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Dave Bing: Attacking the Rim: My Journey from NBA Legend to Business Leader to Big-City Mayor to Mentor
“In this fraught time of cutthroat business and financial dealings, racial animosity, and heartless political leaders, Dave’s remarkable story has lessons for us all.” —Jalen Rose, former professional basketball player, current analyst for ESPN A narrative of chance and purpose that touches all corners of society to tell the improbable tale of one man looking for something greater. A young, Black kid from one of the poorest sections of Washington, D.C., despite being legally blind in one eye, develops into a Hall of Famer. A rookie bank teller rises to become a business leader. A once-reluctant political neophyte answers the call to become mayor of Detroit and establishes a mentoring program for Black teens that serves as a model for the nation. All of these stories belong to one Dave Bing.
In Attacking the Rim , Bing shares this multifaceted personal saga with a rare combination of modesty, moxie, and self-belief. Reflecting on his playing days with the Pistons, Bullets, and Celtics, Bing takes readers inside the exciting world of pro basketball at the moment when sensational athletes were turning a low-budget game into a high-powered, multimillion-dollar entertainment spectacle.
From inside the Detroit mayor’s office, he offers a firsthand look at the city’s monumental challenges, including debt, corruption, unemployment, infrastructure, and the daily choices between the lesser of evils. And finally, he takes us through the mentoring foundation he’s created, cutting through the red tape of charitable work to achieve fundamental change in the young men of Detroit.
Dave Bing’s story is one of unbelievable perseverance and success, and in it he shares the lessons for personal growth and excellence he’s learned along the way.
In Attacking the Rim , Bing shares this multifaceted personal saga with a rare combination of modesty, moxie, and self-belief. Reflecting on his playing days with the Pistons, Bullets, and Celtics, Bing takes readers inside the exciting world of pro basketball at the moment when sensational athletes were turning a low-budget game into a high-powered, multimillion-dollar entertainment spectacle.
From inside the Detroit mayor’s office, he offers a firsthand look at the city’s monumental challenges, including debt, corruption, unemployment, infrastructure, and the daily choices between the lesser of evils. And finally, he takes us through the mentoring foundation he’s created, cutting through the red tape of charitable work to achieve fundamental change in the young men of Detroit.
Dave Bing’s story is one of unbelievable perseverance and success, and in it he shares the lessons for personal growth and excellence he’s learned along the way.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published November 10, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 29, 2021
I know next to nothing about professional basketball, and had never heard of Dave Bing, so this was by no means an obvious book choice for me. However, I did have an interest in how a major city like Detroit could come back from bankruptcy and urban desolation, and when I heard of this book from a friend, I immediately added it to my to-be-read pile. It was also the first audio book that I read. On both the audio experience, and the book content, I was very pleasantly surprised. Dave Bing’s story was inspirational and engrossing, and I could not stop listening to it.
The first half of the book dealt with Bing’s very successful career as a basketball player. It should have been of little interest to me, but had me hooked. It wasn’t just the basketball, but the insights into his life, and the way he dealt with setbacks, that made him a success on the court and off it.
He put as much effort into his education – both formal through college and university, and vocational through his part-time work in banking – as he did into his sport. When he retired from professional basketball, he started his own company trading, and then making steel products for the automobile industry. Then came his time as mayor of Detroit, followed by his work in mentoring young boys.
At each stage in his life, he was first and foremost a team player. He expected a lot from his staff and team-mates, but even more from himself. It was never about what was in it for Dave Bing, but what was for the general good: how could this situation be improved, and what did Dave Bing need to do to make that happen? He was not a native of Detroit, but Detroit became his home and captured his heart and his loyalty. He listened and learned – even when he did not agree. He was not able to do everything he wanted to for Detroit. Time and dire financial constraints made that impossible. But, he tried. He did his best, made a lasting, positive impact – and continues to do so.
This is an inspiring story about a truly inspiring human being. If only all politicians could be even half so committed to improving the lives of their peoples.
