Eight years of unfettered access, a keen sense of a story's deepest truths, and a genuine compassion for his subject allow Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist George Dohrmann to take readers inside the machine that produces America's basketball stars.
Hoop dreams aren't just for players. The fever that grips college basketball prospects hoping to strike big-time NBA gold afflicts coaches, parents, and sneaker executives as well. Every one of them has a stake in keeping America's wildly dysfunctional, incredibly lucrative youth basketball machine up and running--no matter the consequences.
In" Play Their Hearts Out," George Dohrmann offers an up-close and unforgettable look inside the maw of that machine. He shares what he learned from his years spent embedded with a group of talented young recruits from Southern California as they traveled the country playing in elite Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) events. It's a cutthroat world where boys as young as eight or nine are subjected to a dizzying torrent of scrutiny and exploitation. Coaches vie to have them on their teams. Sneaker companies ply them with free shoes and gear. "All-star camps" are glorified cattle auctions, providing make-or-break opportunities to secure the promise of an elusive college scholarship.
At the book's heart are the personal stories of two compelling figures: Joe Keller, an ambitious AAU coach with a master plan to find and promote "the next LeBron"--thereby paving his own path to power and riches; and Demetrius Walker, a fatherless latchkey kid who falls under Keller's sway and struggles to live up to the unrealistic expectations his supposed benefactor has set for him. As their fortunes take shape and the pressure mounts--Demetrius finds himself profiled in Sports Illustrated at age fourteen, while Keller cultivates his business empire--Dohrmann weaves in the stories of numerous other parents, coaches, and players. Some of them see their prospects evaporate as a result of poor decisions and worse luck. Others learn how to thrive in a corrupt system by playing the right angles.
Written with incomparable detail and insight, "Play Their Hearts Out" is a thoroughly unique narrative that reveals the inner workings of an American game, exposing the gritty reality that lies beneath so many dreams of fame and glory.

"From the Hardcover edition."

So you're thinking about volunteering to coach youth basketball? Great You're in for a fun, rewarding experience. Whether you're new to the sport and looking for some guidance or you're a seasoned coach hunting for some fresh tips, "Coaching Basketball For Dummies" will help you command the court with confidence.

Each friendly chapter is packed with expert advice on teaching the basics of basketball--from dribbling and shooting to rebounding and defending--and guiding your kids to a fun-filled, stress-free season. You get a crash course in the rules and regulations of the game, as well as clear explanations of what all those lines, circles, and half-circle markings mean on the court. You'll assign team positions, run great practices, and work with both beginning and intermediate players of different age groups. You'll also see how to ramp up your players' skills and lead your team effectively during a game. This book will also help you discover how to: Develop your coaching philosophyUnderstand your league's rulesConduct a preseason parents' meeting--crucial for opening the lines of communicationTeach offensive and defensive strategiesKeep your kids healthy and injury-freeEncourage good sportsmanshipMake critical half-time adjustments during a gameHelp struggling playersAddress discipline problems and handle difficult parentsCoach an All-Star or Travel team

Complete with numerous offensive and defensive drills and tips for helping your kids relax before a game, "Coaching Basketball For Dummies" is the fun and easy way to get the score on this worthwhile endeavor

This book examines the development and organization of the NBA and its clubs, how each club has performed in seasons and postseasons, and to what extent each has prospered and succeeded as a business enterprise despite competition for market share from other types of entertainment. Each chapter contains two core themes-Team Performance and Franchise Business. The former highlights how teams won division and conference titles and NBA championships while the latter analyzes and compares financial data including revenue, gate receipts, and operating income. The book also explores such things as when each franchise organized and why it joined the NBA, a brief profile of its current majority owner or ownership group, records of teams' special coaches and players, attendances at home games, and how their arenas rank as venues for fans. This book explains why particular teams located in very large, large, midsized, or small markets win more games and titles than others and when and how frequently this occurs. In addition, it provides ways to individually-and by division or conference-compare basketball franchises from a financial perspective.

