Betaball

How Silicon Valley and Science Built One of the Greatest Basketball Teams in History

By: Erik Malinowski

Narrated by: George Newbern

“As lively, thorough, and engaging as the team it chronicles” (Nathaniel Friedman), Betaball is a compelling look at how the Golden State Warriors embraced savvy business practices, next generation science, and Silicon Valley’s technocentric culture not only to produce one of the greatest basketball teams in history but also to revolutionize the NBA—perfect for fans of Moneyball and The Book of Basketball.

Betaball is the definitive, inside account of how the Golden State Warriors, under the ownership of venture capitalist Joe Lacob and Hollywood producer Peter Guber, quickly became one of the greatest success stories in both sports and business.

In just five years, they turned a declining franchise with no immediate hope into the NBA’s dominant force—and facilitated the rise of All-Star point guard Stephen Curry. By operating in “beta,” the Warriors morphed into a model organization for American professional sports, instituting the best workplace principles found inside the world’s most successful corporations, and instilling a top-down organizational ethos that allows employees—from the front office to the free-throw line—to thrive.

With in-depth access and meticulous reporting on and off the court, acclaimed journalist Eric Malinowski recounts a gripping tale of a team’s reinvention, of worlds colliding, of ordinary people being pushed to extraordinary heights, and the Golden State Warriors’ chase for a second straight NBA championship during the 2015-’16 season. Betaball is “a book for fans of all sports and science, business and analytics, Silicon Valley and Wall Street, front offices and locker rooms, money and winning” (Don Van Natta Jr., ESPN reporter and New York Times bestselling author).

Excellent material, but ...

The narrator mispronounced so many of the basketball players’ names that it was very distracting. If he had ever watched a game, he would have known how to pronounce most of them.

Laughable Name Pronunciation, Wanted More Analytics

Name pronunciation was laughable.. you’d think if you were reciting a book on basketball you would research a little. I wish the story was more about the technology and analytics aspects but it was 90% a Warrior’s history book. Well written though.

Great story. Got to relive a lot of awesome moments.

Great insight into how new ownership under Joe Lacob turned this franchise from a routine playoff spectator, to a basketball powerhouse.

The narrator botches many names of popular players that can become distracting. That is the only flaw I see w/ this audiobook.

I still recommend this for any Warriors fan, old and a new alike.

Fire the narrator.

The content of the book is great! A must read for any modern NBA fan.

Unfortunately the narrator didn’t bother to learn how to pronounce any of the names.

Stephen Curry is mispronounced as STEVEN Curry!

Kyrie Irving is mispronounced KEAR-EE

Kawhi Leornard is mispronounced COW-EE

He can’t even get Kobe Bryant correct, calls him KO-BAY!

I feel sorry for the author...

This narrator messed up his book. The narrator obviously doesn’t know a thing about the NBA and showed how much of a “professional” he is by not doing any research.

I mean wasn’t someone directing the session?

Hearing STEVEN Curry a 1000 times throughout the book was like nails on a chalkboard.

Do yourself a favor and read the book. Don’t listen to this guy massacre your favorite players’ names!

Fun read!

Would you consider the audio edition of Betaball to be better than the print version?

N/A

Who was your favorite character and why?

The author.

Have you listened to any of George Newbern’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Loved it.

Any additional comments?

A really fun book to read if you like basketball and/or the Warriors.