Books : Who's Better, Who's Best in Basketball?: Mr Stats Sets the Record Straight on the Top 50 NBA Players of All Time
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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.323021
EAN num: 9780071417884
ISBN number: 0071417885
Label: McGraw-Hill
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 416
Printing Date: October 29, 2003
Publishing house: McGraw-Hill
Sale Popularity Level: 514332
Studio: McGraw-Hill
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
ABC's and ESPN's 'Mr. Stats' ranks the NBA's greatest players of all time in this provocative and comprehensive book
'Elliot Kalb's work is beyond excellent. He thinks in story lines and uses numbers and history to make compelling and often original points.' --Bob Costas
'...a book that any hardcore basketball fan can savor.' -- San Francisco Chronicle
When the NBA released its supposedly authoritative list of the top 50 players, basketball fans everywhere begged to differ. In Who's Better, Who's Best? Elliot Kalb, known to TV viewers as ABC's 'Mr. Stats,' enters the fray.
The ultimate NBA historian and authority in armchair athletes' disputes, Kalb interweaves numbers, facts, and anecdotes to flesh out the central question in every basketball fan's mind: Who's the best? His choices are provocative (Michael Jordan isn't #1; he's not even #2), framed by discussions with unorthodox sources and respected NBA experts, players, and coaches.
A tremendously satisfying book for anyone hungry for statistics and debate, this is the ultimate behind-the-numbers story of the best of the NBA.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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I read the book very eager to know from Mr Stats statements who are the best players in the NBA history, based on digits numbers and keen reasons. I am very excited he rescued Doo Doo, only MVP excluded from the official NBA 1996 list. I agree removal of some players from the list and I did not approve some positions, high or low. A couple of mistakes gave salt and pepper to the book: talking about Russell, 1956 Olympics took place at Melbourne facilities (Rome 1960) and Drexler out of the list of best since 80s, on the final pages.
I strongly recommend this book to the hoop lovers and to who spent a lot of time to write down best ever 5 10 25 50 100 et cetera. For the book update it would be great if Mr Stats can suggest where to put Nash (2005 and 2006 Mvp and 2007 Nowitzki. so how much Duncan goes up after 2 more rings. O'Neal remains n.1 with 1 more ring, but I will be convinced of his choice only if he wins another title.
Rated by buyers 
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Too many reviews here are low because they hate Shaq or are mad that Jordan is #3.
I didn't have high expectations for this book. Mark Twain said there are 3 types of lies: lies, d@mn lies, and statistics, so calling himself "Mr. Stats" was not a selling point. However, I was pleasantly surprised. I decided I wouldn't rate the book based on how the list agrees with mine. If I was that much of an egomaniac, I would write my own book and give it more than the maximum rating. What I wanted was a well-thought out list with convincing arguments for each man's place. Even if I didn't buy the argument, because I have a different method of rating the players, I wanted to see someone who could hold up his criteria with consistency and passion. He does so. To prove that I don't like the book because he confirms everything I believe, here is how far apart we are on ranking the top 8 players:
Elliott Kalb's rankings: My rankings:
Shaquille O'Neal Wilt Chamberlain
Wilt Chamberlain Oscar Robertson
Michael Jordan Larry Bird
Bill Russell Magic Johnson
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Michael Jordan
Larry Bird Bill Russell
Magic Johnson Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Oscar Robertson Shaquille O'Neal
He lists his methods for ranking players in the introduction, using measuring sticks such as MVPs, Championships, All-Star appearances, very first and second-team All-NBA honors, outside opinions, and to break ties, he takes big over small, new over old, and winners over losers. He also places heavy value on how well a player peaked versus how he played over the long run (which gives the nod to a guy like Bill Walton over Robert Parish).
A few of the impressive qualities of the book is that he gives older players their due, such as Bob Pettit, Dolph Schayes, Bob Cousy, Sam Jones, George Mikan. He doesn't overlook their accomplishments and their contributions, going so far as to rate Pettit over every forward except Bird and Tim Duncan. In addition, while respect is given to the pioneers, youth is served, as players such as Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett are also featured.
The ultimate tribute to this book is that the Kalb convinced me to re-think a few of my own rankings. I still stick to my guns on Oscar Robertson being the greatest guard of all-time, but thanks to Kalb, I moved Bob Cousy ahead of Isiah Thomas and John Stockton among point guards, because he did dominate his era far more than the latter did in theirs. I have also reconsidered how I rate Rick Barry, Bill Walton, and a few other players.
As a breath of fresh air from most books and articles, he mentions things the mass media intentionally overlook: such as Karl Malone's big game chokes (he cites them one by one), Dennis Rodman's contribution to the 1996-98 Chicago Bulls; Michael Jordan's 3 consecutive losing seasons and his 1-9 playoff record before Scottie Pippen, and how Scottie Pippen put up his finest seasons in Jordan's absence. His statistical research is immense and impressive, listing such obscure stats as the oldest players to average 30 ppg, as well as the youngest.
