Streetball: All the Ballers, Moves, Slams, & Shine

Beginning with an overview of the evolution of basketball as a street game, ESPN Magazine writer Palmer sets an upbeat tone with his knowledge of basketball and his hip, friendly prose. Palmer's deft retelling of how a pieced-together highlight tape of Rafer Alston (then a high school dropout; now an NBA up-and-comer) turned the young man's life around and began the resurgence of street basketball by spawning the AND 1 Mix Tape Tour is a study in the urban American dream. The book, a mix of history, biographies and how-to, is somewhat repetitive, as the rest of the player biographies showcase men whose lives mostly follow Alston's same path of redemption from street life. The final section focuses on each player's signature move and gives a breakdown of how to do it. While these moves won't fly in regulation games (e.g., ""Off-the-Knee Alley-Oop""), they do illustrate the colorful nature of the street game. But even with this book's strengths (which are mostly an outgrowth of Palmer's way with words), it's obvious this is primarily a 200-page syngeristic marketing tool to advertise AND 1 products and AND 1's tour (which just happens to air on ESPN). Photos.