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A young American learns invaluable life lessons through basketball

When Dave Fromm graduated from college with good grades and high LSAT scores, he planned to apply to law school. But he actually wasn't that sure he wanted to go, at least not right away. A few years earlier, he'd been to Prague for a vacation and played a game of pickup basketball there. He was a decent basketball player, though not good enough to make the team at Boston College either time he'd tried out. So he did the kind of thing we'd all do if we had the guts (and a foolhardy sense of determination)—he moved to Prague to play basketball, even though he didn't speak Czech, or know anyone in Prague, or if the Czechs had basketball leagues there, much less professional leagues, still less if they let foreigners play.

Expatriate Games is Dave Fromm's touching and amusing memoir of the year (1994) he spent playing basketball for TJ Sokol Královské Vinohrady, a Czech semi-pro team. Throughout, Fromm, a self-proclaimed "gym-rat," struggles with his teammates, the European style of play, and the language barrier. But miraculously, Fromm describes how, despite the struggles, the team came together, a girl appeared, and he was introduced to a side of Prague most foreigners can't see—a Prague full of ghosts and back alleys and a people simultaneously embracing and reeling from transition.

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Upon its establishment in 1946 the NBA – via its forerunner the Basketball Association of America – became the 21st professional basketball league to be formed in the U.S., and the one that would outlast all the others. In addition, since 1896 when professional basketball began in Trenton, New Jersey thousands of players have competed in a pro game, and generated countless hours of debate as to who the best players are in the history of the sport. In fact, precisely 3572 players and 439 All-stars have graced the courts of the NBA and the American Basketball Association when it was in operation between 1967 and 1976. And until now there has never been a truly scientific method of evaluating their performances on a basketball court, and determining who is the all-time best. Finally, after 109 years, such a measure has been created.

This book, Heroes of the Hardcourt: Ranking Pro Basketball’s 100 Greatest Players identifies and profiles the 100 greatest players to play professional basketball since 1946, and ranks them by utilizing a scientific methodology known as the Performance Efficiency Rating (PER) System developed by the author, a former economics professor. This is the most comprehensive measure ever devised to accurately measure basketball performance and answer the question of who is the greatest basketball player ever. This methodology has accurately forecasted the annual regular season MVP in three of the last four NBA seasons, and predicted which team is most likely to win the NBA championship (forecasted the eventual champion in seven of the last ten years).

This book will cause you to rethink your own top 50 greatest players; and the top 10 players, let’s just say it’s sure to raise a few eyebrows. Without doubt this is the most scientific basketball book ever written and should end all debates as to the game’s all-time greats. Heroes of the Hardcourt, in addition to profiling the top 100 players also provides an historical summary of the one hundred-plus years of professional basketball in the U.S., and concludes with an explanation of how to better link productivity with pay among professional athletes. It shows that the PER can accurately forecast which rookies drafted in a particular year are indeed the best selections, and follows that up with an analysis of the 1984 NBA draft in which four of the best players to ever compete were drafted. It concludes that not only did the Portland Trailblazers make a poor decision in selecting Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan, but so did the Houston Rockets who also drafted Hakeem Olajuwon over MJ. A knowledge of the PER methodology, the author asserts, would have created a better draft selection then, as it clearly will do now. Heroes of the Hardcourt will finally lay to rest all the debates as to who the best players are in the history of professional basketball, and who is the all-time greatest..
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From two senior Sports Illustrated writers comes an explosive, fast-paced satire that will do for today's NBA what North Dallas Forty did for the NFL a generation ago.

Just months from his Yale graduation, street-smart whiz kid Jamal Kelly leaves school to take a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join the front office of the Los Angeles Lasers. Once on the West Coast, Jamal gets a quick introduction to a subculture awash in big egos and fast cars, as well as an introduction to the charms of the team's new hard-charging beat writer, Jilly Forrester.

In the spirit of Primary Colors and The Devil Wears Prada, Foul Lines peels back the curtain on the trappings of big-time professional basketball. No other sport encapsulates so many cultural hot-button topics, and Foul Lines at once exposes and lampoons this parallel universe..
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Russian-Jewish immigrant Eddie Gottlieb was one of the most powerful non-playing sports figures in Philadelphia from the 1920s until his death in 1979. A master promoter, Gottlieb - dubbed "the Mogul" for his business acumen - was influential in both basketball and baseball circles, as well as a colourful figure in his own right. A member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, Gottlieb founded, played, and coached for the legendary South Philadelphia Hebrew Association (SPHAS) basketball team in the 1920s and 1930s. Only 5' 8", Gottlieb was nevertheless a very good basketball player. But, it was behind the scenes where he excelled.He coached, helped form the National Basketball Association, and owned the Philadelphia Warriors franchise for many years. He signed Wilt Chamberlain to his first NBA contract. He also created the NBA's annual schedule of games for more than a quarter of a century. Outside basketball, Gottlieb's achievements included co-owning the Philadelphia Stars baseball team in the Negro Leagues and trying unsuccessfully to buy the Philadelphia Phillies. He was Philadelphia's leading sports booking agent from the 1920s into the 1950s for everything from sandlot baseball to semipro football to professional wrestling. Drawing upon dozens of interviews and archival sources, and featuring more than fifty photographs, "The Mogul" vividly portrays Eddie Gottlieb's pivotal role in both Philadelphia and American sports history..
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The roundball revolution continues, and John Hollinger is El Jefe. With the Pro Basketball Forecast, Hollinger takes an in-depth and insightful look at the game. Downplayed are all the per-game statistics; in their place are points, rebounds, and assists per forty minutes. Hollinger also examines how many possessions each player uses and what percentage of his team's rebounds he collects. Why? Because teams use players in different ways, and comparing everyone on an even scale makes much more sense.

