The legendary sportswriter and the Hall of Fame, 11-Time NBA Champion coach separate the music from the noise in the stories of the greatest who ever played and their impact on the game.
Sam Smith and Phil Jackson grew to respect each other in the late 1980's, when Smith was a popular Chicago Tribune sports columnist and Jackson was an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls, a team just beginning to turn its fortunes around with the arrival of a young player from North Carolina named Michael Jordan. Forty years later, the two remain close friends. In 2021, Smith was part of the group invited to help the NBA celebrate its 75th anniversary by arriving at a list of the 75 greatest players of all time. Phil Jackson was asked to participate too, but he declined: he's not a big fan of ranking greatness. They've been enjoying the argument ever since.
Four years of conversations later, the result is this wonderful book, Masters of the Game. Smith and Jackson chop it all up, talking in intimate and fascinating terms, often based on first-hand experience, about the genius and the shadow side of a panoply of the all-time greats. The immortals all get their due: Jordan, Kobe, Shaq, Magic, Bill Russell, Wilt, Jerry West, Bird, LeBron, KD, Steph Curry, Bill Walton, and on. This is the best combination of super high-grade analysis and super high-grade gossip—we get all the trade secrets, and all the bad behavior, in one delightful package. And many of the players who've largely faded from memory burn the brightest on these pages, distant stars lighting up long-ago eras of basketball that seem so different it can almost seem to be another sport. The wider world comes seeping into the conversation, especially as regards race, and the mark it left on players in more benighted times, and the business of the game, which has been transformed out of all recognition. And there is also a powerful throughline about character and the alchemy of a good team. Some great players here were not great teammates, and some were. The common denominators of individual and collective success are universally relevant, and these two old heads give a master class. And of course, inevitably, they get into the GOAT debate.
There are so many huge characters here, and Smith and Jackson can hold their own with any of them. Their spirit—sharp, wise, irreverent, honest, respectful of the lore and legacy of the game but never pious— and the clash of their different perspectives combine to make this book a joyous ride, a short course in greatness open to all students.
