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Unguarded by Scottie Pippen (with Michael Arkush)

Competent, readable, co-written bio of a great basketball player who was both blessed and cursed to live in Michael Jordan's shadow. For better, more insightful bios I recommend others: Andre Iguodala's book The Sixth Man or Andre Agassi's absolute page-turner, Open. 

The book is full of mixed emotions. Pippen wants to be traded, then was grateful he wasn't. He's happy with, but later deeply disappointed in, coach Phil Jackson. He's angry at Jerry Krause (the Chicago Bulls general manager) for underpaying him and treating him with disrespect, but then he's grateful to him for other reasons. He's angry at Michael Jordan for being a cruel and condescending narcissist, but then grateful to him for all the positive things that being a teammate with Michael Jordan would later lead to. 

One gets the impression that Pippen is still trying to work out how exactly he feels about his experiences across his basketball career, that he's unsettled about it and doesn't really know what he thinks about it all. I think I see where he's coming from. In some ways I feel the same about my (far less decorated!) professional career; I don't know what it all means, and I have my own tangled mix of emotions about it.

A couple of final comments. This book will teach you to be deeply cynical about the media--not that we need the reminder of course, especially in this era. And finally, Pippen constantly gripes about being underpaid, but it's worth noting that he made a decision to sign a long-term contract at a certain wage rate, and his team fulfilled that contract to the dollar. During his contract, however, the economics changed for NBA players as the league grew in popularity and profitability. But this is the risk you take when you lock in a long term deal! Pippen chose a long term contract over the risks of a shorter term contract with potential upside, and the bet didn't work out for him.

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