Book Review: More Than Six Rings

More Than 6 Rings - Michael Jordan's Legacy: The case for Jordan being the greatest NBA player of all time by Matthew Damian

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is a very fun book. I am of a certain age and geographical region, so there is only one expected answer of who is the greatest Basketball Player of All Time.

Damian's book focuses exclusively on the question of 'Is Micheal Jordan the greatest player of all time?”. It is not a birth-to-retirement bio of Jordan, but an evaluation of his career, though you will definitely learn a lot about his career.

This coincides perfectly with ESPN's epic The Last Dance, which reminds us of how great MJ was. Damian points out more vividly some of the stuff from the documentary- such as what a great defensive player Jordan was and how he never backed down from a challenge.

I am very nostalgic for that era. I watched nearly every game of Jordan's second Bulls era and can still name the roster though it has been decades since. I have rarely followed the NBA with that intensity since.

Damian handles the question of “Has LeBron passed Jordan?” (or for that matter, did Kobe Bryant?). He then sets up some of the other most common names in these kind of discussions. What about the Early Legends (Wilt Chamberlain? Bill Russell?) What about the pre-Jordan superstars we all love (Bird, Magic, Dr J)? What about the Big Men who dominated the court (Shaq? Hakeem Olajuwon?) and what about Tim Duncan who dominated the post-Jordan landscape.

This is a very, fun breezy read, but also there is a lot more meat here than some of those synonyms imply. Damian knows his stuff. His knowledge is encyclopedic. He has good insight into the players and how they performed.

That said, I didn't have any expectations above what I stated above. I loved the discussion. It feels like a really good podcast or TV show. Quick, fun, insightful. You could surely write a 1000 page tome on the subject, but this is the fun barroom discussion and Damian catches that feel, and then backs it up with stats.



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