Secure Immaturity

The year 2004 was a nasty, nasty year for the NBA. The Laker dynasty had ended in 2003 and the San Antonio Spurs were bringing in a new era of basketball to the world: defensive basketball and offensive fundamentals. The Detroit Pistons, in the Eastern Conference, took the Spurs 2003 championship to heart and did the same. Very soon the action-packed high scoring NBA was no more. Games were locked at 75-75 in OT (!), records for consecutive games of holding opponent’s scoring to less then 70 points were being broken night in and night out and the flashy world of dribbling, crossovers,  and alley-oops was being replaced by double-teams, jump shots and blocks.

If there was one exciting wrinkle in the 2004 season it was this: the Los Angeles Lakers and the soap opera of Shaq, Kobe and Phil Jackson. They were at the end of their run, dethroned by the Spurs in 2003, and were losing composure. In a way, they were the last of the previous decade’s flashy teams. . .but with San Antonio digging in and Detroit the (only) power in the East, times were a-changin’. Add to this rape cases in Denver and threats of going to the Clippers (Kobe), inter-office romance with the owner’s daughter and the lack of a contract extension (Jackson), to an aging and progressively large body and sensitive ego (Shaq), 2004 was everything for the Lakers that the rest of the NBA season wasn’t: exciting (if not terrifying).

And Phil Jackson put it all down in book form (based on personal journal entries) and what you have is a somewhat compelling look at the locker room whose size could never fit the egos and mixed signals the Lakers carried with them. The major problem with the book, titled The Last Season: A Team In Search of It’s Soul, is the aforementioned time period. Yes, the Lakers were an absolute horror show on so many levels but the drama of the game was lacking so heavily that even with the rape case and all that, nothing can really spice up a boring playing season. In the end, the locker room drama is just depressing fodder and further proof that athletes are overpaid babies.

Unlike other history/memoir books I tend to read, I am deeply familiar with the NBA and that season in particular. I found myself offended by half of the Lakers team and happy for the others: they were the ultimate zig-zag team pulling my emotions left and right. Though I am a die-hard Orlando Magic lifer, I’ve always had respect for the Lakers (not common when you live in Phoenix) and appreciated their history and enjoyed their play. But most especially they were the benchmark for ‘legends’ and I loved to see them get beat because you can’t be the best until you beat the best. That’s why, even with respect in place, I rooted for the Sixers (2000), Pacers (2001) and Nets (2002) during the Lakers dynasty of the new millennium.

My initial issues were with Kobe (who had become a big baby and allegedly a ‘rapist’ (or at the very least an adulterer)), Shaq (who betrayed my Magic team in 1996 by ditching town), Karl Malone (who had ended his loyalty with the Jazz to mooch off of a dynasty to get a ring) and Gary Payton (ditto, but with the SuperSonics). Their existence was frightening but they were all so unlikable for many reasons (Kobe for the ‘rape’ and the other three for loyalty issues). On the other side, though, was Phil Jackson, who is simply amazing, and the existence of a type of gameplay I thought long dead once the Spurs/Pistons took control of the league. I wanted someone to beat them (anyone but the Spurs anyways) but I also wanted them to win again so Jackson could get his tenth ring and offense could be restored to the league (karma is a bitch since Phil eventually won his tenth ring in 2009. . .against my Magic. God damn it!).

The Last Season sure doesn’t raise my respect for Kobe or Gary. Malone, on the other hand, as Jackson points out, shows amazing work ethic, which was never in question in his years in Utah, and adapted his game to fit the team. Loyalty issues aside (which still irk me), Malone was a great team player. . .on a team with people who wanted the exact opposite. Kobe and Gary, as Jackson explains numerous times, were more about themselves then the team. Though they showed flashes of greatness and team unity, they were failures to the squad then anything else. . .and only brought them down. Shaq, as a result of this, ends of looking better. There is never a time he wasn’t looking out for himself but he was keenly aware that his legacy depended on championships and he knew a team with a selfish prick like Kobe was going to tarnish that legacy (hence why he bolted and won his fourth ring in Miami). In other words, two superstars come out unscathed and better while two others are tarnished in my mind.

And while all this is somewhat entertaining to read (if not completely depressing and telling of American society), the book depends on the reader to accept two things: that Phil Jackson is an innocent in all this and speaks the truth and that Kobe Bryant, who ends up being the real focus and meat of the story, is really as egomaniacal, immature and borderline-crazy as Jackson points out. I’ve read other Phil Jackson books before: he is a smart guy and also very deep and thoughtful. In his book Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior, he indicated that he can merge the need for self preservation (or just selfishness) with teamwork. Jackson applies this idea to his coaching (and now he has 10 championships in 12 attempts) and relays it throughout The Last Season; Shaq buys into it, according to the text, and Kobe does not. Because of this, Kobe becomes an enemy. Jackson has some tough words for the man-child but, in general, remains neutral and, hopefully, truthful.

The book, unlike The Jordan Rules, masters the art of sports suspense: that even when the outcome is known you still feel like, through reading, you don’t know what’s going to happen. The way the book is written, with all the set-up, you imagine the Lakers are going to win the 2004 NBA Championship and all will be well. But they don’t. . .they lose in an embarrassing way to a young Pistons team in only five games; Jackson’s first NBA Finals loss in ten attempts. . .and everything falls apart as quickly as it was put together at the beginning of the year. Jackson’s writing (with an assist, no pun intended, from Michael Arkush) makes you feel, even in hindsight, that cooler heads will prevail and a championship will be wrought despite the crazy time exhibited by the players, management and even the coaches.

I’m going to put faith in myself and declare the book isn’t completely biased. There are shades of some but it is a memoir after all so it probably has to be but overall I trust the source. Kobe came out with his own memoir, of sorts, called Kobe Doin’ Work, a film, and I believe it was also extremely honest. . .and completely foreshadowed in outcome and voice in The Last Season by Phil Jackson who spent (and still spends) more time with him then almost anyone else. I would say that if you want some sports history you should probably stay away. . .but if you want to get an inside, mostly unbiased look at a coach dealing with some heavy shit or you want to protect/mock Kobe, then this book is for you. I’m not disappointed I read it but I am disappointed I actually had to live through it like Phil did.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS