Synopses & Reviews
If you could select the greatest basketball team in history, who’d make your roster? Could an all-star center come off the bench as a backup? Do you want rebounding or scoring or both from your power forward? Should your point guard be a pure passer or a scorer who slashes to the basket? Who’d be your enforcer? Who’d be your emotional leader? Who’d be your go-to guy at crunch time? How do you even build a team—with pure talent alone or with a combination of talent and role players?
Well your speculation is over—and the debate is about to begin. In The Perfect Team, the NBA tapped into top basketball experts, rounded up the greatest players, coach, and GM from different eras of the game, and now presents its argument for basketball’s most unbeatable lineup. Period.
Each member of the team has been picked as the embodiment of a particular trait such as leadership or competitive drive, rather than simply for being best at his position. And each player tells his story, shares his ideas about “the perfect team,” and talks about what makes great basketball. With each team member covered by a different veteran sportswriter—and the NBA has also rounded up the best in that business, too—the individual player profiles are candid, thoughtful, and entertaining, covering their lives both on and off the court.
Loaded with new and sometimes controversial insights into the players, their skills, and the game itself, The Perfect Team is not just an argument for the best team of all time—it’s an anatomy of the game presented by those who love it most and play it best. Sure to be the subject of much thought and debate, this is the perfect book for all NBA fans.
Synopsis
In candid conversations with top-notch sportswriters, each man chosen for the team gets the opportunity to tell his own story—including lively anecdotes about his life on and off the court—discuss his own strengths, and comment on the other selections. Here’s the entire team, the traits for which they were chosen, and the writers who captured their stories:
Point Guard: Oscar Robinson, Versatility (Lyle Spencer)
Point Guard: Magic Johnson, Leadership (Mark Heisler)
Point Guard: Jason Kidd, Selflessness and Sacrifice (Steve Popper)
Shooting Guard: Jerry West, Dealing with Pressure (Scott Ostler)
Shooting Guard: Michael Jordan, Competitive Drive (Paul Ladewski)
Shooting Guard: Allen Iverson, Courage (John Smallwood)
Small Forward: John Havlicek, Hustle (Bob Ryan)
Small Forward: Larry Bird, Confidence and Instinct (Jackie MacMullan)
Power Forward/Center: Bill Laimbeer, Intensity (Bryan Burwell)
Center: Bill Russell, Pride (Frank DeFord)
Center: Shaquille O’Neal, Will to Dominate (Tom Friend)
Center: Bill Walton, Precision (Sam Smith)
Red Auerbach, selected as general manager for his storied “basketball IQ,” is profiled by Dan Shaughnessy, and Phil Jackson discusses with Charley Rosen his “ability to motivate,” the quality that won him the position of head coach of the team. The foreword is by Bill Bradley.
Filled with surprising and bound-to-be-controversial opinions, THE PERFECT TEAM is the perfect book for every NBA fan.