Customer Reviews

The Midwest Division: The Dallas Mavericks, the Denver Nuggets, the Houston Rockets, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the (Above the Rim)

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Just because the recent crops of NBA players have exhibited a less than stellar knowledge of the past history of the game that is paying them big bucks is no reason young fans cannot be better informed. You might not be able to dunk the ball or hit a shot from long range at the buzzer, but you might be able to take some of these young hotshots on a NBA history quiz.

If you are a fan of one of the teams in the NBA's "Midwest Division" then you have an advantage in learning about that history because none of the seven teams in that division played in the NBA before 1976 (when four of them came over from the ABA). The seven teams covered are the Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs, and Utah Jazz. There have been other teams in the NBA Midwest Division, and author John Walters touches on some the history of the division going back to 19701-71 while a note at the front of the book forewarns that more changes might be coming, but the focus here is mostly on the present. The exception that proves the rule are the Milwaukee Bucks, who won an NBA championship out of the Midwest in 1971.

This book, like the other three in this "Over the Rim: The NBA Library" series, strikes a nice balance between the present and the past. For each team you get a history of the franchise, focusing on the star players of the past and the current hot players, which means the "Three J's" of the Mavericks in the early 1990s (Jimmy Jackson, Jamal Mashburn and Jason Kidd) are contrasted with the current core trio of Dirk Nowitzki, Michael Finley, and Steve Nash. One nice touch about this book is that when it describes a team such as the Rockets winning the title it talks not just about the future Hall of Fame players like center Hakeen Olajuwon and Clyde "the Glide" Drexler, but also the supporting cast of Robert Horry, Sam Cassell, and Kenny Smith. If you are a fan of a particular team Walters does a good job of touching on not only the great players and teams but also the owners and coaches.

Of course these volumes are already outdated. John Stocken has retired and Karl Malone left the Jazz, Terrell Brandon and Joe Smith have been replaced by Sam Cassells and Lattrell Spreewell on the Timberwolves, and the Rockets appear to be on the verge of pushing the button on a big trade with the Orlando Magic where the key names switching teams will be Steve Francis and Tracy McGrady. But the history lessons here make up for being behind the headlines.

"Midwest Division" is illustrated with photographs of superstar NBA players, with both black & white shots of the likes of Pete Maravich, David Thompson, and Moses Malone along with color shots including Kevin Garnett, David Robinson, and cover boy Tim Duncan. The back of this book includes all time team records, as well as the career leaders in points and rebounds for each franchise, and members of the Naismith Memorial National Basketball Hall of Fame from each team (only four of the teams have anybody in Springfield). There is also a Glossary of terms from "buzzer-beater" to "sixth man," along with a Time Line of the history of the division, Books and Web sites for additional information about the Midwest Division and the NBA, and an Index.