Synopses & Reviews
One Last Shot gives Jordan fans the inside scoop theyre looking for on basketballs greatest legend, with exclusive interviews from NBA executives, players, and coaches. Mitchell Krugel uses his fifteen years of following Michael Jordans every move to explain why the man who left the game as The Greatest Player of All Time would risk his unparalleled legend to play again.
After delivering the Chicago Bulls their sixth championship in 1998 by pulling off what became known as the greatest money shot in the history of the NBA, Michael believed he still had much of that Greatest-Player-Of-All-Time left in his game. But he felt that retirement was forced on him in 1999, and he left the game craving more doses of fifty-point binges, winner-take-all confrontations, and repeated nights of reminding fans they just saw the greatest player ever.
One Last Shot not only explains why Michael Jordan came back to the court but also looks at his transition from Wizards executive to player, his struggle to join a team that had grown up with his posters on their walls, and his glories and setbacks in a Wizards season chock full of both struggles and surprises. Krugel also details the star-laden workouts Michael designed in the summer of 2001 to get his game back into shape.
This look at Michael Jordan, circa 2001-2002, shows how much basketball had changed since his last coming and how much it hadnt, and how his drive pushed him to the verge of a crippling knee injury all in the pursuit of winning. And for six weeks he did make it back. He made the shots. He made good on his mission to teach the Wizards how to be winners, to teach talented teammate Richard Hamilton to be a shooting star, and to whip Kwame Brown, the high school kid he made the first-ever first pick in the NBA draft, into a man. And he did the things that only a man of legend could do.
Krugel analyzes both the man and the legend to trace how the First Coming led to a Second and to a Third, and he chronicles the season that defines Michael Jordan as a man who will forever be playing for one last shot.
Review
"Krugel has shown himself to be perhaps the most knowledgeable current observer of the life and times of the basketball great...an excellent look at an aging superstar's struggle 'to find other places besides the basketball court to define his worth." -
Publishers Weekly"Provides an intimate overview of Michael Jordan as a person and a professional." -Denver Weekly News
"Candid and objective...A fine biography as well as a thoughtful look at the burdens of fame in the modern world." -Booklist
"Full of exciting moments in Jordan's career...A true Michael Jordan fanatic will enjoy this book." -Library Journal
Synopsis
Full of exclusive interviews, One Last Shot not only explains why Michael Jordan came back to the court but also looks at his transition from Wizard's executive to player, his struggle to join a team that had grown up with his posters on their walls, and his glories and setbacks in a Wizards's season chock full of both struggles and surprises.
Synopsis
The Greatest Player of All Time
With exclusive interviews from NBA executives, players, and coaches, One Last Shot gives fans the inside scoop on basketball's greatest legend-Michael Jordan. After following Jordan's every move for fifteen years, sports writer Mitchell Krugel gives us a fascinating, no-holds barred biography and explains why the man who left the game as the "Greatest Player of All Time" would risk his unparalleled status to play again. Meticulously researched, Krugel's book analyzes both the man and the legend to trace how the First Coming led to a Second and to a Third, and he chronicles the season that defines Michael Jordan as a man who will forever be playing for one last shot.
Read all about:
*The First Coming: a look at the first championship run, what went into it, what made him the icon, etc.
*The Second Coming: Why he came back, what went into another three championships, the last shot, etc.
*Retirement 1999:"I'm 99 percent sure, but I'll keep the one percent. It's my one percent. Never say never."
*The workouts in Chicago-the inside scoop from NBA players who were invited to these secret workouts.
*Showdowns: One-on-one with Michael vs: Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady; Allen Iverson; Paul Pierce; Ray Allen
*The 2003 season...and more!
About the Author
Mitchell Krugel has been a sports writer, sports columnist and sports editor for the past twenty years. He has been writing about Michael Jordan since 1986 when he authored a mass-market biography on the then-rising star. He worked at
The Times of Munster, Indiana from 1991-94 when he covered the Chicago Bulls beat in addition to serving as sports editor. Following turns at the
Fort Worth Star-Telegram and
San Antonio Express-News, he became an Assistant Managing Editor for
The Record in Bergen County, New Jersey. Since 1991, his sports sections have been honored among the ten best in the nation by Associated Press Sports Editors seven times. He lives in Oakland, New Jersey with his wife Mary and their four-year-old daughter Brittany.