To help remedy this hole in the basketball education of young readers we have "Above the Rim: The NBA Library." This four-volume set devotes a book to the history of each team in each of the league's four divisions. Of course the selling point on the back of the volume is the greatest basketball player of all time, noting that "We can't all fly like Michael Jordan, but we can still enjoy learning about and following our favorite teams and players." Indeed, the chief value of these books is that those who are fans of Chris Webber or Ray Allen would also learn about Oscar Robertson and Jack Sikma.

Covered in "Pacific Division" are the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Phoenix Suns, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Sacramento Kings, and the Seattle Supersonics. The division was not formed until 1970, when the NBA added three teams and formed four divisions (a Time Line in the back of the book details teams moving into the division or winning the NBA title), however the history of each team goes all the way back to their origin (the Warriors and Lakers have been members since 1946, albeit in Philadelphia and Minneapolis at that time).

For each team you get a history of the franchise focusing on those seasons that resulted in an NBA championship. One nice touch about this book, written by Ted Brock, is that when it describes a team such as the Trail Blazers winning the title it talks not just about a Hall of Fame player like center Bill Walton, but also mentions power forward Maurice Lucas and guards Dave Twardzik and Lionel Hollins. If you are a fan of a particular team Brock does a good job of providing a basic history of the franchise, which includes not only the great players and teams but also the owners and coaches. I have been following basketball long enough to know that players like Clifford Ray, Lonnie Shelton, Alvin Adams, and Bob McAdoo are also important along with the superstars like George Mikan, Elgin Baylor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Kobe Bryant to the success of a team.

Of course these volumes are already outdated. Stephon Marbury was traded to the New York Knicks during the season, Rasheed Wallace won a ring with the Detroit Pistons, and the Lakers apparently will undergo a major overhaul after losing the NBA Championship. There is even a note to readers regarding the NBA's consideration of a plan to reorganized the league into six divisions of five teams for the 2004-05 season (not going to happen) and the addition of a 30th team, the Charlotte Bobcats (expect a lot of pre-draft dealings as teams try to protect their unprotected players).

"Pacific Division" is illustrated with photographs of superstar NBA players, with both black & white shots of the likes of Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West along with color shots including Charles Barkley and cover boy Shaquille O'Neal (but Chris Mullin gets two photographs, one captioned as Nate Thurmond) The back of this book includes all time team records, as well as the career leaders in points and rebounds for each franchise, and members of the Naismith Memorial National Basketball Hall of Fame from each team (Golden State and the Lakers each have 14 at this point, the Kings 13). There is also a Glossary of terms from "assists" to "small forward," along with the aforementioned Time Line, Books and Web sites for additional information about the Pacific Division and the NBA, and an Index.