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 enlarge | Author: Filip Bondy
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $8.92
You Save: $6.03 (40%)
New (24) Used (7) from $8.59
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 1491420
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 5.6 x 0.9
ISBN: 0306816121
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9780306816123
ASIN: 0306816121
Publication Date: April 21, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-10 of 10 | | « PREV | | |
 Good but not great August 18, 2007
Very good job covering the players written about in the book but pays no attention to the non-stars drafted or how they came to be there.
 A Must Read July 20, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you are looking for an anthology on Michael Jordan, then stop reading now. But if you are looking for a definite history on the NBA, its clubs and some of the Top 50 greatest players, this is a must. It not only provides insights into the NBA draft and how it changed the landscape of the game, but it also provides a behind the scenes look into what teams were thinking and trying to achieve. Probably the best basketball book I have ever read.
Nice basketball tales July 18, 2007
I liked this book a lot, and I'll tell you why: I thought this was a wonderful story-telling sports book. And these were tales I'd never heard before -- about Charles Barkley's desperate, gustatory attempts to avoid getting drafted by the capped Sixers; about Sam Bowie's personal travails; about Michael Jordan's frustrations with Bobby Knight.
And the book posits several alternate NBA universes, which are great fun to consider -- my favorite is the notion of the Houston Rockets, with both Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon, having traded Ralph Sampson for the third pick.
All in all, a really evocative book of an important time in basketball. I don't know if it changed the sport forever, but it certainly made for great debate and consideration.
 Misleading title July 7, 2007
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
I was disappointed by this book. Despite its title, very little of it is devoted to the topic of HOW this draft allegedly changed basketball forever. The only part that really does so is the Epilogue (which, by definition, is only supposed to add ancillary information), and even then most of the "evidence" backing up the author's claim are a few statistics on how the NBA made more money in 2006 than 1984.
The book essentially consists of biographical sketches of six 1984 NBA Draft prospects: Olajuwon, Bowie, Jordan, Barkley, Perkins and Stockton. Seasoned fans will already be familiar with most of what the author presents on these players. There is some interesting information regarding the specific maneuvering that allowed the teams to draft in the order that they did, but that is about it. On the whole, this is a book largely for those unfamiliar with the NBA and/or the six players mentioned. Basketball junkies will feel unsatisfied.
The '84 draft really did change the NBA - Filip Bondy tells you how May 18, 2007
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
It's quite a privilege to be the first amazon.com reviewer to weigh in on Filip Bondy's excellent book about the 1984 NBA Draft, a seminal event in league history in which four sure-fire Hall of Famers were drafted: Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton. To a lesser extent, the Bondy's book also covers Sam Perkins, another class of '84 draftee whose nice career fell a bit short of Hall standards.
The best part of the story though is Bondy's inclusion of the famous pick #2: Sam Bowie. Famous for the wrong reason because MJ was pick #3. The nice part of the book is Bowie's cooperation with the author. I was very pleased to see and read of his gentle manner, his happiness in life and his "no regrets" look back to his injury-prone career. He seems unperturbed by naysayers who term his pick as "the NBA draft's biggest historic blunder." Because, as Bondy skillfully points out, this is revisionist history. This was 'before Michael was Michael.' Dean Smith kept Jordan's breakout talents well-concealed with the UNC team system. Barkley, speaking in Bowie's defense, says (in typical Barkley hyperbole) "No one but me knew how good Michael was."
Moreover, the prevailing wisdom in the NBA back in those days was that you win with a big man. And, in the draft, given the option between a good big man and a good playmaker, you always went with the big man. Portland, with its reverie of Bill Walton's glory days culminating in the 1977 Association championship, was certainly very susceptible to that thinking...especially with Dr. Jack still at the helm.
That's the reason why Bondy subtitles his book "How the 1984 NBA Draft Changed Basketball Forever." Post-Jordan, there was no longer second-thinking in going for a playmaker if there was even the slightest chance they'd turn into a Jordan. That new mindset generated a new game and rejuvenated the league (vs. the moribund 1970s) which then proceeded to put forth a brilliant product starting in 1984 and ending with the last of MJ's titles in 1998. In between, dominance shifted from Lakers/Celtics, to the Pistons and then to the Bulls (with the Rockets capitalizing on Jordan's two-year 'retirement').
If you're an NBA fan, you've got to have Filip Bondy's book. It's a fantastic read.
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