A young man's journey through the Philippines' most unlikely obsession: basketball.
In "Pacific Rims," Rafe Bartholemew, journalist, New Yorker, and veteran baller, ventures through the Philippines to investigate the country's love of basketball.
From street corners where diehards fashion hoops out of old car parts to the professional league where politicians exploit team loyalties to win elections, "Pacific Rims" gets the story-and gets in the game.

Michael Clark virtually wrote the book that personal trainers all over America use to gain their certification in the field. As creator of the Optimum Performance Training system, he took personal training to a whole new level by introducing a program that could be fully customized for any sport. In this book, Clark will enable readers through his "self-assessment and design fitness system" to effectively pinpoint the weaknesses in their basketball skills and tailor a workout program that will improve on all the flaws in their game. By taking advantage of skill-specific tests, readers will be able to focus their workout time on the area they most need and will see quick results. This user-friendly guide begins with a simple five-step assessment to help you realize what your game lacks. Whether you want explosiveness off the first step, coordination and flexibility, the vertical leap, muscle strength, you'll pinpoint your deficiencies and benefit from the exact same workout that Clark uses for the NBA's biggest stars. Clark's revolutionary approach to fitness and conditioning personalizes the workouts not only by sport, but also by performance skills, and will help you become the best basketball player you can be. With customizable workouts, sets, and reps, everyone from basketball fanatics to weekend warriors can find the program just right for them, and get the extra skills to crash the boards, run the court, and power their way down the lane for all four quarters.

Howard Nathan. A. J. Guyton. Sergio McClain. Marcus Griffin. Frank Williams. Shaun Livingston. This dazzling constellation of talent helped make Peoria a prep basketball hotbed from the 1980s to the 2000s. Jeff Karzen takes readers inside the lives of the players, coaches, and others who defined an era that produced six state titles and four Illinois Mr. Basketball winners. Drawing on dozens of in-depth interviews, Karzen tells the stories behind the on-court triumphs while providing a panorama of the entire Peoria scene--the rivalries and relationships, the families and friendships, the hopes and hard work. Karzen also follows the players into their Division 1 and NBA careers and pays special attention to the pipeline that, by connecting Peoria to Champaign-Urbana, powered one of the most successful periods in Fighting Illini basketball history. Intense and intimate, Playgrounds to the Pros chronicles a basketball golden age in America's quintessential blue collar town.

Red Auerbach was one of the greatest basketball coaches in sports history. Bill Russell was the star center and five-time MVP for Auerbach's Celtics, and together they won eleven championships in thirteen years. But Auerbach and Russell were far more than just coach and player. A short, brash Jew from Brooklyn and a tall, intense African-American from Louisiana and Oakland, the men formed a friendship that evolved into a rare, telling example of deep male camaraderie even as their feelings remained largely unspoken.

Red and Me is an extraordinary book: an homage to a peerless coach, which shows how he produced results unlike any other, and an inspiring story of mutual success, in which each man gave his all and gained back even more. Above all, it may be the most honest and heartfelt depiction of male friendship ever captured in print.

A vibrant, unconventional, highly opinionated guide to the triumphs, joys, struggles, and heartbreaks of the modern era of the game, for every obsessive basketball fan who loves to hate hot takes The Joy of Basketball celebrates the meteoric rise of basketball over the last quarter century by ignoring the bland, traditionalist binary of wins or losses. Instead, the book's focus is on everything else. Using text, charts, and illustrations that upend conventional jock wisdom, the book details the most incredible players in history, draft flops, long-limbed oddballs, superteams, the international talent wave, brawls, scandals, the rapid evolution of contemporary gameplay, coaching, fashion, crime, positional erosion, tragic tales, memes, and the sacred Kardashian Blessing. Bouncing between witty graphics and keen sociopolitical observations, The Joy of Basketball is a subversive sports manifesto camouflaged as a colorful reference book for your coffee table.

