Pro Basketball Prospectus: 2002 Edition (Pro Basketball Forecast) [Paperback]

John Hollinger (Author)

Book Description

Series: Pro Basketball Forecast | Publication Date: October 1, 2002

Hoops fans want to know more than who won the game. They want to know why their teams won or lost, how they can improve for the next season, and what their chances are to make the playoffs. PRO BASKETBALL PROSPECTUS answers these questions and more. Where other basketball annuals just regurgitate the basic statistics, John Hollinger offers an innovative interpretation of the numbers. He doesn't just tell you who is good or bad; he gives you a new way to appreciate every player's skills and weaknesses.

PRO BASKETBALL PROSPECTUS leaves no aspect of NBA basketball unconsidered. Every player's ability to rebound, pass, and score and how his skills affect the team's success are treated in depth. Hollinger's evaluations often vindicate common knowledge, like the historic greatness of John Stockton's passing, but he also shows why Antawn Jamison or Keith Van Horne are also among the league's best. He analyzes teams on the basis of what has happened in past seasons and forecasts what can be expected in the season ahead. For example, who should the Lakers have featured offensively, Kobe Bryant or Shaquille O'Neal? In addition, Hollinger evaluates how the changes in defensive rules have influenced the game and altered the way some teams play. Every basketball fan will gain incredible new insights into the game from PRO BASKETBALL PROSPECTUS.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Hollinger authored the 2004-05 Pro Basketball Forecast and the 2002-03 and 2003-04 editions of the Pro Basketball Prospectus, with his work garnering rave reviews from publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Toronto Star, and Salon.com. Hollinger writes for ESPN.com as one of its NBA Insiders, and also inks regular basketball columns for the New York Sun. Since 1996, he's spearheaded a more analytical approach to pro basketball from his Web site, Alleyoop.com. Hollinger lives in Atlanta.

Product Details

• Paperback: 3884 pages
• Publisher: Potomac Books; 2002 edition (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574885111
• ISBN-13: 978-1574885118
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,998,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At Last..., October 13, 2002

By 

Adam Strasberg (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pro Basketball Prospectus: 2002 Edition (Pro Basketball Forecast) (Paperback)

At last, here's a book that brings the kind of in depth statistical analysis to Basketball that Bill James brought to baseball (and is now carried on by the Baseball Prospectus) so many years ago.

Hollinger has written a great book, there is an introduction explaining his methods at the top, then a couple of general essays about the game (On Defense, and the greatest rebounder ever...who you ask? Read the book <g>). Then there are the team essays. Each essay begins with a general overview of the team's season and future prospects, which leads into a statistical discussion about the game or the team ("Are mid-career perforance jumps a fluke?" or "Does Defense win Championships?").

Then there are player comments for current players and rookies. The convential wisdom is always questioned, and the book offers tons of insights (Tracy McGrady better than Kobie, read the book if you don't believe it).

I'm not really a big basketball fan anymore, but I have to say I loved this book. It offers cutting edge research into the game. While some of the studies are rough, they are a great begining for a sport where the statistical analysis has been lacking (much like baseball before James came along).

If you're a basketball fan or just a sports statistics fan (I fall into that category) buy this book, its really top notch work.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Basketball for the Thinking Fan, October 22, 2002

By 

Gregory H. Thomas (Garden City, Kansas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pro Basketball Prospectus: 2002 Edition (Pro Basketball Forecast) (Paperback)

As a reader of both "Baseball Prospectus" and "Football Prospectus", I was both surprised and pleased to find that both the content and writing style of "Basketball Prospectus" exceeded either of the other two publications. It is rare, in a Bill James sense, to find a writer who can both dazzle with words and with numbers, but John Hollinger is such a gem.
His insight into today's pro game is unique. The chaper on "Rebounding" in which the numbers of Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell are compared with the players who followed them, should be required reading for any sports fan or any undergraduate taking statistics. If you are a free-thinker who doesn't merely accept the opinion of the crowd or your local columnist, this is the basketball book for you. Prepare to be intrigued and to look at the pro game with a new appreciation.

Greg Thomas, Ph.D.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NBA equivalent of the old Bill James annual, June 3, 2003

By 

woburnmusicfan (Woburn, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pro Basketball Prospectus: 2002 Edition (Pro Basketball Forecast) (Paperback)

John Hollinger is as good an NBA basketball writer as there is today. Last year, in his first "Prospectus", he revealed himself as the Bill James of basketball, an entertaining, funny writer who is both a keen observer of the game and its players, and an expert in innovative methods of using the available statistics to analyze team and individual performance. The book reminded me of James' annual "Baseball Abstract" of the 80s, which I eagerly looked forward to every year.

There hasn't been an annual book with a comprehensive scouting report on each NBA player since Rick Barry and Jordan Cohn stopped writing the "Pro Basketball Bible" a few years ago, so Hollinger is filling a big void for NBA diehards. Hollinger's discussions aren't as detailed as Barry/Cohn's, but they're insightful, accurate, and the best I've found on the book market. He has a good eye for evaluating player skills, and doesn't just recite numbers like a rotisserie league groupie.

Basketball statistics aren't as informative as baseball's, and are pretty poor at assessing the defensive end of the floor. Hollinger has come up with measures that give a better indication of a player's value than the official stats, and has the all-too-rare skill of knowing how to PROPERLY use basketball statistics. This year, Hollinger doesn't provide a separate essay on statistics related to each team. Instead, he expands upon last year's methods for determining each team's defense against each position, and provides a "Similarity Scores" method to estimate how a young player's performance might evolve in coming years. The book includes a chapter on each team, with a two-page evaluation of the team's overall performance, followed by a brief statistical summary for each player and a few paragraphs on that player's strengths and weaknesses. This is a book with a limited target audience, but NBA fanatics like myself will find it invaluable. I hope to be buying this book for many years to come.

(1=poor 2=mediocre 3=pretty good 4=very good 5=phenomenal)