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5 basketball books for NBA fans

Here are excerpts from five recent books about professional basketball and its players, ranging from a mega-biography of Michael Jordan to a behind-the-scenes look at the Magic Johnson-era "Showtime" Los Angeles Lakers.

5. "West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life"

  • By Ross Atkin Staff writer

By Jerry West and Jonathan Coleman
Little, Brown and Company
352 pages

"When Bill Sharman became coach of the Lakers in 1971, he wanted to institute what he called the morning shootaround – he had the radical notion that he could persuade the team to actually practice on the day of the game. When Bill played for the Celtics, he found himself so restless on game day that he would go to a neighborhood school and shoot baskets in order to relax and stay sharp. He felt the key to getting the team to agree to this was Wilt [Chamberlain], who often didn't get out of bed until the afternoon. If Wilt could be convinced that it was a great idea, then it would happen. Bill was right, although Wilt made it clear that if the team started losing, he might have second thoughts. That was the year we won thirty-three games in a row, and the morning shootaround, much as the players dreaded it, became standard practice for all teams."

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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