Rick Barry's Pro Basketball Bible 1994-1995: Player Ratings and In-Depth Analysis of More Than 400 NBA Players and Draft Picks [Paperback]

Product Details

• Paperback: 477 pages
• Publisher: Bonus Books Inc; 6th edition
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0963638599
• ISBN-13: 978-0963638595
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,752,460 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars On free markets an winning teams, April 26, 2004

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Eugene A Jewett "Eugene A Jewett" (Alexandria, Va. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rick Barry's Pro Basketball Bible 1994-1995: Player Ratings and In-Depth Analysis of More Than 400 NBA Players and Draft Picks (Paperback)

Rick Barry wrote eight books covering eight NBA seasons, basically for general managers and coaches. They provide scouting reports by one of the games 50 greatest players. Written in B-Ball jargon Barry provides readers with a keen insight into athletic talent and its application or mis-application whichever the case.

After perusing all eight books, I looked up the first five players drafted in every year back into the late seventies. Lo, I found that unless your team had one of the first three players taken in the entire draft your team did not win the NBA title. Furthermore I concluded that, after 13 years of holding season tickets for the Bullets, the teams that won most often have 8-9 good players vs those that lose who have only 3-4 good players. But, the pivotal player who carries the team must be present for ultimate success to be realized.

To draw a comparison, I learned years ago that there were one million high school football players. These reduced to 70,000 college players and then condensed further to 1200 NFL players. These remaining players averaged 3-4 years in the league, but the top 100-125 played for 10-15 years. The team who had the most of these head-and-shoulders better players won the championship. I believe this model holds true in all sports at all levels. It fits with a basis tenet of chaos theory and also with Mike Hart's book "the 100: A Ranking of the 100 most influential people in history." Thus I maintain that it's a model for how free markets and their unfettered, spontaneous ordering arrange civilizations. This leads into why western civilization has succeeded in raising living standards more for the common man in contrast to command and control economies.

Too bad Rick B. and Jordan Cohn stopped after the '97 season. It was great stuff for contemplative fans.