This guide to basketball is designed for girls and boys who are keen to discover more about the fast-moving game. It covers all the essential information a young enthusiast needs, from the rules, equipment and officials, to team tactics. There are more than 200 detailed photographs of young players. They demonstrate the basic techniques of passing and catching, dribbling and shooting, as well as the advanced aspects of these skills, such as changing hands and close-up shots. Further information on pivoting, rebound play and defending is also provided.

A legendary NBA player shares his remarkable story, infused with hard-earned wisdom about the journey to self-mastery from a life at the highest level of professional sports Chris Bosh, NBA Hall of Famer, eleven-time All-Star, two-time NBA champion, Olympic gold medalist, and the league’s Global Ambassador, had his playing days cut short at their prime by a freak medical condition. His extraordinary career ended “in a doctor’s office in the middle of the afternoon.” Forced to reckon with moving forward, he found himself looking back over the course he'd taken, to the pinnacle of the NBA and beyond. Reflecting on all he had learned from a long list of basketball legends, from LeBron and Kobe to Pat Riley and Coach K, he saw that his important lessons weren’t about basketball so much as the inner game of success—right attitude, right commitment, right flow within a team. Now he shares that journey, giving us a view from the inside of what greatness feels like and what it takes. Letters to a Young Athlete offers a proven path for taming your inner voice and making it your ally, through the challenges of failure and success alike.

Basketball’s New Wave gives readers a front-row seat to this transition from one generation to the next, with pages full of information about these players, where they came from, and what makes them stand out.

Explores the trend of teenage basketball stars skipping college and making the transition to playing professionally, resulting in the 2005 age limit instituted by the NBA, mandating that all players must attend college or another developmental program for at least a year.

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.

Meet Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers' young basketball prodigy and the heir apparent to the great Michael Jordan himself. Here, for the first time, is the whole story of this incredible athlete--how he became the great person and incredible gifted, driven player he is today. Follow Kobe's life from growing up as the son of an NBA player through his decision to turn pro at 17, his rookie season, the All-Star Game, and his amazing second year in the pros. A must for every fan, Kobe includes eight pages of color photos, personal stats, and the rising star's career records.

"The inspirational story of the most talented high-school basketball team ever and the dedicated coach who gave his players a lifetime opportunity by insisting on success"--