Spaced Out: The Tactical Evolution of the Modern NBA

by Mike Prada

A hands-on, illuminating deconstruction of NBA basketball, tracing the tactical evolution of the modern game

As the NBA celebrates and surpasses 75 years of existence, today's game looks nothing like it did in generations past when Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar took turns ruling the league. But it's also entirely different from a decade—even half decade—ago.

Today's stars enter the league with more versatility and fluidity than ever before, and they need it to handle the strategies, philosophies, schemes, skill sets, movement patterns, and measures of basketball intelligence that simply didn't exist in the past.

Spaced Out tells the story of what professional basketball looks like right now and how it got here. Taking a court-level view, Mike Prada breaks down high-level play to elucidate the athleticism, strategy, and skill demonstrated on a nighty basis, while shining a light on the historical forces that have dramatically altered the shape of the game and the role of its superstars.

Topics covered include the explosion of three point shooting, the rise and fall and rise again of zone defense, the impact of tighter enforcement of perimeter contact rules, and other pivotal factors impacting the pro game.

From Xs and Os to keen historic analysis, this definitive volume will reveal the intricacies of a beautiful game for savvy fans, players, and coaches alike.

Genres: Sports, Basketball, Nonfiction

385 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2022

Reviews

[Winter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Won this beauty from Goodreads Giveaways and couldn't have been happier.

So thank you. Goodreads Giveaways, and Mike Prada, for hosting this giveaway; I totally enjoyed this book.

All NBA will love to have this on their shelf.

[Hordur Tulinius · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would have been a great docuseries. The detailed descriptions of various types of PnR actions and defensive counters to them become a bit tedious after a while. Something that needs a visual presentation. It however has completely transformed the way I watch the game and opened my eyes to how NBA teams are getting so incredibly efficient in their offensive play over a short span of time with great outlining of rule changes and adjustments to them.

[J.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Euphoric!
I wish I could give more stars.

This is an Xs and Os book that traces the interplay between NBA offences, defences and officials over the last 30 years to explain the evolution of the strategies and skills required to be successful in the modern NBA.

Prada uses specific NBA plays as examples of broader trends in team strategy and individual moves that players have been forced to add to their bag. I would recommend reading with a phone near by so you can YouTube some of these plays as you go.

Lastly this book uses stats as evidence to support key points but is by no means heavy handed with respect to analytics. Prada takes a qualitative, descriptive approach which keeps the book very readable and on the level of what is observable and enjoyable to an interested NBA fan.

A must read for anyone who wants to better understand what they are seeing when they watch NBA games.

[Charles M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a serious study of the evolution of NBA play in the last 10 years. Anecdotes are used to explain not merely entertain. It educates the reader while recording the Revolution in the use of more space on the court that transformed offense and defense . It is an antidote to the brain fog caused by listening to most TV experts

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd recommend this book to people who like thinking about basketball in the realm of ideas instead of histories or opinions. If you're the sort of person who reads journalists like Malcolm Gladwell or Michael Lewis AND likes basketball, this book is a beautiful intellectual pursuit. FreeDarko fans will know what I'm talking about.

[Kareem Kalil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read that I would recommend for "advanced" basketball fans seeking a deeper understanding of the game. Prada gets very deep with vocabulary of the game, which is great for someone who has a nuanced understanding, and makes a great case for how the game has evolved and the implications of the changes. I could see how newer fans would get lost in the details--even for me, some of the diagrams were hard to understand.

[Jonathan Latshaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you a self-proclaimed basketball nerd? Did you like Seth Partnow’s “Midrange Theory”? Do you watch and read Ben Taylor’s “Thinking Basketball” content? Do you ever watch modern NBA basketball and ask yourself, “how is the game being played differently than it was ten years ago?” Do you have NBA League Pass? Do you listen to the “The Dunkers Spot” podcast?

If you answered yes to > 0 of the above questions, this book is probabaly for you. I enjoyed every page. Favorite chapters were 5 - Our Best Play is “Random” and 9 - Scan Less, See More.

[Jed Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

The analysis and research in this book are among the best I’ve read covering any sport. A thorough and very-well crafted explanation about how the game has changed. The only critique is it only focuses on the court. If he had woven the changes in culture, business, and player mentality, it would have been an all-time classic.

[Simon Mee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spaced Out is a book that as recently as five years ago I would have struggled with as a non-basketball watcher. A term such as “pick and roll” holds no familiarity to me and while the explanation is pretty serviceable, it’s hard to visualize without seeing it in action. The book’s good fortune (and to be fair, it knows this and is set out accordingly) is that a reader can find online general examples of the terms referred to, as well as most of the specific plays Prada references. There are now so many easily searchable sources that Prada can assume a reasonable amount of knowledge from even a non-fan and concentrate on the developments rather than prolonged explanations of the basics.

Prada also does a very good job at integrating statistics with anecdotes. I cannot comment on accuracy or relevance, but the numbers reinforce the narrative presented without dominating it.

The psychology chapter is the only “bad” one. I get the idea of explaining how the athletes are able to process increasingly complex (and free flowing) game situations. The parts around the no-look passes are well executed. Unfortunately, I do struggle with the concepts generally, and I remain sceptical of the science behind it. Your mileage my vary, but I felt it was not essential to the book and was a drag.

Overall, an enjoyable and enlightening read.

[Rudy Dyck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a bit of a difficult review. I think the book is a 3.5/5. Not crazy about rounding down to 3 but it's not a 4 imo.

This book is more educational than interesting and it reads almost like a coach's handbook at times. Think a course at school vs reading a fiction book for fun. It's not meant for the casual fan. If you don't know what a Spain PNR is and don't care to know what it is then do not buy this. At the same time if you are a hardcore fan that knows what that is, know what an x-out is and some more modern things then you may find this book doesn't offer a lot of new things for your enjoyment either (I fall in this category). I think the perfect audience is the relatively casual fan that wants to be become more informed. There really isn't much in the terms of high level analytics and statistics in this book. I would have preferred more.

The book starts out with a history of the game and rules and I liked this. I liked reading about Naismith and the original rules. The book then gets into styles of play, rule changes and things and then progresses to explain how and why the game has changed. But when we get into the pick and roll section it is far too long and I almost skipped ahead. It was too much and I was pretty bored.

There was some analytics such as talking about rim protection vs giving up 3s and that is really good. Stan Van Gundy has made these arguments before. The reason I called this a coach's handbook is that it really does showcase the author's knowledge over how the modern game is played. 0.5 second decision making vs triple threat and hold the ball. The author also discusses old school "fundamentals" like the slide step, not crossing your feet, choppy feet on closeouts that are no longer believed to be good.

I do think the play diagrams, while nicely done, don't really work that well. If this was somehow a video book with video highlights it would have been a lot better. I do take exception that twice this author stated Giannis was Nigerian born. I've read his book. His parents were Nigerian and illegal immigrants in Greece which was where Giannis was born. At the end of the book he also lists some stats/comments about various great players and outed Kevin Durant as a 7' great player who couldn't bench 135. This is false. The NBA combine tests at 185 and Durant did fail that but 135 is either a misprint or a mistake. The book did talk about Harden and how his athleticism was tested and while average in many areas he had the best deceleration of any player tested. I would have loved to read more unique things like this.

In the end the book does a solid job of explaining how the game is currently played and why. It has a lot of modern references to current coaching practices and philosophies. I learned some things but the majority of things in this book were things I already knew. The book is more educational than interesting, lacks entertaining stories too much and is not for everyone.

3.5/5

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed look at play in today’s NBA and what the author sees as key moments on the road to the modern era. Entertaining with humour balancing what could be an incredibly dry subject. My only real criticism would be that it does sometimes bog down when getting into the psychological aspects. These are necessary inclusions but not as strong as the on court commentary and could have done with a sharper knife at the editor’s table.

The argument itself is compelling and worth a read for basketball heads. Naturally, counter arguments and different opinions are going to exist but that shouldn’t stop the prospective reader from picking it up.

Well worth a read.

[Golden Hat Mick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once upon a time, I was a basketball junkie. As I grow older and less passionate about sports, I'm learning I don't have that much interest in achieving a technical mastery, and that maybe being a casual fan is good enough for me now. So it's from such a place that I want to open with the proclamation that this book is too academic for my tastes, and I lost all interest in reading it about halfway in.

That is no fault of the author's, however; Mike Prada is clearly knowledgeable and does an excellent job keeping his prose approachable, but this is an honest-to-god deep dive into the evolution of the NBA from a tactical standpoint I don't have the energy for anymore. The fact that he writes for The Athletic at the time of this review is a testament to how good sports journalism has become, and the Wizards fanbase is lucky to have him covering the team.

I would highly recommend this book to any diehard basketball fun who wants a better understanding of the game. But it takes a certain kind of person who spends his free time wondering how Manu Ginobili's Eurostep changed dribbling forever, or whether the term "small ball" is appropriately or accurately used (it isn't), and with my middle-aged years hurtling towards me and only so many hours left to wonder about anything at all, that person isn't me.

[Hizonfire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Started reading this at the start of the 2025 NBA Playoffs through the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and OKC Thunder - 2 teams that fully embraced the Spaced Out Era. The author’s easy to grasp explanations made me see the nuances, skill, intelligence involved in switching defenses, offensive patterns, at a time when casual NBA pundits say “players just run around and chuck threes.” I grew up watching 80s and 90s NBA and today’s NBA is very much different. However, I do not believe basketball was better then as even without reading this book, you can see players are more athletic, skilled and aware now. Spaced Out validated that viewpoint and explained things I noticed but cannot verbalize like the way defenses now are more horizontal than vertical (which explains the disappearance of lumbering shotblockers like Hibbert and Mark Eaton). The book overall was well-written and discussed topics I was interested in like the Warriors - Rockets schism, Don Nelson’s ideas and more. I wish though there was a bit about NBA videogames making younger players more spatially-aware. The charts were helpful too but some descriptions on ball handling or player position could’ve used proper illustrations (or images but that would entail costlier rights) for better understanding. A highly-recommended book, especially for curmudgeon NBA fans.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love basketball and are interested in the evolution of the game, you'll like this. If you don't love basketball but have a fascination for the story of a phenomenon and its innovations, you'll like this. If you happen to love both, then well, you should read this! I have watched basketball for as long as I can remember but with a casual eye at best, and certainly not with any of the rigor that Mike Prada applies here. I love when people can go deep on things and reveal the intricacies that lie beyond the reach of the lay person. Because as simple as it may seem to dribble, pass, and shoot a ball, the levels of athleticism, mental processing, and tactical decisions happening are quite remarkable. I think too that beyond just basketball, there is something quite fascinating about how our minds are constantly changing, how technology and society impacts that, and what does it mean to be "native" in a development vs. having to learn it? Like someone born after the year 2000 is Internet native, but someone born in 1950 isn't. One facet of this book is "space/pace native" as a basketball approach, where speed and skill are changing the understanding of how the game is played. Filled with fun play diagrams too!

[Viral · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy basketball quite a lot, and I've come of age during the 3-Point Revolution. So I thought I would enjoy this book. Unfortunately, this book vacillates too much between trying to get into the nitty gritty of the stats and rules of why things have changed so much in basketball in the last two decades, and also talking extensively about intangibles regarding on-court action that are really hard to imagine if you haven't seen the action play out. Many parts of this book would have been better as a documentary/docu-series, because you need to actually see the players do the things described to understand them. Also, as someone who has seen or is aware of many of the events described in this book, I still struggled to keep up with all the various references to specific game performances and different player names. I don't feel like this book would be all that interesting to a newcomer, and I think it tries to split the difference too much between "eye test" descriptions and stats that I think hardcore fans wouldn't get all they want out of it. I just overall am not sure this book fully found its unique identity, and it's unfortunate, because Prada is clearly a passionate writer and loves basketball so much.

[Chris Jaffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Michael Prada says at the outset that this book is for basketball fans ranging from hardcore Xs and Os guys to the more casual fan. I guess I'm at the breaking point for this book because I'm more or less a sports fan that only hazily follows anything about basketball. It's been years (probably decades) since I last watched an NBA game. As a result, there were entire chunks of this book that went over my head and caused my eyes to glaze over (such as the entire extended strech on pick-and-roll).

Still, I learned a lot and mostly it made since. The three-point shots exist to stretch defenses and once defenses are stretched, you can score more points per possession. Really, it sounds like a lot of things going on now are more strategic than tactical. You do them less because of the individual move itself but more about how it creates an overall favorable environment. Thus even guys who aren't good three-point shooters should shoot more threes. And the picked up pace may lead to less refined plays but by putting more pressure on the defense, leads to more points.

Interesting book. I bet if I understood baskeball better, I'd like the book better.

