Hoop Atlas: Mapping the Remarkable Transformation of the Modern NBA―Reshaping the NBA Through Statistical Analysis

by Kirk Goldsberry

The bestselling author of  Sprawlball , Kirk Goldsberry returns with a visual feast of a book—equal parts  Book of Basketball  and Shea Serrano—that uses sharp writing, his signature graphics, and cutting-edge statistical analyses to unpack how a handful of NBA superstars —MJ to Lebron to Jokic—have reshaped pro basketball and charted the course to the future of the NBA. Every few years a talent comes along that disrupts everything we think we know about how the NBA should work. Whether it’s scoring, playmaking, or shooting, these are players and tactics that fundamentally challenge how the game is played and what greatness looks like on a basketball court. For a period of time, these players each become an “Atlas” for the league, carrying the weight of the NBA on their shoulders, but also providing the roadmap that points the way to the future of the sport. In tandem, they map out the modern NBA’s creation. Goldsberry returns with a highly visual, electrifying tour through the last three decades of NBA history, showing the “Atlas” players that have led us out of the brutishness of 90s hoops and into the wide open spaces of the most skilled era in NBA history. Charting the course from Jordan to Jokic—with plenty of stops along the way for Iverson, Kobe, Curry, and of course Lebron—Goldsberry, who was instrumental in helping spur the NBA’s statistical revolution, has designed a vibrant new way to compare and debate the contributions of the best NBA players of all-time. Masterfully connecting NBA past and present through incisive writing and stunning visual statistical analyses, he shows how we’ve come to this unprecedented moment, a time when offensive efficiency and shooting percentages are higher than ever. Using beautifully designed, four-color shot maps and illustrations, Goldsberry offers a graphic journey through the last thirty years of the NBA that covers up to the 2023 season and is as much fun to look at as it is to read. The end result offers stories and analyses of a select group of NBA superstars that open up lively debates, reveal just how singular their talents truly are, and characterize the dramatic 21st-century metamorphosis of the best basketball league in the world.

Genres: Sports, Basketball, Nonfiction, History

272 pages, Hardcover

Published May 7, 2024

Reviews

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s now basketball at the 2024 Paris Olympic games. It is amazing to see how many teams are competitive from France to South Sudan. My local library just acquired Hoop Atlas and I was interested in what Goldsberry, a statistic “freak”, might want to dive into. One of the things that he emphasized is how much of the current world-wide appeal of basketball is due to the efforts by David Stern to make sure that this American game was popularized from East Asia to Australia to Africa and South America.
That aside, you will find a lot about the evolution of shot selection in the professional game over the past 3 decades. You can read long discussions of the contributions of Allen Iverson and Dirk Nowitzki. Lebron, Michael, Steph, Kobe and Jokic are given consideration as Goldsberry brings his graphics to each chapter.
If you spend anytime gazing at the front cover, you may be disappointed that all those pictured are not given as much discussion as you might wish for. And there is little or no time spent with such masters as Kareem or Dennis Rodman. On the other hand, you will learn that Brook Lopez holds a unique place among players being “the only player in NBA history to record 5 seasons with 100+ made 3s and 5 seasons with 0 made 3s." It’s hard to find fault with his observation that by 2022-23, “…if you want to play in the NBA, you had better be able to shoot 3s, especially corner 3s.”
Interesting for those whose basketball enjoyment comes with a heavy frosting of statistics. Not recommended for the casual fan.

And I'm not the data geek this is intended for. 3.5

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

The graphics are awesome, but I think I already knew most of this stuff from Sprawlball. I was maybe surprised most by the chapters on Iverson and Nowitzki, mostly because they break the mold set by Sprawball and were still (in Nowitzki's case) very effective players.

[Ross Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

A super fun and entertaining look at the evolution of the NBA from, roughly speaking, it's three major eras: a big man, post-up centric league to a more finesse mid-range game to the spaced out 3-point-crazy game we see now.

