The Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams

by Darcy Frey

This is the story of a group of high school boys who have given their lives to basketball. They dream of a college scholarship and escape from the neighborhood. What they have is athletic talent, grace, and years of dedication. The Last Shot introduces us to unforgettable characters and the brutal world of college athletic recruitment.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Basketball, Biography, New York, History, Race

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Andrew Garvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last Shot is a concise portrayal of institutional racism, localized to college basketball. Frey follows four teenagers as they navigate the NCAA recruitment process while living and balling in the projects of Coney Island, New York. As the stars of their high school team, each young man represents hope for their otherwise blighted community.

That hope is overwhelmed by a pervasive pressure associated with the expectation of making it to a D1 school - an expectation that most of Coney Island's best prospects fail to meet. The Last Shot now has - like Hoop Dreams from the same year - a thick layer of irony. As a basketball fan, I know that three of the boys never made it to the professional level. Hearing their dreams deferred (even just their desire to leave Coney Island) is a sad and powerful experience.

Frey's prescience renders The Last Shot enduring. His observations about the NCAA and black culture around athletics remain controversial, poignant, and contemporary twenty years later. Put simply, the NCAA treats its recruits with a systemic hypocrisy that is most impactful to and repressive of black athletes. Frey makes his points with a light touch, drawing them out of reflection on actual conversations - including Rick Barnes' magic-act-as-recruitment pitch and Stephon Marbury's dad demanding Frey pay-to-play.

Particularly if you are a basketball fan and know who Starbury is, The Last Shot is a must read.

Companion Music: Outkast - Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik

[Solistas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ο διακεκριμένος δημοσιογράφος Darcy Frey πέρασε το 1991 9 μήνες στις συνοικίες του Coney Island κ έζησε από κοντά τις ζωές 4 νεαρών μαθητών που χάρις στο μπασκετικό τους ταλέντο έψαχναν διέξοδο απ'την σκληρή ζωή που τους περίμενε αν δεν κατάφερναν να βρουν υποτροφίες σε κάποιο πανεπιστήμιο. Το Last Shot δεν είναι φυσικά απλά ένα βιβλίο για το μπάσκετ όπως ίσως θα περίμενε κάποιος. Ούτε καν μια ρομαντική εξιστόρηση για τις θυσίες που πρέπει να κάνουν αυτά τα παιδιά για να καταφέρουν να γλιτώσουν απο μια ζωή που ξέρουν πολύ καλά που καταλήγει. O Frey με πολύ προσεκτικό τρόπο καυτηριάζει το οικονομικό παιχνίδι που παίζεται στις πλάτες αυτών των παιδιών, αναλύει πως αυτές οι γειτονιές βρέθηκαν να αντικατοπτρίζουν τα όρια της ανθρώπινης αξιοπρέπειας κ κατ'αυτό τον τρόπο φανερώνει την παρωδία του αμερικανικού ονείρου στα πλαίσια του επαγγελματικού αθλητισμού.

Το Last Shot εκτός ότι προσφέρει απλόχερα γνώση για το βάναυσο recruiting process των μεγάλων κολεγίων, καταφέρνει να δώσει αρκετή τροφή για σκέψη γύρω απ'τις υποχρεώσεις που έχουν αυτά τα ταλέντα σε μια τόσο νεαρή ηλικία, δίνει μια σαφή εικόνα για την παιδεία τους που είναι by default λειψή αλλά πάνω απ'όλα δίνει μια προσωπική ματιά στο πως όλα μοιάζουν στημένα ώστε αυτά τα πιτσιρίκια να αποτύχουν.

Η έρευνα του Frey σταματάει κάπως απότομα αφού σε κάποια στιγμή χάνει την πρόσβαση του στους παίχτες. Η μητέρα του ενός αρχίζει να τον βλέπει ως περισπασμό, ο πατέρας του Marbury ως ύπουλο τύπο που θέλει να βγάλει λεφτά απ'το γιο του χωρίς να του δώσει μερίδιο ενώ κ το ίδιο το NCAA (η αρχή του κολεγιακού πρωταθλήματος) του απαγορεύει την παρουσία του στις συναντήσεις του Tchaka με τους προπονητές των κολεγίων που τον ήθελαν στις ομάδες τους. Συνολικά όμως, δεν μπορεί κανείς παρά να συνυπογράψει το μυθικό στάτους που έχει αυτό το βιβλίο στον κόσμο των sports books.

