Basketball Books

FreeDarko presents The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac: Styles, Stats, and Stars in Today's Game

Bethlehem Shoals, Dr. Lawyer IndianChief, Silverbird 5000, Brown Recluse Esq.

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The indispensible, amazingly illustrated companion to today's NBA—a roundball Rosetta Stone that hilariously decodes the trends and tendencies of pro basketball.

The NBA of the moment is a league of hugely charismatic celebrities, crackling aesthetic intrigue, sociopolitical undercurrents, and raw humanity: every Kobe Bryant pump-fake or LeBron James dunk holds within it a Shaq-size load of meaning. The Macro-Phenomenal NBA Almanac is a one-of-a-kind guide to this tumultuous and exciting league. In a series of brilliantly illustrated chapters—from Master Builders like Tim Duncan to Destiny’s Kids like Amare Stoudemire to Lost Souls like Lamar Odom—the almanac breaks down the styles of the NBA’s most colorful characters, showing what each one reveals through his play and conduct, both on the court and off. Filled with some of the smartest, funniest sportswriting known to fankind, this book will cast an entirely new light on one of our favorite games.

Resilience: Faith, Focus, Triumph

Alonzo Mourning, Dan Wetzel

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Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Ethnic & National -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Resilience. It’s not just the title of Alonzo Mourning’s stirring memoir; it’s the stuff he’s made of. Whether petitioning himself into foster care as an eleven-year-old, tirelessly studying his way onto the dean’s list at Georgetown University, making it as an all-star center in the NBA, or returning to peak form after organ-transplant surgery, Mourning has shown enormous inner strength. His faith, his determination, and his courage are what have driven and sustained him throughout his extraordinary life.

In 2000, Mourning was on top of the world: He had a fat new contract, an Olympic gold medal, and a second beautiful child–all that and the fame and wealth he had earned playing the game he loved. But in September of that year, he was diagnosed with a rare and fatal kidney disease. Over the next couple of years, as his health faltered, he retired, unretired, and retired again–and sought to make sense of the rest of his life.

Finally in 2003, after a frantic search for a donor match, Mourning had a new kidney and a new outlook. He vowed to make this second chance count by dedicating his life to others. He resolved that he would consider the disease a blessing, a revelation of God’s plan for him.

Although he battled his way back to the NBA, winning a championship with the Miami Heat in 2006, Mourning believed that the most important and fulfilling part of his life still lay ahead. Basketball, it turned out, was just the vehicle that would allow him to devote his talents and energies to a greater cause.
Alonzo Mourning’s return to basketball glory, already familiar to sports fans and non-sports fans alike, has inspired millions of patients suffering from kidney disease and living with dialysis, as well as organ donors around the world. By sharing his experiences of the physical, emotional, and spiritual roller coaster of illness and recovery, Mourning hopes to deliver a message of faith and fire, hurdles and hope, trust and triumph. Resilience is a story about the meaningful everyday lessons that he longs to share and about the things that truly matter in life.

College Basketball Prospectus 2008-2009: The Essential Guide to the Men's College Basketball Season (College Basketball Prospectus: The Essential Guide to the)

Ken Pomeroy, John Gasaway

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Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Education -> College & University -> General AAS
Subjects -> Professional & Technical -> Education -> By Level -> College

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In the winning tradition of the New York Times bestselling Baseball Prospectus, the ultimate guide to college basketball.

From the brand that brought sports fans the New York Times bestselling Baseball Prospectus comes an all-new, one-of-akind, authoritative guide to college basketball. Utilizing the same unique prediction model, College Basketball Prospectus 2008-2009 applies objective knowledge, original hardhitting statistical analysis, and provocative writing to one of America’s most popular sports.

Divided into three sections, the prospectus includes essays on various aspects of the college game and the past season, previews of all thirty-one Division-I conferences, and a statistical abstract with the same cutting-edge mathematical analysis that has yielded a winning record of accurate predictions for the Baseball and Pro Football Prospectus series. For the 60 million Americans who are diehard college basketball fans, College Basketball Prospectus 2008-2009 is a slam dunk.

Fade Away (Unabridged)

Harlan Coben

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 47 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

superb reprint 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Ten years ago an injury ended his stint in the NBA without him playing one professional regular season game, but though Myron Bolitar has always thought of what could have been he uses self deprecating humor to move on and mope over what was lost to fate. He spent time as the most visible undercover FBI agent in the country (remember this is pre Plame days) before deciding to become a sports agent.

