Download or read book Not a Game written by Kent Babb and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-06-21 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Allen Iverson transcended race, celebrity, and pop culture and emerged from a troubled past to become one of the most successful and highly compensated athletes in the world. Babb examines what drove his successes and failures, getting behind the familiar, sanitized, and heroic version of Iverson-- the hard-charging, hard-partying athlete who played every game as if it were his last. He brings to life a private, loyal, and often generous Allen Iverson who rarely made the headlines, revealing the back story behind some of Iverson's most memorable moments, and delves deep to discover where Iverson's demons lurked. Over time, Iverson himself came to believe his own hype: that he lived in a world where celebrity is eternal and riches are everlasting.

Download or read book Hang Time written by Elgin Baylor and published by Mariner Books. This book was released on 2018 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Elgin Baylor's memoir of an epic all-star career in the NBA--during which he transformed basketball from a horizontal game to a vertical one--and his fights against racism during his career as a player and as general manager of the LA Clippers under the infamous Donald Sterling 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 spectacular, game-changing shots and dunks. With startling symmetry, Baylor recounts his story: flying back and forth between the U.S. Army and the Lakers, his time as a central figure in the great Celtics-Lakers rivalry and how he helped break down color barriers in the sport, his 1964 All-Star game boycott, his early years as an executive for the New Orleans Jazz, and twenty-two years as general manager for the notorious L.A. Clippers and Donald Sterling, spent fighting to draft and sign young, black phenoms--only to be hamstrung by his boss at every turn. No one has seen the league change, and has worked to bring change, more than Baylor. Year after year, he continued to fight and persevere against racism. At the beginning of his career, he was forced to stay in separate hotel rooms. From those days to today's superstardom, he has had a front-row view of the game's elevation to one of America's favorite sports. For the first time, Elgin Baylor tells his full story. He's played with the legends, lived with them, and knows more about the NBA than anyone living, and is finally ready to set the record straight.

Download or read book Sustain Your Game written by Alan Stein and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2022-04-12 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sports Librarian’s Best of 2022 – Sports Books​ Sustain Your Game is built upon a simple premise: each of us will always be under construction, a work in progress, and constantly evolving. The goal is to be moving toward our highest potential, toward making a meaningful contribution, and toward becoming the best version of ourselves. Based on his years as a successful basketball performance coach—having worked with and alongside superstars like Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Kobe Bryant—and a keynote speaker to major companies like Pepsi and Amex, Alan Stein Jr. brings you the keys to lasting, unimaginable success. The secret? Sustain Your Game teaches a timeline of short term to medium term to long term because we are always battling all three: stress in the now, stagnation in the present, and burnout in the long term. Part I—PERFORM is about managing stress in the day-to-day (short term) Part II—PIVOT is about avoiding stagnation in your current situation (medium term) Part III—PREVAIL is about beating burnout and making a lasting impact (long term) This book is for high performers who want to learn practical strategies and action steps on how to sustain their game across all three timelines. It assembles invaluable advice and lessons from successful athletes, entrepreneurs, social scientists, journalists, CEOs, motivational speakers, business coaches, and consultants, as well as Alan’s own personal stories.

Download or read book Rise and Fire written by Shawn Fury and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2016-02-23 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "It's hard to believe that there was a time when the jump shot didn't exist in basketball. When the sport was invented in 1891, players would take set shots with both feet firmly planted on the ground ... It took almost forty years before players began shooting jump shots of any kind and sixty-five years before it became a common sight. When the first jump shooting pioneers left the ground, they rose not only above their defenders, but also above the sport's conventions. The jump shot created a soaring offense, infectious excitement, loyal fans, and legends ... [This book] celebrates this crucial shot while tracing the history of how it revolutionized the game, shedding light on all corners of the basketball world"--

Download or read book The Book of Basketball written by Bill Simmons and published by ESPN. This book was released on 2010-12-07 with total page 754 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The NBA according to The Sports Guy—now updated with fresh takes on LeBron, the Celtics, and more! Foreword by Malcom Gladwell • “The work of a true fan . . . it might just represent the next phase of sports commentary.”—The Atlantic Bill Simmons, the wildly opinionated and thoroughly entertaining basketball addict known to millions as ESPN’s The Sports Guy, has written the definitive book on the past, present, and future of the NBA. From the age-old question of who actually won the rivalry between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain to the one about which team was truly the best of all time, Simmons opens—and then closes, once and for all—every major pro basketball debate. Then he takes it further by completely reevaluating not only how NBA Hall of Fame inductees should be chosen but how the institution must be reshaped from the ground up, the result being the Pyramid: Simmons’s one-of-a-kind five-level shrine to the ninety-six greatest players in the history of pro basketball. And ultimately he takes fans to the heart of it all, as he uses a conversation with one NBA great to uncover that coveted thing: The Secret of Basketball. Comprehensive, authoritative, controversial, hilarious, and impossible to put down (even for Celtic-haters), The Book of Basketball offers every hardwood fan a courtside seat beside the game’s finest, funniest, and fiercest chronicler.

