Basketball transformed Larry Johnson from high school outcast to hero. It has rewarded him with national college player-of-the-year honors, National Basketball Association (NBA) Rookie of the Year honors, and a 12-year, $84 million contract to play with the Charlotte Hornets. Johnson is a body-banging, rim-rattling, all-star power forward. (A power forward is usually the second tallest player on the team, after the center.) He is considered one of the NBA's brightest young talents and was a member of the "Dream Team II" team that won the gold medal at the 1995 World Basketball Championships.

Johnson's story is one of rising from poverty to success. It is also a story of how Johnson made good decisions: to join the Police Athletic League (PAL); to leave the neighborhood for high school; to leave Dallas, Texas, for college; and to stay at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) rather than jump to the...