Mar 11, 2002 -- The casual observer would have a hard time telling who was having more fun at the Celebration of Reading – the children or Nets rookies Richard Jefferson and Brian Scalabrine. The NBA Store in New York hosted the event as part of the NBA's Read to Achieve initiative. The players read two books to a group of local schoolchildren and then answered questions about them. "I really enjoyed it," Jefferson said. "Reading is the first step that you need for everything through high school and college." Surprisingly, the children were more interested in the players' takes on the books than they were about their NBA careers. Jefferson raved about "The Pocket Dogs" by Margaret Wild and Scalabrine said he could identify with John Coy's playground story "Strong to the Hoop", seeing as how the rookie is trying to cut it with the big kids in the NBA. "I love getting out into the community," Scalabrine said. "I want to do as many events as long as I'm in the NBA because who knows how long I'll get to be here." Regardless of the length of either player's basketball career, both players scored enduring slam dunks for reading.

--Lina Balciunas