New Jersey Dragons owner Chip Arnstein wants to hire Myron to find his longtime sports rival going back to the sixth grade and the ACC, Greg Downing, who has had an illustrious pro career. The word to the media is he sprained his ankle; but on the street and in the Dragons front office Greg vanished five days ago. Using his not so honed FBI skills, Myron investigates with clues leading to a corpse, gambling, bold thirsty point shaving mobsters and a bit of everything else. Myron realizes he never came to grips with the injury that ended his career before it began.

The reprint of the third Bolitar tale (see DEAL BREAKER and DROPSHOT) is a superb story that easily overcomes the initial credibility of an owner hiring a sports agent to play sleuth due to the hero. Myron is wisecracking throughout targeting himself more so than others, but as he gets closer to finding his firmer rival, he realizes the humor hides his disappointment. This is a terrific series that holds up nicely a decade plus since its first printing as this entry affirms.

Harriet Klausner

Editorial Review:

The home was top-notch New Jersey suburban. The living room was Martha Stewart. The basement was Legos—and blood. For sports agent Myron Bolitar, the disappearance of a man he'd once competed against was bringing back memories—of the sport he and Greg Downing had both played and the woman they both loved. Now, among the stars, the wanna-bes, the gamblers and groupies, Myron is unraveling the strange, violent life of a sports hero gone wrong, and coming face-to-face with a past he can't relive, and a present he may not survive.

In novels that crackle with wit and suspense, Edgar Award winner Harlan Coben has created one of the most fascinating and complex heroes in suspense fiction—Myron Bolitar—a hotheaded, tenderhearted sports agent who grows more and more engaging and unpredictable with each page-turning appearance.


From the Paperback edition.

One False Move: A Myron Bolitar Novel (Unabridged)

Harlan Coben

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Subjects -> Sports -> Basketball -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 63 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Myron Bolitar is a hotheaded sports agent with a fierce wit, a taste for Yoo-Hoo, and a penchant for falling into jobs he doesn't want--think of him as Jerry Maguire as a reluctant private eye.  In this remarkable novel by Edgar Award-winning author Harlan Coben, Myron is asked to keep an eye on the star of the new women's basketball league who's been receiving threats on her life.  Myron takes on the seemingly innocuous task, figuring he'll pick up the star as a new client.  But soon her beauty and her quiet strength have him falling for her terrible story--the mother who disappeared twenty years before and the father who was recently discovered murdered--as he moves headlong into a case that prevails against his own better judgment, maybe to win her heart, maybe to save his own.  The answer is at the end of a narrow trail of lies, lust, and murder, where one false move can cost both of them their lives.

Combining riveting suspense, quick wit, and relentless energy, Coben proves he's at the top of his game with this endlessly entertaining and totally inescapable novel.

Coaching Youth Basketball: A Baffled Parent's Guide

David G. Faucher

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Subjects -> Parenting & Families -> Parenting -> General
Subjects -> Parenting & Families -> Parenting -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Good for beginning coaches of young children 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I bought 4 basketball coaching books for my husband when he signed up to coach our son's Kindergarten basketball team. He has never coached basketball before. This is the only book he wanted to keep. He uses it to come up with basic drills and general coaching tips. It's good. If you buy only one, I'd recommend this one.

Good book for the new coach 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I was asked to coach my son's basketball team and I didn't know much about basketball. This book got me quickly started with the key fundamentals.

Very good book for a beginner coach 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

It was my first time coaching basketball. I coached 1st graders. I coached because nobody else volunteered to do it. With that in mind this book was perfect. It has all the basics you need to understand the game and it provides planned practices according to players age.
If you are ever in my situation with little knowledge of the game and forced to coach a kids team, I highly recommend this book.

Editorial Review:

David G. Faucher shares his successful "full-participation model" of coaching youth basketball in this Baffled Parent's Guide. Faucher, the head coach of the men's basketball team at Dartmouth College, covers creating good habits, offensive skills and defensive basics, dealing with parents, first aid and safety, and game rules.

