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The Playmasters: From Sellouts to Lockouts--An Unauthorized History of the NBA

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As an attorney, author and genuine sports nut, I have enjoyed reading Mr. Ham's sports column in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. From the description, I was hoping it would be a book not unlike some other histories of sports that have been great reads; books such as "The League," about the NFL, and John Helyar's incomparable "Lords of the Realm," one of the best (and funniest sports books ever written. It didn't quite measure up to those works, but had one problem that I couldn't have possibly imagined when I started it. By definition, any book of history, sports or otherwise, is fact-oriented. Either events happened or they didn't. It is extraordinarily exasperating when one reads a historically premised book and finds out that the author is simply wrong on certain facts. Within the first 10 pages of the first chapter, Mr. Ham makes at least three blunders that any factchecker would have spotted. Buddy Ryan was not fired by the Bears in January 1986, he took the Eagles head coaching job two days after Super Bowl XX. Wilbur Marshall was not "dumped" by the Bears, he signed with the Redskins as a free agent. Mr. Ham quotes from a prominent Chicago sportswriter and places him with the wrong newspaper. None of this detracts from the story Mr. Ham has to tell which he does with flair and interest. It is just that this is not a book for the casual fan, it is for the reader with a keen interest (and presumably) a background in the NBA and the business of sports. It is precisely that type of reader who will see such errors and stop reading to wonder how such an experienced author as Mr. Ham could have written such a good book but missed a few easy lay-ups with the facts.

Despite some minor misstatements and misrepresentation of events, sports law professor Eldon L. Ham's book is interesting and insightful to read. Detailed by name and/or organization, he reveals how insiders "engineer[ed] the greatest entertainment marketing partnership in the history of professional sports." Besides tracing the founding and historical development of the NBA, Ham writes about the good, bad, spectacular and inane agents, coaches, commissioners, owners, and players that contributed to the growth of the sport.
For further information about how, when and why the NBA along with the NFL, NHL and American and National Leagues in MLB, became prominent and successful sports organizations in the U.S., see "American Sports Empire: How the Leagues Breed Success." Published by Praeger Publishing in 2003, this book documents how member teams, franchise owners, team players, the media and various government entities have collectively contributed to the progress and wealth of each sports league in the twentieth century. After reading "American Sports Empire," sports fans, team administrators, owners, coaches and players, and business journalists and historians will appreciate the significance and role of professional sports as a component of the culture in American society.

This book calls itself an unauthorized history of the NBA. The author is a sports lawyer, and when it comes to explaining the legal history of the NBA, he is brilliant. He makes plain the union/labor dispute, the 1998 lockout, the Oscar Robertson, Leon Wood, and Spencer Haywood court cases. He also explains economics behind NBA decisions, such as breaking up the Bulls championship teams. In these regards, the book is excellent and unique.

Now, the bad. The man is a Chicago homer with a capital "H." He tries to tell the history of the NBA from 1979-1998 and he tells it from memory, and his memory is lacking. In two chapters, I found 9 errors. For instance, on page 120 while recalling the 1991 finals, he said, "back in Chicago for the fifth game." The fifth game was in L.A. The Bulls had home court advantage (and he correctly refers to the series opening in Chicago), and the finals' format is 2-3-2, instead of the 2-2-1-1-1 played in previous rounds. Another error is on page 122, while talking about the 1993 playoffs, he says "Meeting last season's finalist Lakers in the first round, the Suns had their work cut out for them..." The Lakers were finalist two seasons before. The season before, they were defeated in the first round Portland went on to the finals. A more serious error can be found on page 130, where he talks about the Clyde Drexler trade to Houston, he says, "Clyde would play 35 games for Houston...complementing Olajuwon, Vernon Maxwell, Otis Thorpe (who only played in 36 games), Kenny Smith, Robert Horry, Sam Cassell, and Mario Elie." This shows that he was probably looking off something like a Sporting News NBA Guide. Otis Thorpe only played 36 games because he was traded for Drexler!!! Drexler did not complement Thorpe in Houston, he supplanted him. This style of analysis is common, as you see him refer to a team as strong, citing players on the roster, yet some of the players were minor contributors at that point in their careers (for instance, Eldon Campbell on the 1991 Lakers...and no, he wasn't using this line in context of the finals, where Campbell had a very good game 5).

He also tries to use Chicago teams (Bears, Cubs, Bulls, Blackhawks, White Sox) to illustrate points. He screws some facts with them, also, claiming that Bears assistant coach Buddy Ryan was fired (he took another job) and that linebacker Wilber Marshall and Bulls coach Phil Jackson were "dumped" (Jackson resigned and Marshall signed as a free agent). He even makes this error in non-Chicago teams by saying that Shaquille O'Neal was "shipped off to the Lakers" (p. 132), when in reality, O'Neal left as a free agent, and Orlando tried desperately to re-sign him.

While in the middle of his Bulls-love fest, he claims comparisons of the 1996 Bulls to great teams (and he lists some, from the 1960s Celtics, to the 1986 Celtics and 1987 Lakers) are unfair, yet he goes on to compare the 1960s Celtics and try to spell out an argument why the Bulls are better. He refused to compare them to the other teams he mentioned (perhaps because the Bulls are obviously inferior?), and disagrees with most experts opinions that the 1996 NBA was a watered-down league...of course, he tries to argue this on a 1960 vs. 1996 platform, instead of a 1986 to 1996 platform (must be hard justifying that one).

He also writes these passages unprofessionally, referring to the Bulls' players as "Michael", "Scottie", "B.J.", etc, instead of by their last names, as he does other players from other teams. He also takes multiple digs at Jerry Krause, sounding just like too many Bulls fans who think Krause did nothing right and Michael Jordan won in spite of him.

Furthermore, he depends too heavily on individual stats to base team judgments, usually players in the top 10 of a statistical category, while not realizing that defense cannot be measured on a stat sheet and that stats are not all-telling.

In these aspects, he comes across as a very unknowledgeable "expert." Instead, he comes off as an Ahmad Rashad clone. Fortunately, his ignorance is only flaunted in four chapters, out of 18. After spewing off his twisted recollection and love for "da Booolz", he goes back into what he does best: legal analysis, and covering the alleged conspiracies in the NBA. He concludes with the "sins" of the NBA, and he hits most of these on the head.

If you tear out 4 chapters of this book and read it, it is an excellent book. As it stands, because of its uniqueness, it's still very good. If not for the 4 chapters, this book would be 5-star quality.

Despite some minor misstatements and misrepresentation of events, sports law professor Eldon L. Ham's book is interesting and insightful to read. Detailed by name and/or organization, he reveals how insiders "engineer[ed] the greatest entertainment marketing partnership in the history of professional sports." Besides tracing the founding and historical development of the NBA, Ham writes about the good, bad, spectacular and inane agents, coaches, commissioners, owners, and players that contributed to the growth of the sport.
For further information about how, when and why the NBA along with the NFL, NHL and American and National Leagues in MLB, became prominent and successful sports organizations in the U.S., see "American Sports Empire: How the Leagues Breed Success." Published by Praeger Publishing in 2003, this book documents how member teams, franchise owners, team players, the media and various government entities have collectively contributed to the progress and wealth of each sports league in the twentieth century. After reading "American Sports Empire," sports fans, team administrators, owners, coaches and players, and business journalists and historians will appreciate the significance and role of professional sports as a component of the culture in American society.