Basketball Books? Here’s a Review of the Best Basketball Books!

Relentless is one of the best basketball books, with legendary trainer Tim Grover using his experience with top athletes to dig deep into the killer instinct that distinguishes good players from great ones. He shows you how you can tap into the dark side of competitive intensity to lead you to a win, regardless of the cost or circumstance.

Legendary trainer Tim Grover has coached the greats, including Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, and Dwayne Wade. He has also taken hundreds of focused competitors in sports, business, and every walk of life and made them greater. Well, for the first time, Grover shares the secret to achieving total physical and mental dominance. He shows you how never to give up until you achieve what you desire.

Grover is direct, blunt, and brutally honest in explaining all it takes to be unstoppable. He talks of persevering when everyone else is giving up, thriving under pressure, and never letting your emotions weaken you. In "The Relentless 13," he talks of vital traits most intense competitors and achievers share in sports, business, and all walks of life.

Relentless is a book that will show you how to trust your instincts and get in the zone. Grover shows you how to control and adapt to any situation, find your opponent's weakness, and, subsequently, attack. What advice Grover gives is what he gives to his world-class clients. Relentless is packed with untold stories and unequaled insights into motivator aspects of our time's most accomplished and successful athletes. It shows you how even the best get better and inspires you to take action.

Pros
• Informative.
• Inspiring.
• Features interesting stories.

Cons.
• Overemphasizing.

Michael Jordan is responsible for some of the most sublime moments in sports history. These even have names, such as "The Shrug," "The Flu Game," and "The Shot." When you think of him, what comes to mind is his amazing shots at the most crucial and defining times of the game. With his body totally in sync with the ball, he would hit nothing but the net.

However, all his greatness has its darker side. He's a ruthless competitor who loves high stakes. This book is the only biography that encompasses the dual nature of Michael Jordan's character, looking deeply at him both on and off the court. Roland Lazenby has covered Michael Jordan's career in college and the pros.

This book delves into both sides of Jordan's personality, revealing the fullest and most compelling story of this man. Lazenby talks of his relationships with Jordan's coaches. Through the countless interviews with this man's teammates, friends, family members, and Jordan himself, this basketball journalist provides the first truly definitive study of Michael Jordan.

He shows you what kept Jordan going, what motivated him, his shortcomings, lowest and highest moments as a player, icon, and person. As one of the best basketball books, it will inspire you to believe in yourself and not allow the dark side of your life, such as complicated family life, to deter you from achieving anything.

Pros
• Detailed
• Well-researched
• Covers interviews with several people

Cons
• Excessive praise

The Book of Basketball is a definitive book that talks of the past, present, and future of the NBA. It's authored by ESPN's famously known "The Sports Guy." Bill Simmons, a thoroughly entertaining and wildly opinionated basketball addict. Simmons talks about the age-old question, who was the winner of the fierce rivalry between Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. He doesn't forget to talk about which team was indeed the greatest of all time.

Simmons opens and closes once for every significant pro basketball debate in this book. He further exhaustively reevaluates how NBA Hall of Fame inductees should be selected. He shows how the institution should be reshaped from the bottom-up, resulting in the pyramid;" Simmons's one of a kind five-level shrine to the ninety-six greatest players in the history of pro basketball."

To make this book even more interesting, Simmons takes fans to the heart of basketball. Through a conversation with one of the NBA's greats, he uncovers one of the most coveted things: The Secret of Basketball.

Being comprehensive, controversial, authoritative, and hilarious, this is one of the best basketball books that is impossible to put down once you begin reading it. It doesn't matter whether you're a Celtic-hater as The Book of Basketball gives every diehard fan a courtside seat next to the game's most complete, fiercest, and funniest chronicler.

Pros
• Excellent flow
• Exhaustive
• Humorous

Cons
• Costs more

This book features the inside story of one of basketball's most legendary and game-changing figures, Phil Jackson. He was head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls, and during his career there, he beat all other coaches at winning championships, recording the most wins in the history of professional sports. What's more, he never wavered from his coaching philosophy at any given time, something based on deep values.

