Slam Dunk by Matt Christopher, Robert Hirschfeld Read Free Book Online

suggested.
    “I don’t know. It’s probably too soon to know much.” Grady unwrapped his lunch. “Anyway, I’m not lecturing you.”
    “Yes, you are,” Julian answered. “Telling me what I should do or not do — that’s the coach’s job, not yours.”
    After a pause, Grady said, “You’re right. I shouldn’t do that. I’m sorry; I was out of line. I won’t do it anymore.”
    Julian wasn’t expecting Grady’s response. He had been ready for more arguing.
    “But the coach won’t let you get away with anything,” Grady added. “You know he’ll be all over you if you don’t get it together.”
    Julian wanted to disagree, but couldn’t. Grady was right; Coach Valenti had warned Julian already. But Julian wasn’t going to say so to Grady. “That’s between me and the coach,” he said at last.
    “Okay,” Grady said. “And listen, I still want to be your friend. But don’t expect me not to be friends with Mick and Len, or anyone else. We’re all going to be practicing and playing together, so we might as well get along.”
    “Okay,” Julian said, still not really happy with the idea. “Oh, one other thing. Barry asked if you and me could visit him together. He said he’d like that.”
    “Sure. I’d like that,” Grady said. “If it’s all right with you.”
    “Yeah, why not?” Julian said. He realized that he hadn’t eaten his lunch, but he no longer felt hungry. “I better go.”
    “See you at practice,” Grady said.
    “Right.” Julian wished he could make himself look forward to it.
    Practice began with the usual warm-ups. In the layup drill, Julian didn’t have to work too hard and made just about all his shots, going in and rising effortlessly, then banking the ball in. Once or twice, for variety, he used a finger roll to loft the ball on a high arc and through the hoop. He was one of the few boys his age who could do such a move with success.
    But while Julian could look good on layups, even while not working hard, if he loafed when going for the ball after another player’s shot, it showed. After one halfhearted attempt at a block, Coach Valenti called out, “Julian!”
    The coach beckoned him. Julian, nervous that he’d pushed his luck too far, trotted over.
    “I can see you’re tired,” Coach Valenti said. “So I’ll give you two choices. Number one: sit down on that bench for a few minutes, then come back ready to hustle. Number two: go to the locker room, change clothes, and go home. And don’t come back until you think you’re ready to play. Which is it going to be?”
    Julian said, “I’ll pick it up, Coach. Really.”
    The coach gestured to the bench. “Sit down and think about it. Go on.”
    Feeling every eye on him, Julian sat down on the bench. He was seething but couldn’t decide whether he was angry at himself or at everybody else. A few minutes later, the coach blew his whistle to get the team together and signaled for Julian to join them.
    “No more of this lounging around,” he said quietly to Julian. “I mean that.” He raised his voice so the whole team could hear him. “All right, we’re going to do a three-on-three half-court passing exercise. The three on offense will inbound the ball at midcourt and try to score. Before you shoot, however, you have to pass the ball at least five times. After a made shot, the other team puts the ball in play from midcourt. On a missed shot, whichever team gets the rebound has to pass the ball out to midcourt, and we start again. The team with the ball has to make five passes before shooting. Any questions?”
    Grady and Julian were on the first squad with the ball, along with a forward named Warren. Warren had been on the team the previous year but had seen little playing time. Mick and Len were on the defense squad, along with another new guy, a tall, skinny center named Cal.
    Grady inbounded to Julian, who backed the ball in toward the basket, with Cal trying to block his move. Julian was bigger than