The Jump

The Jump dives head first into today's high-stakes, anything-goes basketball culture, examining the sneaker companies intent on securing charismatic and mediagenic players to hawk their wares; college boosters willing to break NCAA rules by offering cash incentives to lure promising players to their schools; high school administrators securing big appearance fees from promoters; agents wooing players and their families—and walking the thin line dictating amateur status rules for high school and college ball.

USA Today columnist Ian O'Connor offers an intimate portrait of a promising young player's senior year at Lincoln High School and explores the changing nature of basketball in America today. Under O'Connor's penetrating scrutiny, Sebastian Telfair becomes the prism through which the circus of modern basketball is explored. Can he succeed, or will he flame out-too young, too small, too unprepared? And what is this new trend in basketball doing to the athletes, to college basketball programs, to the quality of play in the NBA and to society at large? As Harvey Araton of the New York Times states, "No sports book digs deeper into its subject. The Jump stands tall as the definitive work on the preps-to-pros phenomenon that has dramatically altered the culture of the sport."  less