Goldsberry tells the story of the NBA's transformation through the superstars whose impact and influence spearheaded the game's evolution, namely Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Nikola Jokic. In their own ways, each of these players made contributions that gradually moved the game out of the bruising post-up world of Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and expanded it to the mid-range and ultimately to the 3-point line and beyond (way beyond in the case of Steph Curry).

However, Goldsberry also zooms in on some lesser known role players who embody some of the biggest trends in the modern NBA, such as San Antonio's Bruce Bowen, whose ability to hit corner 3's helped entrench the corner 3 as a vital weapon in any NBA team's offensive arsenal, particularly the variety in which a skilled attacker, such as LeBron or Luka, drives to the paint, draws the defense, and kicks it to the corner for a wide open look.

The book is filled with Goldsberry's trademark topographical shot maps, which I always love.They really help the reader visualize the drastic changes in NBA shot selection over the last 30 years or so. There are also many charts and graphs and eye-popping statistics that reflect the game's evolution. For example, in the 2000-2001 season, mid-range jumpers (Michael Jordan's bread-and-butter) accounted for 38% of all NBA players' shots, while 3-pointers accounted for just 17%. Twenty years later, that had flipped. In the 2022-2023 season, mid-range jumpers accounted for just 12% of all NBA shots, while 3-pointers accounted for a whopping 39%!

Similarly, with the so-called heliocentric offenses of the late 2010s and early 2020s (in which one player has the ball in their hands constantly and individual usage rates have skyrocketed), the number of pick-and-roll actions per game have increased from about 25 in 2004 to over 50 in 2024, while the number of post-ups decreased from 23 to less than 10 in that same time span.

This has led to dramatic increases in individual scoring. For example, in 2022-2023, there were 6 players who averaged 30 points or more per game. That hadn't happened since the 1961-1962 season. Or consider this: in the 1998-1999 NBA season - notorious for being slow-paced and when team scoring dipped to an abysmal 91 points per game (the lowest since the 1940s) - there were a grand total of 9 games in which a player scored 40 points. No player scored 50 that season. Contrast that with the 2022-2023 season, in which 203 games had a player that scored 40 or more. Holy shit! This explosion of offense is unprecedented.

I could go on and on about all the data points in this book. With its charts and colorful illustrations (courtesy of Aaron Dana), it really is a feast for the mind and senses of any NBA fan.

[Nick Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a fun look at the modern NBA and how it’s changed over the last 40 years. Goldsberry knows his stuff and the way the information is presented is fantastic. A fun book you’ll want to hold on to.

My favorite chapter was on the foreign player talent influx into the NBA (Manu, Dirk, Yao, etc). He makes a case that Manu Giniobili might be the most underrated player of this century. I almost wish there was a full book about that.

My one critique is that my eyes glazed over in some chapters - there’s only so many ways you can say that players shoot more threes and less jumpers these days.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: A wonderful, if a bit overly nostalgic, reflection on the players that changed how we played basketball using unheard stories and visually engaging statistics in a bingeable format.

Disclaimer, I am the target audience for this book. I am a 40 year old basketball junky who came of age at the tail end of the Bulls dynasty, rejoiced at the Lakers demise to the Pistons, who religiously followed the 7 seconds or less Suns, who followed "The Decision" in disbelief and fell in love the the "beautiful game' Spurs in 2014. I was also an avid reader of Grantland and then the Ringer and have been reading Kirk Goldsberry for years.

Now if none of that made sense to you, you will still enjoy this book! Kirk Goldsberry's love of basketball and clarity of communication is on par with the best sports writers. You will learn about why NBA basketball looks the way it does today, it is actually the best way to understand the reason why basketball is played the way it is and will teach you so much more about the stars of the game and why they matter.

However, if you are like me there is a wonderful second level of engagement with the book as Kirk throws in the equivalent of book "easter eggs" in quotes and images one will only understand if you have been a lover of the NBA, (e.g. "take that for data!"). And on that level the book is a 5 star for me.

I received this for my birthday and finished the book over a 24 hour period. It's an easy reader and very addictive! A recommended book for the basketball lover in your life.