Ο συγγραφέας ήταν σίγουρα τυχερός που έπεσε πάνω σε έναν παίχτη που έκανε σπουδαία καριέρα (ο Stephon Marbury δεν ήταν απλά ένα απ'τους 15 καλύτερους παίχτες στον κόσμο στις αρχές των 00s αλλά καθόρισε το μπάσκετ στην Κίνα όπου αγωνίζεται απ'το 2011) κ σίγουρα θα πρέπει κάπου να αναφερθεί ότι ο συγγραφέας δεν σχολιάζει πόσο άλλαζε την καθημερινότητα των πρωταγωνιστών με την παρουσία του. Νομίζω όμως ότι όποιος ενδιαφέρεται για τις κοινωνικές τάξεις, τη φυλή κ τη βία της αμερικανικής κοινωνίας εδώ θα βρει ένα πραγματικά εξαιρετικό βιβλίο.

[Stan Vlieg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking.

I've visited New York 10 years ago with my family. One day i met up with a friend to take the subway from Manhattan to Soho to spend some white man privileged money. In the subway i saw that the last stop was at Coney Island. I've heard the Lou Reed song and read some snippets of it being the place where the working class went to spent some time relaxing. I wish i've read this book before visiting the place.

We sat there on the beach sipping some Starbucks coffee and enjoying our freedom. Walking on the boardwalk, seeing the Cyclone and NOT seeing the projects. Maybe i forgot, maybe i just didn't see it, i don't know..

I bought a red t-shirt with with letters saying Coney Island and i wore it the day i passed through customs. The customs agent praised me for visiting the place and i think i misplaced the praise. It was not the case that i knew of the poverty. Or did i just close my eyes to it? I can hardly believe that.

So far for my feelings afterwards and during this impressive read. I've been reading a lot of basketball related books the last year and this book kind of stumbled in my lap as some sort of conclusive story. The author follows 3 (maybe 4 if you included the somewhat shorter story of Stephon Marbury) students from Lincoln High school at Coney Island. I've been following NBA basketball pretty closely the last 20 years and i was hoping that i just forgot the names of the 3 kids. Obviously Stephon made quite a name for himself on and off the court. Not all positive though.
I just zoom in on the 3 (to me unknown) students. There is Tchaka, the big strong 6,7 foot power forwards with arguablly the lesser talent but still dunks on everybody. His mom decided to flee from the projects at Coney Island to give his son a better chance to escape fate that many of his tallented peers could not escape. Drugs, dealing drugs or ending up dead. Russell is the most talented of the 3 with some dead-eye shooting and lock down defense. He is also very susceptible for stress, he almost jumped from a building after hitting his girlfriend thinking everything went down the drain. Struggling to keep his grades high enough to fit the requirements from the NCAA he hopes to get the recruiting process out of the way as soon as possible. Having not been teached properly from his younger years he is having a hard time to get the grades high enough. It is incredibly hard not to care about his problems, mainly because he is trying harder than everyone else. Lastly there is Corey, the hardest do describe. He wants to be a writer of poetry and if it could be possible get to know every girl that is in his vicinity. Having about the same amount of talent as Russell he is not worrying about the tests results and the improvement of his jumpshot. People find it difficult to get him on the right track because he is to illusive and to smart for his own good.

When the book progressed i became more and more afraid of the almost inavoidable heartbreak. Reading how difficult it is for a talented person from Coney Island to meet the requirements and go to college, not only to become a basketball player but just to graduate, it became pretty painfull.

I don't know if i would have walked the mile from the cyclone to the Garden, the most famous basketball court from Coney Island if i knew about it then. Maybe i would have been to scared. But i hope i would have tried. Just to see and feel the difference of opportunity. Reading a masterpiece like this makes me sad and grateful at the same time. Darcy wrote with honesty and sincere care about the people he met at Lincoln and the projects. I hope some people in the U.S.A. would do the same. It feels like a lot of people are still looking the other way when it comes to the projects or ghetto's .

