Basketball Audiobooks | Sports & Recreation

Coach Wooden and Me: Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar explores his 50-year friendship with Coach John Wooden, one of the most enduring and meaningful relationships in sports history. When future NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was still an 18-year-old high school basketball prospect from New York City named Lew Alcindor, he accepted a scholarship from UCLA largely on the strength of Coach John Wooden's reputation as a winner. It turned out to be the right choice, as Alcindor and his teammates won an unprecedented three NCAA championship titles. But it also marked the beginning of one of the most extraordinary and enduring friendships in the history of sports. In COACH WOODEN AND ME, Abdul-Jabbar reveals the inspirational story of how his bond with John Wooden evolved from a history-making coach-player mentorship into a deep and genuine friendship that transcended sports, shaped the course of both men's lives, and lasted for half a century. COACH WOODEN AND ME is a stirring tribute to the subtle but profound influence that Wooden had on Kareem as a player, and then as a person, as they began to share their cultural, religious, and family values while facing some of life's biggest obstacles. From his first day of practice, when the players were taught the importance of putting on their athletic socks properly, to gradually absorbing the sublime wisdom of Coach Wooden's now famous "Pyramid of Success"; to learning to cope with the ugly racism that confronted black athletes during the turbulent Civil Rights era as well as losing loved ones, Abdul-Jabbar fondly recalls how Coach Wooden's fatherly guidance not only paved the way for his unmatched professional success but also made possible a lifetime of personal fulfillment. Full of intimate, never-before-published details and delivered with the warmth and erudition of a grateful student who has learned his lessons well, COACH WOODEN AND ME is at once a celebration of the unique philosophical outlook of college basketball's most storied coach and a moving testament to the all-conquering power of friendship. **Contact Customer Service for Additional Material**

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Author), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Narrator)

Audiobook

Golden: The Miraculous Rise of Steph Curry

The incredible and inspiring story of Stephen Curry, the greatest shooter basketball has ever seen, and the ascension of the Golden State Warriors, a team on the verge of being an NBA dynasty, by long-time Warriors beat reporter and Bay Area News Group sports columnist Marcus Thompson. When it comes to Stephen Curry-point guard for the Golden State Warriors and reigning MVP of the NBA-journalists, fans, and sports analysts are running out of ways to say "wow." Deemed too small and too short at 6'3 and 180 pounds by NBA coaches around the league, Curry has taken the game back from the bigger men who usually dominate the court. With his incredible shooting ability that started a "three-point revolution" he led the Warriors to seventy-three wins in the 2015-2016 season, beating out Michael Jordan and the 1996 Chicago Bulls' long-time record. Told by Marcus Thompson, a lifelong Warriors insider who has been reporting on the team for twelve seasons, Golden is the definitive story of this singular talent. Thompson explores this all-star player, his love for the game and his team, and his close-knit and supportive family-including his Instagram celebrity chef wife Ayesha and adorable young daughters. From avid fans to newcomers of the sport, Curry has become a role model for both children and aspiring players everywhere. And he leads the ultimate team, a collection of talent and personalities that complement Curry's game and push him to heights no one ever imagined for a kid from Davidson or this beleaguered franchise. These Warriors have carved out their place in history as one of the most memorable and transformative the NBA has ever seen. And they are led by a superstar who has solidified his place among the greats.

Marcus Thompson (Author), Caz Harleaux (Narrator)

Audiobook

Return of the King: LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Greatest Comeback in NBA History

The inside story of LeBron James's return and ultimate triumph in Cleveland. What really happened when LeBron James stunned the NBA by leaving a potential dynasty in Miami to come home to play with the Cleveland Cavaliers? How did the Cavs use secret meetings to put together the deal to add star Kevin Love? Who really made the controversial decision to fire coach David Blatt when the team was in first place? Where did the greatest comeback in NBA history truly begin-and end? RETURN OF THE KING takes you onto the private planes, inside the locker-room conversations, and into the middle of the intense huddles where one of the greatest stories in basketball history took place, resulting in the Cavs winning the 2016 NBA title after trailing the Golden State Warriors three games to one. You'll hear from all the characters involved: the players, the executives, the agents, and the owners as they reveal stories never before told. Get the background on all the controversies, the rivalries, and the bad blood from two reporters who were there for every day, plot twist, and social media snafu as they take you through the fascinating ride that culminated in a heart-stopping Game Seven.

