Boys Among Men

How the Prep-to-Pro Generation Redefined the NBA and Sparked a Basketball Revolution

By: Jonathan Abrams

Narrated by: Mirron Willis

Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

When Kevin Garnett shocked the world by announcing that he would not be attending college - as young basketball prodigies were expected to do - but instead would enter the 1995 NBA draft directly from high school, he blazed a trail for a generation of teenage basketball players to head straight for the pros. That trend would continue until the NBA instituted an age limit in 2005, requiring all players to attend college or another developmental program for at least one year. Over that decade-plus period, the list of players who made that difficult leap included some of the most celebrated players of the modern era: Garnett, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Tracy McGrady, and numerous others. It also included notable "busts" who either physically or mentally proved unable to handle the transition. But for better or for worse, the face of the NBA was forever changed by the prep-to-pro generation.

In compelling, masterfully crafted prose, Boys Among Men goes behind the scenes and draws on hundreds of firsthand interviews to paint insightful and engaging portraits of the most pivotal figures and events during this time.

©2016 Jonathan Abrams (P)2016 Tantor

good backstory of high school players going to NBA

always wondered what things these high school players experienced when deciding to jump to NBA.

Good book weird narrator.

What didn’t you like about Mirron Willis’s performance?

It's like the narrator doesn't know anything about basketball. He constantly mispronounces some very well known people's names.

A Basketball Nerd's Dream

This book is an amazing look at how the NBA has been shaped by teenagers. I loved the details on the players families and upbringings. If

Great book

Great story and very well written book. However the narrator wasn't very good in my opinion. He mispronounced a lot of names.

Names mispronounced

Great writing but the audio performance is distracting with the mispronunciations of many of the well-known names of the basketball words and the word "phenom."

name mispronunciations are rough

Would you consider the audio edition of Boys Among Men to be better than the print version?

i didn't read the print version.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I'm a knicks fan, so any mention of the knicks

How did the narrator detract from the book?

mispronouncing so many names!

Great book. Narrator needs work

Would you be willing to try another one of Mirron Willis’s performances?

No.

Any additional comments?

If you're reading a book that is 100% directed at basketball super fans, you should probably have a narrator who is at least somewhat familiar with basketball. It might seem knit-picky, but some of the mispronunciations of very famous basketball personalities was really distracting. Jonathan Abrams wrote a really good book, I feel like the narrator did him a big disservice by not doing his homework.

Poor reading

The reader was monotonous and mispronounced several words and names. It should have been more colorful and he should have learned how to pronounce players' names.

Bad pronunciation

It was well read, but the pronunciation of names was egregious. There should have some phonetics or have someone who actually watches basketball read the book.

The content was great but...

If you could sum up Boys Among Men in three words, what would they be?

I love the NBA! I love reading about the NBA and getting behind the scenes and insight into that world and this book does that really well. Hearing a more indepth story into why Kwame Brown was a 'bust' gives the reader a new perspective on these 'bust' and why it happened to some and not others.

The bad... well the narration was meh. While he read fine and his voice was fine it was the mispronouncing of names that just grated at me. Every time he mispronounced a name I was yelling out the correction. It really was irksome. At one point I was like who the heck was he talking about when he was talking about Jerry Krause and pronounced it "Krauza". Did no one in the recording booth not know how to say the names in the book? Did the author not get a listen before it was sent out into the world? When he talked about Damon Stoudamire it was mispronounce but he said Amare' Stoudamire's last name just fine? Dick Vitale was made to sound even more italian and the list goes on. How did this get through? How did no one say you say "No, you say it like this or that?"

Bottom line the content of the book is great but the execution of the audio left a lot to be desired.

What other book might you compare Boys Among Men to and why?

Bill Simmons' The Book of Basketball

What three words best describe Mirron Willis’s voice?

Mellow, smooth and clear

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I could have if i had the time to do so.

Any additional comments?

The book was great. The reading overall was good just the name thing really became bothersome.