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25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From the author (don't use the stars, I filled out to send, December 2, 2000
Phil Jackson is one of the most complex figures in the history of American professional sports. Widely adored and held in the highest of esteem by fans in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and the world over, Jackson has built a career on finding success through a variety of unconventional approaches. Interpreting his actions and discerning his motives could easily prove a daunting task for any biographer. If anything redeems this effort, it is the insight offered by Tex Winter himself, who has granted me numerous candid interviews over the past half dozen seasons. Long known for his frankness about the high-priced stars he coaches, Winter has taken the same approach with his own boss. He admires Jackson yet never hesitates to criticize him. Jackson, for his part, seems to accept this criticism as part of his relationship with his mentor. In fact, the coach clearly relies on Winter's frankness, never mind that it frequently annoys him. "Phil would like to control me," Winter offered during an interview in February 2000. "But he knows he can't." Jackson has complained privately that I somehow duped Winter into providing inside detail for my 1998 book about the Bulls, "Blood On The Horns." Yet it was Jackson himself who volunteered most of the truly sensitive information during our interviews. It was Jackson who told me of the bathroom battles between Michael Jordan and Bulls VP Jerry Krause. And it was Jackson who revealed Scottie Pippen's drunken verbal assault on Krause on a team bus in Seattle that year. I've interviewed Jackson several times over the years and have always found him to be forthcoming about events, even when the information he provides casts himself in a negative light. By no means is this an authorized biography. As much as Jackson would prefer that I not write it, he has taken no steps to restrict my access to his team or to people who might provide information about him. As a result, Winter has offered some refreshing insight into a complicated figure. I have also drawn heavily on Jackson's own published works, especially his first autobiography, "Maverick, More Than A Game," a rawer, more daring account of his early life than his 1995 title "Sacred Hoops" provided. Beyond Winter and Jackson's own works, my effort was aided immensely by a host of interviews and published material. When all was said and done, Tex Winter read the manuscript and declared that it was excellent. Tough but excellent. For Winter's help and guidance, I'm immensely thankful.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great account of Jackson's life, February 13, 2001
Having always been intrigued by Phil Jackson as a coach and a person, I was thrilled to see that an account of his interesting career and life had been published. Being a coach myself, I had always wanted to find how this living legend's mind works and maybe try to apply some of his ideas/concepts to my coaching. That was the reason that I had devoured "Sacred Hoops" as soon as it came out back in 95-96. I was also excited to see "the value" that the book offers: 400 pages..."Not bad" I thought, and I went ahead and ordered the book right away! The content of the book did not disappoint me one bit. It is nicely structured (chronologically) and it gives quite an insight and quite a few details of Jackson's life. Usually a slow reader, I breezed through this nicely written piece of work by Lazenby. I especially enjoyed the quotes from interviews and informal discussions that either Jackson himself or people he was associated with had given in the past. I also really liked the fact that the book includes Jackson's first season in LA. I think this adds tremendous value to the book: it makes its publishing a lot more timely and therefore more appealing. My only couple of concerns with this publication are the following: a) The book seems to repeat itself at times mentioning the same thing over and over maybe from a different perspective but the same information/idea none-the-less. I apologize for not having a good example of this handy, but I wasn't taking notes while I was reading... b) The book is a little too "superficial" for my taste. Jackson is such a complicated and unique person and I think this book makes little or no attempt to try and "decipher" him. I am not sure, however, that that was even the intent of the author to begin with. Maybe all Lazenby wanted to do was give an account of Jackson's life and not really try to judge/critique his coaching techniques or philosophies. Regardless, I felt that since the author seems to "know" Jackson so well, he should have tried to offer an opinion on some of the controversial decisions in his personal or professional life. Overall, I'd say that anyone interested in Jackson should get this book. Lazenby gives you an objective account of Jackson's life (the good AND the bad; unlike many autobiographies...) and one will have a great time reading through the stories and looking at the pictures. Should a basketball (or other) coach get the book though in order to maybe "gain some coaching knowledge"? I wouldn't think so...
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15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting, But Nothing That Will Blow Your Mind, March 21, 2001
As someone who has read "Sacred Hoops" three times and follows Phil Jackson's coaching career very closely, I was very excited to see this on the shelf at my local bookstore. This was a good book. I breezed through it. I thought it was very well written, and it did have some interesting anecdotes. In my opionion, probably the most interesting part of the book wasn't even about Coach Jackson, but rather about the people who have worked with him. The short biopics of the Chicago Jerrys, Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, and others were very interesting to me - and very fair (which is tough these days when you read anything about Krause). On the other end of the stick, I would agree that the book did seem a tad superficial as far as Jackson is concerned. It promises to give you insight into one of the most complex figures in contemporary sports, but really does not do that. It only touches superifically on his connection to Buddhism, meditation, and his relationships outside of basketball. Indeed, the end of Jackson's second marriage - certainly one of the more important influences in his life - is entirely covered in one short paragraph of a few sentences. All in all, this was a decent book. However, I won't be reading it again.
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