Basketball Audiobooks | Sports & Recreation

Terry Porter played 17 years in the NBA including 10 years for the Portland Trailblazers. Porter earned two all-star selections and had his #30 retired by the Trailblazers. The former first round pick is now the head basketball coach at the University of Portland. Porter talks about growing up in Milwaukee, playing for Dick Bennett and his NBA career.

Ron Barr (Author), Ron Barr (Narrator)

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Sports Byline: Mark Price

Mark Price is a 12-year NBA veteran, most noted for his shooting. A member of the Cleveland Cavaliers for nine years, he was a 4-time All-Star and two time 3 Point Shootout Challenge winner. His #25 jersey is retired by both the Cavs and Georgia Tech, his alma mater. Price discusses how the recruiting process has evolved over the years and how style of play has changed the game.

Ron Barr (Author), Ron Barr (Narrator)

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Sports Byline: Bill Walton

NBA Hall of Fame center Bill Walton, one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history, looks back on his incredible career in this 2016 Sports Byline Classic interview. He talks about his New York Times best-seller, Back from the Dead, and how he was able to overcome injuries and physical obstacles to reach basketball greatness.

Ron Barr (Author), Ron Barr (Narrator)

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Sports Byline: John Amaechi

John Amaechi is a retired NBA basketball player and the first former NBA player to publicly come out. Amaechi is regarded as "one of the world's most high-profile gay athletes." Since his playing career, Amaechi has broadcast NBA games in England and owns a consulting company. Amaechi discusses his journey from the UK to high school in Toledo, Ohio, coming out and his basketball career.

Ron Barr (Author), Ron Barr (Narrator)

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Sports Byline: Lisa Borders

Ron Barr (Author), Ron Barr (Narrator)

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Sports Byline: Tommy Heinsohn

Tommy Heinsohn is Boston Celtics' royalty as a player, coach and broadcaster. He has the distinction of being part of all 17 of the Celtics' championships, including eight as a player and two as a coach. He's a member of the NBA Hall of Fame and his #15 jersey is retired. He does color commentary for the Celtics TV coverage. He discusses his college career, NBA draft changes and his career as a coach, player and commentator.

Ron Barr (Author), Ron Barr (Narrator)

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Game Face: A Lifetime of Hard-Earned Lessons On and Off the Basketball Court

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.

Bernard King, Jerome Preisler (Author), Bernard King, Jerome Preisler (Narrator)

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Basketball (and Other Things): A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated

This book is made up of thirty-three chapters. Each chapter is a different basketball question that needs to be answered. Some of them are obviously crucial (Example: What's the Most Important NBA Championship?) and some of them are secretly crucial (Example: Was Kobe Bryant a Dork?). But all of them are approached in ways that (I hope you think) are smart and fun and nuanced. Also, you should know ahead of time that some of the pieces go a bit sideways sometimes, like the chapter that ends up just being the script of an action movie, or the other chapter that's actually just a bunch of lists and nothing else. Basketball is fun. -Shea

Shea Serrano (Author), Sean Crisden (Narrator)

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The Blueprint: LeBron James, Cleveland's Deliverance, and the Making of the Modern NBA

June 19, 2016: the greatest moment in Cleveland sports history, when the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Finals and broke the Cleveland Curse. It was the triumph fans had been waiting fifty-two years for, and it wasn't easy to get there-but thanks to LeBron James, an audacious plan to build a winning team, a couple of maverick GMs, and an incredible community of fans, it happened; and 2016 saw the birth of a new Cavaliers dynasty. But how did they get there? It was a roller-coaster ride from tragedy to triumph, one that Jason Lloyd, a longtime Northeast Ohio resident turned reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal, got to see firsthand. He was witness to the Blueprint, as he calls it, which the Cavs put together to win their star player back from Miami and build a team that could win the ultimate championship. It incorporated several losing seasons, some highrisk draft picks, and an entirely new understanding of how to build a championship team. The best part of the plan is that it worked, culminating in the most exciting Finals series in NBA history. And, most important, the end of the Cleveland Curse. Jason Lloyd, a true insider, tells the story of how the NBA really works, and how everyone-from the front office to the stars on the court to the new generation of coaches-worked together to create an unforgettable winning team. The Blueprint is an unputdownable, must-have book for every LeBron, Cavs, and NBA fan.

