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performances on a basketball court, and determining who the all-time best is. Finally, after 109 years, such a
measure has been created.
This book, Heroes of the Hardcourt: Ranking Pro Basketball’s 100 Greatest Players ranks the 100 greatest
players to play professional basketball since 1946 by utilizing a scientific methodology, the Performance
Efficiency Rating (PER) System, developed by the author who is a former economics professor. This is the most
comprehensive measure ever devised to accurately measure basketball performance and answer the
question of who is the greatest basketball player ever. The PER methodology has also proven remarkably
accurate in determining the true MVP winner in the NBA for the past ten years, correctly predicting the
eventual winner the majority of the time.
Heroes of the Hardcourt, in addition to profiling the top 100 players – counting down from number 100 all the
way to number one – also provides an historical summary of the one hundred-plus years of professional
basketball in the U.S., and concludes with an analysis of the 1984 draft in which four of the best players to
ever compete were drafted. It concludes that not only did the Portland Trailblazers make a poor decision in
selecting Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan, but so did the Houston Rockets who also drafted Hakeem Olajuwon
over MJ. A knowledge of the PER methodology, the author asserts, would have created a better draft
selection then, as it clearly does now. Heroes of the Hardcourt will finally lay to rest all the debates as to who
the best players are in the history of professional basketball, and who is the all-time best.
About the Author
Keith Thompson is a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business, and possesses graduate
degrees in both Economics and Business Strategy. His professional experiences include over five years as a
Researcher and Business Analyst, and nearly a decade as a College Professor teaching Economics and
Business courses to undergraduates at Mercy College and Bronx Community College, both in New York. His
life-long research interests include accurately measuring performance, and after creating the Performance
Efficiency Rating (PER) sports methodology in 1996 to better measure athletic performance, and consult on
player draft and free-agency acquisition strategies – he established PER Sports, Inc. He is currently President
of this sports analytics-consulting firm
Keith Thompson has also written numerous freelance articles in various economic and business newspapers,
as well as a number of unpublished articles on social, financial, educational, and sporting concerns. In
addition, he has developed an extensive methodology covering two other major American professional sports
(both based on the PER system), thus underlining his comprehensive understanding of the sporting
environment. Books based on those sports are expected to be published next year in the form of Diamond
Defenders: Ranking the Major League’s 100 greatest baseball players of all-time, and Gridiron Gladiators:
Ranking the 100 greatest football players of all-time. Finally, drawing upon his strong economic and business
background, and coupling that with his extensive knowledge of sports he expects to complete a book in early
2007 entitled Play Ball: The Business and Economics of Sports in America today, to analyze the current
business environment of professional sports.
Book available at:
Amazon.com
Barnes and Noble.com
from the publisher, Authorhouse
and wherever books are sold
| Copyrighted © 1998-2007 by PER Sports, Inc. All rights reserved. |
About the Book
Upon its establishment in 1946 the NBA – via its forerunner the Basketball formed in the U.S., and the one that would outlast all the others. In addition, formed in the U.S., and the one that would outlast all the others. In addition, since 1896 when professional basketball began in Trenton, New Jersey thousands of players have competed in a pro game, and generated countless hours of debate as to who the best players are in the history of the sport. In fact, precisely 3572 players and 439 All-stars have graced the courts of the NBA fact, precisely 3572 players and 439 All-stars have graced the courts of the NBA and the iconoclastic
American Basketball Association when it was in operation between 1967 and
1976, many with spectacular – and sometimes incredible – performances. And
until now there has never been a truly scientific method of evaluating their
Upon its establishment in 1946 the NBA – via its forerunner the Basketball formed in the U.S., and the one that would outlast all the others. In addition, formed in the U.S., and the one that would outlast all the others. In addition, since 1896 when professional basketball began in Trenton, New Jersey thousands of players have competed in a pro game, and generated countless hours of debate as to who the best players are in the history of the sport. In fact, precisely 3572 players and 439 All-stars have graced the courts of the NBA fact, precisely 3572 players and 439 All-stars have graced the courts of the NBA and the iconoclastic
American Basketball Association when it was in operation between 1967 and
1976, many with spectacular – and sometimes incredible – performances. And
until now there has never been a truly scientific method of evaluating their