[Dave Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun examination of the evolution in NBA play since the mid-90s, told with words, pictures and colorful infographics. Reading the chapter on Steph Curry and the work he's put in to build on his already impressive shooting ability made me really appreciate his performance in the last two games of the Olympics. Lots of fun stats if you're an NBA fan, such as:
- Brook Lopez was the first player ever to attempt 0 3-pointers in five seasons and at least 100 3-pointers in five other seasons.
- Donovan Mitchell's 71-point game in 2023 included 11 assists, so he had a hand in 99 points, the second most all-time behind the 104 Wilt Chamberlain helped produce in the 1962 game in which he scored 100 points.
- Centers won every MVP but two between 1960 and 1983 (Oscar in 64 and Dr. J in 81). After that, they only won three between 1984 and 2020 (Hakeem in 94, The Admiral in 95, Shaq in 2000), but have since won four in a row (Jokic three times, Embiid once). Giannis is technically a power forward, but if you consider him a center, it's six in a row.

Really enjoyed this.

[Daniel Casanova · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a person who grew up watching hoops in the 2000s and 2010s this book was great as I could picture the players, their moves, important games and their impact.

Where the book excels is the blending of data (with amazing graphs!!) and anecdotes.

Would recommend to anyone who wants to read about recent basketball history.

[Triztan Regino · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book. Hoop Atlas tells the way of how the Modern NBA was mapped out. Skill and style can change the game forever. No matter what skill you are in basketball, I believe every hooper would definitely savor and love this book. What a great read!

[Joshua Cruz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed it but did know a lot of info from following basketball. The visuals were excellent.

[Max D'onofrio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great run through the best players in the NBA. Plus a chapter on Nikola Jokic, so how can I not like it.

[Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epic must-read for NBA fans who love data (me!!!).

[Kevin Talehata · Rating 5 out of 5]

For someone who follows the NBA religiously, the GOAT debate is a daily discussions everywhere you go. Most people revert the debate up to statistics, or how many rings a player won, or how certain payer don't have a "killer instinct". It's a tired never ending discussion that gets nowhere.

This book brings a fresh takes to the discussion of greatness. Goldsberry not only discussed the stylistic impact of players such as Michael Jordan who breaks the nba tradition by showing that a wing player can dominate a league which has been dominated by big men for decades and impact the game to be the way it is today, He also discussed the culture impact by players like Allen Iverson, whose statistics is stat geek nightmare because of how inefficient he was but still was one of the most idolized player among active players and many more.

More importantly, this books makes statistics and charts so fun, interesting and easy to digest.

This is a must-read for my fellow basketball sickos.

[Joseph Stieb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was insanely fun. I would read a chapter on Goldsberry's analysis of basically any NBA player, from Steph Curry to Tony Snell. The basic argument here is that the evolution of the modern NBA isn't just driven by stats dorks but by innovative if not revolutionary superstars who find new ways to crack open the game. Of course, there have been rule changes (carrying and travel laxity, the end of hand-checking, more protections for the offensive player) that have shifted the league toward an offensive-heavy game. But players like Jordan, Iverson, Dirk, Curry, and Jokic also found new ways to use space and their bodies to score. Not all of these innovations were efficient! Iverson was notoriously inefficient, but he pushed the play style toward fast, hyper-skilled guards dominating the ball.

There are a few big trends that this book traces. The most obvious one is the pace-and-space three point revolution, pioneered by the Splash Brothers and now played by almost every NBA team. But there has also been a radical move away from the traditional post-up, big-man centered offense that defined basketball from the 50s to the 80s, if not longer. Players like Z-Bo and Roy Hibbert went to all-stars to defunct in a few years in the 2010s because they were too slow to guard the perimeter and played a less efficient inside game. Now big men like Jokic and Embiid are reinventing themselves as all-around skill players who shoot 3s, dribble, pass, drive, etc. Even Giannis, whom I consider to be unskilled, has adopted balletic Euro-steps and other moves in his more drive-centric rather than post-up centric offensive style. Another interesting trend that Goldsberry shows with both data and player examples is heliocentrism, or the increasing tendency of teams to run everything through a single, highly skilled player (usually a guard) who takes a lot of shots but also passed a ton too. Doncic, Harden, Tatum, Trae, Mitchell, Jokic all fit this category, but they do in different ways. Most of these guys dribble A LOT, often creating stagnancy; what makes Jokic special is that the ball goes in and out of his hands in a fluid way as players move around the court, which is what makes Denver so darn good.

