Traces the basketball career of Vince Carter, former North Carolina University basketball star and Toronto Raptor superstar known for his ability as a slam-dunk artist.

In this Positively for Kids title, NBA All-Star veteran Vince Carter shares his true life stories. From a music-filled childhood to winning an Olympic gold medal, Vince emphasizes the importance of knowing where to go and working to get there.

Sports Great Books for reluctant readers are high-interest biographies with easy-reading text about star athletes. All sports fans will love these books, and students will enjoy using them for biography reports. Each indexed book contains career statistics, action photographs, Internet addresses, and exciting accounts that give readers the feel of the big game.Profiles professional basketball star Allen Iverson, whose speed and determination helped him to overcome his relatively small stature to earn the All-Star MVP trophy and the NBA's Most Valuable Player award in 2001.

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.

Vince Carter is one of the most electrifying young talents in the NBA. Fans and fellow players alike marvel at his gravity-defying moves on the court, which helped earn Carter the nickname "Air Canada" during his first year in the league with the Toronto Raptors. Growing up in Florida, Carter learned important lessons about the value of hard work and dedication from his parents. Hard work paid off for Carter in his successes on the basketball court in high school. This is when Vince Carter first began his legendary flights to the basketball rim. After high school, Carter chose to attend the University of North Carolina in 1995. In 1998, he left North Carolina early and entered the NBA, where he won the league's Rookie of the Year Award. In his second year in the league, he earned his reputation as a slam dunk artist at the 2000 NBA.com Slam Dunk contest, where he put on a one-man show. With Carter as the foundation of the team, Toronto fans hope to win many NBA championships in the seasons to come. Book jacket.

From 1996 through 2004, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal combined-- and collided-- to help bring the Lakers three straight championships and restore the franchise as a powerhouse. From public sniping and sparring, to physical altercations and the repeated threats of trade, it was warfare. The eight years of infighting and hostility were by turns mediated and encouraged by coach Phil Jackson. Pearlman shows how the Shaq-Kobe duo resulted in one of the most enduring, and ever-evolving, teams in NBA history. -- adapted from jacket

A young man's journey through the Philippines' most unlikely obsession: basketball. In Pacific Rims, Rafe Bartholemew, journalist, New Yorker, and veteran baller, ventures through the Philippines to investigate the country's love of basketball. From street corners where diehards fashion hoops out of old car parts to the professional league where politicians exploit team loyalties to win elections, Pacific Rims gets the story-and gets in the game.

Former NFL super agent Tank Black takes you behind the scenes and into the careers and capers of some of the most famous and infamous figures in professional sports.

The Beach Ball Classic began in 1981 as a modest avenue for coach Dan D'Antoni to attract the attention of college scouts. It blossomed into one of the premier prep basketball tournaments in the nation. From Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter to Roy Williams, some of the game's biggest stars and most colorful coaches have taken part. They also brought attention to an area generally overlooked in terms of high school sports. With calculated moves, a few risky decisions and nationwide sporting trends, the tournament continued to expand its influence. Author Ian Guerin recounts the famous faces, upcoming stars and business acumen that have made the Classic an iconic event for thirty-five years.