The Basketball category has 110 audiobooks on Listento.it, with an average listener rating of 4.4★ across 310 ratings. The most-rated is Michael Jordan.
Michael Jordan
Summary
The definitive biography of the most legendary basketball player of all time. When most people think of Michael Jordan, they think of the beautiful shots, his body totally in sync with the ball, hitting nothing but net. He is responsible for incredible moments so ingrained in basketball history that they have their own names: The Shrug, The Shot, The Flu Game. But for all his greatness, there's also a dark side to Jordan: A ruthless competitor, a gambler. There's never been a biography that balanced these personas-until now. Drawing on personal relationships with Jordan's coaches; countless interviews with friends, teammates, family members, and Jordan himself; and a career in the trenches covering Jordan in college and the pros, Roland Lazenby provides the first truly definitive study of Jordan: The player, the icon, and the man. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2014 Roland Lazenby (P)2014 Hachette Audio
The Sixth Man
Summary
The instant national best seller The standout memoir from NBA powerhouse Andre Iguodala, the indomitable sixth man of the champion Golden State Warriors. Andre Iguodala is one of the most admired players in the NBA. And fresh off the Warriors’ third NBA championship in the last four years, his game has never been stronger. Off the court, Iguodala has earned respect, too - for his successful tech investments, his philanthropy, and increasingly for his contributions to the conversation about race in America. It is no surprise, then, that in his first book, Andre, with his cowriter Carvell Wallace, has pushed himself to go further than he ever has before about his life, not only as an athlete but about what makes him who he is at his core. The Sixth Man traces Andre’s journey from childhood in his Illinois hometown to his Bay Area home court today. Basketball has always been there. But this is the story, too, of his experience of the conflict and racial tension always at hand in a professional league made up largely of African-American men; of whether and why the athlete owes the total sacrifice of his body; of the relationship between competition and brotherhood among the players of one of history’s most glorious championship teams. And of what motivates an athlete to keep striving for more once they’ve already achieved the highest level of play they could have dreamed. On drive, on leadership, on pain, on accomplishment, on the shame of being given a role, and the glory of taking a role on: This is a powerful memoir of life and basketball that reveals new depths to the superstar athlete, and offers tremendous insight into most urgent stories being told in American society today.
©2019 Andre Iguodala (P)2019 Penguin Audio
Relentless
Summary
An all-new production of the phenomenal best seller, now featuring exclusive new conversations with the authors! For more than two decades, legendary trainer Tim Grover has taken the greats - Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, and hundreds of relentless competitors in sports, business, and every walk of life - and made them greater. Now, for the first time ever, he reveals what it takes to achieve total mental and physical dominance, showing you how to be relentless and achieve whatever you desire. Direct, blunt, and brutally honest, Grover breaks down what it takes to be unstoppable: you keep going when everyone else is giving up, you thrive under pressure, you never let your emotions make you weak. In “The Relentless 13”, he details the essential traits shared by the most intense competitors and achievers in sports, business, and all walks of life. Relentless shows you how to trust your instincts and get in the Zone; how to control and adapt to any situation; how to find your opponent’s weakness and attack. Grover gives you the same advice he gives his world-class clients - “don’t think” - and shows you that anything is possible. Packed with previously untold stories and unparalleled insight into the psyches of the most successful and accomplished athletes of our time, Relentless shows you how even the best get better...and how you can too.
©2020 Relentless Publishing, LLC. “A Note from Tim Grover” ©2014 Relentless Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. (P)2020 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
LeBron, Inc.
Summary
From the New York Times best-selling author of Return of the King comes the story of LeBron James' incredible transformation from basketball star to sports and business mogul. With eight straight trips to the NBA Finals, LeBron James has proven himself one of the greatest basketball players of all time. And like Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan before him, LeBron has also become a global brand and businessman who has altered the way professional athletes think about their value, maximize their leverage, and use their voice. LeBron, Inc. tells the story of James' journey down the path to becoming a billionaire sports icon - his successes, his failures, and the lessons both have taught him along the way. With plenty of newsmaking tidbits about his roller coaster last season in Cleveland and high-profile move to the Lakers, LeBron, Inc. shows how James has changed the way most elite athletes manage their careers and how he launched a movement among his peers that may last decades beyond his playing days.