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This book is a year in the life of highly recruited high school basketball players. It started out a little slow but by the end of a season following these four young men from Lincoln High near Coney Island I was invested. It is set in the mid 1990s. It definitely has a Spike Lee feel to it. In fact Spike Lee was at the biggest basketball game featured in the book.

This read is a classic in the niche sports books genre and is of similar importance as
Friday Night Lights was to high school football. The Last Shot is grittier due to life in the projects, the abject poverty, the drug epidemic, and the sleaziness of the NCAA recruiting process.

As an epilogue, only Stephon Marbury ever became known on the national stage and he comes across in the book as the most unlikeable young man and the last hope of Donald Marbury that one of his four sons can make it as a basketball player.

Highly recommended.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an account of six months in the life of 4 Coney Island projects living, public school attending, basketball superstars, and their potential for escape from their lives with the skills that they show on the court. It's interesting, but it has a few major downfalls in my mind. One is that it never faces up to the fact that the writer has a place in the story. You can't be a middle-aged white man hanging out with a bunch of inner city black kids and not take that into account. I think Frey has to face up to the fact that just like the recruiters and the Nike sponsors, he too has a vested interest in the lives of these kids, and as a writer he's not just some invisible observer on the sidelines.
I also thought that the narrative relied too heavily on the drama of what happens next (will he make the shot? will he pass his SATs? will he get recruited?) but then never satisfies the reader's hunger for the answers to those questions.
Still, in terms of sports writing, this managed to keep me interested, and it also does a good job of giving a voice to a population that otherwise would remain silent.

[Krishna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This kinda walks the path established by Heaven is a Playground, but resonated a bit more with me. Partly because it's more recent and so I was more familiar with the characters on the periphery. It was interesting to read about coaches in their younger days who are still around and of course, Stephon Marbury as a kid. Partly because it goes a little harder at the system of "amateur" athletics, which at every level preaches lofty ideal but is often at cross purposes with those ideals, with the same issues all these years later. Partly because I just liked the kids. Looking up what happened next is depressing. But for some one who invests as much interest in college basketball as I do, it's important to remember the numerous and extremely serious flaws in the system, and this book is a great reminder.

[sarah mcgee · Rating 5 out of 5]

a truly powerful and poignant take on the hypocritical nature of college recruiting and the commodification of young, usually poor, athletes

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

this put the smut in basmutball

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A WRITER FOLLOWS SOME PLAYERS FROM AN INNER-CITY BASKETBALL TEAM

Darcy Frey is an American writer and educator from New York who was a contributing editor at Harper's and The New York Times Magazine. He has taught writing at the University of Chicago, Columbia University's Graduate Writing Program, and Harvard University.

He wrote in the Prologue to this 1994 book, “It’s the summer of 1991, and Russell [Thomas] has just finished his junior year at Abraham Lincoln High School in Coney Island, New York… Most summer evenings I come by this court to watch Russell and his friends play ball… I am always pleased… when Corey comes by this court. Corey is Russell’s best friend and one of Lincoln High’s other star juniors… on a night like this, as the dealers set up their drug marts in the streets and alleyways, and the sounds of sirens and gunfire keep pace with the darkening sky… Yet even in Coney Island there is a use to which a young man’s talent, ambition, and desire to stay out of harm’s way may be put: there is basketball.” (Pg. 1-4)

He continues, “The neighborhood’s best players---Russell, Corey, and their brethren on the Lincoln varsity---practice a disciplined, team-driven style of basketball at the court … which has been dubbed the Garden … n a neighborhood ravaged by the commerce of drugs, the Garden offers a cherished sanctuary. A few years ago community activists petitioned the housing authority to install night lights. And the players themselves resurfaced the court and put up regulation-height rims that snap back when a player dunks… Even the dealers and hoodlums refrain from vandalizing the Garden, because in Coney Island the possibility of transcendence through basketball… is an article of faith.” (Pg. 5)