Sportswriters tagged Jackson as the "Zen master." The nickname speaks to a lot of truth as this coach inspired people, challenging and awakening the better angels of his players' nature and choosing not to be goaded by their fear, ego, or greed.

This book features a story of a preacher's kid who grew to be one of the most creative and innovative leaders of our time.

In Jackson's quest to reinvent himself, he examined everything from Native American philosophy, humanistic psychology to Zen meditation. It's in this whole process he came up with a new unique approach to leadership based on authenticity, freedom, and selfless teamwork, stirring the hypercompetitive world of professional sports completely.

Jackson candidly talks about how his journey to success rolled out. How he discovered the secrets of team chemistry and mindfulness when he was a New York Knicks player back in the 1970S. He managed Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest player ever, and got him to embrace selflessness. What's more, he inspired hard-to-coach personalities, such as Dennis Rodman, and also transformed Kobe Bryant from a rebellious teenager to a mature championship team leader. This book is something you don't want to miss.

Jackson led his teams to the NBA championship eleven times, and these two teams boasted legendary stars. As one of the best basketball books, it shows us we don't know much when it comes to the most important lessons. In it, you'll find multiple revelations of fascinating personalities in their thirst to win. You'll also learn the sources of motivation and competition at the highest levels and what it takes to bring out the best in us and others.

Pros
• Compelling read
• Extensive.
• Captivating

Cons
• Somewhat self-centered

The Mamba Mentality: How I Play is Kobe Bryant's perspective of his life and career on the basketball court. It also features his distinctive, insightful style of playing the game and his fitting legacy as a Los Angeles Lakers superstar. Kobe, nicknamed " The Black Mamba," decided to share his vast knowledge and understanding of the game in the wake of his retirement from professional basketball.

This biography basketball book takes you through an unprecedented journey to the core of Bryant's "Mamba mentality." The book cites his obligation and opportunity to teach upcoming players, devoted students of the game, and hardcore fans to play it the right way. It delves into the mind of one of the most intelligent, creative, and analytical basketball greats.

In his own words, Bryant spills the beans on how he approached and prepared himself physically and mentally to succeed and excel at the game. You'll learn how he studied an opponent, how he played through injuries, and how he channeled his passion for the game. He also breaks down specific matchups and plays throughout his career in detail. To make the book comprehensive, Bryant pairs his detailed accounts with stunning photographs, capturing monumental occasions in his career. You'll find his very first NBA photo in 1996 and his last in 2016.

Bryant's narrative, paired with Bernstein's photos, makes The Mamba Mentality one of the best basketball books, with a look behind the curtain of one of the universe's most adored athletes.

Pros
• Revealing
• Highly inspirational
• The story is beautifully captured

Cons
• Too many photos

This is an autobiography basketball book of the legendary Georgetown University coach whose life, both on and outside of the court, threw America's unsettled fight against racial justice into sharp relief. He was not just a basketball coach, and this book covers more than just basketball. John Thompson is an iconic NCAA champion who was also a black activist and educator. After five decades at the center of sports and racism in America, he decided to make the private was made public.

Fortunately, Thompson was able to complete his autobiography shortly before his death in the summer of 2020. Chock-full of stories and going beyond mere stats, his book takes you through his life as a child under Jim Crow segregation, his successful coaching career, to the racial reckoning we see today. You'll get to hear from the man himself about his experience with Red Auerbach, a Celtics icon, and NBA Hall of Fame legends like Allen Iverson and Patrick Ewing.

Revealing more secrets, Thompson dives into his negotiations with a D.C drug kingpin in his players' orbit at one time in the 1980s. You'll also learn of his years on the Nike board.

This book features a great American story, and in its pages are words any college basketball player and anyone else would like to hear.

Pros
• Well-written
• Fun to read
• Suits children

Cons
• Some use of vulgar language