Download or read book Three Pointer written by Łukasz Muniowski and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2020-08-07 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The three-point shot has been an NBA institution for more than 40 years, with the first long-distance bombs fired on October 12, 1979. The game has since changed dramatically. Critics today contend that three-pointers have gotten out of hand. Attempts rose from 2.8 per game in the 1979-1980 season to 18.4 in 2011-2012 to 32 in 2018-2019. Charting this development, this volume focuses on examples of 12 performances by 12 exceptional shooters--with mention of many more. Starting with Chris Ford and ending with Steph Curry, the author shows how these athletes have changed the NBA one shot at a time.

Download or read book KG A to Z written by Kevin Garnett and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-02-23 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER​ A unique, unfiltered memoir from the NBA champion and fifteen-time all-star ahead of his induction into the Hall of Fame. Kevin Garnett was one of the most dominant players the game of basketball has ever seen. He was also one of its most outspoken. Over the course of his illustrious twenty-one-year NBA career, he elevated trash talk to an art form and never shied away from sharing his thoughts on controversial subjects. In KG A to Z, published ahead of Garnett’s induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, he looks back on his life and career with the same raw candor. Garnett describes the adversity he faced growing up in South Carolina before ultimately relocating to Chicago, where he became one of the top prospects in the nation. He details his headline-making decision to skip college and become the first player in two decades to enter the draft directly from high school, starting a trend that would be followed by future superstars like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. He shares stories of playing with and against Bryant, James, Michael Jordan, and other NBA greats, and he chronicles his professional ups and downs, including winning a championship with the Boston Celtics. He also speaks his mind on a range of topics beyond basketball, such as fame, family, racism, spirituality, and music. Garnett’s draft decision wasn’t the only way he’d forever change the game. His ability to play on the perimeter as a big man foreshadowed the winning strategy now universally adopted by the league. He applies this same innovative spirit here, organizing the contents alphabetically as an encyclopedia. If you thought Kevin Garnett was exciting, inspiring, and unfiltered on the court, just wait until you read what he has to say in these pages.

Download or read book Raise Your Game written by Alan Stein Jr. and published by Center Street. This book was released on 2019-01-08 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Performance coach Alan Stein Jr. shares the secret principles used by world-class performers that will help you improve your productivity and achieve higher levels of success. High achievers are at the top of their game because of the discipline they have during the unseen hours. They have made a commitment to establish, tweak, and repeat positive habits in everything they do. Raise Your Game examines the top leaders in sports and business and proves that success is a result of the little things we do all the time. The basic principles provided in Raise Your Game are simple, but not easy. We live in an instantly downloadable world that encourages us to skip steps. We are taught to chase what's hot, flashy and sexy and ignore what's basic. But the basics work. They always have and they always will. Raise Your Game will inspire and empower you to commit to the fundamentals, create a winning mindset, and progress into new levels of success.

Download or read book Waiting for Tomorrow written by Susan Yoon and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR). This book was released on 2023-10-24 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A debut picture book for fans of I Dream of Popo, Between Us and Abuela, Watercress, and Fry Bread. Appa is coming home tomorrow after a long time away, and sisters Haejin and Hanna want to make something very special to greet his return. They spend the day preparing their favorite treat—hotteok, a brown-sugar-filled Korean pancake. But when their batter is ruined, how will they make something special for tomorrow? Julie Kwon’s illustrations are full of sweetness with a dash of eye-winking mischief, perfectly illuminating Haejin and Hanna’s everyday adventure. From warm hugs to sticky fingers, Waiting for Tomorrow is debut author Susan Yoon’s ode to the ordinary days that nourish the most special thing of all—family.

