City News

Interested in basketball? Looking for a book that will help pass your time? If so, I believe that I

have just the right book for you. Full Court Press , by Mike Lupica, is a book about a woman

from Europe that made it to the NBA. Dee Gerard, although at the age of 32, can handle the ball

better than most men in the NBA. Within the first few pages of the book, many questions arise

such as, “How did she go from European basketball to the NBA?” or “If she’s so good, why

didn’t she play in the WNBA?” As you read further into the book, all of your questions will be

answered.

Dee Gerard is a female basketball player who lives in France. She is the daughter of Cecil Cody,

a man who was once a basketball player himself. When she was about five years old, Cecil Cody

and his daughter moved to France from Boston. This was because Cody would get more

recognition as a basketball player in Europe, along with his team, the Harlem Apolos. When Dee

was young, she automatically fell in love with the sport herself, due to the fact that she was

surrounded by basketball 24/7. She started practicing on her own and even took advice from her

father, who traveled a lot himself because of basketball. This taught Dee to become independent

and train on her own, making her one of the best basketball players in France. Dee wanted to

follow in her father’s footsteps, but take her success one step further. When Dee was about 20

years old, she received news that her father had drowned in a tragedy that would haunt Dee for

the rest of her life. Cecil Cody was on a ferry with his team to play a team in Nice when the boat

sunk, taking the lives of everyone on board. This tragedy dramatically impacted Dee, but also

taught her to keep working hard so she could not only fulfill her, but also her father’s dream of

going pro. Dee started training even harder and started to play on teams where she was the only

female because she was so good. At the same time, an NBA team from New York, the New York

Knights, were having the worst season in the history of the NBA. The team owner, Michael De

La Cruz sent his close friend and advisor, Eddie Holtz to Europe to scout for talent. Eddie flew

over to France a day later and heard of a big game near his hotel between two rival basketball

teams. Eddie went to watch the game and saw something he had never seen before. A woman

with a Bob Cousy jersey and Boston Celtics hat was dribbling the ball better than he had ever

seen before. Eddie was easily mesmerized by the way the woman played and after the game,

chased her to the locker room. He introduced himself to her and she told him that her name was

Dee, short for Delilah, Gerard. Eddie told Dee that he works for the New York Knights and told

her the real reason why he was in Europe. At first, Dee rejected his offer and told Eddie that the

idea of a woman joining the NBA would not be a good idea. Eddie responded by telling Dee that

it would be a first in history and would gain her a lot more recognition that she was gaining in

Europe. After pondering over the matter for a couple of days, Dee decided to give the idea a

chance and agreed to go back to New York with Eddie. On the plane, Dee broke down her life

story to Eddie and read more about the Knights season thus far and all of the players on the team,

including the coach, Bobby Carlino. Eddie also told Dee that he had informed De La Cruz, the

teams owner, about the idea and told her that the owner was very excited and eager to meet Dee

himself. Once the two landed, Eddie took Dee straight to the Knights headquarters in Downtown,

New York. There, Dee was introduced to Michael De La Cruz. He was dressed in a black suit

and looked like he had just showered. Right away, De La Cruz expressed his feelings of great

excitement and anticipation for Dee entering the NBA. After resting at the nearest Marriot hotel,

paid by De La Cruz, Eddie and De La Cruz took Dee to the Madison Square Garden where the

rest of the teams players were practicing. After entering, Dee recognized a short and chubby man

as the team’s coach, Bobby Carlino. Bobby had been introduced to the idea of a woman named

Dee Gerard joining the team the day before. Bobby whole-heartedly disagreed with the idea,

along with all of the team’s players. Bobby puts Dee in the practice right away to test her and she

how good she will be able to play against men. As soon as she got the ball, the team’s player

started to get overaggressive with her and one player on the team that sticks up for Dee is Carl

Anthony. A shooting guard named Ray Ray Lewis started to push Dee when he was on defense

and Carl Anthony had enough. He punched Lewis in the nose, causing a nosebleed, and warned

the other players not to mess with Dee or they would have to go through him. They all listened to

Anthony because they knew he was the strongest player on the team. The same night, Dee

learned all the plays from the playbook given to her by De La Cruz. The first game, which was

two days later, Bobby Carlino did not allow Dee to play a single minute. In the middle of the

fourth quarter, De La Cruz furiously walked to the Knights bench and fired Carlino. The new

coach of the team was Eddie Holtz. He was made coach because Holtz was once a player himself

and has knowledge of the game. News of a woman joining the Knights team quickly spread

around the league and story even made its way into the newspapers. Unfortunately, Dee was only

able to play six games of the season and gained lots of respect from all of the Knights fans

during her time as an NBA player. In those six games, she averaged 12 assists a game and 11

points. She led the Knights to the playoffs by beating the Heat for the last spot in the Eastern

Conference. At the end of the story, Dee tells Eddie that she will not be returning next season and that she was glad about all that she learned as an NBA player.

In conclusion, Full Court Press was a great book to read that told a story most books will not. I

highly recommend for anybody looking for a summer read. In my opinion, it is a ⅘ star book,

mainly because it could’ve gone into a little more detail. All in all, it was a great book and you

should definitely get your hands on it!

Check out Full Court Press at the Newport Beach Public Library.