Sports Basketball

Pistol is more than the biography of a ballplayer. It's the stuff of classic novels: the story of a boy transformed by his father's dream and the cost of that dream. Even as Pete Maravich became Pistol Pete, a basketball icon for baby boomers, all the Maraviches paid a price. Now acclaimed author Mark Kriegel has brilliantly captured the saga of an American family: its rise, its apparent ruin, and, finally, its redemption.

Are you new to basketball or have never coached a youth team before? Are you unsure of what to do during practice or how to manage a team during a game? Are you dealing with a loudmouth parent on your team that is a bad example of sportsmanship? 50 Things to Know About Coaching Youth Basketball by Aaron Reynolds offers an approach to coaching youth sports for first-time coaches, or parents new to the game that were “volunteered” to lead the team.

In 2012, Derrick Rose was on top of the world. After growing up in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood, Rose achieved an improbable childhood dream: being selected first overall in the NBA draft by his hometown Chicago Bulls. The point guard was a phenom, winning the Rookie of the Year award and electrifying fans around the world. In 2011, he became the youngest MVP in league history. Rarely had a bond between a player and fans been so strong, as the city wrapped its arms around the homegrown hero.

He is perhaps most well-known for being exiled from the league for praying—instead of standing and saluting the flag–during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before games throughout the 1995-96 season. Abdul-Rauf’s protest sent shockwaves through the NBA that can still be felt today. With wit and candor, Abdul-Rauf tells the story of how he rose to the top of his game—only to have his career taken away in the blink of an eye when he stood up for his principles.

The 1980s were a transformative decade for the NBA. Since its founding in 1946, the league had evolved from a bruising, earthbound game of mostly nameless, underpaid players to one in which athletes became household names for their thrilling, physics-defying play. The 1987–88 season was the peak of that golden era, a year of incredible drama that featured a pantheon of superstars in their prime—the most future Hall of Famers competing at one time in any given season—battling for the title, and for their respective legacies.

From acclaimed New York Times Magazine author Michael Sokolove, the astonishing inside story of the epic corruption scandal that has rocked the NCAA and exposed the rot and hypocrisy at the heart of big-time college sports.

For Mike Krzyzewski, head coach of the Duke University men's basketball team, certain words have special importance and force. Coach K uses them every day to energize, motivate, and teach his players how to be winners on the court and in every aspect of their lives. Now, in Beyond Basketball, he offers 40 short, hard-hitting audio essays that will educate and inspire. Each is centered on an important keyword and illustrated with anecdotes from his personal experiences.

In Erik Spoelstra: The Inspiring Life and Leadership Lessons of One of Basketball's Greatest Coaches, you will learn the story of one of basketball's premier coaches, Erik Spoelstra. In his tenure as the head coach of the Miami Heat, Spoelstra has been responsible for guiding the Heat to four NBA Finals appearances and two NBA Championships. He is most known for coaching the Heat during the Big Three era of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh.

Meet the man who changed the game forever. Michael Jordan has always been competitive - even as a young boy, he fought for attention. His need to be the best made him a star player on his college basketball team and helped him become an NBA legend, both for his skills and his endorsements. His Nike contract for Air Jordan basketball shoes set an unmatched precedent for professional athletes. Author Kirsten Anderson takes listeners through each exciting moment, detailing the iconic reverse lay-ups and jump shots of Michael Jordan's storied career.

Get ready to teach your little basketball player how to bounce back from mistakes with "Rookie Baller". This heartwarming basketball tale follows Rookie Baller as the ball bounces off his foot during his first school basketball game. With the guidance of Coach Swish, Rookie Baller learns that mistakes are an inevitable part of the learning process. But with determination and practice, he can improve and reach new heights on the basketball court.

Are you a beginner coach looking for drills for your next practice? Or a time-strapped volunteer parent coach? Coaching from the Base Up consults experts, such as Dell Curry, Brian McCormick, Bob Bigelow, and more to share paradigm-shifting ideas, drills, and practice plans.

The Sixers won 65 games and an NBA championship in 1982-83, still one of the finest seasons in NBA history. It was Moses Malone who, in the days before the playoffs, gave the team its battle cry. Asked by coach Billy Cunningham how he thought things would go in the playoffs, Moses said, "Fo’, fo’, fo’,” - meaning, in Moses' shorthand, that he expected the Sixers to sweep each of the three series they would need to play in order to win a championship.

Mind Games follows the journey of Phil Jackson to the top of basketball’s coaching hierarchy, a rise that took him from obscurity in the Continental Basketball Association to nine championship rings in the NBA. Along the way he turned multimillionaire players on to meditation, transformed the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls from a one-man show to a five-man team of domination, and after battling with Bulls management, ended one dynasty to start another on the West Coast.

For 40 years, Dean Smith coached the University of North Carolina basketball team with unsurpassed success. Now, in The Carolina Way, he explains his coaching philosophy and shows listeners how to apply it to the leadership and team-building challenges they face in their own lives.

People think of Elgin Baylor as one of the greatest basketball players in the history of the game - and one of the NBA's first Black superstars - but the full extent of his legacy stretches beyond his game-changing jump shots and dunks. Baylor recounts his story: flying back and forth between the US Army and the Lakers, how he helped break down color barriers in the sport, his 1964 All-Star game boycott, and 22 years as general manager for the notorious LA Clippers and Donald Sterling, spent fighting to draft and sign young, Black phenoms - only to be hamstrung by his boss.

One of the most exciting teams in the NBA, the Dallas Mavericks have taken the sports world by storm. Now readers and fans will finally get the chance to hear the stories and witness the action that defines the powerhouse team that captured the 2011 NBA title.In this newly updated edition of Tales from the Dallas Mavericks Locker Room, Jaime Aron brings all the power and passion of the Dallas Mavericks recent glory years to life.

Deep in the heart of Northern Arizona, in a small and isolated patch of the vast 17.5 million-acre Navajo reservation, sits Chinle High School. Here, basketball is passion, passed from grandparent to parent to child. Celebrated Times journalist Michael Powell brings us a narrative of triumph and hardship, a moving story about a basketball team on a Navajo reservation that shows how important sports can be to youths in struggling communities, and the transcendent magic and painful realities that confront Native Americans living on reservations.

Pat Summitt, the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history and best-selling author of Reach for the Summitt and Raise the Roof, tells for the first time her remarkable story of victory and resilience as well as facing down her greatest challenge: early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Pat Summitt was only 21 when she became head coach of the Tennessee Vols women's basketball team. For 38 years, she has broken records, winning more games than any NCAA team in basketball history.

As the crack epidemic swept across inner-city America in the early 1980s, the streets of Baltimore were crime ridden. For poor kids from the housing projects, the future looked bleak. But basketball could provide the quickest ticket out, an opportunity to earn a college scholarship and perhaps even play in the NBA. Dunbar High School had one of the most successful basketball programs, not only in Baltimore but in the entire country, and in the early 1980s, the Dunbar Poets were arguably the best high school team ever.

When a group of private equity bigwigs purchased the Philadelphia 76ers in 2011, the team was both bad and boring. Attendance was down. So were ratings. The Sixers had an aging coach, an antiquated front office, and a group of players that could best be described as mediocre. Enter Sam Hinkie - a man with a plan straight out of the PE playbook, one that violated professional sports' Golden Rule: You play to win the game.