When is a player averaging ten points a game more valuable than one averaging fifteen? How about if he plays twenty minutes to the latter's forty and plays for a team that walks the ball up the court instead of fast-breaking? If he's given a starting position or traded to a new team, he could "unexpectedly" break out-unexpected to everyone but Forecast readers, that is. Hollinger shows you which players, given more time or a fresh start, can ratchet their game up to all-star levels. He also shows which ones are scoring more than their backups solely because of proportion of time and should find themselves on the bench more this year.

On top of all this, Hollinger also continues to improve his groundbreaking method of valuing a player's personal defense and sharpens his projections for regulars, offering predictions for the forthcoming season. Hollinger adds his thoughts on every team-where they've been and where they're going-as well as a discussion of every player and draft pick. You may watch hoops, but you haven't seen everything until you've seen the Forecast..
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Micheal Clark virtually wrote the book that personal trainers all over the country use to gain their certification in the field. As creator of the Optimum Performance Training system, he took personal training to a whole new level by introducing a program that could be fully customized for any sport. In this book, Clark will enable readers through his "self–assessment and design fitness system" to effectively pinpoint the weaknesses in their basketball skills and tailor a workout program that will improve on all the flaws in their game. By taking advantage of skill–specific tests, readers will be able to focus their workout time on the area they most need and will see quick results.

This user–friendly guide begins with a simple five–step assessment to help you realize what your game lacks. Whether you want explosiveness off the first step like Lebron James, the iron–man endurance of Steve Nash, the coordination and flexibility of Kevin Garnett, the vertical leap of Vince Carter, or the muscle strength of Amare Stoudemire, you'll pinpoint your deficiencies and benefit from the exact same workout that Clark uses for the NBA's biggest stars.

Clark's revolutionary approach to fitness and conditioning personalizes the workouts not only by sport, but also by performance skills, and will help you become the best basketball player you can be.

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A four-decade-long NBA highlight reel as never before published-that's what hoops fans have in store when they open this spectacular full-color volume. Sports Illustrated veteran Walter Iooss has raided his unsurpassed personal archive and come up with 175 sensational color photographs of every decade from 1960 to the present, documenting the sport's electrifying athleticism, historic rivalries, and larger-than-life stars. Sportswriter Mark Jacobson, a self-described hoops junkie, contributes a witty, insightful commentary that is as much a mirror of social change in America as it is a venue for some of the greatest athletes of all time.

Relive the 1960s, when Wilt Chamberlain and the Philadelphia Warriors battled Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics in $19 Converse sneakers; the 1970s, when Dr. J redefined gravity, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar patented the skyhook; and the 1980s, when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird catapulted the NBA onto the main screen and Michael Jordan changed the face of the sport. Take a look at the 1990s and the reign and breakup of the seemingly unstoppable Shaq-Kobe Lakers, and at basketball's future, under young stars Lebron James, Carmello Anthony, and Yao Ming. .
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Long stuck in the rut of points, assists, rebounds, and blocked shots, basketball stats are growing up, evolving just as baseball stats did twenty years ago. John Hollinger and the PRO BASKETBALL FORECAST team open a wide window of statistical analysis into pro hoops, with unique and useful discussions, scrutiny of all aspects of the game, and a breakdown of every player that saw time or hit the draft board.

Last year Hollinger evaluated the best clutch playoff performers, rebutted the NBA's official defensive rankings with an improved model that takes into account the pace at which each team plays, and predicted which players had a career year that was likely to be just a fluke. He also brought to basketball an extremely useful system that compares seasons of players ages twenty-four and younger to historical statistics in order to determine a "similarity score," allowing you to predict a player's continued development or, in some cases, lack thereof.

This year Hollinger brings back all that and more, with an in-depth look at rookies and how they're best utilized, plus the continued evolution of some of the best statistical analyses you'll find in a preseason forecast. For the true hoops fan, PRO BASKETBALL FORECAST is a lesson like no other and the only book you'll need for the upcoming season..
Price: $39.94 [Notify me when price goes down.]