Jim Yardley

An interesting collection of stories about a year the author spent in China following a pro basketball team. I describe this book as a collection because there did not seem to be an overarching story to connect the chapters together. There are references to the YMCA starting to teach basketball in China over 100 years ago. The author mentions that the current YMCA in China is not part of the international YMCA. There are many references to the various Chinese stars in the NBA. The ex-NBA coach, Robert Weiss, is a central character. The various players come and go. The unusual owner of the Dragons is very important to the story, but the author seems to not have much insight. The author shares quite a few stories where people call the owner crazy. One chapter goes into much detail about the transfer of Spalding's basketball manufacturing to China. The author is a Pulitzer Prize winner. Each chapter is pretty interesting by intself but I was disappointed that it did not add up to much in my mind.… (meer)