I recommend this book to everyone – not just sports fans and politicos.
The first half of the book dealt with Bing’s very successful career as a basketball player. It should have been of little interest to me, but had me hooked. It wasn’t just the basketball, but the insights into his life, and the way he dealt with setbacks, that made him a success on the court and off it.
He put as much effort into his education – both formal through college and university, and vocational through his part-time work in banking – as he did into his sport. When he retired from professional basketball, he started his own company trading, and then making steel products for the automobile industry. Then came his time as mayor of Detroit, followed by his work in mentoring young boys.
At each stage in his life, he was first and foremost a team player. He expected a lot from his staff and team-mates, but even more from himself. It was never about what was in it for Dave Bing, but what was for the general good: how could this situation be improved, and what did Dave Bing need to do to make that happen? He was not a native of Detroit, but Detroit became his home and captured his heart and his loyalty. He listened and learned – even when he did not agree. He was not able to do everything he wanted to for Detroit. Time and dire financial constraints made that impossible. But, he tried. He did his best, made a lasting, positive impact – and continues to do so.
This is an inspiring story about a truly inspiring human being. If only all politicians could be even half so committed to improving the lives of their peoples.
I recommend this book to everyone – not just sports fans and politicos.
April 10, 2025
I think I enjoyed reading about Bing's business operation and time as mayor more than reading about his basketball career. Between the forwards and his own writing about "doing well while doing good", the tone of the entire book leans into Bing's reputation as a good guy and positive leader. That's fine, I guess. But as an autobiography goes, it lacks a lot of introspection and perhaps honesty.
For example, Bing is a hall of fame player and one of the inaugural inclusions in the NBA's Top 50 players of all time. Yet there is very little discussion in the book about the lack of team success Bing experienced in his career, despite the multiple times throughout the book that he refers to himself as a "team player". In fact, among the few times he acknowledges his lack of team success is when he is throwing multiple coaches under the bus for their lack of ability.
Or consider the role his first wife plays in the book. She gives birth to his child while she is in high school and he is off at college several states away, yet gives her no credit for allowing him to focus on his basketball career, and quickly dismisses her later in the book when he mentions their divorce, saying something to the effect of she wanted to do her own thing.
Lastly, he goes into a lot of detail about his mayoral career and the battles he fought there with several different personalities. While I personally enjoy how he goes after the awful Governor Rick Snyder, many of his squabbles retain a lot of pettiness in the book all of these years later. He may, in fact, be right in his characterizations of other politicians, and he may have done just about the best job he or anyone else could have done in that position given Detroit's financial issues and general state of disaster following Kwame Kilpatrick. But there is just a certain level of lack of accountability throughout the book that doesn't sit well with me or match up with the image of Bing that the book otherwise presents.
For example, Bing is a hall of fame player and one of the inaugural inclusions in the NBA's Top 50 players of all time. Yet there is very little discussion in the book about the lack of team success Bing experienced in his career, despite the multiple times throughout the book that he refers to himself as a "team player". In fact, among the few times he acknowledges his lack of team success is when he is throwing multiple coaches under the bus for their lack of ability.
Or consider the role his first wife plays in the book. She gives birth to his child while she is in high school and he is off at college several states away, yet gives her no credit for allowing him to focus on his basketball career, and quickly dismisses her later in the book when he mentions their divorce, saying something to the effect of she wanted to do her own thing.
Lastly, he goes into a lot of detail about his mayoral career and the battles he fought there with several different personalities. While I personally enjoy how he goes after the awful Governor Rick Snyder, many of his squabbles retain a lot of pettiness in the book all of these years later. He may, in fact, be right in his characterizations of other politicians, and he may have done just about the best job he or anyone else could have done in that position given Detroit's financial issues and general state of disaster following Kwame Kilpatrick. But there is just a certain level of lack of accountability throughout the book that doesn't sit well with me or match up with the image of Bing that the book otherwise presents.
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