Download or read book Phog written by Scott Morrow Johnson and published by University of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2019-11-01 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Remembered in name but underappreciated in legacy, Forrest “Phog” Allen arguably influenced the game of basketball more than anyone else. In the first half of the twentieth century, Allen took basketball from a gentlemanly, indoor recreational pastime to the competitive game that would become a worldwide sport. Succeeding James Naismith as the University of Kansas’s basketball coach in 1907, Allen led the Jayhawks for thirty-nine seasons and holds the record for most wins at that school, with 590. He also helped create the NCAA tournament and brought basketball to the Olympics. Allen changed the way the game is played, coached, marketed, and presented. Scott Morrow Johnson reveals Allen as a master recruiter, a transformative coach, and a visionary basketball mind. Adolph Rupp, Dean Smith, Wilt Chamberlain, and many others benefited from Allen’s knowledge of and passion for the game. But Johnson also delves into Allen’s occasionally tumultuous relationships with Naismith, the NCAA, and University of Kansas administrators. Phog: The Most Influential Man in Basketball chronicles this complex man’s life, telling for the first time the full story of the man whose name is synonymous with Kansas basketball and with the game itself.

Download or read book Dream written by Mirin Fader and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2024-10-15 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The life and legacy of pioneering international basketball superstar Hakeem Olajuwon, a two‑time NBA champion whose Hall of Fame career forever changed the game, both in the United States and around the globe—from the New York Times bestselling author of Giannis, Mirin Fader. It’s now the norm for NBA and collegiate teams to have international players dotting their rosters. The Olympics are no longer a gimme for Team USA. Both via fans streaming from all over the globe and leagues starting in countries throughout the world, the international presence of the game of basketball is a force to be reckoned with. That all started with Hakeem “the Dream” Olajuwon. He was the first international player to win the MVP, which is hard to believe now considering the last time an American‑born player won it was in 2018. Award-winning hoops journalist Mirin Fader explores this phenomenal shift through the lens of what Olajuwon accomplished throughout the 1980s and ‘90s. Dream ignites nostalgia for Phi Slama Jama and “the Dream Shake,” while also exploring the profound influence of Olajuwon’s commitment to Islam on his approach to life and basketball, and how his devotion to his faith inspired generations of Muslim people around the world. Olajuwon’s ongoing work with NBA Africa, his status as an international ambassador for the game, and his consultations with today’s brightest stars, from LeBron James to Giannis Antetokounmpo, brings the story right up to the present moment, and beyond. Synthesizing hundreds of interviews and in-depth research, Fader provides the definitive biography of Olajuwon as well as a crucial understanding of his pivotal impact on the ever-shifting game.

Download or read book The Knicks of the Nineties written by Paul Knepper and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2020-09-22 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Knicks of the 1990s competed like champions but fell short of their goal. An eclectic group who took divergent, in many cases fascinating paths to New York, they forged an identity as a rugged, relentless squad. Led by a superstar center Patrick Ewing and two captivating coaches--Pat Riley and Jeff Van Gundy--they played David to the Chicago Bulls' Goliath. Despite not winning a championship, they were embraced as champions by New Yorkers and their rivalries with the Bulls, Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat defined NBA basketball for a decade. Drawing on original interviews with players, coaches and others, this narrative rediscovers the brilliance of the Knicks, Ewing and his colorful supporting cast--Charles Oakley, John Starks, Larry Johnson and Latrell Sprewell--in the glory days of Madison Square Garden.

Download or read book A Companion to Woody Allen written by Peter J. Bailey and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-02-19 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edited by two renowned Allen experts, A Companion to Woody Allen presents a collection of 26 original essays on the director’s films. Contributions offer a number of divergent critical perspectives while expanding the contexts in which his work is understood. A timely companion by the authors of two of the most important books on Allen to date Illuminates the films of Woody Allen from a number of divergent critical perspectives Explores the contexts in which his work should be understood Assesses Allen’s remarkable filmmaking career from its early beginnings and investigates the conflicts and contradictions that suffuse it Discusses Allen’s recognition as a global cinematic figure

Download or read book Forever Changed written by Marsha Kight and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2010-10-05 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Three years in the making, "Forever Changed" is the exclusive volume that brings together 80 survivors and family members of victims of the Oklahoma City bombing. This powerful work tells the special stories of those who died, the pain endured by their families, and the ongoing struggle of the survivors.

