Heroes of the Hardcourt: Ranking Pro Basketball's 100 Greatest Players, and introducing a whole new way of looking at the game [Paperback]

Keith Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 7, 2005

In 2006 the NBA will celebrate its 60th anniversary as a competitive league. Upon its establishment in 1946 the NBA - via its forerunner the Basketball Association of America - became the 21st professional basketball league to be formed in the U.S., and the one that would outlast all the others. In addition, since 1896 when professional basketball began in Trenton, New Jersey thousands of players have competed in a pro game, and generated countless hours of debate as to who the best players are in the history of the sport. In fact, precisely 3572 players and 439 All-stars have graced the courts of the NBA and the iconoclastic American Basketball Association when it was in operation between 1967 and 1976, many with spectacular - and sometimes incredible - performances. And until now there has never been a truly scientific method of evaluating their performances on a basketball court, and determining who the all-time best is. Finally, after 109 years, such a measure has been created. This book, Heroes of the Hardcourt: Ranking Pro Basketball's 100 Greatest Players ranks the 100 greatest players to play professional basketball since 1946 by utilizing a scientific methodology, the Performance Efficiency Rating (PER) System, developed by the author who is a former economics professor. This is the most comprehensive measure ever devised to accurately measure basketball performance and answer the question of who is the greatest basketball player ever. The PER methodology has also proven remarkably accurate in determining the true MVP winner in the NBA for the past ten years, correctly predicting the eventual winner the majority of the time. Heroes of the Hardcourt, in addition to profiling the top 100 players - counting down from number 100 all the way to number one - also provides an historical summary of the one hundred-plus years of professional basketball in the U.S., and concludes with an analysis of the 1984 draft in which four of the best players to ever compete w

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Keith Thompson is a graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Business, and possesses graduate degrees in both Economics and Business Strategy. His professional experiences include over five years as a Researcher and Business Analyst, and nearly a decade as a College Professor teaching Economics and Business courses to undergraduates at Mercy College and Bronx Community College, both in New York. His life-long research interests include accurately measuring performance, and after creating the Performance Efficiency Rating (PER) sports methodology in 1996 to better measure athletic performance, and consult on player draft and free-agency acquisition strategies - he established PER Sports, Inc. He is currently President of this sports analytics-consulting firm Keith Thompson has also written numerous freelance articles in various economic and business newspapers, as well as a number of unpublished articles on social, financial, educational, and sporting concerns. In addition, he has developed an extensive methodology covering two other major American professional sports (both based on the PER system), thus underlining his comprehensive understanding of the sporting environment. Books based on those sports are expected to be published next year in the form of Diamond Defenders: Ranking the Major League's 100 greatest baseball players of all-time, and Gridiron Gladiators: Ranking the 100 greatest football players of all-time. Finally, drawing upon his strong economic and business background, and coupling that with his extensive knowledge of sports he expects to complete a book in early 2007 entitled Play Ball: The Business and Economics of Sports in America today, to analyze the current business environment of professional sports.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (December 7, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1425903991
• ISBN-13: 978-1425903992
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,627,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Without doubt this book has finally got it right, January 13, 2006

By 

Sports_Guru - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heroes of the Hardcourt: Ranking Pro Basketball's 100 Greatest Players, and introducing a whole new way of looking at the game (Paperback)

There are so many books out there with their own opinions on just who are the greatest basketball players ever yet most of them are based on someone else's opinion or the other. This is the only book I've seen that goes beyond the opinions and beyond the numbers and looks at everything. For eg, I always thought that the Big O' was one of the best ever (like in the top 10) until I read this book. Now I'm more than convinced that he doesn't belong even in the top 20. Here's a guy who had great numbers in the regular season but totally tanked in the playoffs. And on top of that he only won 1 championship. I'm sorry but you can't be all that great if you could only win one title.