This book challenges a few narratives about the modern NBA in compelling ways. First, while the league has gravitated dramatically toward pace-and-space 3 point shooting, it isn't clear that any team has truly cracked the code. Highly helio-centric teams, frankly, haven't won it all yet: Harden's Rockets, Doncic's Mavs, Embiid's Sixers. The most recent champs, the Celtics and the Nuggets, excelled when their offenses were fluid and balanced. Their top stars didn't have to score a lot for them to win; the Celtics were exceptionally balanced in their recent playoff run, and when they didn't stand around and watch Tatum jack up bad step-back threes they were nearly unbeatable. So, in short, even with the 3 point revolution there's a lot of room to innovate and develop different styles.

Second, Goldsberry makes a good case that the modern NBA is actually better than the plodding, defensively-dominant dark ages of the 1990s and 2000s. Jordan was a spark of light in an otherwise tough period of basketball. Do people really want NBA finals games that are 82-75, in which teams run post-ups over and over and watch bruisers bash into each other? I don't like 145-135 games any more, but clearly the league has become more fluid and dynamic in the last 15 years, in large part because of the infusion of overseas talent and play styles (think Ginobli, Dirk, Parker).

Finally, I think this book has a great approach to thinking about how to compare athletes over time, at least in basketball (the only sport that really matters). We are caught in an endless loop of MJ v Lebron, Bird v Jokic, or whatever. Goldsberry's larger point is that the game is radically different now and has gone through many different phases that make cross-contextual comparison difficult. I'm a historian, and historians are all about context, so this argument appeals to me; we are all about how it's really hard to compare one time period to another because of how much of the social, economic, political, etc environment/conditions changes in the interim. Goldsberry does this for hoops.

Consider Michael Jordan v Lebron, for instance. MJ entered the league in a revival period for offenses in the mid-1980s and became the best scoring guard ever. He did so in an innovative fashion, but never made the 3 a huge part of his game, at least not compared to today. He exited the league, however, at the start of a new dead ball era that lasted about a decade. So his incredibly consistent level of high scoring was remarkable in any era, but it was especially remarkable that he kept it up as the league went the other direction. Lebron has had even more longevity than MJ, but the context of the league when the opposite way over his career, from the dead ball era when he started to the high-scoring 3 point-heavy league of today. So Lebron kept up high scoring averages, changing his game as he aged and as the game changed around him, but relative to the rest of the league his scoring in the last 5 years hasn't been as exceptional as Jordan's was. Lebron, however, be a better passer than Jordan largely because he adapted so well to the 3 point domination of today, becoming the all time leader in assists to 3 point shots.

Goldsberry's larger point is that you shouldn't just look at raw numbers to decide who's better. You have to pay attention to context and performance/efficiency relative to the rest of the league at the time and to the way the game was refereed. This makes historical comparisons of players harder, but I think part of his point is that comparison isn't the best way to approach the history of the game. Rather, we should see how the game evolved and how superstars in particular are superstars because they changed how it could be played, and others followed in their path. That's what makes it the best game.

Anyways, hoop nerds, you have to get this book!

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goldsberry has made his mark in the basketball analytics world, particularly in how he has revealed and charted the value of particular shots taken by particular players. The sub-title here really explains the book. Goldsberry shows how NBA play has changed over the last 30 years. An early chapter on Jordan shows how one of Jordan's most under-appreciated skills was his shooting. But the value of that skill was derived his dominance in "the mid-range" - and basically nobody shoots there anymore. Later chapters show how and why that has occurred. Other chapters discuss Iverson (ball-handling, shot volume), Ginobili (Euro-Step and foreign players), Curry (3 pointers and footwork), and etc. The artwork is great. And surprising--out of nowhere pops a picture of the Dream Team looking like the Beatles in the Cavern Club.