Download or read book Hiding Out written by Tina Alexis Allen and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-02-20 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[Hiding Out] brims with drunkenness, sexuality and urgency...a “can’t-put-down” read." — Washington Post Actress and playwright Tina Alexis Allen’s audacious memoir unravels her privileged suburban Catholic upbringing that was shaped by her formidable father—a man whose strict religious devotion and dedication to his large family hid his true nature and a life defined by deep secrets and dangerous lies. The youngest of thirteen children in a devout Catholic family, Tina Alexis Allen grew up in 1980s suburban Maryland in a house ruled by her stern father, Sir John, an imposing, British-born authoritarian who had been knighted by the Pope. Sir John supported his large family running a successful travel agency that specialized in religious tours to the Holy Land and the Vatican for pious Catholics. But his daughter, Tina, was no sweet and innocent Catholic girl. A smart-mouthed high school basketball prodigy, she harbored a painful secret: she liked girls. When Tina was eighteen her father discovered the truth about her sexuality. Instead of dragging her to the family priest and lecturing her with tearful sermons about sin and damnation, her father shocked her with his honest response. He, too, was gay. The secret they shared about their sexuality brought father and daughter closer, and the two became trusted confidants and partners in a relationship that eventually spiraled out of control. Tina and Sir John spent nights dancing in gay clubs together, experimenting with drugs, and casual sex—all while keeping the rest of their family in the dark. Outside of their wild clandestine escapades, Sir John made Tina his heir apparent at the travel agency. Drawn deeper into the business, Tina soon became suspicious of her father’s frequent business trips, his multiple passports and cache of documents, and the briefcases full of cash that mysteriously appeared and quickly vanished. Digging deeper, she uncovered a disturbing facet beyond the stunning double-life of the father she thought she knew. A riveting and cinematic true tale stranger and twistier than fiction, Hiding Out is an astonishing story of self-discovery, family, secrets, and the power of the truth to set us free.

Download or read book Basketball written by Jackie MacMullan and published by Crown Archetype. This book was released on 2018-09-18 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Inspired by a major ESPN film series, this is an extraordinary oral history of basketball—its eye-opening untold history, its profound deeper meaning, its transformative influence on the world—as told through an unprecedented series of candid conversations with the game’s ultimate icons. This is the greatest love story never told. It has passion and heartbreak, triumph and betrayal. It is deeply intimate yet crosses oceans, upends lives and changes nations. This is the true story of basketball. It is the story of a Canadian invention that took over America, and the world. Of a supposed “white man’s sport” that became a way for people of color, women, and immigrants to claim a new place in society. Of a game that demands everything of those who love it, yet gives so much back in return. To tell this story, acclaimed journalists Jackie MacMullan, Rafe Bartholomew and Dan Klores embarked on a groundbreaking mission to interview a staggering lineup of basketball trailblazers. For the first time hundreds of legends, from Kobe, Lebron and Steph Curry to Magic Johnson, Dr. J and Jerry West, spoke movingly about their greatest passion. Former NBA commissioner David Stern and iconic coaches like Phil Jackson and Coach K opened up like never before. Those who shattered glass ceilings, from Bill Russell and Yao Ming to Cheryl Miller and Lisa Leslie, explained what it really took to lay claim to their place in the game. At once a definitive oral history and something far more revelatory and life affirming, Basketball: A Love Story is the defining untold oral history of how basketball came to be, and what it means to those who love it.

Download or read book I ll Show You written by Derrick Rose and published by Triumph Books. This book was released on 2019-09-10 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 known to his family as “Pooh” 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. He and the Bulls believed the city's first berth in the NBA Finals since the Jordan era was on the horizon. Rarely had a bond between a player and fans been so strong, as the city wrapped its arms around the homegrown hero. Six years and four knee surgeries later, he was waived by the Utah Jazz, a once surefire Hall of Fame career seemingly on the brink of collapse. Many speculated his days in the NBA were over. But Derrick Rose never doubted himself, never believed his struggles on and off the court were anything other than temporary setbacks. Rather than telling the world he had more to give, he decided to show them. I'll Show You is an honest, intimate conversation with one of the world's most popular athletes, a star whose on-court brilliance is matched only by his aversion to the spotlight. Written with New York Times bestselling author Sam Smith, Rose opens himself up to fans in a way they've never seen before, creating a document that is as unflinching—and at times as uncomfortable—as a personal diary. Detailing his childhood spent in one of his city's most dangerous neighborhoods; his relationships with both opponents and teammates; the pain and controversies surrounding his career-altering injuries; his complicated relationship to fame and fortune; and his rise, fall, and reemergence as the player LeBron James says is “still a superhero,” I'll Show You is one of the most candid and surprising autobiographies of a modern-day superstar ever written.