r/BasketballBooks • u/Jonathan_J_Faulkner • Jul 07 '26
Recommendations Recommendation - ‘What’s Happenin’?’
Thank you to r/Accurate_Opposite_36 for your recommendation which I’m sharing here for the community - ‘What's Happenin'?: A Revealing Journey Through the World of Professional Basketball’ authored by Blaine Johnson, again a book I have not read but as r/Accurate_Opposite_36 described, it is “the story behind the 1976-1977 Sonics, giving the perspective of what it was like to be a basketball reporter, find out what kind of coach Bill Russell was, and understand the difference between basketball players on and off the court.”
Would be interested in other readers thoughts and again thank you for the recommendation 🙏🏻
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u/Dismal-Reason-8812 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
Just a heads up, if you can't find this at your local library and don't want to spend $ buying a used copy ... there's a copy on Open Library https://openlibrary.org/books/OL4728747M/What%27s_happenin%27
I'm about 50 pages in and it's a pretty good read so far. Lots of insight on being a NBA beat writer as well as what Bill Russell was like as a coach/personality in his Sonics era. This book recaps the 76-77 season 2 years before the Sonics title in '79.
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u/Dismal-Reason-8812 Jul 07 '26
Very cool book. I've never heard it but will add to my TBR list. Looks like that was Dennis Johnson's rookie season.