[Chris Brook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost forgot about this one - finished last week. Perfectly fine coffee table book of sorts on how the three point line (and the evolution of players like Curry, etc.) have transformed the NBA over the last few years. Don't know why I sat on this for three months. Almost like if you've watched any basketball over the last 10 years, you already know the story.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really smart, interesting, and in some ways anti-analytic take marred by very sloppy editing. I'd read Goldsberry's articles for years and always enjoyed how clean and self-explanatory his graphic work was, how immediately you grabbed the point. That continues here, with the book taking a 30-year jaunt through space and time that, this being Goldsberry's work, you quite literally see illustrated visually. And the images are striking, since you can see how entirely absent the midrange is--he has a graphic about these baseline shots that people like Iverson specialized in, and just, nobody takes those anymore. The interesting against-itself aspect is how heavily this book focuses on the eye test in addition to the analytics, arguing that feel matters, and so the whole Iverson chapter's point is, I don't care what analytics say (which are generally clear that, statistically, his contribution wasn't great, very often maybe not top-20 or -30 in the league), he was awesome. And the opening discussion of Jordan's exploration of the 3 in 1992 offers a fascinating, granular analysis of both how he suddenly started trying the shot out and the essential incomprehension of the commentators.

Conceptually, then, a fun, detailed and convincing exploration of how and exactly where and why teams began to exploit new areas of the court, as well as re-energize old ones (fun surprise fact: how many spots in an arc around the middle of the court inside the three-point line--six!--where Dirk Nowitzki is still the greatest shooter of all time, a fact that Goldsberry quotes Steph Curry as being astounded by), and how this ties into who has won MVP and led the league in scoring (centers dominated for years, which I hadn't really understood, until Magic/Michael/Bird rewired notions of "most valuable"). There's basically microsecond-by-microsecond analysis of Jordan's fadeaway and the Sombor Shuffle and Curry's three dance and Iverson's crossover.

It's just, wow, did anyone edit this? There are pages where the same idea is literally repeated in back-to-back sentences (p.124, on Manu Ginobili, features two versions of the same point literally next two each other), and in others it just gets beaten to death in the space of the chapter, so we get it and get it and get it and get it. How many times is the phrase "primordial soup" trotted out to describe the early NBA? At least six that I counted. An edited, tightened version of this book would be maybe 10-15 pages shorter and score all the same points. Just, you might say, more efficiently.

[Eli Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this, but I'm kinda torn on it.

Kirk Goldsberry's work is designed to appeal to me specifically: a geographer/cartographer who also happens to be a basketball fan. I had been a fan and follower of his writing for some time when he released his first book Sprawlball in 2019, and so I immediately purchased it and devoured it. There's a pretty high floor a book like this can have in my eyes—this stats-heavy, spatially oriented, beautifully illustrated look at the evolution of basketball over the past 25 years.

Unfortunately, this book often struggles to rise above that floor. If you're an NBA fan at any level above casual, the gist of this book is to take trends you're already aware of, explain their origins, and expand on them through a statistical lens. At its best, it'll complement this with in-depth stories and anecdotes a lot of regular fans might not know, such as Manu Ginóbili's successes in international competition before even playing an NBA game or the specifics of Steph Curry's workouts with trainer Brandon Payne. These additions are too few and far between.

Also, this is a nitpick, but Goldsberry states as part of his thesis in the intro that NBA media is too focused on meaningless debates between who is better than whom rather than enjoying what each all-time great has brought to the game on its own merit, then spends the entire first chapter arguing that Jordan is the GOAT. Very jarring shift. And though he does spend an entire chapter later detailing the vast accolades and influence of LeBron, he still casually refers to Jordan as "the GOAT" at various other points throughout the book for no reason, so...way to stay out of meaningless debates.

