Adding Jayson Williams Loose Balls estimated read date, today, 01/12/2023. I do not remember it, except that I did not enjoy it.

I love basketball, and its great to hear firsthand knowledge of what goes on on and off the court. Amusing stories, but really, if you're not a sports fan. Don't worry about this book.

Read this book years ago. Mostly I remember how remarkable it was that Williams was a grandfather at such a young age. Not my favorite former NBA player memoir.

Even though this book is technically an episodic confessional about ‘90s era basketball, this is a comedy book in spirit. There are hundreds (maybe even a thousand overall?) of observations, opinions, and non-linear anecdotes throughout and each has its own punchline. It’s practically a stand-up routine in book form.

“[Clifford Ray, assistant coach with the Nets] told me one time he was doing this woman and he had her in the bathroom of his hotel room. He said, ‘I was doing her from behind. I had one foot in the toilet bowl and I had the other foot in the bathtub and I was flicking on and off the lights and flushing the toilet.’

When he was telling me this, I’m thinking, What the hell?

He said, ‘That was my action of thunder, lightning, and rain.’” (p. 48)

There’s an adage out there that goes something like, “The more you get to know someone, the more likely you’ll like them.” And I think that applies to this book. Other than Jayson Williams accidentally murdering someone after the book’s publication, I didn’t know much about him. His personality (opinionated; fast-talking) is extremely likable. Autobiographical books can be so stilted and bland and this wasn’t. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him actually speak before, but they were able to capture a distinct voice in this book. It was impressive.

“The same people who are complaining about athletes’ big salaries are the ones who are screaming about how this is a free country, how entrepreneurs are so great.” (p. 87)

The book is front-loaded and back-loaded with the best stories, imo. But a fatigue set in during the middle portion of the book. I stopped reading it for almost two months. The constant string of brief anecdotes became tiring after awhile— a redundancy set in. When he finally started sharing details (myths?) about his childhood with 50 pages left to go, patience felt rewarded. (His dad fought a gorilla for money? What?)

“Now if people want to get wild and throw a party, get crazy, they have to come do it at my house. I’m not always an angel. But if I’m a devil at home, no one gets hurt.” (p. 140) Talk about a sentence that didn’t hold up through the passage of time.

The book is broken into small vignettes about Jayson William’s personal life and NBA career. He spoke on many tragic and sad situations in his on life and injected levity when he could and where appropriate. Each story is complete and with he classic joking style.

funny, but then my opinion changed after he shot his chaffeur.

The writing is not always perfect, but there are a lot of laughs in this book and it is easy to read.

this book was okay. I personally liked it as a small-time reading option, because it is made up of short stories. this book is about Jayson Williams' life and everything in between that category. Many of the stories about the NBA Basketball player's life dealt with family, vacations, players, and contracts. It is a very good book if you want to read small sections at a time and skip around.

What a strange concept! Chapters are organized around smaller headers with a few paragraphs each, rather like notes on index cards for a speech. It makes the reading very jumbled. He starts off funny and insightful, like a fun cocktail party guest, but as we go on, the stories get slightly darker, with red flags appearing around violence and his temper. His career appears to run into some dead ends and his initial promise ultimately peters out. I would have liked to see more of his father's viewpoint as he would have been an good counterpoint. I wonder if his editor could not make a coherent story out of his life or if he wanted it to be like a one man show? He alternates between "funny" stories and observations so his true nature gets a bit lost in this.

Insightful Look at Life and Basketball

Funny, frank, and very personal look at basketball in the 1990s era. I thoroughly enjoyed the little stories he told and his complete honesty with his failures as well as successes. A good book that I recommend for all

Loose Balls was a pretty good book. It is good to know what actually happens in the NBA. Sometimes you see people that are famous acting very well, when they're in the limelight. When you think of basketball you think of Lebron James or Steph Curry, you don't really think about the people that only play a little bit. And sometimes those are the people that have the greatest stories. This book is about a basketball player that just retired. He is telling about his experiences in the NBA and around the NBA. I think it's a pretty good book, because it shines a light in places that you would usually never think about. Like the parties that they have or the time that the players spend with each other. The way I took this book is like a high school for older men. They hangout with their friends all the time, and they get to spend the whole day playing the game of basketball. With like 2 or 3 games a week. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a good read, and wants to know more about the game of basketball.

I loved it... I met Jayson in prison. And one of the first things he said to me was, "Do you read, would you like to read my book?" And I told him, "Man, you aint write no book..." And he countered, "Sure I did it's called LOOSE BALLS..." And he pulled it out his back pocket like a commercial.

It's a funny, personal, and moving page-turner. READ IT!