Long before The Answer, there was Chocolate Thunder. Before Kobe, before Shaq, before Air Jordan and even Magic, before the tattoos and the posses and baggy shorts, there was this man-child who understood that, above all, basketball was entertainment. Darryl Dawkins' signature move during a colorful NBA career was bulldozing to the basket and smashing the glass backboard to smithereens. He claimed to hail from the planet Lovetron, he named his dunks, he talked in verse and grew to be the game's No. 1 character. On the court or on the prowl, the former NBA star he was a seven-foot showman who charmed teammates with ribald humor, fans with outlandish antics and women with irresistible charm. Here, Dawkins revives that swashbuckling persona in this a tell-all autobiography of highlighted by tales of sex, drugs and racism and in pro basketball in during the 1970s and '80s.

Dawkins made national headlines in 1975 when he was the fifth overall pick in the NBA draft and became the first player ever to move directly from high school to the NBA. He joined the Philadelphia 76ers at age 18 and quickly discovered that playing alongside Julius Erving was just one of the perquisites of the job. Over a 14-year career, Dawkins established himself as a physical presence under the basket. He was the first player to smash a backboard and his 383 personal fouls in 1983-84 still stands as an NBA record. He was equally imposing off the court, where he enthusiastically embraced a lifestyle of crashing parties, doing drugs and chasing the ladies.

In Chocolate Thunder, Dawkins invites you to join him in the locker room, on the court and at the parties. He recounts rampant marijuana and cocaine use, and how players suspected the league was hiring undercover agents to monitor their nighttime activities, only to cover up drug abuse by the biggest stars. He speaks bluntly about the racism encountered from referees, coaches and teammates, and explores the differences between "black ball" and "white ball." Dawkins also tells salacious truths about many of his estimated 1,000 conquests, and offers frank appraisals of such NBA stars as Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Isiah Thomas, Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman.

Darryl Dawkins played 14 NBA seasons -- in Philadelphia, New Jersey, Detroit and Utah -- as well as five pro seasons in Italy and a stint with the Harlem Globetrotters. He currently coaches the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs of the United States Basketball League and lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Charley Rosen, the best selling author of 12 books, including More Than a Game with Phil Jackson and The Wizard of Odds: How Jack Molinas Almost Destroyed The Game of Basketball, lives in Kingston, New York.

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