The Last Season: A Team In Search of Its Soul

Rating:
Summary: Jackson's Last Season
Review: Former NBA player and coach Phil Jackson tells the story of his final year coaching the Los Angeles Lakers. From receiving new players such as Karl Malone and Gary Payton, to the fued between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O' Neal. Phil begins from the beginning of the season, from teaching the new rookies the art of the triangle offense, and also to dealing with the alligations put forward on Kobe. Phil also talks about his personal life, from the divorce of his wife, to dating the boss's daughter. Phil explains how the team, that won 3 consecutive championships, slowly fell apart from self leadership and egos.
I would recommend this book to all fans of the NBA. Phil Jackson is an inspiritational coach and his story alone is worth reading. "The Last Season" offers insight to how a wonderful team was created and fell apart and the story of the leader throughout five years of the Lakers, and three amazing victories. Phil Jackson's accomplishments in the game of basketball are regarded as a must to read.

Rating:
Summary: The Last Season
Review: Phil Jackson, the holder of eight championshup rings, has given us insite on what a coach of his caliber goes through. In his auotbiography, "The Last Season," he lets the readers know what takes place on court and off the court. Phil was the coach of the Lakers until he called it quits after his fifth season with them. He won 3 consecutive championships with them, and helped to give the L.A. Lakers a good name for themselves. During his last season with the Lakers he no longer could deal with the controversey between the teams two All-Stars, Shaq and Kobe. He dealt with their constant bickering, along with planning and training with the rest of the team. The Lakers in their final season with Phil Jackson had been built to win another championship with Kobe, Shaq, Karl Malone, and Gary Payton. But, it wasn't Phil that held them back from achieving it. He did all he could to hold his team togther and it was tought for him, but he managed to get them to the finals once again. Towards the end of the season he had the choice to stay, but when Shaq decided to leave, and for Kobe to take charge of the team, he ended it there.
I recommend this book to all those who have the love for basketball. If you like to watch basketball or ever wonder what it is like for basketball players and their coaches, read Phil Jackson's point of view on things.Whether if you love the Lakers or hate the Lakers, Phil Jackson lays it out for us how hard it is to be a coach with these atheletes. Read his book to gain knowledge of what makes him such a good coach, and how he carries his team all the way. It is a good book, which takes you day by day before the season, during the season, and the end of the season. The Lakers coach has gone throught many tough obstacles and achieved greatness, and I think you should check out what it is like to be Phil Jackson.

Rating:
Summary: Insightful Recap on an Unusual Season
Review: A minor disclaimer to begin with; for the last 20-some years, I have been living in the town Phil Jackson called home for his high school basketball years. I didn't live here then but I have come to appreciate him as a home town hero. In North Dakota, anyone who goes on to fame in the greater world is a hero to all of the state. During his Chicago tenure, the entire state was one big Bulls fan club. However, I was one of a number of people who wished Jackson well but didn't exactly become endeared to the LA Lakers when he took that coaching job. Controversy for the Bulls was Scottie Pippin sitting out the final shot of the game or Dennis Rodman's galaxy of hair colors and designs. The Kobie Bryant/Shaquille O'Neal feud, the rape trial, the glitter of Hollywood were all distractions that turned a lot of fans off, myself included. However, with the perceptive insight of Phil Jackson, all of this makes for a great book.

This is the chronicle of the 2003-2004 season; the year that the Lakers were supposed to walk away with the title after a season that saw them fall short. The addition of two future hall-of-famers to go along with the other two already on the team made it seem like a "can't miss" opportunity. Jackson analyzes the season in a journal format. Although he probably rewrote some of his earlier notes, the journal procedes without any hint at what will or won't happen later on. There are many personalities that are presented and discussed in this book. Jackson seems to elaborate only when necessary but don't worry, with this team it's often necessary to elaborate on incidents and personalities. There isn't any "dirt" as far as I'm concerned. It's more along the lines of spoiled, pampered athletes and their picadillos. We get some interesting quips and stories from his Chicago days and even a few items that go back to his North Dakota days. However, the day by day focus is the ups and downs of the Lakers. There is a lot of excellent analysis of basketball strategy especially as to how it aided or hindered the previous night's outcome. There were many different things going on throughout the season and Jackson seems ready to discuss whatever seems relevant. In the end, they still lose to the Pistons and he still ends up out of a coaching job. However, we know a lot more than what we did before we read the book.

There is a lot in this book for a variety of readers. Basketball fans will appreciate the strategy and history that Jackson shares. Bulls fans with enjoy hearing a few stories about the glory years, and Lakers fans, of course, will get plenty of enjoyable insight.

Jackson has had a very successful career as a coach in the NBA. He earned his right to be there from his old days in the CBA. Some might point out that he always happened to coach teams with top level players but they may be forgetting that those same players weren't champions until he was their coach. Phil Jackson was always a bit different from the generic jock-turned coach. His willingness to explore different concepts in basketball, methods of concentration, and interpersonal skills helped make him a coach capable of blending diverse personalities into a team. However, there is a limit to everything as we all discover in "The Last Season".

Rating:
Summary: Full of Excuses
Review: As a lifelong San Antonio fan, I was curious to see how the fall of the Lakers would be explained by one of their own. I must say it was more enternaining than expected. Clearly, Phil failed to admit the obvious, there are better teams than the Lakers out there. Maybe the triangle offense is broken, its time to fix it.

