Christmas Day is the day when the NBA is on display with games from noon until late into the night. I, like many other basketball fans enjoyed a lot of the game action, but during some of the downtime, I started this book - and I missed a couple of the games because I was so engrossed in the book, it was that good. Here is my review of this great book on the rise of the league as an entertainment league as well as a basketball league, "From Hang Time to Prime Time."
Title/Author:
“From Hang Time to Prime Time: Business, Entertainment and the Birth of the Modern NBA” by Pete Croatto
Tags:
Basketball, professional, business, history
Publish date:
December 1, 2020
Length:
384 pages
Rating:
5 of 5 stars (excellent)
Review:
Current fans of NBA basketball are treated to not only the sport itself, with the displays of athleticism and flash provided every game, but also to a complete entertainment package whether watching at the arena or at home. The league has been the leader in many innovations when it comes to making a game an entertainment spectacle, but it hasn’t always been that way. This book by Pete Croatto is an excellent account of how the league went from irrelevance to the global phenomenon it has become.
Many people, including non-basketball fans, know about Julius Erving, or “Dr. J”, for his entertaining dunks in the 1970’s when his career was at his peak. Basketball fans, even casual ones, know that he performed at this level not in the NBA, but the rival ABA league. While that league eventually merged with the NBA because of its financial situation, the NBA wasn’t in much better shape. The league had just gone through a lengthy court battle with the player’s association over free agency with the end result being that their reserve clause was struck down. Led by commissioner Larry O’Brien (who gets a lot of credit for the state of today’s NBA by the author), the NBA not only took in four ABA franchises and now had Dr. J playing for one of their signature teams, but also started looking at how to better market themselves through television and other forms.
This was helped greatly by two of the biggest names in college basketball, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, joining the league in the same year and also joining two of the league’s most storied franchises, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers respectively, and also by the tireless work by O’Brien’s legal counsel, David Stern. Stern did a lot of legwork to get a new television contract, start the division of NBA Enterprises and oh, yes, negotiate the first salary cap in professional sports history. The stories of people who were working at NBA Enterprises in the 80’s when Bird and Johnson were joined by Michael Jordan as the faces of the league. Their stories of their long hours, the poor working conditions and the endless questions by Stern would usually make a reader cringe, but both the people interviewed and Croatto make them seem like they had the best job in the world.
If the NBA was doing better in both finances and exposure with Bird and Johnson, both of those areas saw explosive growth once Jordan came on the scene. His on-court dunks, his on-camera persona, his savvy business acumen such as his deals with Nike, and oh, yes, winning championships in Chicago, all helped make the NBA an international league. The changes in attitudes toward the skills of international players and the 1992 Olympic team were the catalysts for this change as they are covered in this book as well.
The last aspect of the growth of the league, especially for entertainment, was that it was in tune with the pop culture of the era. When the VCR gained popularity, the league started promoting recordings of highlights and family-friendly entertainment geared around NBA stars tor sale. When rap music gained mainstream popularity, the NBA was right there alongside to incorporate it into its marketing. The league was also willing to now take chances that some more conservative executives and fans may not have considered. One great example of this was allowing Marvin Gaye to sing his version of the national anthem before the 1983 All-Star game. If you have never heard it, make sure you do as it can be found on YouTube. Watching the players move to the beat is just as good as the singing.
Croatto’s in-depth research, hundreds of interviews and writing style that is so engrossing make this a book that every person interested in basketball, the NBA or the pop culture of the 1980’s should read. It will capture your attention at the start and will be one that is very difficult to put down.
I wish to thank Atria Books for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Book Format Read:
E-book (Kindle)
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