Brian Windhorst, Dave McMenamin (Author), Brian Windhorst, Dave McMenamin (Narrator)

Audiobook

Game Changers: Dean Smith, Charlie Scott, and the Era That Transformed a Southern College Town

Among many legendary episodes from the life and career of men's basketball coach Dean Smith, few loom as large as his recruitment of Charlie Scott, the first African American scholarship athlete at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Drawn together by college basketball in a time of momentous change, Smith and Scott helped transform a university, a community, and the racial landscape of sports in the South. But there is much more to this story than is commonly told. In Game Changers, Art Chansky reveals an intense saga of race, college sport, and small-town politics. At the center were two young men, Scott and Smith, both destined for greatness but struggling through challenges on and off the court, among them the storms of civil rights protest and the painfully slow integration of a Chapel Hill far less progressive than its reputation today might suggest. Drawing on extensive personal interviews and a variety of other sources, Chansky takes readers beyond the basketball court to highlight the community that supported Smith and Scott during these demanding years, from assistant basketball coach John Lotz to influential pastor the Reverend Robert Seymour to pioneering African American mayor Howard Lee.

Art Chansky (Author), Mirron Willis (Narrator)

Audiobook

Chasing Perfection: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the High-Stakes Game of Creating an NBA Champion

Basketball team building is the ultimate challenge at the NBA level and the last few years have seen a massive change in the amount of money, technology, and approaches to finding and evaluating players. This process starts at the high school level, goes through college, and culminates in the NBA, where the ability to identify and cultivate talent is at an absolute premium. Media and fans like to talk about "busts" when a player doesn't work out, but in truth, it takes a complete team/franchise culture beyond any evaluation system to ensure the greatest chance of player success. Spanning the entire amateur and pro basketball landscape and using the 2014-2015 NBA season as a prism to a much larger story, Chasing Perfection is a fascinating, all-access spin through the inner workings of the smartest minds at every level of the game. It is about the ongoing, relentless, high-stakes quest to find what national sports writer Andy Glockner calls "Perfected Players" and what ultimately happens to them at the highest (pro) level. Every team knows they want to find the next Jordan or LeBron. Rather, the resources teams are pouring into various kinds of research and analysis is intended to turn less expensive, supporting players into crucial extra wins and, hopefully, championships. Chasing Perfection explores those players who, by the end of their run through high school and college and into the NBA, hit as many qualitative and quantitative predictors of future success as possible. Molded and then unearthed by years-long processes, they theoretically should be very strong contributors, but there are a ton of external factors that can affect individual success. Sometimes, though, they bomb, and the stories of why they do are as interesting and illustrative as those who actually succeed. Maybe more so. Chasing Perfection will generate a lot of conversation, as fans of both basketball and Moneyball-style performance analytics, people in the industry, and fans/outsiders will then discuss further and expand their understanding and approaches. It answers questions such as: How do the San Antonio Spurs continue to get enormous production above normal from their complementary rotation players? What is behind the quite rise of the Atlanta Hawks? What is philosophy behind the so-called "tanking" employed by the Philadelphia 76ers? Where do Perfected players come from? How are NBA teams using Big Data? Who are the top 10 current Perfected Players and the most Perfected Player? **Contact Customer Service for Additional Material**

Andy Glockner (Author), Graham Corrigan (Narrator)

Audiobook

Furious George: My Forty Years Surviving NBA Divas, Clueless GMs, and Poor Shot Selection