Rating:
Summary: An Inside Look through the Coach's Eyes
Review: I am not a Lakers fan...not really an NBA fan. But for some reason I find Phil Jackson an intriuging figure so I bought the book. This is not a Kobe bashing book. It does give his point of view about him and their relationship, which is not great but the book seems to show how he tried to make it better for he and the fellow players during this trying season. What I mostly got from the book, was a suprising look at how this franchise (and probably most others) operates under the scrutiny of the press, fans and the NBA. His account shows just how hard he worked in the shadow of being the coach of one of the most celebrated teams in the history of the NBA and the whole Kobe Bryant/Shaq deal.
I actually came to respect Jackson for his work and dedication to the sport of basketball. He makes you see basketball for the game that it is and how that game has actually lost its innocence since the onset of it being a money generating sport.
It's an easy read...
I still can't justify how these people can command the money that they do...but you see the human side of him and that just because he deals for multi-million dollar contracts, he still believes in a game that made him who he is and almost appears to mourn the loss of what it used to be.

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing, yet self-serving
Review: I find it ironic that Phil Jackson whines the whole book about the gargantuan egos of the coddled players in the NBA (mainly Kobe) while complaining that, because of how great a job he did in LA, that he was due a raise from his ostensibly paltry $5 Million/Year salary -- or else he was walking. Jackson, while providing intriguing insight into the Lakers locker room at times, tends to sugarcoat a lot of incidents and omits many goings on as if they never happened.

Among the more interesting tidbits are: 1) Shaq telling Tex Winter to "shut the f*** up" and "Why don't you just mind your own business, old man?" during a film critique of Shaq's failure to help out on a screen roll on Chauncey Billups; 2) Jackson referring to KG as "wiry, almost like a corpse"; 3) Jackson's longtime nemesis Jerry Krause telling him prior to the 1998 NBA Draft that Michael Olowokandi will "be as good, if not better than Duncan"; & 4) Kobe telling Dr. Buss and Phil that, after the 2004 Finals debacle, he was "tired of being a sidekick."

Overall, an interesting read for any sports fan...perhaps just not as juicy as one might hope for.

Rating:
Summary: The story of a disappointing season
Review: I'm a lifelong laker fan and like many laker fans last season I thought they were the clear favorites to win another championship. Phil shows in this book that there's more to winning a championship than just having the best team. Phil goes into the many difficulties he had in dealing with the huge egos of Kobe and Shaq, and the frustrations he had in trying to teach the triangle offence to Gary and Karl. They had to learn it in a few months and Phil says it takes a couple of years to really learn it. Phil talks of Garys frustrations with his system, and you can see in this book that Phil is far from being overated having to handle all those egos, and figure out how to beat the other talented NBA teams as well, he also talks about his relationship with Jeannie Buss, his Girl friend as well as his employer. I really enjoyed this book it was informative and entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Honest and Thoughtful Account, From the Coach's Perspective
Review: Some say that 9-time NBA championship-winning coach Phil Jackson was overrated as a courtside strategist: that you don't have to be a "Zen Master" to win while coaching great players like Jordan, Pippen, Shaq, and Kobe Bryant. Jackson refutes that idea in this book, an account of a season in which a less talented Detroit Pistons team defeated his all-star LA Lakers club for the championship.

In his previous winning seasons with the Bulls and Lakers, Jackson's teams were able to achieve "oneness," with the stars and supporting cast submerging their egos and blending their talents enough to succeed with Jackson's fluid triangle offense. That goal eluded Jackson and his Lakers during the 2003-2004 season chronicled in this book, one in which Kobe, Shaq and Jackson all seem tired of one another throughout. Jackson is honest and forthright about his players' strengths and foibles, and about his own, and stays mostly away from the legal problems that dogged Kobe throughout the season and likely proved a fatal distraction.

A thoughtful and well-written account that will absorb even the casual fan. A must read for the basketball fanatic.

Rating:
Summary: Inside the Mind of the Zen Master for the Last Time?
Review: Topline: PJ believes 3 things contributed to the loss in the championship to the Pistons, Malone being sick, Gary Paytone not contributing enough and Kobe/Shaq not working well together.

Style: PJ uses a chronological approach starting from the pre-season to the June finals. Sections cover pre-season, regular season, and post-season.

Insights from this book:
1) His observations on the refs and how inconsistent they have been.
2) How to manage super-egos and still get the job done, Kobe/Shaq incidents?
3) Understand what goes inside the mind of NBA coach during the playoffs

PJ could have spent more time talking about his observations on the team, what could he have done better and what would happen in the future with Shaq and Kobe.

Overall, a good light read for the eternal sports fan who just can't get the same level of insights from SportsCenter.

Fred "Grand Daddy" Sanford

Rating:
Summary: Very interesting and entertaing behind the scenes diary
Review: Written in a diary format throughout the season (which adds to the interest, with Jackson not knowing the outcome yet either), this book is a very enjoyable look behind the scenes of the Lakers, with a lot of comments thrown in about their opponets as well.

Jackson doesn't seem always perfectly honest with himself, but the rest of it feels like a very frank discussion with an backetball insider. A great, enjoyable and quick read.