©2019 Brian Windhorst (P)2019 Hachette Audio
The Victory Machine
Summary
How money, guts, and greed built the Warriors dynasty - and then took it apart The Golden State Warriors dominated the NBA for the better part of a decade. Since the arrival of owner Joe Lacob, they won more championships and sold more merchandise than any other franchise in the sport. And in 2019, they opened the doors on a lavish new stadium. Yet all this success contained some of the seeds of decline. Ethan Sherwood Strauss' clear-eyed exposé reveals the team's culture, its financial ambitions and struggles, and the price that its players and managers have paid for all their winning. From Lacob's unlikely acquisition of the team to Kevin Durant's controversial departure, Strauss shows how the smallest moments can define success or failure for years. And, looking ahead, Strauss ponders whether this organization can rebuild after its abrupt fall from the top, and how a relentless business wears down its players and executives. The Victory Machine is a defining book on the modern NBA: it not only rewrites the story of the Warriors, but shows how the Darwinian business of pro basketball really works.
©2020 Ethan Sherwood Strauss (P)2020 Hachette Audio
Basketball (and Other Things)
Summary
This book is made up of 33 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
©2017 Shea Serrano (P)2017 Tantor
Return of the King
Summary
In this New York Times best seller, get the inside scoop into 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.
©2017 Brian Windhorst (P)2017 Hachette Audio
Betaball
Summary
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 in 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.
©2017 Erik Malinowski (P)2017 Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Bad as I Wanna Be
Summary
When Sports Illustrated put him on their cover, they sold more issues than any other in a decade (except the swimsuit edition). Why? Because Dennis Rodman is not just the NBA's greatest rebounder - he's America's most outrageous, outspoken, and provocative athlete. With his body-covering tattoos and ever-changing fluorescent hair, Rodman's off-the-court antics have captivated sports fans as much as his record-breaking performances. In Bad as I Wanna Be, Rodman shares his candid opinions on everything from fame, money, and race relations to sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. He discusses his NBA championships with the Pistons and Bulls, his relationships with teammate Michael Jordan and old flame Madonna, his troubled adolescence, and all the controversies that have enthralled the public. Shocking yet sensitive, Rodman tells it like it is in this compelling, no-holds-barred memoir.
©1996 by Dennis Rodman (P)1996 by Dove Audio, Inc.
From the Outside
Summary
The record-holding two-time National Basketball Association champion reflects on his work ethic, his on-the-court friendships and rivalries, the great teams he's played for, and what it takes to have a long and successful career in this thoughtful, in-depth memoir. Playing in the NBA for 18 years, Ray Allen won championships with the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat and entered the record books as the original king of the three-point shot. Known as one of the hardest-working and highest-achieving players in NBA history, this most dedicated competitor was legendary for his sharp shooting. From the Outside, complete with a foreword by Spike Lee, is his story in his words: a no-holds-barred look at his life and career, filled with behind-the-scenes stories and surprising revelations about the game he has always cherished. Allen talks openly about his fellow players, coaches, owners, and friends, including LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Garnett. He reveals how, as a kid growing up in a military family, he learned about responsibility and respect - the key to making those perfect free throws and critical three-point shots. From the Outside is the portrait of a gifted athlete and a serious man with a strongly defined philosophy about the game and the right way it should be played - a philosophy that, at times, set him apart from colleagues and coaches, while inspiring so many others, and lead to the most pivotal shot of his career: the unforgettable three-pointer in the final seconds of Game 6 of the 2013 NBA finals against the San Antonio Spurs. Throughout, Allen makes clear that success in basketball is as much about what happens off the court as on, that devotion and commitment are the true essence of the game - and of life itself.
