Harikulade bir belgesel olan "The Last Dance"i izleyip kitaba başlamak, çok yerinde -en azından benim için- bir tercihti. Belgeseldeki olaylara birinci ağızdan eşlik edip, aynı zamanda Phil Jackson'ın iç dünyasına da yolculuk sağlıyor kitap.
Kitap güzel ama yine de, oyuncuların yaşadığı heyecanlara ortak olmak, yeri geldiğinde hüzünlerini hissetmek için The Last Dance mutlaka izlenmeli. Sadece bir basketbol belgeseli olarak değil, hayatın diğer alanlarında da izleyene hırs, azim ve kararlılık sağlayacak "gerçek" hikayeler olarak değerlendirmek lazım.

Mix of sports writing, Lakota Sioux, Zen and Christian insights and reflections. Jackson describes the different basketball championships he won with the Chicago Bulls.

Funny quote on a meta-level: "I find it amusing when people ask me where I get my ideas for motivating players. The answer is: in the moment. My approach to problem-solving is the same as my approach to the game. When a problem arises, I try to read the situation as accurately as possible and respond spontaneously to whatever's happening. I rarely try to apply someone else's ideas to the problem -something I've read in a book, for instance- because that would keep me from tuning in and discovering a fresh, orginal solution, the most skillful means." (P163-164)

Funny, because the book is filled with wisdom from others and from books, and I suppose this book was also written to share his wisdom (which apparently cannot be learned from a book, go figure).

phil jackson narrates the audiobook (available on the premium version of spotify). in just under two hours, i listened to it over two runs. same vibes as david lynch’s book on transcendentalism but with anecdotes about bball instead of film.

2.5/5 - Review to follow

I loved this, and I haven't a clue about Basketball.

A book about spirituality and zen, the power of being in the moment and what we can achieve as a collective rather than as an individual.

Strong link games vs weak link games and where we fit in.

Useful lessons for work and for the soul, highly recommended.

Phil Jackson, ex-NBA player (he was twice champion, in 1970 and 1973, with the Knicks) was one of the greatest coach American basketball ever knew. Having supervised players as difficult as Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O'Neal, or, Kobe Bryant, he was the one who made the Bulls the mythic team that it was (6 NBA Championships between 1989 and 1998) and who launched the Lakers into the same legendary status.

He here reveals the secrets behind such a success, and that lies upon an unorthodox view of the game. One word: spirituality.

He studied philosophy, psychology, religions, and, influenced by a deep Christian education, Zen Buddhism, and the mysticism from the Sioux Lakota, he will use this whole heritage to shape the teams under his control. Beyond the cynicism and selfishness ruling within high level sports, he firmly believed indeed that athletes are not motivated by greed or fear, not even by money, but by a passion for the game, for competition, and for their surrounding team.

From there flows a democratic view of what is a team, where players are forced to stop being obsessed by stats and ego, to transcend instead the 'I' into 'we', a philosophy fully translated onto the triangle offense that he contributed to develop.

Here's a book dealing mostly with basketball, but which also is a gate opened upon spirituality (Zen especially) and from which transpires such a modesty, wisdom, depth, that it's hard to don't recommend it enough.

While watching The Last Dance, it was easy to see that the most interesting character from The 1990's Bulls team was Phil Jackson. How did he keep all of these superstars in check and working together as a team? In Hoop Dreams, which was written after the 1st 3-peat and before the 2nd, Phil describes some of his philosophies on coaching and on life.

"Creating a successful team... is essentially a spiritual act. It requires the individuals involved to surrender their self-interest for the greater good so that the whole adds up to more than the sum of its parts."

Phil's philosophies were basically a conglomeration of 5 sources -
- Christianity -which he learned growing up with his father being a paster and his mother who taught Bible classes and gave fire-and-brimstone talks in the evening.
- Zen Budhism - which he was introduced to by his brother Joe who was the family rebel and studied at the University of Texas.
- Lakota Sioux - which Phil interacted with throughout the 1970's when he conducted basketball clinics at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
- Basketball coaches - especially Red Holzman who coached Phil while he played at the New York Knicks.
- Books - Phil seems to be an avid reader and mentions many other books throughout this book.

Phil takes pieces from each of those sources and talks a lot about team over individual, selflessness, clearing your mind and "not thinking". He also describes how hard that is to do in a "society that places such a high premium on individual achievement" especially in the NBA which has a skewed financial reward system. "Few players comes to the NBA dreaming of becoming good team players."

Here are a few quotes and pieces from the book I found interesting:

- Christianity focuses on the hereafter, Zen Buddhism focuses on the here and now.

- A passage from Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan - "Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone the question. ...Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use."

- What pollutes the mind in the Buddhist view is our desire to get life to conform to our peculiar notion of how things should be, as opposed to how they really are. In the course of everyday life, we spend the majority of our time immersed in self-centered thoughts. Why did this happen to me? What would make me feel better?... The thoughts themselves are not he problem; it's our desperate clinging to them and our resistance to what's actually happening that causes us so much anguish.

- Was Christ a Zen Master?