He continues, “It is not too much to say that basketball has saved Russell. The Thomases---Russell, his mother, and his two younger sisters---live in one of the neighborhood’s toughest projects … and in earlier days Russell often caused his family considerable grief, sometimes leaving home for long stretches to hang out on the streets with his friends… [This] posed a greater threat … since certain of his friends… liked to wander over to neighboring Brighton Beach in order to hold up pensioners at gunpoint. But… Russell has developed new ambitions for himself…” (Pg. 5-6)

He recounts, “I had occasion to witness some of the attitudes directed at the Lincoln players when I went ... to watch Tchaka play with an independent summer-league, which happens to be all black, against a group of white players…Every time the whistle blew on one of Tchaka’s transgressions, the crowd let up a carnival cheer… the mood in the bleachers, filled predominantly with the relatives of the white players, soon turned ugly. Whenever Tchaka took one step too many on his route to a crushing jam, hecklers would call for a technical, yelling, ‘This ain’t the NBA!’ which seemed a euphemism for the resentment many white players feel toward blacks with overwhelming talent, since the NBA is 80 percent black and just about the only arena in which whites are seriously in danger of losing their jobs to blacks.” (Pg. 50-51)

He goes on, “Sometimes… I felt that I had caught up with them at a crucial juncture in their lives. Sports has a way of doing that…one feels it especially around athletes from neighborhoods like Coney Island, where today they live in projects so menacing that even some of the Lincoln social workers won’t make home visits anymore… and tomorrow they may be… the first members of their families ever to graduate from a four-year college, the first to find decent employment, the first to take their long-denied place in the mainstream American economy---the game of basketball giving them perhaps their last best change to do so.” (Pg. 31-32)

He notes, “For the most part, the money and glamour go to the parochial schools, which ensure themselves a steady talent flow by fielding several teams… all coached by full-time staffs. In New York and many other cities the Catholic leagues also siphon off the best public school players by offering a safer environment, better academic preparation, and travel budgets for out-of-town tournaments.” (Pg. 41-42)

He points out, “With top college conferences like the Big East earning as much as $65 million a year for a one-year contract with CBS Sports, the pressure on coaches like Carlesimo, Barnes, and Massimo to recruit the top stars … is not significantly less than it is for the players themselves: jobs and livelihoods are on the line … Given the intense competition among the recruiters… and the widespread suspicion that not all of them follow religiously the NCAA rules governing the recruiting process, it isn’t surprising that collegiality among the coaches often suffers serious injury.” (Pg. 56)

He explains, “The ABCD camp … cost the [Nike] company an estimated $100,000 to stage the camp each year. But it’s an investment, allowing the long arms of Nike to reach deeper… bringing the best high school players into the Nike fold… But even as camp officials are lecturing players on how to avoid exploitative college recruiters, Nike is bestowing on its campers an astonishing largess---sneakers, shirts, shorts, meals, airfare, hotel room---that would be considered a blatantly illegal inducement if it came from a college coach…” (Pg. 60-61)

He wrote, “For years, I knew, Russell had earned a reputation in Coney Island for ‘playing white’---takin a lay-up when he could have dunked, that sort of thing. ‘No one thinks I can dunk ‘cause I never dunked in public,’ he says, ‘But between you and me, I dunk in the park all the time---when no one’s looking.’” (Pg. 89)

He records, “‘You know why basketball is so great?’ Corey said to me on another occasion. ‘Cause there’s just no limit to what you can do. Everything goes.’ I wasn’t certain what he was getting at until I saw him later that day in practice… Corey drove toward the basket and went airborne in the customary fashion---bellowing and slamming the ball violently between his hands. But instead of jamming it, Corey rolled the ball daintily off his fingertips into the hoop---a dunk in the ironic mode.’ ‘Jesus, did you see Corey lift off?’ said one spectator.” (Pg. 91)