©2018 Walter Ray Allen Jr. (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers
Playing for Keeps
Summary
New York Times best seller From a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist comes “the best Jordan book so far” (The Washington Post), the story of Michael Jordan’s legendary years with the Chicago Bulls, capped by the 1998 NBA Finals and the team’s second three-peat. From The Breaks of the Game to Summer of '49, David Halberstam has brought the perspective of a great historian, the insider knowledge of a dogged sportswriter, and the love of a fan to bear on some of the most mythic players and teams in the annals of American sports. With Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, he has given himself the greatest challenge and produced his greatest triumph. In Playing for Keeps, David Halberstam takes the first full measure of Michael Jordan's epic career, one of the great American stories of our time. A narrative of astonishing power and human drama, brimming with revealing anecdotes and penetrating insights, the audiobook chronicles the forces in Jordan's life that have shaped him in to history's greatest basketball player and the larger forces that have converged to make him the most famous living human being in the world.
©2012 David Halberstam (P)2018 Random House Audio
Dream Team
Summary
How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the greatest team of all time conquered the world and changed the game of basketball forever. They were the Beatles of basketball, the Mercury Seven in sneakers.... In Dream Team, acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum delivers the untold story of the greatest team ever assembled: the 1992 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team that captivated the world, kindled the hoop dreams of countless children around the planet, and remade the NBA into a global sensation. As a senior staff writer for Sports Illustrated, McCallum enjoyed a courtside seat for the most exciting basketball spectacle on earth, covering the Dream Team from its inception to the gold medal ceremony in Barcelona. For the duration of the Olympics, he lived with, golfed with, and - most importantly - drank with some of the greatest players of the NBA's Golden Age: Magic Johnson, the ebullient showman who shrugged off his recent diagnosis of HIV to become the team's unquestioned captain and leader; Michael Jordan, the transcendent talent at the height of his powers as a player - and a marketing juggernaut; and Charles Barkley, the outspoken iconoclast whose utterances on and off the court threatened to ignite an international incident. Presiding over the entire traveling circus was the Dream Team's beloved coach, Chuck Daly, whose laissez-faire approach proved instrumental in getting the most out of such disparate personalities and superstars as Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, and Scottie Pippen. Drawing on fresh interviews with the players, McCallum provides the definitive account of the Dream Team phenomenon. He offers a behind-the-scenes look at the controversial selection process. He takes us inside the team's Olympic suites for late-night card games and bull sessions where the players debate both the finer points of basketball and their respective places in the NBA pantheon. And he narrates a riveting possession-by-possession account of the legendary July 1992 intrasquad scrimmage that pitted the Dream Teamers against one another in what may have been the greatest pickup game - and the greatest exhibition of trash talk - in history. In the 20 years since the Dream Team first captivated the world's attention, its mystique has only grown - and so has its influence. The NBA is now flush with international stars, many of them inspired by the exuberant spirit of '92. Dream Team vividly recreates the moment when a once-in-a-millennium group of athletes came together, outperformed the hype, and changed the future of sports - one perfectly executed fast break at a time.
©2012 Jack McCallum (P)2012 Tantor
Gregg Popovich
Summary
Learn the inspiring story of the San Antonio Spurs' legendary coach Gregg Popovich! In Gregg Popovich: The Inspiring Life and Leadership Lessons of One of Basketball's Greatest Coaches, you will learn the inspirational story of one of basketball's premier coaches, Gregg Popovich. Popovich has steered the ship for the San Antonio Spurs franchise to multiple championships and perennial playoff contention. Despite having to navigate several key personnel changes over the years, Pop has demonstrated a truly unique ability to adapt to the direction of the game. When he retires from coaching, Pop will go down as one of the greatest coaches of all time. There are a number of key leadership lessons that can be learned from Pop, such as getting the right players on your team, maximizing the potential of each individual player, and remaining a stern disciplinarian to earn the trust and respect of your team. Here is a preview of what is inside this book: Background story NBA coaching career Building the Spurs dynasty The Gregg Popovich system How Gregg Popovich maximizes player talent Gregg Popovich, the leader Key takeaways Conclusion and Gregg Popovich's legacy
©2017 Calvintir Books, LLC (P)2017 Calvintir Books, LLC
KD
Summary
Golden State Warriors insider and best-selling author Marcus Thompson delivers the definitive biography of one of the most extraordinary basketball players in NBA history - Kevin Durant. The NBA has never seen a player quite like Kevin Durant. Larry Bird wasn’t as quick, Magic Johnson didn’t have such a range, and Michael Jordan wasn’t seven feet tall. Durant handles the ball like Allen Iverson, shoots like Dirk Nowitzki, and has the scoring instincts of Kobe Bryant. He does it in a body that’s about as big as Hakeem Olajuwon. But ultimately, Kevin Durant is like no one but himself. After an incredible first season with Golden State, Kevin Durant earned the coveted NBA Finals MVP award: He was the Warriors’ top scorer in every game of the 2017 Finals, helping the team snatch the title from LeBron James and the defending-champion Cleveland Cavaliers. As a sports columnist for The Athletic Bay Area and longtime beat reporter covering the Golden State Warriors, Marcus Thompson is perfectly positioned to trace Durant’s inspirational journey. KD follows Durant’s underdog story from his childhood spent in poverty outside DC; to his rise playing on AAU teams with future NBA players; to becoming a star and hometown hero for the Oklahoma City Thunder; to his controversial decision to play for the NBA rival Golden State Warriors; to his growth from prodigy into a man, in the first true inside account of this superstar player. KD is a powerful, moving biography of a modern-day legend and an essential listen for all sports fans - or anyone who wants to know: What’s it like to shoot for greatness?
©2019 Marcus Thompson (P)2019 Simon & Schuster
I'll Show You
Summary
In 2012, Derrick Rose was on top of the world. After growing up in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood, Rose achieved an improbable childhood dream: being selected first overall in the NBA draft by his hometown Chicago Bulls. The point guard, known to his family as "Pooh", was a phenom, winning the Rookie of the Year award and electrifying fans around the world. In 2011, he became the youngest MVP in league history. He and the Bulls believed the city's first berth in the NBA Finals since the Jordan era was on the horizon. Rarely had a bond between a player and fans been so strong, as the city wrapped its arms around the homegrown hero. Six years and four knee surgeries later, he was waived by the Utah Jazz, a once surefire Hall of Fame career seemingly on the brink of collapse. Many speculated his days in the NBA were over. But Derrick Rose never doubted himself, never believed his struggles on and off the court were anything other than temporary setbacks. Rather than telling the world he had more to give, he decided to show them.
©2019 Derrick Rose and Sam Smith (P)2020 Tantor
KG: A to Z
Summary
A unique, unfiltered memoir from the NBA champion and 15-time all-star ahead of his induction into the Hall of Fame. Kevin Garnett was one of the most dominant players the game of basketball has ever seen. He was also one of its most outspoken. Over the course of his illustrious 21-year NBA career, he elevated trash talk to an art form and never shied away from sharing his thoughts on controversial subjects. In KG: A to Z, published ahead of Garnett’s induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, he looks back on his life and career with the same raw candor. Garnett describes the adversity he faced growing up in South Carolina before ultimately relocating to Chicago, where he became one of the top prospects in the nation. He details his headline-making decision to skip college and become the first player in two decades to enter the draft directly from high school, starting a trend that would be followed by future superstars like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. He shares stories of playing with and against Bryant, James, Michael Jordan, and other NBA greats, and he chronicles his professional ups and downs, including winning a championship with the Boston Celtics. He also speaks his mind on a range of topics beyond basketball, such as fame, family, racism, spirituality, and music. Garnett’s draft decision wasn’t the only way he’d forever change the game. His ability to play on the perimeter as a big man foreshadowed the winning strategy now universally adopted by the league. He applies this same innovative spirit here, organizing the contents alphabetically as an encyclopedia. If you thought Kevin Garnett was exciting, inspiring, and unfiltered on the court, just wait until you hear what he has to say in this audiobook.