Jason Lloyd (Author), James Patrick Cronin (Narrator)

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Betaball: How Silicon Valley and Science Built One of the Greatest Basketball Teams in History

Moneyball meets The City Game in this compelling look at how the NBA champion Golden State Warriors embraced savvy business practices, next-gen science, and the corporate culture of Silicon Valley to not only produce one of the greatest basketball teams in history but also revolutionize the NBA. Discover the definitive, inside account of how the Warriors, under the leadership of venture capitalist Joe Lacob and Hollywood producer Peter Guber, quickly became one of the most remarkable success stories ever, both in sports and business. In just five years, they turned a declining franchise with no immediate hope into one of the greatest teams in basketball, a period that included the rise of All-Star point guard Stephen Curry and two NBA championships in the past three years. By operating in "beta"-always innovating, unafraid to embrace change, encouraging risk-the Warriors have become a model organization for American professional sports, instituting the best workplace principles found inside the world's most successful corporations and instilling a top-down organizational ethos that allows their employees to thrive, from the front office to the free-throw line. With in-depth access and meticulous reporting on and off the court, acclaimed journalist Erik Malinowski recounts a gripping tale of worlds colliding, a team's reinvention, ordinary people being pushed to extraordinary heights, and the Golden State Warriors' unending quest to remain the best.

Erik Malinowski (Author), George Newbern (Narrator)

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Golden Days: West's Lakers, Steph's Warriors, and the California Dreamers Who Reinvented Basketball

The bestselling author of Dream Team tells the interconnected stories of the NBA champion Golden State Warriors and the early-1970s Los Angeles Lakers, two extraordinary teams playing in extraordinary times and linked by one extraordinary man: Jerry West. During their 1971-72 championship season, the L.A. Lakers won thirty-three games in a row, a streak that still stands as the longest and greatest in the history of American professional sports. It was a run of uninterrupted dominance that predated by decades the overwhelming firepower of today's Warriors, a revolutionary team whose recent seasons include some record-threatening win streaks of their own. In Golden Days, acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum uses these two teams-the Jerry West/Wilt Chamberlain/Elgin Baylor Lakers and the Stephen Curry/Kevin Durant/Draymond Green Warriors-to trace the dynamic history of the National Basketball Association, which for much of the last half-century has marched memorably through the state of California. Tying together the two strands of McCallum's story is Hall of Famer West, the ferociously competitive Laker guard who later became one of the key architects of the Warriors. With "the Logo" as his guide, McCallum takes us deep into the locker rooms and front offices of these two era-defining teams, leveraging the access and authority he has amassed over his forty-year career to create a picture of the cultural juggernaut that the NBA has become. Featuring up-close-and-personal portraits of some of the biggest names in basketball history, from the larger-than-life Wilt Chamberlain to the innovative Warriors coach Steve Kerr to the transcendent duo of Curry and Durant, Golden Days is a history, not just of a changing sport, but a changing America, as seen through the prism of two teams that ruled the league during times of violence and political turmoil-the Charles Manson murders and the athlete-activist in the age of Trump among the narrative backdrops. In the end, McCallum's book leaves an indelible portrait of West, the man who lived, played, and worked through it all-and who remains, on the cusp of his eightieth birthday, one of the most vital, complicated, and compelling figures in all of sports. Advance praise for Golden Days "With his classic eye for detail and deadpan wit, Jack McCallum connects two of the greatest teams in sports history through the endlessly fascinating persona of Jerry West. McCallum manages to unearth new details about some of the giants of the game, while shining a light on overlooked figures such as Elgin Baylor, delivering an original, fascinating, and breezy read."-Zach Lowe, senior writer, ESPN "I spent some of the 2016-17 season working as a consultant for the Golden State Warriors, but even I didn't know every detail of how this championship team came together. Golden Days breaks that all down and shows how the Warriors have revolutionized basketball."-Steve Nash, two-time MVP

Jack McCallum (Author), Jack McCallum (Narrator)

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How To Coach Girls’ High School Basketball: A Quick Guide on Coaching High School Female Basketball

Learn how to coach high school girls’ basketball from an expert. Author Shane Reinhard majored in education with a double minor in coaching and physical education. In addition to his teaching background, he has real life experience coaching girls' basketball at the high school level. How to Coach Girls’ High School Basketball goes beyond the expected facets of high school sports coaching – the teaching of rules, skills, and strategy – and discusses the finer points of managing the most important resource on your team: the people. How to Coach Girls’ High School Basketball discusses improving basketball skill development with your team, including ball handling, shooting, defense, and strategy. You’ll learn the importance of encouraging bonding with your team, and why discouraging negative hierarchies among your team members will benefit the whole team. Other topics covered in this book include: • Illuminates the positive and negative realities of coaching girls’ basketball at the high school level. • Talks about how your team should spend time not just on the court, but off court together, too. • Reiterates trust in a team dynamic to create healthy relationships amongst your players, staff, etc. • Communicates the significance of staying consistent with all your players, if problems ever arise. • Recommends that coaches look at all angles when dealing with issues involving the team. • Gives ideas for how to deal with confrontation. • Describes the importance of constant learning as a coach. • Illustrates the impact you could have as a coach teaching life lessons to your team. About the Expert Shane Reinhard graduated from Weber State University with a B.A. in Education, majoring in English and dual minoring in Physical Education and Coaching. HowExpert publishes quick 'how to' guides on all topics from A to Z by everyday experts.

Howexpert, Shane Reinhard (Author), Campy (Narrator)

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Basketball Audiobooks in Sports & Recreation