“From Hang Time to Prime Time” hit shelves three weeks before the 2020-21 NBA season opened. The author joined the podcast to discuss his debut book.


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Author Pete Croatto, whose work has appeared in the New York Times, GQ and SportsIllustrated.com, among other places, discusses his debut book, “From Hang Time to Prime Time: Business, Entertainment, and the Birth of the Modern-Day NBA.” Check out some of the highlights below:

5:13-5:45: “You know, I’ve been doing this for a long time – I’ve been a professional writer for 23 years; I’ve been a freelance writer for about 15. And one thing I’ve learned is that this is a job, and I don’t really have time to get wrapped up in the theatrics of writing. … I just have to go and just do it. It was almost like being shot out of a cannon, where you’re kind of like, ‘Alright, I’m just doing this.’”

11:33-12:03: “We assume that it’s always been this way. We assume that games have been available with a click of a button. We assume that we can find our favorite teams’ gear or favorite players’ shoes so easily. But that wasn’t [always] the case. It was a long, hard struggle to get to relevance, and as times goes on and the NBA gets bigger and bigger and the players become bigger stars, we’re gonna forget that. And we’re already forgetting that.”

20:28-20:52: “It’s always about the people, and I think that’s the one thing about sports books that I think people who aren’t familiar with them get bogged down. ‘Well, I’m not interested in the ’27 Yankees or the ’73 Lakers’ or whatever. But if you’re interested in people and their problems and their desires, then that book is as useful or as enlightening as any book you’re going to read.”

28:56-29:22: “That is, to me, the beauty of the NBA is that it is never going to stand on its laurels or do the same old, same old, because they’re gonna update it for the audience that has the most disposable income, which is teenagers, folks in their 20s, and that, to me, is the beautiful part of it. So yeah, they’re gonna be flexible with the rules, they’re gonna be flexible with how they organize the seasons and things like that.”

33:52-34:29: “The NBA is all about reinvention. It’s all about trying to make it relevant for the cool kids. But they don’t do that at the expense of the game. … It’s still the best athletes in the world trying to get a basketball into a 10-foot high post. The essence of the game is never going to change. The things around that are gonna change to attract new viewers, to attract new fans.”

48:23-49:02: “The book is the triumph. The sales are gonna be what they are. The factors that affected publication or consumption are what they are, but nothing can dispute the fact that I wrote a book, I published it, it’s out there. … That I was able to write a book when 10 years ago, 15 years ago, I didn’t think I’d even be in writing, that, to me, is the triumph. Anything else after that is immaterial.”

*Pete’s aunt was a member of Reparata and the Delrons. One of their hits can be heard here.

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Music: “Who Likes to Party” by Kevin MacLeod.