Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac: Styles, Stats, and Stars in Today's Game »

FreeDarko is a collective of like-minded NBA writers and artists whose blog has become a staple of basketball fandom on the Internet. More a movement than a self-contained website, it had a regular spot on the McSweeney's site and is frequently called on by Deadspin.com to provide guest NBA coverage. Bethlehem Shoals, its chief operative, is a regular contributor to SportingNews.com and SLAM, and has published basketball-related writing in Spin, Slate, and Chicago Sports Weekly.

The indispensible, amazingly illustrated companion to today's NBA—a roundball Rosetta Stone that hilariously decodes the trends and tendencies of pro basketball.

The NBA of the moment is a league of hugely charismatic celebrities, crackling aesthetic intrigue, sociopolitical undercurrents, and raw humanity: every Kobe Bryant pump-fake or LeBron James dunk holds within it a Shaq-size load of meaning. The Macro-Phenomenal NBA Almanac is a one-of-a-kind guide to this tumultuous and exciting league. In a series of brilliantly illustrated chapters—from Master Builders like Tim Duncan to Destiny’s Kids like Amare Stoudemire to Lost Souls like Lamar Odom—the almanac breaks down the styles of the NBA’s most colorful characters, showing what each one reveals through his play and conduct, both on the court and off. Filled with some of the smartest, funniest sportswriting known to fankind, this book will cast an entirely new light on one of our favorite games.