Jack O'Brien is a high school basketball coach extreme in both his demands and his devotion. With monastic discipline, he has built a powerhouse program that wins state championships year after year while helping propel players to college. He does this as a white suburban guy working exclusively with black city boys who make the daily trek across Boston to attend Charlestown High School, where the last battles of the city's school desegregation wars were fought a generation ago. The Assist is a gripping, surprising story about fathers, sons, and surrogates, all confronting the narrow margins of urban life. The book follows the players on their hunt for a state title. But it also stays with them, to see how young men who seldom get second chances survive without their coach hovering over them,and how he survives without them.

As the face of the NBA's new world order, Giannis Antetokounmpo has overcome unfathomable obstacles to become a symbol of hope for people all over the world; the personification of the American Dream. But his backstory remains largely untold. Fader unearths new information about the childhood that shaped "The Greek Freak"-from sleeping side by side with his brothers to selling trinkets on the street with his family to the racism he experienced. Antetokounmpo grew up in an era when Golden Dawn, Greece's far-right, anti-immigrant party, patrolled his neighborhood, and his status as an illegal immigrant largely prevented him from playing for the country's top clubs, making his NBA rise all the more improbable. Fader tells a deeply human story of how an unknown, skinny, Black Greek teen, who played in the country's lowest pro division and was seen as a draft gamble, transformed his body and his game into MVP material. Antetokounmpo's story has been framed as a feel-good narrative in which everyone has embraced him-watching him grow up, sign a five-year supermax contract extension worth $228 million, and lead the underdog Bucks to the NBA Championship in 2021. Giannis reveals a more nuanced story: how lonely and isolated he felt, adjusting to America and the NBA early in his career; the complexity of grappling with his Black and Greek identities; how he is so hard on himself and his shortcomings-a drive that fuels him every day; and the responsibility he feels to be a nurturing role model for his younger brothers. Fader illustrates a more vulnerable star than most people know, a person who has evolved triumphantly into all of his roles: father, brother, son, teammate, and global icon. **Instant New York Times Bestseller, Los Angeles Times Bestseller, Wall Street Journal Bestseller, USA Today Bestseller, Publishers Weekly Bestseller** **Mirin Fader Selected as the 2021 Sports Media Author of the Year by The Big Lead**

Between 1972 and 1974, the Mighty Macs of Immaculata College -- a small Catholic women's school outside Philadelphia -- made history by winning the first three women's national college basketball championships ever played. A true Cinderella team, this unlikely fifteenth-seeded squad triumphed against enormous odds and four powerhouse state teams to secure the championship title and capture the imaginations of fans and sportswriters across the country. But while they were making a significant contribution to legitimizing women's sports in America, the Mighty Macs were also challenging the traditional roles and obligations that circumscribed their Catholic schoolgirl lives. In this vivid account of Immaculata basketball, Julie Byrne goes beyond the fame to explore these young women's unusual lives, their rare opportunities and pleasures, their religious culture, and the broader ideas of womanhood they inspired and helped redefine.

Let Stephen Curry, Charles Barkley, Grant Hill, Reggie Miller, and more, tell you what it was like to take the floor against one of the Greatest of All Time. With a Foreword by Jerry West, and a new tribute from the author about Kobe's tragic death. When he entered the NBA in 1996 as a high-school star from Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, Kobe Bryant faced enormous expectations. No one can deny that he rose to the challenge. Today Bryant's status as a future Hall of Fame player is assured. During his stellar career, Bryant won five NBA championships; was a seventeen-time All-Star, NBA MVP, and two-time NBA Finals MVP. He led the league in scoring in 2006 and 2007. Now for the first time, hear stories from opponents, teammates, and players about what it was like to go against Kobe in Remembering Kobe Bryant. Contributors include: Chris Webber Jeff Van Gundy Rick Barry Doc Rivers Dwayne Wade Draymond Green Giannis Antetokounmpo Russell Westbrook Carmelo Anthony And many more Kobe Bryant was the greatest basketball player of his generation-a former schoolboy prodigy whose moves are now imitated in gyms and playgrounds around the world. Remembering Kobe Bryant provides an unprecedented glimpse into what it was like to play against one of the best of all time. Skyhorse Publishing and our Sports Publishing imprint is proud to publish a range of books for readers interested in sports-baseball, pro football, college football, pro basketball, college basketball, hockey, soccer, and more, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