[David Barks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose a four star rating because it was a very well illustrated book about basketball history and how the three pointer came to be one of the biggest parts in the game. the book lacked some things like including some of the best shooters in the NBA and some important grammar. "As this NBA era enters its next chapter", I chose this quote because it has a big meaning referring to when the three point line enters the NBA which was a huge step into the new era of NB A. The three point line was a huge step up in the 1989 season and allot of the rules that we even have today weren't implied and makes that quote very strong and important since that's what the book is all about. The author explained and summarized the 3 point line and what it is. The book starts to talk about when the three point line was introduced and how it affected the players and how they implemented it in the game. I recommend this book to anyone who has a passion for the game of basketball, I would also like to recommend the book the book " The Sixth Man".

[Phil Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prada is clearly a basketball geek—in a good way. He knows his material and made me appreciate aspects of the game that other books have addressed on a deeper level. Spaced Out is a nice complement to Sprawlbwl.

Still, there are warts. The book is a slog at times and could have used some editing. The frequent use of i.e. annoyed me, as did many of the superfluous footnotes and his pervasive use of the passive voice. I caught some grammatical errors as well. I would have swapped out some of the play figures for real data visualizations. Graphs comparing yearly performances would have helped illustrate his point. Prada is clearly a basketball geek—in a good way. He knows his material and made me appreciate aspects of the game that other books have addressed on a deeper level. Spaced Out is a nice complement to Sprawlball.

[Favian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The three-point shot, once chastised as a carnival gimmick, is no longer just a way to score more points. It also became valuable as a way to cause defensive chaos and indecision. Mike Prada's work highlights that it is not smallball that revolutionized the game but rather the maximization of the space within the confines of the basketball court. This happens in three steps: setup, advantage creation, and advantage exploitation. The evolution from the removal of the illegal defense and hand checking, to shooters learning to shoot faster and moving with purpose off-ball, highlights how much the game has changed over the past 20 years. The breakdown of plays and elaboration of the pros and cons of various pick-and-roll maneuvers make this a handy guidebook to refer to for those who want to see the game from a coach's perspective.

[Jacob O'connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a Miami Heat fan for 30 years now. I've seen a lot. Be it the sweet J of Glen Rice, the wishful thinking of "Baby Jordan", or the bruising relentlessness of Keith Askins, PJ Brown, and Alonzo Mourning. Not to forget the three-point wizardry of guys like Voshon Lenard, Dan Majerly, and Tim Hardaway. These days the game has changed. The occasional knuckle balls have given way to full-season rainstorms by Wayne Ellington, Duncan Robinson and Tyler Hero. I'm here for it. Miami has found a way to win with either style, and I've had a blast along the way.

Spaced Out tells the tale of this transition. The history and mile-markers that lead to this point, and it was a fantastic read. Definitely recommended to basketball fans.

[Glenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, technically only finished a third. Technical and dense. Even as a fan, it took a lot to get into, and I eventually put it down. A better medium would be documentary with highlights and telestrations - the insanely long descriptions of historic plays that actually have little consequence, just illustrate a point, is hard to follow and only of interest to the most avid student of the game.

Interesting premise, and I initially enjoyed the NBA history, just could be condensed to an Athletic article or even long form blog entry on the topic.

[Dedrick Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book for basketball fans of all kinds

This book is for anyone who wants to take a deeper dive into the world of modern basketball. I learned much while being greatly entertained!
Many misconceptions were clarified and myths debunked. Basketball today is as amazing as ever!

[Jack Meermans · Rating 5 out of 5]

While Mike Prada's knowledge over the ever-evolving game of basketball is indeed suburb (expressing it by way of play diagrams and well thought out analogies that tie the sport into real world situations and studies), it pales in comparison to the in-game intelligence displayed by Chris Smoove over the course of one of his many walkthroughs of NBA 2k my career.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prada wrote a very innovative discussion of basketball! His merge of science and sport makes reviewing concepts like zone defence and no-look passing more analytical than I ever thought possible. The diagrammatic representation of basketball mixed with anecdotes helps readers understand the intricacies of the sport. A must read for those with a grounding in basketball analytics.

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good review of how NBA basketball has changed in the last five years. This is for folks that are really into the NBA and want to see a little behind the scenes on what (and how) strategic and tactical updates have happened.

[Alex Washburn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good analysis on the changes the NBA has gone through from an offensive and defensive perspective.

[Trenton · Rating 4 out of 5]

8.8/10