Again, I liked this book overall. I just think there's a better version of it in another universe.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it, it's a fantastic book if you're into the NBA. Goldsberry looks at how the modern NBA became what it is today. Each chapter focuses on an aspect of the modern game by honing in on specific players that fostered that development. The focus on specific players - even specific plays - is a great approach, it's really interesting, as is Goldsberry's typical style of including really interesting statistics and visualizations to show how the game has changed. Some of the stats I found particularly interesting:

- In Michael Jordan's first 4 seasons in the league, he shot 16.4% from 3-point range, ranking 87th out of 88 NBA players who shot at least 100 3s.
- In the 20 years before Jordan's rookie year, centers won the league MVP award 18 times.
- In the 20 years after Jordan retired, centers won the MVP award 3 times (all in the 2020s).
- Jordan was the first shooting guard to win MVP.
- Bruce Bowen led the league in total points from each corner 3 position for the 2000s. Also, his career FT% is 57.5%.
- LeBron James has assisted on more 3s than Steph Curry has made.
- Brook Lopez is the only player in NBA history with 5 seasons of 100+ made 3s and 5 seasons of 0 made 3s.
- LeBron James has a higher career points per game scoring average than Kobe Bryant.
- In 2022-2023 57 players had at least one 40-point game, which is over 10 percent of the league's players, more than double the number of players who make the All-Star teams.
- Bill Russell never scored 40 points in a game.
- On six different occasions in the 2022-2023 season, five players scored 40+ points on the same day. Prior to that season, that had happened four times total in NBA history.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a quick breezy look at the transformation of NBA basketball over roughly the past 25 years. Kirk Goldsberry builds off of what he did in his previous book Sprawlball: A Visual Tour of the New Era of the NBA, using particular generational talents as the focus for all the chapters. featuring stars such as Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, Lebron James, Steph Curry, James Harden, Luka Dončić, Nikola Jokić, and Joel Embiid. Certain role players like Bruce Bowen get nice features as well. Its a book that takes a much more nuanced and holistic view of the sport beyond the typical "sports shouting" hot take junk that passes for analysis prevalent on TV and many podcasts.

It's a very fast read, but quite informative, with lots of statistics and graphics. Much like Sprawlball, this book has some of the aesthetic of the FreeDarko Presents: The Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History that adds to the whimsy of the title.

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like another reviewer, and for similar reasons, I at first would have said this is arguably 3.5 stars, and might be good for fans who haven't already entered the world of NBA data.

But, for those who have, it's nothing new, and it also appears to be not a whole lot more than an updated Sprawlball to include the Sombor Shuffle era.

Otherwise, Goldsberry doesn't dive into the newest, most modern hoops sabermetrics like RAPTOR to do further analysis on players.

And, there's a questionable claim or two here, too.

And, with all of that? I'm saying 2.5 stars rounded down to 2. There's too many five-star ratings, and there's not a single review at 2 stars.

One is that LeBron is as good a defender as Scottie Pippen was. I've long seen it written up that LeBron is a great help defender, and an above average, but not great, 1-on-1 defender. Put another way? Scottie was first-time All Defensive eight times; LeBron five.

Another is the claim that heliocentrism was/is so great.

Really? Then why did Kobe beg for the Lakers to acquire Pau Gasol after Shaq was traded? And, how many NBA Finals has Beard James Harden appeared in other than his pre-heliocentrism third-option, sixth-man 2012 Thunder?

[Edgar Guevara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a groundbreaking work that masterfully merges the field of geography with basketball analysis—an innovative approach rarely seen in sports literature. Kirk Goldsberry's application of a PhD in geography to dissect the game's evolution is original and enlightening. The book effectively refutes many sports commentators' unfounded claims by leveraging pure data, grounding its insights in factual evidence. The charts and cartographic representations are nothing short of spectacular; each visually stunning image conveys complex information effortlessly, genuinely embodying the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words. This book is essential for basketball enthusiasts seeking a deeper understanding of the game through the rich interplay of statistics and cartography.

[Brandon Gusain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t think Kirk Goldsberry could outdo Sprawlball, but he proved me so wrong. It was such a joy learning about great players and how they culturally and stylistically changed basketball. It was so hard to put this book down. The storytelling, which combines live announcer commentary from games, draft reports, coach interviews, and the author’s own voice, makes this such an interesting and robust lesson. Also, the artwork stays gorgeous. Every chapter of this book had specific purpose, and while some were more enjoyable than others, that’s simply because I liked reading about players I know nothing about compared to those I know a fair bit about (ex. The chapter on Steph Curry felt a bit drawn out, but I also write this review wearing his jersey).

