From Publishers Weekly
Jackson’s chronicle of his final season as the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers moves as crisply as a well-executed fast break. Under his direction, the Lakers won three NBA titles, but failed to reach the championship round in 2003. Determined to make another run at the finals in the 2003–2004 season, the Lakers added Hall of Fame players Karl Malone and Gary Payton to a team that already featured superstars Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. But instead of producing another ring, the Lakers were crushed in the finals by the Detroit Pistons. That the Lakers even reached the last round of the playoffs was a feat given the turmoil that surrounded the team (involving the animosity between Shaq and Bryant, and Bryant’s rape charge). Jackson briefly critiques the Lakers’ biggest games of the regular season and analyzes each playoff performance, providing fresh insight without boring readers with play-by-play accounts. He peppers the narrative with pungent observations of his stars—and it’s no surprise that he saves his sharpest criticisms for Bryant. While Shaq could be difficult to deal with, Jackson contends, he was ultimately a team player. And although Shaq and Bryant reached a truce in the season’s final months, Jackson sees Bryant as the epitome of today’s selfish player, a "callous gun for hire."Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
Basketball fans, especially those with a predilection for Zen Buddhism, will find this account of the Los Angeles Lakers' 2003-04 season, the author's last as head coach, fascinating reading. Here all is laid bare: the egos, tirades, childish behavior, and sacrifice characteristic of play at the highest professional level. Narrator Stephen Hoye is an inspired, and inspiring, choice for this book. At his best, it's difficult to separate his voice from Jackson's, so completely does he reflect the author's persona and inflections. At his worst, he magnifies Jackson's condescension and dogmatic nature, which pervades the book. Overall, though, Hoye is interesting, appropriately dramatic, and easy on the ears. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Time, October 25, 2004
While...a hoot for basketball fans, Jackson's experiences also offer lessons for anyone dealing with chaos at home or work.

Book Description
Nine-time NBA Champion coach Phil Jackson knows all about being in the spotlight-about high-profile, high-pressure seasons coaching gigantic personalities through adversity and controversy in the middle of a media hothouse in which every move is another headline, another installment in the soap opera. But nothing-not six championships with the Bulls of Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen, not three previous championships with the Lakers of Shaq and Kobe-had quite prepared him for the only-in-Hollywood high-wire act of the Lakers' 2003-2004 season.

In The Last Season, Jackson tells the full inside story of the season that proved to be the final ride for this great Lakers dynasty. From its beginnings in the off-season-with the signing of the future Hall-of-Famers Karl Malone and Gary Payton and the enormous expectations it created, and the bombshell news of the felony sexual assault charges against Kobe Bryant, one of the league's marquee superstars-Jackson describes the many challenges that arose during this turbulent season. Juggling enormous egos with enormous sums at stake, managing difficult relationships and public feuds, facing injuries, contract disputes, and team meltdowns, all in the shadow of the Kobe Bryant trial-slash-media circus, Phil Jackson somehow guided his team through to its fourth NBA Finals in his five years as its coach. There, finally, his team ran out of road, a failure Jackson examines with the same deep honesty and wisdom he brings to bear on the rest of this amazing season.

Few seasons in memory can rival this one for drama, and fewer coaches rival Phil Jackson in the ability to write about it with such wisdom and clarity. The combination has produced, in The Last Season, a book of tremendous human drama and timeless appeal, rich in lessons about coaching and about life.

With the honesty and insight that are his hallmarks, one of the most successful coaches in the history of basketball offers his personal account of a season like no other-the extraordinary ride of the 2003-2004 Los Angeles Lakers

About the Author
Phil Jackson is one of the greatest coaches in the history of the NBA. In his fourteen seasons as a head coach, he is 832-316, the best winning record in NBA history. He also holds NBA coaching records for most playoff wins and playoff winning percentage. Prior to coaching, he played thirteen years in the NBA, primarily with the New York Knicks. He is also the author of Maverick, Sacred Hoops, and, with his friend Charley Rosen, More Than a Game.

FROM OUR EDITORS

On paper, the 2003-4 Los Angeles Lakers were a coach's dream. Coach Phil Jackson's Lakers owned towering center Shaquille O'Neal and power guard Kobe Bryant, the most dynamic duo in the game and the core of the team that had snatched three of the previous four NBA championships. To strengthen their ranks, L.A. had added future Hall of Famers Karl Malone and Gary Payton to the already star-studded roster. But all was not well in La-La Land. Before the season was over, "team leaders" Shaq and Kobe had exchanged insults and disparaging second-guesses in the press; Bryant was arrested on felony sex charges; and Jackson's well-laid game plans had disintegrated in the midst of media frenzy, salary disputes, and a general team meltdown. As one fan put it, "The team doesn't need a coach; it needs a psychiatrist." In The Last Season, the ever-reflective nine-time NBA championship coach offers an insider's view of a dream team's nightmare.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

One of the most successful coaches in the history of basketball offers his personal account of a season like no other-the extraordinary ride of the 2003-2004 Los Angeles Lakers.

From the signing of the future Hall-of-Famers Karl Malone and Gary Payton, to the intricacies of managing difficult relationships and public feuds, facing Shaq's injuries, contract disputes, and team meltdowns, all in the shadow of the Kobe Bryant trial-slash-media circus, Phil Jackson somehow guided his team through to its fourth NBA Finals in his five years as its coach.

With explosive revelations and never-before-told insights, Jackson brings to life this amazing season coaching a team as talented, and as troubled as any he's ever known.

FROM THE CRITICS

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