Carroll hailed from New York City. Image: wwp.greenwichmeantime.com.

Jim Carroll, the author of “The Basketball Diaries,” which is widely considered one of the best basketball reads of all time, died Friday of a heart attack. He was 60.

Carroll was a ballplayer himself and starred at Trinity HS on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in the 1960s.

He was also a musician and poet.

Is “The Basketball Diaries” the best book about the sport?

Hello Bounce Nation.

I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to connect with all of you here on bouncemag.com.

Bounce has always done an awesome job of reminding us about the importance of the playground and the talent that it has produced through the decades, especially here in the NYC area. As a coach that just took over a prep school program in downtown Manhattan in its infancy and the program director of Five-Star Basketball NY, I have noticed one huge void with many city kids today, not enough playground. While there are more AAU/Travel programs than ever which have their plus’ and minus’, the value of the playground for our youth has gotten lost along the way. It seems like many student athletes are no longer making the playground a priority as far as working hard to improve their game or hunting down tough competition. That alone is hurting our game on the youth level. Kids are not as tough physically or mentally and I am a firm believer you develop that playing against players who are bigger, stronger and older which you find on the playground. Hopefully this spring will bring a big time resurgence of youth to our cities courts.

For info on Five-Star Basketball NY please visit www.fivestarbasketballny.com

Or drop me an email at ericnewman@five-starbasketball.com