But later, he notes, “And as the bar between Tchaka’s fortunes and those of his Coney Island teammates widened, so too did the fault lines that ran just below the surface of this team. For a long time I attributed the friction between Tchaka and the Coney Island crew merely to geography. After practice, Russell, Corey, and Stephon often hung out together … But among black neighborhoods in New York, I see now that geography speaks to a more delicate issue: social class… [Tchaka said] ‘Out by the projects, it’s CRAZY… all you gotta do is LOOK at someone wrong and they want to shoot you. After I get to college, I’m never going back to… Coney Island again.’ In this context, [it] sounds like barely disguised code for the disdain, even fear, with which Tchaka views some blacks from the projects; and certain of the Coney Island players readily return the insult, suggesting that the more middle-class players like Tchaka can’t play the game like they do in Coney Island.” (Pg, 201-202)

He records in the Epilogue, “Russell Thomas signed with Philadelphia’s Temple University… But on his final SAT attempt, his score went down. Temple withdrew its scholarship offer, and Russell ended up at a junior college… [Later he] accepted a scholarship at a four-year Division II school… where he thought he would study better… He has not been back to Coney Island... Corey Johnson fell short… on his SATs… [He] lost his eligibility, and returned to New York City. Now, he … works part-time for his father’s plumbing business. Tchaka spent two frustrating years playing for the Seton Hall Pirates… [He] languished on the bench… Tchaka transferred to the lower-level University of California at Irivne…but according to NCAA rules must sit out one full season before playing basketball again. All hopes no rest on Stephon Marbury… But as of the summer of 1994, he was still working to pass his SAT’s.” (Pg. 229-230) [Marbury, of course, was in the NBA from 1996 to 2009, then played in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) from 2010 to 2018.]

This book will be of great interest to those interested in street basketball, college basketball, and related topics.

[Grady]

The African Americans of the Coney Island Projects are looking for basketball to be their way out of the Projects. The Coney Island projects in Brooklyn are where a lot of the African Americans live. Most of them attend Abraham Lincoln High when they are able to go into High school. Abraham Lincoln is known in the East coast for producing very talented basketball players and basketball teams. The players of Abraham Lincoln High are trying to make something of themselves so that they can find a way out of the Projects. Tchaka Shipp is one the of my favorite characters in this book by Darcy Frey.
The Last Shot is a really good book to read especially for students in high school that like to play basketball. This book by Darcy Frey has a pretty good story line and it also is easy to follow. This book also has some characters that are very likeable. The characters in this book seem nice and helpful to other characters. There doesn’t seem to be much of a conflict in this book either. I would recommend this book to athletes in high school that like or play basketball and that love to play the sport. This book is good for most ages and isn’t that hard to understand. I personally really like this book mainly because it’s about basketball and that it is funny at times too. This book grasped my attention by the front cover and the summary on the back of the book. In conclusion, this book is one of my favorite books because it’s easy to follow and comprehend.

[John Sellars · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic book! Explores the complexities of inter-city basketball dreams and the realities of the black (youth) experience. Any black man can relate to this book, hooper or not— draws you deep into fresh sociological angles. Incredible narrative and easy to follow, well done Darcy Frey.

[Kurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book was pretty descent. Would probably recommend it to those that enjoy the sport of basketball. Stephon Marbury has been a star from the day he walked into high school. Another player similar to him is Lebron James having so much hype behind them at a young age, Kevin Garnett too.

[Lisa of Hopewell]

I learned of this book via this post: https://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2025/...

[Rayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

THE LAST SHOT follows the lives of immensely talented black basketball players at Lincoln High School through one season of the game. All of these players, with the exception of one, are from the Coney Island projects (“hulking, prisonlike, and jutting straight into the sea”). Frey uses these poor, black kids sort of as an example of the belief that yeah, college sports/recruiting/the NCAA are reeeeeally shady. Which, no shit, dude.

There was some pretty disturbing stuff in here, or at least disturbing to me, like the fact that Nike is running fucking farm systems full of teenage student-athletes. And for what? SHOES! Money! That's insane to me. Or the way these (mostly black) kids are being described by (mostly white) coaches and recruiters: for example, at one point, an assistant coach refers to the aforementioned kids practicing basketball as "horses." Talk about dehumanizing.

