From the Outside

November 1, 2017

Two-time National Basketball Association champion Allen details his upbringing in a military family (which taught him discipline and respect) and reflects on fellow players, coaches, owners, and friends. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 19, 2018
Former NBA star Allen recalls his bumpy path to glory in this steady, thoughtful effort. The son of an Air Force metal technician, Allen hopscotched the globe before becoming a high school basketball star in Dalzell, S.C., where his teammates viewed him as someone who would “do something good with life, and they most likely would not.” He was recruited by the University of Connecticut, where he learned what’s required to go from being a good athlete to a great one: “It is not enough just to arrive early,” he writes. “You also must stick around until your work is done.” In the NBA, Allen got a different education, that basketball is a business. He was traded twice—from the Milwaukee Bucks, whose coach George Karl didn’t bother to tell Allen, and from the Seattle SuperSonics, even after general manager Sam Presti told him he was part of the team’s future. He eventually played for the Boston Celtics, where he thrived, but was overlooked in favor of LeBron James for the MVP award in the 2008 season. While Allen highlights his professional accomplishments, details of his personal life are scant: he shares little of his childhood; his parents’ stormy relationship and their divorce; or how he handled being a young father as an NBA newcomer. Still, Allen’s astute telling provides a bracing reminder that athletes’ success comes from the right attitude, the right skills, and the right set of circumstances.

February 15, 2018
And then we played . . . too often those four words are the refrain that drives sports biographies, as star players recount their careers, game by game, the stunning shots or touchdown runs eventually blurring into one another like a highlight reel on ESPN. There are plenty of game recaps and certainly a wealth of stunning shots in this autobiography of Ray Allenafter all, he's the NBA's leader in career three-pointersbut there's much more than that. With the help of coauthor Arkush, Allen goes behind the box scores to offer an insightful and notably introspective look at his life in basketball, including 18 years in the NBA and two championships, one with Boston in 2008 and another in Miami in 2013. Fans will relish the inside look at Allen's difficult relationships with his coach in Milwaukee, George Karl, and, later, with fellow Celtic Rajon Rondo, but Allen never dishes just for the fun of it. He's often contrite about his missteps on and off the court, and, throughout the book, he looks at the game and his part in it with a refreshing, always thoughtful candor.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)