The most outspoken and combative coach in NBA history—and one of the most successful, amassing more than 1,175 victories, the sixth best winning record ever—reflects on his life, his career, and his battles on and off the basketball court in this no-holds-barred memoir A man of deep passion and intensity, George Karl earned his bad boy reputation while playing at the University of North Carolina, a rap that continued through the five years he spent with the San Antonio Spurs—and long after he stopped playing. Karl’s beery nights, fistfights, and barking followed him into a thirty-five-year coaching career. In a game defined by big stakes and bigger egos, rabid fans and an unforgiving media, Karl was hired and fired a dozen times. After leading a team beset by injuries and with no superstar to its best season of all time—an achievement that earned Karl the title NBA Coach of the Year—he was dumped by the Denver Nuggets in 2013. Less than a year and a half later, Karl was at the helm of the Sacramento Kings, snarling and bellowing on the sidelines before being cut loose in May 2016. Intense, obstinate, and loud, Karl has never backed down from a confrontation, whether with management, officials, or star players, as NBA legends from Allan Iverson to Gary Payton to Carmelo Anthony to Demarcus Cousins can attest. Telling his story, Karl holds nothing back as he speaks out about the game that has defined his life, including the greed, selfishness, and ass-covering he believes are characteristic of the modern NBA player, and the rampant corruption that leads all the way to the office of the NBA commissioner, David Stern. Karl also reveals how he’s learned to deal with the personalities, the pressure, and the setbacks with a resilience he acquired from his three bouts with cancer. Raw, hard-hitting, and brutally honest, Furious George is as thrilling, unpredictable, and entertaining as the game that has defined Karl’s life.

Curt Sampson, George Karl (Author), Danny Campbell (Narrator)

Audiobook

Dust Bowl Girls: The Inspiring Story of the Team That Barnstormed Its Way to Basketball Glory

At the height of the Great Depression, Sam Babb, the charismatic basketball coach of tiny Oklahoma Presbyterian College, began dreaming. Like so many others, he wanted a reason to have hope. Traveling from farm to farm, he recruited talented, hardworking young women and offered them a chance at a better life: a free college education if they would come play for his basketball team, the Cardinals. Despite their fears of leaving home and the sacrifices faced by their families, the women followed Babb and his dream. He shaped the Cardinals into a formidable team, and something extraordinary began to happen: with passion for the sport and heartfelt loyalty to one another and their coach, they won every game. For author Lydia Reeder, this is a family story: coach Sam Babb is her great-uncle. When her grandmother handed her a worn, yellowed folder that contained newspaper articles, letters, and photographs of Sam and the Cardinals, she said, You might want to tell their story someday. Now, with extensive research and the gathered memories of the surviving Cardinals, she has."

Lydia Reeder (Author), Virginia Wolf (Narrator)

Audiobook

Crunch Time: How to Be Your Best When It Matters Most

Nobody knows pressure like a major league baseball pitcher-an entire game can rest on a single pitch. For years, Rick Peterson has helped some of baseball's finest excel in this kind of intense situation. In Crunch Time, he and leadership expert Judd Hoekstra share Rick's secret. It's called reframing-it enables you to see a pressure situation with a new perspective so that it shifts from a threat that can make you panic to an opportunity for you to shine. Rick and Judd offer six powerful reframing strategies, with fascinating behind-the-scenes examples from Rick's work with some of the top names in sports. Learn how elite athletes perform their best under pressure and how you too can perform and be your best when it matters most.

Judd Hoekstra, Rick Peterson (Author), Jeff Hoyt, Judd Hoekstra (Narrator)

Audiobook

Success Is the Only Option: The Art of Coaching Extreme Talent

Kentucky's charismatic coach shares the secrets of creating one of the premiere programs in college basketball, revealing how he transforms a group of former high school superstars into selfless, cohesive teams-including a remarkable squad last year that fell just one game short of a perfect season. Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari is known for his unparalleled ability to recruit the nation's best young players, some of whom will spend just one year with him before going to the NBA, and convincing them to commit to the team without sacrificing their personal goals. It is a promise he makes to them: "Fully invest in the present-and each other-and I guarantee it will serve your future." Here, for the first time, he distills his team-building methods in ways that apply to CEOs, business owners, coaches, teachers and leaders of all kinds-lessons for anyone seeking to inspire talented individuals to reach for their best selves and contribute to a greater good. A basketball team is an intimate workplace, in which blend is everything and character matters. As such, it is a window into the nature of successful leadership. Calipari views each new team like a startup business-one composed of new players, new relationships, and new challenges. Each season is a series of discoveries as he learns how to unleash the extreme talent in each of his players and mold them into championship material as college basketball comes to a crescendo every spring. While he can't control everything, he is responsible for everything-just like a CEO. An enlightening look at leadership, management, and team building, Success Is the Only Option offers the keys to winning, on and off the court.

