Kirk Goldsberry is the author of Sprawlball and one of the leading experts in basketball analytics, a booming new field that has taken the sport by storm. He has worked as the vice president of strategic research for the San Antonio Spurs and the chief analytics consultant for USA Basketball. As a staff writer at ESPN, he has written hundreds of articles about the NBA. He currently teaches Sports Analytics within the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his family.
“Beautifully illustrated and sharply written, SprawlBall is both a celebration and a critique of the 3-point shot and how teams like the Warriors and Rockets have used it to dominate basketball. Whether you come away appreciating today’s NBA even more or longing for the days of the post game and the mid-range shot, if you want to understand how the modern NBA came to be, you’ll need to read this book.” — Nate Silver, editor of fivethirtyeight.com “Lots of books tell you about the NBA. Few books, however, teach you about the NBA, and that’s what Goldsberry does here with Sprawlball, a smart and insightful (and sneakily funny) look at the way that the league has been stretched out into a free-for-all of three point shooting (a three-for-all?) and streamlined offensive attacks. Get this book. Read it. And then pretend like it was you who had these thoughts about the game when you’re watching basketball with your friends.” — Shea Serrano, bestselling author of Basketball (and Other Things) and The Rap Yearbook “Basketball has changed so much in the last 20 years. This book does an amazing job of describing where the NBA has been, where it is now, and where it’s going.” — Chris Bosh, two-time NBA Championship winner, on Sprawlball “You don’t have to be a stats geek to enjoy the ESPN writer’s new book, which pairs digestible analysis of basketball analytics with instructive data visualizations. The result is a vivid portrait of the NBA’s stylistic evolution.” — Sports Illustrated on Sprawlball “This is a fascinating read for today’s NBA fans, and the jaunty illustrations by Aaron Dana add both depth and fun.” — Booklist on Sprawlball