©2021 Garnett Enterprises LLC. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
Not a Game
Summary
Through extensive research and interviews with those closest to Iverson, acclaimed Washington Post sportswriter Kent Babb gets behind the familiar, sanitized, and heroic version of the hard-changing, hard-partying athlete who played every game as if it were his last. Former NBA superstar Allen Iverson was once one of America's most famous athletes: a trendsetter who transcended race, celebrity, and pop culture and emerged from a troubled past to become one of the most successful and highly compensated athletes in the world. Now, his life and career come vividly to light in this “searingly honest” (Baxter Holmes) biography. Babb brings to life a private, loyal, and often generous Allen Iverson who rarely made the headlines, revealing the backstory behind some of Iverson's most memorable moments, such as his infamous "Practice" rant, delving even deeper to discover where Iverson's demons lurked. He drank too much, stayed out too late, spent more money than most people could spend in a dozen lifetimes - blowing more than $150 million of his NBA earnings alone. His then-wife Tawanna, seen often as the mild-mannered woman who tamed the bad boy, tried to keep her husband and family on the rails. But, as so many others learned on basketball courts, she was no match for the force of nature that was Iverson.
©2015 Kent Babb (P)2020 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
Shaq Uncut
Summary
Superman. Diesel. The Big Aristotle. Shaq Fu. The Big Daddy. The Big Shaqtus. Wilt Chamberneezy. The Real Deal. The Big Shamrock. Shaq. You know him by any number of names, and chances are you know all about his legendary basketball career: Shaquille "Shaq" O'Neal is a four-time NBA champion and a three-time NBA Finals MVP. After being an All-American at Louisiana State University, he was the overall number one draft pick in the NBA in 1992. In his 19-year career, Shaq racked up 28,596 career points (including 5,935 free throws!), 13,099 rebounds, 3,026 assists, 2,732 blocks, and 15 All-Star appearances. These are statistics that are almost as massive as the man himself. His presence - both physically and psychologically - made him a dominant force in the game for two decades. But if you follow the game, you also know that there's a lot more to Shaquille O'Neal than just basketball. Shaq is famous for his playful, and at times, provocative personality. He is, literally, outsize in both scale and persona. Whether rapping on any of his five albums, challenging celebrities on his hit television show Shaq Vs., studying for his PhD or serving as a reserve police officer, there's no question that Shaq has led a unique and multi-dimensional life. And in this rollicking new autobiography, Shaq discusses his remarkable journey, including his candid thoughts on teammates and coaches like Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Phil Jackson, and Pat Riley. From growing up in difficult circumstances and getting cut from his high school basketball team to his larger-than-life basketball career, Shaq lays it all out in Shaq Uncut: My Story.
©2011 Shaquille O'Neal (P)2011 Hachette
Chasing Perfection
Summary
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 sportswriter 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 quiet rise of the Atlanta Hawks? What is the 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?
©2017 Andy Glockner (P)2017 Hachette Audio
Red and Me
Summary
Red Auerbach, one of the greatest coaches in sports history, died on October 28, 2006. Bill Russell, the five-time MVP and star center on the Auerbach teams that won eleven championships in 13 years, said little in public at the time. His relationship with his coach had been so deeply personal that he could not express it with a brief comment. In fact, little known to the public, Auerbach and Russell - one a short, brash Jew from Brooklyn, the other a tall, intense African-American from Louisiana and Oakland - were far more than just coach and player. Through 13 years of building a sports dynasty together, one that remains among the greatest of all time, their relationship evolved into a rare, telling example of deep male friendship: confident, supportive, understanding, founded in common goals, even as their feelings remained largely unspoken. They stayed close for the rest of Auerbach's life, despite physical distance and far fewer chances to be together. True male friends are always there for each other, whenever the need or occasion arises. Red and Me is an extraordinary book: an homage to a peerless coach, showing how he produced results unlike any other; an inspiring story of mutual success, in which each man gave his all, and gained back even more; above all, it may be the best depiction of male friendship ever put on the page. Who would have guessed that such different men could have become such a tightly bonded pair? Few did guess it. Now Russell tells it.
©2009 Bill Russell (P)2009 HarperCollins Publishers