Keepin' It Real:: A Turbulent Season At The Crossroads With The Nba [Hardcover]

Larry Platt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 1998

The Jordan Era is all but over, and for the first time in decades the NBA finds itself deeply troubled. The powers-that-be see a new generation of gangsta players tearing up the hardwood and tearing down the most honored NBA traditions: hard work, teamwork, and respect for the game. Bloodied veterans have to struggle twice as hard to keep up with even younger, ever swifter opponents. And the headlines touting exploits on the court are slowly being boxed out by headlines condemning exploits off the court: drug busts, sex abuse charges, back room manipulations and organizations out of control. This is the NBA today, a league in search of a savior, a league at war with itself -- a league where only the strong survive. But can the NBA itself survive?

Larry Platt answers this and many other questions about the state of the NBA as he recounts from behind-the-scenes the remarkable 1997-98 season through the trials and triumphs of five high-profile players. There's Charles Barkley, bad boy turned old-guard statesman who wants one last shot at the ring. There's Chris Webber, the immensely talented superstar-to-be, who has spent four years fighting his reputation as a prima donna. Matt Maloney is the throwback; Jerry Stackhouse, the crossover star: each will go through a lifetimes's worth of changes, betrayals and morale checks for who they are and the choices they've made. Finally, there's Vernon Maxwell, the original GANGSTA hoopster, who can ball up as well as anyone, but whose career is threatened by his impulse to court danger.

An extraordinary look deep inside the game, Keepin'It Real is also a very American story of ability, achievement, and destructive temptation, a portrait of five athletes who compete mightily with all their heart and soul, not just for minutes and a multimillion-dollar payday, but for dignity and pride, and a lasting place in a brutal league that has offered them the world-at a price that just might destroy them and the league itself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The image-conscious gentlemen who run the NBA will not be pleased by Platt's revealing look at the league. A Philadelphia magazine senior writer, he has crafted an intense behind-the-scenes account of the 1997-98 NBA season by following five playersACharles Barkley, Matt Maloney, Jerry Stackhouse, Chris Webber and Vernon "Mad Max" Maxwell. Having been granted intimate access to the five players, Platt offers a first-hand look at how they handle the temptationsAwomen, drugs, the wrong friendsAof their elite position and negotiate a delicate balance between team and individual responsibilitiesAand sometimes fail. Race is an inescapable subtext of the book as Platt dwells on the difference between "'90s gangsta" players like Maxwell and stars like Michael Jordan and Grant Hill, "crossover" figures who appeal to white America and thus to corporations looking for endorsement pitchmen. Platt, who calls himself "a short, bald, white Jew who was always asking annoying questions," clearly sympathizes with the players against the "suits." He often adopts hip-hop lingo (as in the title) and argues that the conservative mindset of league executives fails to respect the street sensibility of today's young stars. He also has unkind words for most white sportswriters, believing that they are simply jealous of rich, young black men, a phenomenon he calls "playa hating." Some readers will surely think Platt too indulgent of NBA players, but there's no doubt that he presents a picture of these athletes that looks beyond the common caricatures of the role model and the gangsta.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This is the best basketball book published in some time. Platt, a writer at Philadelphia magazine, traces the 1997-98 NBA season through the eyes of five players: the constantly outrageous old pro Charles Barkley, who spends the year with the Houston Rockets trying to win his first championship; Jerry Stackhouse, a young player with the '76ers and Pistons who, along with two of the other major players in the book, represents what many dislike about the NBA; Matt Maloney, a borderline Rockets pro; Vernon Maxwell, a mercurial player whose year ends in a Houston jail; and Chris Webber, one of the Michigan "Fab Five," who spends a disquieting year trying to lead his Washington Wizards to the playoffs. Those who stereotype NBA players as thugs and drug users will see these ideas confirmed here. However, a more compassionate reader will find much good in young men given too much too soon. This is not great literature, but it is a book with real appeal. Highly recommended.AWilliam O. Scheeren, Hempfield Area H.S. Lib., Greensburg, PA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1St Edition edition (March 9, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380977141
• ISBN-13: 978-0380977147
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,431,411 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Keepin' It Real? Get Real!, October 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Keepin' It Real:: A Turbulent Season At The Crossroads With The Nba (Hardcover)

I ordered "Keepin' It Real" largely based on the other Amazon reviews. Live and learn. I do agree with the others that the book is a quick-and-easy read. But I think therein lies its problem. Platt sidesteps a meaty topic--the future of the post-Jordan NBA--to wax sycophantic about hangin' with high-flying NBA hip hoppers. Save the touchy-feely fluff for GQ and People Magazine! If I'm going to shell out $20 bucks, I want level-headed analysis and insight into the future of the NBA. And, on both counts, Platt falls flat.

Take his profile of Chris Webber. Platt is right on the money that Webber is a good guy. Insiders know this. But what serious fans struggle with is why Webber has yet to reach his oncourt potential? Was the bar set too high in Washington? Remember: High expectations brought Webber to Washington; high expectations--and teammate Juwan Howard's unmoveable contract--ran him out of town. Platt doesn't touch the subject. He also forgets to mention that one of Webber's worst misteps that season was skipping a team-sponsored event with season ticket holders. Or, what about Webber's brushes with management regarding team planes and personnel moves? As a Wizards fan, trust me, Platt missed a lot of telling details in the Chris Webber saga. Hangin' with C-Webb for a few nights out of the year just ain't enough to qualify Platt as a basketball expert.

And so it goes with the other one-sided pro-player profiles. A generous heaping of objectivity could have saved this book and made a meaningful contribution to the ongoing debate about the future of a multi-billion dollar industry. Keepin' It Real? Get real!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening look at the lives of NBA players, August 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Keepin' It Real:: A Turbulent Season At The Crossroads With The Nba (Hardcover)

In his book, Platt reveals some of what goes on behind the headlines. If anything, it makes us think twice about what the league, management and media types say about the people who actually play the game. While they are paid professionals, Platt shows us how little their pre-NBA experiences prepare the players for the big time and all that fame brings them.

The language used in the book - while rough - only adds to the impact of what the players themselves have to say about what is happening. If anything, language is obviously used as a weapon (esp. in Charles Barkley's case). You really have to think more about the message's intent rather than how it's expressed.

Great book - highly recommended to all those starry-eyed wannabes who think they have the right stuff.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Platt walks the walk and talks the talk of real NBA players., April 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Keepin' It Real:: A Turbulent Season At The Crossroads With The Nba (Hardcover)

This book rocks. Larry Platt walks the walk and talks the talk of five NBA "playas." With a keen semiotic eye, Platt shows how the media often distort microscopic details of these athletic icons' lives to suit pre-conceived "narratives" of "good" and "bad" players. Not coincidentally, these narratives usually conform to old, ugly archtypes about race. In this day in age, it's amazing to read how "keepin' it real" Barkley-style, or Vernon Maxwell-style, is sometimes interpreted by NBA higher-ups still stuck in a post-plantation mentality as the antics of "rebellious niggers," to quote (from a quote in) the book.

Platt is one great reporter. He got very close to his players. Arguably too close. One can't help but notice a powerful homoerotic longing underlying many of Platt's interactions with his "playas." Read the book and you'll see. It can be quite titillating!