Mariner Sprawlball: A Visual Tour of the New Era of the NBA

Me ha gustado su presentación y facilidad para comprender los conceptos técnicos del "baloncesto moderno" basado en tiro de larga distancia, así como la evolución de los jugadores. Sus anécdotas y graficos lo hacen ameno y ayuda a su comprensión. Lo que menos me gusta es que es un libro especifico de la NBA actual y le falta, al menos, mas amplitud en, por ejemplo, baloncesto universitario USA o FIBA.

For a true basketball fan, this is the first step towards educating yourself of the modern era.

Basketball enthusiast partner enjoyed very much

Listened to Kirk Goldberry on a podcast and promptly ordered the book. If you have a Bball Nerd in your life, this is for them. Chock full of interesting stats and facts.

In February of 2018, Reddit user u/BreezyBlue had just finished a 4-year prison sentence and incredulously asked, "Wow the Warriors are really good now. Is Stephen Curry really the best player in the NBA?" According to the NBA's previous year's MVP award, the answer was a unanimous **yes**. To answer our time-traveler's follow-up questions of *Why?* and *How?* I would direct him Kirk Goldsberry's Sprawlball. Kirk Goldsberry was mostly known to me as the guy who made awesome shot charts, but he also spent time as the VP of Analytics for the San Antonio Spurs. Sprawlball tells a familiar tale: the rules of a game are set, and "Jeopardy James" abuses the economics of the Daily Double and algorithmic traders gobble-up tiny arbitrage opportunities. The NBA has, likewise, been in the process of squeezing out every statistical advantage that the introduction of the three-point line and rules protecting shooters can offer. Goldsberry doesn't really need to spend much time making a case here, but rather spends time pulling back the curtains on what you already know to be true. As a huge NBA fan, this is one of the few NBA books that I really feel increased my knowledge not just about the league's history but basketball strategy. Sprawlball is not a perfect book by any means. There is a lot of repetition of knowledge that could have been edited out. Some of the pivotal charts maddeningly span from dark purple (good) to white (average) to dark green (bad). And also, the chapter recounting the Warrior's 15-16 championship run was a bit meandering. But overall, holy crap I ate through this book and loved it. The next time one of your friends gets out of a long prison sentence and is confused about the state of the NBA, boy do I have a book for them.