Swee'pea - 9781501116674

A classic basketball story about a legendary New York City basketball player who failed to live up to his potential—despite his extraordinary athletic talent.

Lloyd Daniels’s childhood growing up in Brooklyn and Queens was rough, to say the least. He was poor, abandoned by his biological mom, sent to live with his over-burdened grandmother, and then shuffled between various family members strung out on crack. He was also dyslexic and never learned to read, but he was a playground basketball legend, who some compared to Magic Johnson and other NBA greats. He was recruited by top college basketball programs like UNLV despite his learning disabilities—and well-known history of drug use. Daniels did not have to follow the rules of other kids—like successfully passing a grade to get to the next. Because of his immense athletic talent, Daniels received tons of support for his basketball career, and was given chance after chance to fly right and make it big. Daniels was linked to some of the most venerable coaches in college basketball including Larry Brown and the late Jerry Tarkanian. But time after time Daniels fell short, letting down many of the people who thought they were lifting him up.

Brilliantly capturing New York City basketball in the 1980s—a time that produced many basketball greats including Kenny Anderson, Kenny Smith, and Mark Jackson, this “perceptive, gloves-off look at an inner-city tragedy,” (Kirkus Reviews) illuminates a talented but flawed hero, whose tremendous athletic ability and opportunity were not enough to overcome the devastating impact of drugs, violence, and neglect, factors that contributed to the self-destruction of a world-class talent.