NBA Hall of Famer Bernard King is one of the most dynamic scorers in basketball history. King was notoriously private as a player, and rarely spoke to the press-not about his career and never about his personal life. And even beyond his prolific scoring, King will forever be remembered for the gruesome knee injury he suffered in 1985. Doctors who told him he'd never play again were shocked when he not only became the first player to return to the NBA from a torn ACL, but returned at an All Star level. In Game Face, King finally opens up about his life on and off the court. In his book, King's basketball I.Q. is on full display as he breaks down defenses using his own unique system for taking shots from predetermined spots on the floor. King talks about matching up against some of the all-time NBA greats, from Michael Jordan, Julius Erving and Charles Barkley to Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing and many others. He also tackles issues of race and family off the court, as well as breaking a personal cycle of negativity and self-destructiveness with the help of his family. Engaging, shocking, revelatory, yet always positive and upbeat, Bernard King's memoir appeals to multiple generations of basketball fans.

For three decades, Al McGuire was the heart and soul of college basketball, first as the street-smart head coach at Marquette University and later as the hoops-savvy television analyst whose unique mix of humor, candor, and uncanny insights brought a whole new dimension to sports broadcasting. McGuire was the consummate professional at whatever he did. Possessing an impeccable insider's knowledge of the game, he was able to communicate to viewers in ways that were as entertaining as they were informative. He made people laugh, he could laugh at himself, and his joy for the game and people in it made him one of sports' most enduring icons.

McGuire passed away at the age of seventy-two in early 2001 after a long illness, leaving behind a basketball-rich legacy that had its poetic qualities as well. Never was that more evident than in the 1976-77 season, when McGuire announced to his team in midseason that it would be his last year in coaching. The season ended with McGuire overcome by emotion, sitting on the Marquette bench with tears streaming down his face as the Warriors gave their beloved coach the ultimate going-away present, a national championship. Thus ended a twenty-year coaching career in which McGuire completed a 405-143 record, including a 295-80 mark at Marquette.

In I Remember Al McGuire, the legendary basketball coach and announcer is remembered by dozens of associates, who offer their favorite anecdotes, insights, assessments, and other assorted memories of a basketball junkie as quick with a quip as he was with a word of encouragement. Among those contributing to this book are his former players and assistant coaches as well as other head coaches, media personalities,friends, and associates who knew him well at one time or another in his life.

The youngest person to be voted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, "Pistol" Pete Maravich is recognized by the NBA as one of the all-time top 50 basketball players. More than 30 years after he left Louisiana State University, his NCAA scoring record still stands. He enjoyed fame, wealth, and short of winning an NBA championship, achieved every possible success. But there was a price. Pete brought a childlike exuberance to the court that often masked a tortured and confused adult. Things changed dramatically and permanently, however, when Pete found Christ. At last he experienced peace and a purpose that extended beyond the basketball court. He became an avid student of the Bible and a tireless evangelist. Tragically, at age 40, Pete Maravich died. This is the first "authorized" biography.

Comprehensive, authoritative, controversial, hilarious, and impossible to put down, this book offers every hardwood fan a courtside seat beside the game's finest, funniest, and fiercest chronicler.

