The best in the game share why they love basketball, and speak about the players they grew up emulating, late nights practicing in the driveway, and how basketball provided a refuge from the realities of life.

Gregg Popovich and the Spurs embrace the globalization of basketball to create a dynasty in San Antonio. Pop's coaching roots are traced back to Larry Brown and the University of Kansas. With the Spurs, he turns international players into NBA superstars.

A celebration of the greatest big men to play the game: from international players such as Hakeem Olajuwon, Yao Ming, and Dirk Nowitzki to the United States' Shaquille O'Neal and Anthony Davis.

With stifling defense, the early 2000s Detroit Pistons become the model for how franchises can be dominant without a true superstar. Off the strength of his performance with this Pistons, Larry Brown is tapped to coach the 2004 USA Olympic team.

The ball, the common denominator, the object of a shared feeling is held, passed to and from, caressed, embraced, twirled, hugged, whispered to, and even kissed as the final act of an expression of shared emotion.