I agree that people can disagree on who are the top ten greatest players, and I do differ from this author on some of those ranks, but in the end I can see where his rankings are coming from and whose to say mine is any better than his. I can't say for sure that George Mikan was better than Kareem (in fact I doubt it) but I do agree that he won more titles than Kareem, and maybe Kareem would not have won all those championships had Magic not landed in LA. So in the end I really like this book. It has made me think, really think about why I had some guys ranked higher than others. The author uses a whole list of factors, not just statistics, but also MVP awards, the number of championships won and category titles (scoring, rebounding, blocks, steals) to better determine just who is the best ever. Kudos to a book well written. I am now firmly a believer that MJ is the best ever and this book helps confirm why.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MJ is the all-time best for sure, January 14, 2006

By 

Rodney Sachs - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heroes of the Hardcourt: Ranking Pro Basketball's 100 Greatest Players, and introducing a whole new way of looking at the game (Paperback)

Just finished reading this book and it is great. It proves that MJ is the best player ever. That is something many if us knew but just couldn't explain as well as this book.

What I also like about this book is how to compare the current stars with many of the older players. For eg. I never saw Wilt Chamberlain play but after reading this I can better compare Wilt vs Shaq, or even against Kareem.

Great book. Sensational work on it. Every true basketball fan should own their own copy.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A good concept, poorly executed, May 21, 2006

By 

Jesse W. (Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heroes of the Hardcourt: Ranking Pro Basketball's 100 Greatest Players, and introducing a whole new way of looking at the game (Paperback)

I bought this book because I am a very avid basketball fan. I also am very interested in basketball statistics and what they mean and how they can and should be used. Mr. Thompson approaches the question of the greatest basketball player ever with a unique methodology that I found intriguing. Unfortunately, I also found it flawed, and was also dismayed and put off by Thompson's ignorance of the already-growing community of statistical analysts in basketball.

One very welcome and useful section of the book is Thompson's opening on the very early history of the game. He spends about 30 pages on the time period between the game's creation and the formation of the NBA. While it's not comprehensive, it's a good introduction to the key figures in basketball before the NBA was formed.

Mr. Thompson's methodology, in short, is terribly short-sighted. He attempts to quantify every meaningful accomplishment in basketball - statistical performance, most valuable player awards and other awards, championships and playoff performance, and also all-star selection and performance. His methods would be welcomed under other circumstances, but he felt compelled, for some reason, to not only trademark his term "Performance Efficiency Rating", but to withhold certain portions of his formulas because of a pending patent. He further states that his measure is the most comprehensive measure of player greatness ever developed. It certainly is comprehensive, but the flaws in the formulas he uses are evident to those who study the game on a deeper level. The flaws in his evaluation of player statistics - points, rebounds, assists, etc. - are the most evident of all, notwithstanding his taking the highly appropriate step of adjusting everything to a per-minute basis. I would also like to know how he knows how to weight every possible factor correctly, or even why he thinks non-statistical accomplishments are quantifiable.

Further, Thompson is either willfully dismissive or accidentally ignorant of the aforementioned community of statistical analysts already present and growing in influence. I don't know why he felt it necessary to keep his work proprietary, but it does him and his work a disservice by making him appear self-important, and by closing his formulas to mainstream evaluation and constructive feedback. If he felt that his work was worthy of widespread use, I believe he would have been better served to allow others who love and follow the game to see exactly what he was doing.

Finally, the book itself is not very well written. There are many, many errors in punctuation - such as a pronounced lack of question marks where they should be, and the word "though" repeatedly misspelled as "thou". Whether this is the publisher's fault or Mr. Thompson's, it certainly should never have happened. Other authors (such as John Hollinger, who was mentioned in one of the other reviews here) produce books that not only demonstrate that they know basketball, but that are entertaining and well-written. Much more importantly, other authors such as Hollinger haven't yet assumed that they've found the Holy Grail of analysis. They're constantly trying to improve upon what they've already done, and they seek the input of others - something that Thompson apparently didn't consider. They also know that "statistical analysis" means a lot more than mashing a bunch of numbers together and adding them up.

I mean no disrespect to Mr. Thompson. The project he undertook must have been extensive and time-consuming. But it doesn't offer any real advances in common knowledge, and the poor writing detracts from any attempt to take it seriously. As I mentioned to a colleague of mine, "I would have been better served checking this book out from the library instead of buying it."