This book actually got it's start as an article in Sports Illustrated. Author Jack McCallum spent 10 days embedded with the Phoenix Suns coaching staff during training camp before the 2005-2006 season. The article was great, did a great job of showing what the coaches thought about, and talked about (the watershed moment being Alvin Gentry calling Michael Olowokani a pussy). After the article was printed, it was so well received that it was commissioned for a book.
The book fell short of my expectations based on the article. I liked the book but I think McCallum fell back on recapping the season too much, instead of sharing insights about what it's like to be in the playoffs as the coach of a team.
Instead of going through the day by day explaining what happens and including the funny things people say, the book basically revolved around the playoffs (they did have an interesting run that year) and used the regular season to fill in the blanks.
Here's some of what we learned in the book:
The assistant coaches spend hours breaking down tape figuring out tendencies of their opponents and boil it down to tip sheets for each player. And the players never read them.
Head Coach Mike D'Antoni as cast a guy who cares more about the mental and emotional aspects of the game than the Xs and Os. His strategy is to get his team to run because he feels the best shots are available in the first 7 seconds of the shot clock.
He tries to tell the team that they've been screwed by referees' calls but can't remember the name of a porn star. He asks the assistants about that Del Rio chick. Gentry suggests that he use Jenna Jameson instead. He does, "guys, we've been screwed more times than Jenna Jameson."
Steve Nash wanted to go to Syracuse (or Washington) but they wouldn't offer him a scholarship so he went to Santa Clara instead. The book hardly has a bad word to say about Nash, because the coaching staff hardly has a bad word to say about Steve Nash. And can you blame them? He was in the middle of hs second straight MVP season for this book. The glowing reviews of Nash do stop long enough for the coaches to admit that he is bad on defense.
Shawn Marion was the most interesting character in this book because it portrayed him as being supremely confident and incredibly insecure at the same time. Marion believed he was the key player on the team, more than Nash or Stoudemire, and felt he never got the credit he deserved. He also resented the fact that he was being played out of position (according to him), that coaches demanded more from him and that his name constantly came up in trade rumors. The study of how the coaching staff handled Marion's ego during the season was the most interesting part of the book. You can read about Marion's insecurity in this excerpt.
Amare Stoudemire is portrayed as a complete idiot. The type of guy you wanted to hate but couldn't because he was so funny and so well meaning. Stoudemire was hurt during this season and played only three games. McCallum is starkly honest about the fact that the Suns felt Stoudemire did not put enough effort into his rehab. But he sure is funny. Stoudemire didn't know where Atlantic City was. One day he was wearing a Rolling Stones t-shirt but when Gentry asked to name one Stones song he said "can't help you Chief."
He also wore an Al Capone t-shirt but didn't know anything about Capone except that "he was a bad guy." When McCallum explained about Capone, Stoudemire said "there was a time when drinking was illegal?"
Eddie House was called Casa by his teammates, a touch I really enjoyed since I've spent years translating names the other way (Joe Table, Charles Blackmouth).
House is a nice, funny guy, the spirit of the team who never stops talking and never stops shooting. However, Casa was insecure about his role on the team, almost acknowledging that when his shot wasn't falling, he was useless.
There are a lot of things to like about this book, even though it's not perfect it's still the best inside look at a season with an NBA team you are going to get. While I did enjoy the recap of the Suns playoff series, I remembered most of it, particularly the Kobe-Raja Bell feud. What I wanted more of was the silly little moments like these outtakes from McCallum's original article, some of which eventually made the book.
Note: Thanks to Billy for lending me the book.
No comments:
Post a Comment