Along with covering detailed statistical parts of their games, he will compare a given player to some contemporaries, asking people from a panel, so that you can get outside opinions. He also compares players to non-NBA contemporaries. Sometimes this works - Bill Russell and Joe DiMaggio was insightful - and sometimes it does not - Charles Barkley and Elvis was a bit cornball.
He also remembers things like Allen Iverson's incredible run in 2001 (whereas most writers forget the guy who finishes #2), and he takes into consideration how players didn't vote for Rick Barry due to personal dislikes, rather than on-court talent.
The only letdown comes with statistics. It's like jump shooting: you live by it and you die by it. They never tell the entire story. For instance, it is hard to gauge defense, before 1974, when blocks and steals were not recorded, and even when they were recorded, they never tell the entire story (Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman didn't amass great totals in either category). With that in mind, it seems like when in doubt, offensive players were given more honor than defensive players, placing some questionable offensive-minded players to fill out the list, when the argument supporting them appears to fly in the face of his standards for comparing players. Let me expound.
While some defensive players got their due (Bill Russell #3, Dennis Rodman #30), there were some questionable people who got on the list who were lousy defensive players, or fair, at best, such as Pete Maravich (#47), Dominique ... Read More
Rated by buyers 
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Mr Kalb does have a strong point in believing that Oneal is the greatest, but if most fans disagree there may be a even stronger reason to disbelieve. To answer this question we have to be clear on the nature of the game itself, the better we understand basketball, the criteria we use will be more accurate. There is just one word to describe the game of basketball, "versatility", and thus the greatest player should be the most versatile one, i.e. he should be both a Mr Inside & Outside. And, sorry to say, Oneal just can't play the outside, not even the free-throwing line. Imagine the scenerio where the hoop is raised higher, such that dunking becomes impossible, or that a new rule is set that players can only shoot from outside the paint, Oneal is going to have great problems scoring. And in the history of nba, if the criteria of "versatility" is correct, then Bird & Magic must be the two top ballers ever to play. If jordan is taller by a few inches, then there can be no doubt that he is the greatest, but unfortunately, jordan just can't rebound well, and thus it's quite impossible to call him the greatest.
Rated by buyers 
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You can draw any of this names out of a hat and make an argument as to who should be number 1. (take your pick)
Magic, Bird, Jordan, Kareem, Russell, Wilt, Oscar. Anyone that even considers shaq as a top ten or even top twenty doesn't know NBA basketball. All this writer saw was that every other book out there had Jordan at number 1 and he felt he needed to grabs someones attention by doing something different. Stats dont say a thing about any of the players I just mentioned, this guys were extra special because they had character, they were winners, they signified what was good about the league. I take the Admiral or Dream in their prime over Shaq anyday. Dont believe the hype, shaq is one of the best ever, but never make the mistake of putting him at number 1. This book should be banned.
Rated by buyers 
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First, let me start off by saying that I didn't read this book. I would have except for one reason: I heard him on WFAN (radio station in NY) and I heard him saying that Shaq was the greatest player ever. That alone is enough for me to discount the book as simply a publicity stunt.
Everyone's giving their lists, so here's my top six:
Jordan
Russell
Chamberlain
Magic
Bird
Abdul-Jabbar
First of all, I don't care how gawdy someone's stats are: if you don't deliver when it counts then it doesn't matter. Year after year, Chamberlain put up gawdy stats. And year after year, his teams got their butts whipped by Russell's Celtics. Year, after year, after year, after year, after year, after year... The point of the game is to win, and Russell was the ULTIMATE winner!
Jordan is the best combination of Russell and Chamberlain and I've always thought this. A man possessed to win like Russell who could put up gawdy scoring numbers like Chamberlain. He shot 84% from the line also, so he wasn't a liability like Russell and Chamberlain were. In today's era, Chamberlain would be hacked to death and his scoring would drop considerably.
Shaq the greatest ever? Maybe the STRONGEST ever, but the greatest is just silly. He played defense for three years of his career (his three championship years), is a putrid free throw shooter, relies exclusively on running people over as his move in the post. His rebouding for someone clearly larger than all of his competition is disappointing. Can you remember a playoff game where Jordan's team needed him desperately and he came through with seven points???? Again, the best ever is SILLY!
Btw, Tim Duncan is not better than Karl Malone, as someone pointed out earlier. Better than Robinson, fine. However, would Duncan win anything if he was playing during the Magic-Bird-Jordan era? Many a great team came up empty simply because they played in the wrong era. The Jazz would have won two championships if not for Jordan. How many times were the Knicks denied because of Jordan? The only reason people give Duncan such high regard is because he won and he won because he never went up against as many great teams as Malone's teams did. Malone's teams had to get through Hakeem's Rockets and Barkley's Suns and the very good Seattle teams and Magic's Lakers and Jordan's Bull to get a sniff of anything. Duncan had to get through a Lakers team that had Shaq and Kobe, that's it. Spurs-Nets final? Come on!!!
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