For nearly five years Arthur Agee's and William Gates' remarkable lives were chronicled by a team of filmmakers. Roughly 250 hours of film were devoted to their journeys from the playgrounds to high school competition to college recruitment and -- whittled down to three hours -- it became the award-winning film Hoop Dreams. Now journalist Ben Joravsky vividly brings to light all the richness and subtlety of their stories, and the impact their aspirations had on themselves, their families and their relationships. It is an intimate look, complete with an up-to-date epilogue on the latest developments in their lives.

Today, it is nearly impossible to talk about the best basketball players in America without acknowledging the accomplishments of incredibly talented black athletes like Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant. A little more than a century ago, however, the game was completely dominated by white players playing on segregated courts and teams. In Breaking Barriers: A History of Integration in Professional Basketball, Douglas Stark details the major moments that led to the sport opening its doors to black players. He charts the progress of integration from Bucky Lew-the first black professional basketball player in 1902-to the modern game played by athletes like Stephen Curry and LeBron James. Although Stark focuses on the official integration of basketball in the late 1940s, the story does not end there. Over the past 60-plus years, black athletes have continued to change the game of basketball in terms of style, social progress, and marketability. Spanning the early 1900s to the present day, no other book features such a comprehensive examination of the key events and figures that led to the integration of professional basketball. In Breaking Barriers, these crucial steps in the history of the sport are placed within the larger context of American history, making this book an essential addition to the literature on sports and race in America.

Cumberland Posey began his career in 1911 playing outfield for the Homestead Grays, a local black team in his Pennsylvania hometown. He soon became the squad's driving force as they dominated semi-pro ball in the Pittsburgh area. By the late 1930s the Grays were at the top of the Negro Leagues with nine straight pennant wins. Posey was also a League officer; he served 13 years as the first black member of the Homestead school board; and he wrote an outspoken sports column for the African American weekly, the Pittsburgh Courier. He was regarded as one of the best black basketball players in the East; he was the organizer of a team that held the consensus national black championship five years running. Ten years after his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, he became a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame-one of only two athletes to be honored by two pro sports halls.

Using data from one season of NBA games, Basketball Data Science: With Applications in R is the perfect book for anyone interested in learning and applying data analytics in basketball. Whether assessing the spatial performance of an NBA player's shots or doing an analysis of the impact of high pressure game situations on the probability of scoring, this book discusses a variety of case studies and hands-on examples using a custom R package. The codes are supplied so readers can reproduce the analyses themselves or create their own. Assuming a basic statistical knowledge, Basketball Data Science with R is suitable for students, technicians, coaches, data analysts and applied researchers. Features: * One of the first books to provide statistical and data mining methods for the growing field of analytics in basketball. * Presents tools for modelling graphs and figures to visualize the data. * Includes real world case studies and examples, such as estimations of scoring probability using the Golden State Warriors as a test case. * Provides the source code and data so readers can do their own analyses on NBA teams and players.

Twenty-four million people wager nearly $3 billion on college basketball pools each year, but few are aware that winning strategies have been developed by researchers at Harvard, Yale, and other universities over the past two decades. Bad advice from media sources and even our own psychological inclinations are often a bigger obstacle to winning than our pool opponents. Profit opportunities are missed and most brackets submitted to pools don't have a breakeven chance to win money before the tournament begins. Improving Your NCAA (R) Bracket with Statistics is both an easy-to-use tip sheet to improve your winning odds and an intellectual history of how statistical reasoning has been applied to the bracket pool using standard and innovative methods. It covers bracket improvement methods ranging from those that require only the information in the seeded bracket to sophisticated estimation techniques available via online simulations. Included are: Prominently displayed bracket improvement tips based on the published research A history of the origins of the bracket pool A history of bracket improvement methods and their results in play Historical sketches and background information on the mathematical and statistical methods that have been used in bracket analysis A source list of good bracket pool advice available each year that seeks to be comprehensive Warnings about common bad advice that will hurt your chances Tom Adams' work presenting bracket improvement methods has been featured in the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, and SmartMoney magazine.