“Yup, a lotta horses here,” remarked Tom Sullivan, one of Seton Hall’s assistant coaches, on the first day of camp.”

There was also some pretty heartbreaking stuff, like everything Russell Thomas was going through. He seemed so disturbed, like there was a lot more than just anxiety going on. And also just seemingly regular stuff like this, that's just a side effect of living somewhere like Coney Island:

“And despite their athletic skills, and the crowds of coaches who watched them all summer, most of the players have returned to Coney Island completely broke and have found no legitimate options for making money besides hawking sodas on the boardwalk. It’s hard work, lugging a case of Cokes from the nearest supermarket a mile away, then selling them one by one as the brutal summer sun hangs like a surgeon’s lamp in the afternoon sky. For their trouble the players often get a summons from the police. Meanwhile, the drug business directly across Surf Avenue seems as brisk as ever and appears to draw less official attention.”

I think the biggest flaw of this book is something that Donald Marbury, a father of one of the players, hinted at. In a way, Darcy Frey is no different than the coaches and the recruiters. They all want a piece of these kids. That's something the author only partially admits to.

[Brittany Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I chose this novel, I was thinking about a different group of students than I usually think about. I was thinking that in my own classroom, I want to make sure that all the students in my class can be able to go to my book shelf and pick a book they would like to read. I was thinking about the young boys in my future class. They would love a book like this. I would suggest it to middle school readers and above, but advanced fifth grade boys may be able to read and understand it as well. I was surprisingly emotionally affected by this book in a way that I never thought I would be. This book is not just about Basketball. It follows four high school boys who live in a very run down urban area on Cooney Island. Abraham Lincoln High School was known for its basketball program, and all four of the chronicled boys believed it was their only way to succeed in life. Even if that success had nothing to do with basketball, they needed it to get where they wanted to go in life. The book covers social issues like living in a struggling urban area, sketchy recruiting tactics by colleges, and dealing with drugs and violence. The book is well written and descriptive in the text, which allows the reader to put themselves right into Cooney Island. We get to feel what the four boys feel, and struggle as they do. This book would be useful in exposing to young students what it is like to live in such an urban area. It is a very real and raw book, it deals with tough issues that people who are less fortunate than most deal with every day. I liked the book altogether, it was emotional and “real” in the way it was written. There was no sugar coating, and that tactic worked well for this nonfiction novel.

[Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really poignant storytelling. I think this biography subconsciously lived in my mind for weeks after I read it. The devastation really stayed with me.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this book is about a young boy who has dreams of making it big. He plays basketball and lives in New York, he lives in a rough part of New York where many famous people are from. It is really hard for him to get the exposure he needs to make it to college from where he lives. But he doesn't give up and try's his best to fulfill his dreams.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a good book for me to read because what happens in the book is similar to what I am going through right now. If you are a big fan of sports and enjoy reading about sports I think this is the book for you. This book will also be good to read for people who like to read books where only the last couple of paragraphs sums up the whole story. So if you fall into any of those categories then this is the right book for you.
Overall this book was really a good book. I had a good experience reading this book, because what happens in this book happens to a lot of young athletes in the area I live in. But this will only be a good book for a person that is a patient reader. Because if you need a book where you can just jump to the back of the book for a quick book report or review this is not the book for you, because you will miss out on a lot of important details that is in the beginning and middle of the book that you need to know. So from my point of view I recommend this book for you.

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Becoming a high level athlete is some sort of American Dream for every young man around the world. It's what we would all be if we had the breeding and the work ethic to get there. It's the top of the food chain for boys. But there's a gap between the idea and the reality of elite sports and THE LAST SHOT tries its best to illustrate what it feels like for four young boys of Coney Island, including a 14 years old Stephon Marbury, who would grow up to become a tormented NBA superstar.

Frey has a great pen, although sometimes he indulge in overwriting and the necessary sensibility to translate the wild and frantic recruiting process into great literature. It's a solid book about the broken business of college sports recruiting and that, I thought it was interesting, attempts to explain what kind of pressure elite athletes are under. It's not just about Bentleys and hoes when multimillion dollar businesses sell dreams and hopes using your performances.