John Calipari, Michael Sokolove (Author), Al Kessel (Narrator)

Audiobook

Living Out Loud: Sports, Cancer, and the Things Worth Fighting For

Time is something that cannot be bought, it cannot be wagered with God, and it is not in endless supply. Time is simply how you live your life.' Craig Sager This program is read by Holter Graham and Craig Sager II. Thanks to an eccentric wardrobe filled with brightly colored suits and a love of sports that knows no bounds, Craig Sager is one of the most beloved and recognizable broadcasters on television. So when the sports world learned that he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) there was an outpouring of love and support from everyone who was inspired by his colorful life and his fearless decision to continue doing the job he loveddespite being told that he would have only three-to-six months to live. Sager has undergone three stem cell transplantswith his son as the donor for two of themand more than twenty chemotherapy cycles since his diagnosis. In Living Out Loud, Craig Sager shares incredible stories from his remarkable career and chronicles his heroic battle. Whether he's sprinting across Wrigley Field mid-game as a college student with cops in pursuit, chasing down Hank Aaron on the field for an interview after Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record, running with the bulls in Pamplona, or hunkering down to face the daunting physical challenges of fighting leukemia, Craig Sager is always ready to defy expectations, embrace life, and live it to the fullest. Including a foreword by Charles Barkley and with unique insight and narration from his son Craig Sager II, this entertaining, honest, and introspective account of a life lived in sports reveals the enduring lessons Sager has learned throughout his career and reminds you that no matter what life throws at you, to always look at the bright side.

Brian Curtis, Craig Sager, Craig Sager Ii, Craig Sager Jr., Ii Craig Sager (Author), Brian Curtis, Craig Sager Jr., Craig Sager, Jr., Holter Graham, Jr. Craig Sager (Narrator)

Audiobook

Writings on the Wall: Searching for a New Equality Beyond Black and White

Bestselling author, basketball legend and cultural commentator Kareem Abdul-Jabbar explores the heart of issues that affect Americans today. Since retiring from professional basketball as the NBA's all-time leading scorer, six-time MVP, and Hall of Fame inductee, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has become a lauded observer of culture and society, a New York Times bestselling author, and a regular contributor to The Washington Post, TIME magazine and TIME.com. He now brings that keen insight to the fore in Writings on the Wall: Searching for a New Equality Beyond Black and White, his most incisive and important work of non-fiction in years. He uses his unique blend of erudition, street smarts and authentic experience in essays on the country's seemingly irreconcilable partisan divide-both racial and political, parenthood, and his own experiences as an athlete, African-American, and a Muslim. The audiobook is not just a collection of expositions; he also offers keen assessments of and solutions to problems such as racism in sports while speaking candidly about his experiences on the court and off. Timed for publication as the nation debates whom to send to the White House, the combination of plain talk on issues, life lessons, and personal stories places Writings on the Wall squarely in the middle of the conversation, as many of Abdul-Jabbar's topics are at the top of the national agenda. Whether it is sparring with Donald Trump, within the pages of TIME magazine, of full-length features in The New York Times Magazine, writers, critics, and readers have come to agree on what The Washington Post observed: Abdul-Jabbar "has become a vital, dynamic and unorthodox cultural voice."

Raymond Obstfeld (Author), Ben Adduchio (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Overseas Basketball Blueprint: Start Your Professional Basketball Career Abroad Now

Since I started my website DreAllDay.com, along with all the YouTube videos, I have received many requests from players on playing pro basketball. And since the NBA has only so many positions, most of you know that overseas ball is a stronger possibility for you to continue your playing career, and it is: the NBA has 450 job positions while there are 10,000 players employed internationally (which includes Canada and Central and South America, which technically do not require going 'over a sea' to get to, in case you cared). Over the years I have compiled several guides and tips for players on how to get their careers started, what to expect on the way and once they are in the door, and how to handle themselves with the on- and off-court situations that come with it. Every guide comes from questions that players frequently ask me. This guidebook is a compilation of all of those guides and tips in one place for your quick and easy reference. It should be noted that several, though not all, of the chapters of this book are based on the posts on the Guides & Tips page of my website, edited and updated for this guidebook. If you take only one thing from this guidebook, know that professional basketball is a buyer's market: There are more candidates than there are jobs, so the people who do the hiring - the teams themselves - have the power. What this means for you is you need to make yourself stand out.

Dre Baldwin (Author), Dre Baldwin (Narrator)

Audiobook

Basketball Audiobooks in Sports & Recreation