Top of the World: The Inside Story of the Boston Celtics' Amazing One-Year Turnaround to Become NBA Champions

Peter May

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

“I’m on top of the world,” shouted NBA Defensive Player of the Year Kevin Garnett after the Boston Celtics clinched their 17th NBA championship over their arch rival, the Kobe Bryant-led Los Angeles Lakers. Indeed he was on top as were his teammates as the most illustrious franchise in NBA history won their first championship in over twenty years. Peter May, who has covered the Boston Celtics for nearly 25 years for the Boston Globe and the Hartford Courant and the author of the bestselling The Last Banner- an account of the Celtic’s last championship season-chronicles the remarkable 2008 championship run of the team in green. Tracing the biggest single-season turnaround in NBA history of this storied franchise, who went from having the second-worst record in the NBA last year to the best record this year, May charts, both the highs and lows of the season. From losing out on the Number 1 and Number 2 pick in last year's draft lottery to swinging trades for future Hall of Famers, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, from compiling the best record in the NBA and winning Game 4 in the Finals with the greatest come-from-behind victory in NBA Finals history to capping off their remarkable season with the league-leading 17th championship, it’s all here. Drawing on interviews with Defensive Player of the Year, Kevin Garnett, Captain and NBA Finals MVP and captain, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Coach Doc Rivers, among others, May serves up an behind-the-scenes account of the Celtics spectacular return to glory. Finally, May will also profile one opposing player from each playoff series, including LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

Mind Gym : An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence

Gary Mack, David Casstevens

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Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Mental Health -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Mental Health -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Best one for athletes! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I have read several books on the mental game in sports and this is by far the best. I work with collegiate and professional athletes and recommend this so often that Gary Mack should send me a commission!!!

not what i expected 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

a solid read, but i was expecting a book that got more into the intricacies of sports psychology, but this book seems to focus more on your thinking off the court then on it.

Well-written and entertaining 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

If you want to read an inspiring book on the power of the mind in sports, then this book is for you. It is not too packed with information, but it underlines many of the important points in mental coaching. Great stories and examples make it an uplifting read. The only thing missing was a step-by-step instruction guide to mind management - practice makes perfect.

Editorial Review:

Drawing on his work with some of the top teams in professional sports, noted sport psychology consultant Gary Mack shares with you the same techniques and exercises he uses to help elite athletes build mental "muscle." These 40 accessible lessons and inspirational anecdotes will help you gain the "head edge" over the competition.

Wooden on Leadership

John Wooden

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Management & Leadership -> Leadership
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Management & Leadership -> Management

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Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A Wall Street Journal Bestseller

A compelling look inside the mind and powerful leadership methods of America’s coaching legend, John Wooden

"Team spirit, loyalty, enthusiasm, determination. . . . Acquire and keep these traits and success should follow."
--Coach John Wooden

John Wooden’s goal in 41 years of coaching never changed; namely, to get maximum effort and peak performance from each of his players in the manner that best served the team. Wooden on Leadership explains step-by-step how he pursued and accomplished this goal. Focusing on Wooden’s 12 Lessons in Leadership and his acclaimed Pyramid of Success, it outlines the mental, emotional, and physical qualities essential to building a winning organization, and shows you how to develop the skill, confidence, and competitive fire to “be at your best when your best is needed”--and teach your organization to do the same.

Praise for Wooden on Leadership:

“What an all-encompassing Pyramid of Success for leadership! Coach Wooden’s moral authority and brilliant definition of success encompass all of life. How I admire his life’s work and concept of what it really means to win!”
--Stephen R. Covey, author, The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People and The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness

“Wooden On Leadership offers valuable lessons no matter what your endeavor. 'Competitive Greatness' is our goal and that of any successful organization. Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success is where it all starts.”
--Jim Sinegal, president & CEO, Costco

Wooden

John Wooden

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 76 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

An Absolutely Amazing Book! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I have never heard of John Wooden until last Thursday. This book was recommended to me by two friends, as first I thought how is a retired basket coach going to give me some direction and clarity on life? WOW!!!!! Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down! I took to every word and read it in one evening (not a long read, but it makes you ponder over each sentence) and I was really sad that the book was coming to an end. It's an amazing book, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it anyone no matter where you're at in life. This is a book that I will refer back to time and time again throughout my life (I just know it!).

Editorial Review:

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"I am just a common man who is true to his beliefs."--John Wooden

Evoking days gone by when coaches were respected as much for their off-court performances as for their success on the court, Wooden presents the timeless wisdom of legendary basketball coach John Wooden.

In honest and telling passages about virtually every aspect of life, Coach shares his personal philosophy on family, achievement, success, and excellence. Raised on a small farm in south-central Indiana, he offers lessons and wisdom learned throughout his career at UCLA, and life as a dedicated husband, father, and teacher.

These lessons, along with personal letters from Bill Walton, Denny Crum, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Bob Costas, among others, have made Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections on and off the Court an inspirational classic.