Lonnie can play ball, and he knows it. As he puts it,"My game was my fame, and I knew it was together" (p.3) . This attitude becomes a problem a problem for Lonnie as the sory progresses , because his ego sometimes gets in the way of his mental progression.Lonnie and his friends have a meeting place with a basketball court whicch they call the "center", the center is used as a place to play hoops and chill out.

One day Lonnie and his friends decide to enter a tournament called the "Tournament of Champions". They recruit a man named Cal to be their coach, but some disagreement comes up because Cal is known as a street bum. They finally decide to let Cal be their coach and they enter the tournament ready to play as a team. Lonnie and Cal form a shaky friendship which stabilizes into a much stronger and deeper realationship.Lonnie is let in on a secret about Cal which nobody knows about. This secret allows Lonnie to become less egotistical and turn down bribes to cheat in the tournament.

The story progresses through the tournament and through Lonnie's life with beautifully written dialogue which livens up moments without basketball action. When Lonnie's team reaches the championship game, he is forced to make a decision between making money and selling out or learning from Cal's mistakes and helping his team to victory.