Basketball

Bill Russell is considered the greatest defensive center in the history of the game. In the 1960s he helped the Celtics on to 11 NBA championships in 13 seasons. He was named the NBAs most valuable player five times. Hes written a new book, Russell Rules: 11 Lessons on Leadership From the Twentieth Centurys Greatest Winner

Novelist Pat Conroy is the author of several books including The Great Santini, and The Prince of Tides which were both made into feature films. Conroy's new book My Losing Season (Doubleday) is a memoir about how playing basketball for the Citadel Military College transformed his life. Conroy was point guard and captain of the Citadel Bulldogs.

In his last season with the Los Angeles Lakers, Jackson was as much diplomat as basketball coach. He resigned at the end of the season. His new book is The Last Season.

A new book follows an American basketball veteran as he coaches a struggling Chinese pro basketball team. Pulitzer Prize winner Jim Yardley has a courtside seat from which to observe China's frantic capitalist expansion and its ambivalent fascination with all things American.

Chris Lelie-Hynan's debut novel follows a white grad student who's a chauffeur to a black basketball player. It references The Great Gatsby often with fresh takes on race, manhood and meritocracy.

Writer Michael Sokolove explains how college basketball programs manipulate young athletes for the benefit — and profit — of adults. His new book is The Last Temptation of Rick Pitino.

In a new film by writer/directors Josh and Benny Safdie, Adam Sandler plays a jewelry store owner and gambler who's deep in debt. The brothers' father worked in Manhattan's diamond district.

Staley won Olympic gold medals as a player and as a head coach. She played in the WNBA, and is now head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks women's team, which won the NCAA championship in 2022.

Russell, who died July 31, led the Boston Celtics to 11 NBA titles. He was also the first Black head coach in the NBA and a civil rights activist. Originally broadcast in 2001.