[Manav S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biographical account gives a wonderful insight into the lives of the residents of Coney Island and the many hardships faced by them. How every young boy has to make a decision - the easy one of getting involved in drug peddling, or the tough one of struggling it out on the basketball court - which is the only escape.
Another aspect this book touches upon is the extremely competitive college recruitment scene in the US. How, in spite of excellent skills on the court, many players fail to make it anywhere, owing to years of bad schooling.
Darcy Frey touches upon these through the lives of four boys - Tchaka, Corey, Russell and Stephon (Marbury) - all potential superstars, but with very different fates.
I would say that this is a must-read for any basketball enthusiast. After a point, it becomes unputdownable.

[Patrick Laney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frey gives us an intimate look at the lives of 3 young men playing for the same high school in Coney Island and all seeking a pathway to college. Along the way, he exposes much of the sad salesmanship of college basketball coaches and the academic challenges the boys face to be eligible to play in college despite their talent. Unfortunately, the story is fairly well dated after decades of changes to college basketball and the author’s style reads much more like a news report than being a storyteller. Despite the limitations, I particularly gained a deep fondness for Russell and believe those who have a deep love for basketball will be intrigued by the history and accuracy of the encounter.

[7703Emil · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, this book was a great read. The book was about 4 people growing up in the Coney Island Projects. It was focused around Stephon Marbury, a former basketball player, Russell Thomas, Tchaka Shipp, and Corey Johnson. It is an exciting book on the 4 trying to pass their high school exams and get to college, and hopefully the NBA. The author did a great job in giving every detail he heard and saw, and gave you the feel of how the games on the street court went. If this was the last book in the world I had, I would read it over and over again.

[Suleyman Sari · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book makes you care about the personalities of Russell, Corey, and Tchaka so much that their story hits you like a freight train. It's a lot like "Wire", but real, to someone who is geographically very far away from the Coney Island.

I had the impression that the book was a loose biography of Marbury, who I had never thought of highly. That's why I kept postponing reading it, but I realized it wasn't about Marbury at all. He's just a side character, an unlikely exception in his environment. The book is so much more.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Darcy Frey looks closely at the lives of four young men as they are being recruited by the NCAA. It's their only hope out of a life of poverty and despair. But will their basketball skills be enough to overcome what is missing in their lives---their poor schooling experiences, terrible family circumstances, and the harsh aspects of college recruitment.

[Vilis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lielisks stāsts par trīsarpus vidusskolniekiem ceļā no Ņujorkas Steitenailendas, kas ceļas un iet gulēt ar sapņiem par koledžas basketbolu. Šitāda dokumentālā literatūra (un filmas), kas pievēršas pāris cilvēkiem ilgākā laika posmā ir mans vājais punkts, bet vajadzētu patikt, kurus varētu interesēt jauno basketbola zvaigžņu ražošanas sistēma ASV.

[Myersakrawiec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eye-opening! I felt a constant state of dread while reading this, from start to finish. It was with good reason too based on the afterward. Still, the author beautifully and compassionately portrayed his subjects, all their faults, eccentricities, and glories on display. It will make me think twice about how each player got to where they are when I next enjoy a college basketball game on TV.

[Danny H · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is outstanding. I agree with others that it’s one of the best sports books ever. You learn a lot about how some black youth grow up and see athletics as the only thing saving them from a life of misery. This is one that I’ll probably pick up and read again someday.

[Reid Johnson]

For the most part I enjoyed this book. It's a cool story about basketball players in the city and how challenging it was for then to get an education, even with how talented they were.

[Cory · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible story this book is responsible for my love of reading. I read it and re-read it in high school.