A masterpiece. I can’t wait for his new book!

[Jesus David Valverde · Rating 5 out of 5]

In many ways, this book doesn’t offer groundbreaking revelations—much of what it presents is something any NBA fan might already know or intuit about the evolution of eras and the differences between them. However, the true value of this book lies in how it crowns a "king" for each era. It does so in an outstanding and accurate way, which feels fitting in a league built around superstars. It serves as a well-deserved tribute to the players who defined each period.

What really sets this book apart, though, is its use of visual elements. The visuals speak louder than words, offering an intuitive and easily digestible experience. That said, this doesn’t diminish the quality of the text, which could stand alone as a must-read. At the same time, the visuals could tell the story on their own without the text. Together, they create an excellent work.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid read, lovely compliment for the NBA playoffs.

Goldsberry’s writing style gets a bit repetitive at the sentence level, but it’s worth it to get access to his comprehensive ideas.

I loved how he traced today’s NBA through historical greats and not in contrast too. Showing how MJ drove the game to the perimeter, then AI added handles to shooting, which allowed Kobe throw them together in Heroball, which got nerded up with 3 pointers to create Harden’s Heliocentric ball, which gives rise to 7 footers doing and dominating like Joker. So cool.

This may end up being a more important historical text than current book. Having an archive of modern basketball thought will have to be invaluable to whoever is trying to talk about this sport 50 years from now.

[P · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a somewhat difficult book to rate. Here's why. I love basketball. I follow it closely. From that perspective, this book adds literally nothing new to anything I already knew. Other than a few cool infographics, it was literally... nothing... new. The same discussions about why Steph is so good, the mid range shot dying, heliocentrism, Jokic, all of it... fairly common fodder among NBA philes.

That said, it's a great great great book for someone who isn't into basketball that much, and especially for those who don't understand why the game is so different today. It's also a nice quality book and the author always has awesome infographics. So I'm gonna roll with a 6.5/10 for this one.

[Justin Genus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book. Not too much was groundbreaking. Goldsberry gives the unacquainted an easy access point for understanding the analytical revolution while trying to keep in view the narrative elements and creativity of the NBA. He does well in some sections (the Curry chapter was fascinating; the Jordan chapter, while biased, was a great intro) and does less well in others (he was on his high horse as a Spurs homer in the Ginobili chapter).

Probably a 6.5/10. Also, Goldsberry narrates the audiobook version. Pro: No mispronounced names. Con: His biases are easy to hear.

[Rob Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sorry of a weird book because if you know ball, you probably won’t like this boom too much because you already know most all of what’s in the book. But if you don’t know ball, you probably won’t like the book because you don’t know ball. I bumped rating up to 5 bc it is really pretty book, I enjoy Goldsberrys other work and he used a portion of this book to shit on Kendrick Perkins. Great coffee table book to flip through and check out some of the graphs and artwork.

[Miles Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are never too many NBA stats. Fun read, illustration and graph usage were really good. It hurts to say but my favorite chapter was the Curry chapter (more from a coaching and training standpoint but still). Author loses a star because he really struggled to hide being a huge Jordan homer over LeBron (which shaped part of the book) but the bias didn’t take too much away.

[Stephen Halstead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kirk Goldsberry does a great job of bringing graphics & shot charts to life. Hoop Atlas is a great book talking about the pioneers of specific styles of play that have occurred in the NBA giving breakdowns of the players who have had the biggest impacts. Not as good as Sprawlball by him, but an easy read nonetheless

[JMF · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly 5 star graphics, stats, and subject matter, but needs editing both in content and for repetitiveness. For example, the book says Wemby is both 7-5 and 7-4 on different pages and mistakes the Suns and Spurs. It's small stuff but kinda like the publishers were rushing and needed a certain word count.