, personal beliefs, or lack of commitment to the team. This book tells you in-depth about the 1999 New York Knicks and how the entire mess was somehow able to come together for an unforgettable playoff run. A good read for any basketball fan and a must read for Knicks fans.

Rating:
Summary: Just Bawlin' For More
Review: This book is a good read, but I could not help feeling disappointed at what might have been. Except for the opening scene where the Knick brass is interviewing Sprewell in his living room in Milwaukee and another where Dave Checketts fires Ernie Grunfeld in a Westchester restaurant, the book is no more than a compendium of the writers' regular columns. There is little insight into the characters' motivations or the reasons why the season went from tragedy to glory and ended with disappointment. The season and the team were rich with intrigue and complex characters, yet the book remains surprisingly bland. The book is poorly written. It never rises above a simple retelling of the facts of the season. In fact the narrative gets lost because the writers settled for a sequential review told from the point of view of outsiders. As a fan of the Knicks, I came away with the feeling of déjà vu. I heard it all before. The writers covered the team for an entire season but the book bears little evidence of that fact. I hope this is not the definitive book on the Knicks improbable run to the NBA championship series. For those readers that did not live and die with the 1998-1999 New York Knicks as I did, the book will be an interesting read. But you will be left wanting more.

Rating:
Summary: it`s the 411 on the modern day knicks
Review: this book was very good read. some times i was late getting back from my lunch breaks, becase i could not put it down.if your interested in the inner workings of a basketball team read this book .it`s very informative and just a great book