Giants: The 25 Greatest Centers of All Time [Hardcover]

Mark Heisler (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

A best-of-basketball book with no "Air" Jordan? No "Pistol" Pete Marovich? No, sir. Here we're talking Giants, the big men in the middle who have defined professional basketball for so many years. An impressive group of Hall of Famers got together and ranked the 25 best centers in basketball history. Leading the pack, not surprisingly, is Wilt Chamberlain, followed by Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Shaquille O'Neal. Willis Reed introduces the book, and Jerry West provides the preface, both legends adding their own takes on what made these big men great. Following the annotated ranking itself are pages of text and complementary photographs delineated by decade, from the 1950s to the 1990s and beyond. Each player's write-up includes not only narrative about what made him great but also detailed stats to back up those claims. The vibrant photos, mostly in color, dominate the pages and effectively evoke the players' size. The final pages feature "The Demise of the Center," perceptive commentary by legendary coach Pete Newell. A must-have slice of pro basketball history. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Triumph Books (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572435771
• ISBN-13: 978-1572435773
• Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 10.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #177,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #14 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Basketball > Professional

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Book okay but binding stinks, December 10, 2003

By 

Cathe Fein Olson "Avid reader and writer" (curled up with a book) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Giants: The 25 Greatest Centers of All Time (Hardcover)

My husband really wanted this book for christmas based on some TV show interview he watched but after reading the review about the binding, I went to a local bookstore to check it out for myself. All FOUR copies had binding problems. When I opened the book, the pages started to break off so the store is returning them all.

I am quite disappointed because it looks like a really good book content wise. Hope they get a new printing soon.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Historical Overview., November 20, 2003

By 

Anthony Accordino (Massapequa Park, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Giants: The 25 Greatest Centers of All Time (Hardcover)

"Giants" Big Men Who Shook The NBA, by Mark Heisler,is a must own book, for any basketball fan who enjoyed the era of the dominent center. The top 25 centers of all-time are profiled in detail, with great photo's,statistics, and commentary by some of the greats of the game. I will tell you that Wilt Chamberlain is ranked #1 of all-time, and Artis Gilmore is in at #25. In between, all the greats are like Russell, Jabbar, Oneal, Malone, Walton, Mikan, Reed,Thurmond and Duncan are just some of the 25 centers who are profiled. Special insight from Jerry West, Willis Reed, and analysis from Pete Newell make this book even more appealing. Willis Reed states, "I was very proud of my first game against Chamberlain, I scored 32 points, and I held him to 56 points?" Imagine that! He held Wilt to 56 points? It is insights like that from Reed, that makes this book so special. This coffee table book is all that it is cracked up to be, and is one of the finest books ever published on the sport. I highly recommend this book to any fan, both young and old, so you can spend hours with friends arguing, who was the greatest center of all-time.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Publisher's Fault, December 4, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Giants: The 25 Greatest Centers of All Time (Hardcover)

BEWARE!! I bought this book at Borders, then got in a line for Willis Reed to sign it. While waiting, I turned the pages back & forth a few times - it's a photo book primarily - and the pages began to fall out. I exchanged it for another, and those pages began to fall out. I paged through five more books, and their pages began to fall out, so I got my money back & didn't buy it. The store management said they were aware of the problem. The binding is so horrible that if you use it as it's intended - to look through over & over again - the pages will fall out (at least in all the books shipped to that Borders). It would have been especially horrible to give as a gift - not worth the money! A book is supposed to stay as a book.