- In Zen it is said that the gap between accepting things the way they are and wishing them to be otherwise is "the tenth of an inch of difference between heaven and hell".

- Albert Einstein's rules for work:
1. Out of clutter, find simplicity
2. From discord, find harmony
3. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity

- The triangle offense... demanded that they put their individual needs second to the group.

- "What makes basketball so exhilarating is the joy of losing yourself completely in the dance, even if it's just for one beautiful transcendent moment."

- Scoring champions rarely play for championship teams.

- Black Elk wrote in The Sacred Pipe, "Peace... comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and then they realize that at the center of the Universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere. It is within each of us."

- Success tends to distort reality and make everybody forget their shortcomings and exaggerate their contributions.

- Buddhism teaches us that by accepting death, you discover life.

I also liked this Chinese fable that John Paxson brought to Phil once and told him he thought it represented his leadership style…

"The story was about Emporor Liu Bang, who, in the third century BC, became the first ruler to consolidate China into a unified empire. To celebrate his victory, Liu Bang held a great banquet in the palace, inviting many important government officials, miltiary leaders, poets, and teachers, including Chen Cen, a master who had given him guidance during the campaign. Chen Cen's disciples who accompanied him to the banquet were impressed by the proceeding were baffled by an enigma at the heart of the celebration.

Seated at the central table with Liu Bang was his illustrious high command. First there was Xiao He, an eminent general whose knowledge of military logistics was second to none. Next to him was Han Xin, a legendary tactician who'd won every battle he'd ever fought. Last was Chang Yang, a shrewd diplomat who was gifted at convincing heads of state to form alliances and surrender without fighting. These men the disciples could understand. What puzzled them was how Liu Bang, who didn't have a noble birth or knowledge comparable to that of his chief advisers fit into the picture. "Why is he the emperor?" they asked.

Chen Cen smiled and asked them what determines the strength of a wheel. "Is it not the sturdiness of the spokes?" one responded. "Then why is it that two wheels made of identical spokes differ in strength?" asked Chen Cen. After a moment, he continued, "See beyond what is seen. Never forget that a wheel is made not only of spokes but also of the space between the spokes. Sturdy spokes poorly placed make a weak wheel. Whether their full potential is realized depends on the harmony between. The essence of wheelmaking lies in the craftsman's ability to conceive and create the space that holds and balances the spokes within the wheel. Think now, who is the craftsman here?"

Not his fault, I’m just not a big basketball guy.

Favorite coach of all time. Love learning more from him.

Honestly, if you don’t like basketball, might not be the book for you. But if you are interested in Phil Jackson, prime 90’s Chicago Bulls, and basketball, worth it. Freaking love Jacksons thoughts on losing and the culture around it.

Our whole social structure is built around rewarding winners at the perilous expense of forsaking community and compassion. The conditioning starts early, especially among boys, and never stops. "There is no room for second place," the late coach Vince Lombardi once said. "It is and always has been an American zeal to be first in anything we do, and to win and to win and to win." How can anyone, from sports figures to entrepreneurs, possibly maintain their self-esteem when this attitude dominates our cultural mindset?

And again:

Our culture would have us believe that being able to accept loss is tantamount to setting yourself up to lose. But not everyone can win all the time; obsessing about winning adds an unnecessary layer of pressure that constricts body and spirit and, ultimately, robs you of the freedom to do your best.

I first discovered this book in the late nineties during a time of great discord and transition in my life. Phil's approach to life, which embodies merging one's vocation with a larger spiritual quest, was transformational for me. His book offers a unique look at the bizarre tactics he used to build a winning formula as a basketball coach as well in his own life exploration. I found myself particularly enamored with the following sentence in his book:

"In basketball -- as in life -- true joy comes from being fully present in each and every moment, not just when things are going your way."

Digesting this passage was like having a light switch go on in terms of that peaceful elixir I had been seeking my entire life. I immediately put this principle to work and have found it to be quite beneficial over the years in staying grounded amidst today's chaotic world

I have since read this book a dozen times and consider it to be my all-time favorite.

Pg. 207
When Jordan retired for the first time due to his father's death and his desire to play baseball, the Bulls were crushed. They knew that their odds of winning the next championship fell off a cliff. They had little to no energy for the next season without their leader. However, Jackson and the Bulls almost went to the finals again, but lost a heartbreaking series to the Knicks. How the heck did Jackson do this?


Now time for the full review.

Somehow, Phil Jackson went on to win 13 championships in his career and 11 as a coach. He was able to control the egos and focus MJ, Scottie Pippen, Kobe, and Shaq. Although he was given greatness twice, he was able to maintain this greatness by being a great, passive coach. He understood that by using zen and Lakota Sioux, he could teach his players a new way to see the game. This helped all of his teams remain calm collected, and always ready for games. Regardless of attitudes or egos, Jackson was able to teach these techniques to almost everyone he coached. He takes us through his time as a coach in Puerto Rico and Albany, learning how to reach players despite differences. Overall, this book teaches you a new way to see life: through a calm and clear mind.