[Ahmed Bah · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the book “The Last Shot,” the author, Darcy Frey, makes the readers come to life in the book. This book is such a thriller! As a basketball player, I will always like a good basketball story, but this is different. This portrays the hardships growing up in such a terrible place such as Coney Island in New York. In the basketball world, there are so many players who grew up in a horrific situation, but basketball became their sanctuary, their pride, and their first class ticket out of that plays. This makes me want to appreciate what I have because some people have nothing, but in some way still working harder than me every single day. Stephon Marbury, an NBA legend and icon, grew up in Coney Island and was nicknamed the “Future of the Neighborhood.” He was an exceptional player and started this book as a freshman and already had people calling him the “Prodigy.” Although Stephon has some special treatment, such as picking the team jerseys, picking his own locker, and the keys to the faculty bathroom, Stephon was a great player. But Russell, the hard working player and student who studied flash cards at lunch. Who had the most complete skill and talent on the team that went to average 32 points. But sadly died in a tragic incident. Russell didn’t deserve it but it happened. “Averaging 32 points per game and setting the state community college scoring record with 1,991 career points,”(Frey 231). This talent was unique and his work ethic was even more special. But, he died at only 26 years old. “Russell was walking along some train tracks next to the beach in San Clemente, listening to his Walkman, when he was struck from behind by an Amtrak passenger train. He was thrown seventy-five feet and dies instantly. He was twenty-six years old,”(Frey 232). This accident was unfortunate but Russell is in a better place. I would recommend this book because when you read this book, it makes you feel like you’re inside of the whole storyline. As Tchaka talks about Nike, you feel like you’re in his conversations. If you like real and true stories, I would highly recommend this book. Also, if you are a basketball player, you can see what the process is to get a basketball scholarship and what the process of high school basketball really is. This can connect to any basketball player or anyone raised in a rough area. A message I want people to get from this is that life is too short and life is too precious to just sit around with it. As people who grew up in Coney Island, they grew up in a terrible situation. But they took basketball and made it into something special. And most of these people had great lives. Especially Stephon who became an NBA legend and icon all over the world. Another message is: Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard. Hard work and perseverance has got me through some tough times. But I’ve never let those times, get in the way of me trying to obtain the goal of my life. And this books shows me why I should work even harder.

[Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a NYC school teacher and coach in the Coney Island area, the realities expressed in this book are far too real. I would recommend this book to anyone, whether they are interested in sports or not. However, I believe this is an essential, must read book for any teacher, coach, or individual that works with kids.

It is an absolutely outstanding book that brings light so many issues that plague our society: the inequity and trauma faced by kids growing up in low income neighborhoods; the predatory nature of the billion dollar industry that is the NCAA; the lack of social emotional support for the kids that need it most. Reading this book was truly heart breaking to me. To many kids in Coney Island, and in many places across our country, it truly is basketball or the streets: there is no in between. I found the narrative that Frey writes to be incredibly engaging because he writes with the objectivity of a reporter, something that is so rare to see these days. His own opinions are relatively absent from the narrative, but he artfully intertwines the words of the different characters to develop the most powerful points in the book. Although the exact name of the man escapes me right now, he is a mentor-type who helps support boys in Coney Island, and he states one quote that gave me chills while reading:

“You’ll hear a lot of trash talk about kids like these. But I’ve learned that as long as you work with them and show them you care, they care. They all want to learn the game, go to college, make something of their lives. I tell them, one bad injury can tear up your whole career, but no one can take away your brain. And they listen because it’s the truth, and around here the kids don’t hear the truth a lot.”

The harsh realities presented in this book provide an invaluable perspective to any reader. This was one of the few books that, at the end, left me stunned, numb. I was just getting off a train while finishing the final pages and needed to sit on the nearest bench for 15 minutes, just staring blankly at the ground. I am not an emotional person by any means, but many scenes in this book left tears welling up in my eyes, such as the scene between Russel and his mother towards the end of the book.

In all, this book echoes a sentiment that I as a teacher firmly believe: there are no bad kids. I have taught in some of the worst schools in the city. I have had my fair share of students who come to class with ankle monitors, who clown around constantly, who are involved in gang and drug activity outside of school...but I have not once met a "bad" kid. Kids become a product of the society that they live and grow up in. They are shaped by the realities that surround them. They are victims of a broken and rigged system. Worst of all, instead of helping these kids, a lot of times adults--whether it be members of the community or institutions like the NCAA--chose to prey upon these kids. I feel that anyone who reads this book will better understand these sentiments, and it will change their perspective for the better.