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Keepin' It Real:: A Turbulent Season At The Crossroads With The Nba
The Jordan Era is all but over, and for the first time in decades the NBA finds itself deeply troubled. The powers-that-be see a new generation of gangsta players tearing up the hardwood and tearing down the most honored NBA hard work, teamwork, and respect for the game. Bloodied veterans have to struggle twice as hard to keep up with even younger, ever swifter opponents. And the headlines touting exploits on the court are slowly being boxed out by headlines condemning exploits off the drug busts, sex abuse charges, back room manipulations and organizations out of control. This is the NBA today, a league in search of a savior, a league at war with itself -- a league where only the strong survive. But can the NBA itself survive? Larry Platt answers this and many other questions about the state of the NBA as he recounts from behind-the-scenes the remarkable 1997-98 season through the trials and triumphs of five high-profile players. There's Charles Barkley, bad boy turned old-guard statesman who wants one last shot at the ring. There's Chris Webber, the immensely talented superstar-to-be, who has spent four years fighting his reputation as a prima donna. Matt Maloney is the throwback; Jerry Stackhouse, the crossover each will go through a lifetimes's worth of changes, betrayals and morale checks for who they are and the choices they've made. Finally, there's Vernon Maxwell, the original GANGSTA hoopster, who can ball up as well as anyone, but whose career is threatened by his impulse to court danger. An extraordinary look deep inside the game, Keepin'It Real is also a very American story of ability, achievement, and destructive temptation, a portrait of five athletes who compete mightily with all their heart and soul, not just for minutes and a multimillion-dollar payday, but for dignity and pride, and a lasting place in a brutal league that has offered them the world-at a price that just might destroy them and the league itself.
- GenresBasketball
320 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1998
13 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 19, 2015
Probably one of the worst sports books I've read.
Larry Platt is a white Philadelphia journalist and he approaches the "hip-hop" culture in the NBA so awkwardly that it's hard to determine if he's making fun of it or giving it it's due consideration as an evolution of player style in pro sports.
However, contrary to what I took away from the book's title and some initial attention paid to Allen Iverson (while concentrating on teammate Jerry Stackhouse), this has very little to do with the period of NBA basketball when hip-hop and black culture became a marquee talking point about the game. Essentially, the game "becoming too black." When Commissioner David Stern instituted a dress code and other tactics to draw back the high-spending white crowd to arenas.
No, this is more or less a season with five NBA players: the hard-nosed aging veteran in Vernon Maxwell; the old soul in Chris Webber; the nerdy white Ivy Leaguer Matt Maloney; college stud turned sixth man Jerry Stackhouse; and superstar on the brink of retirement in Charles Barkley.
There is no coherent theme here. The reason it's a "turbulent" season at the "crossroads" is because it's about the post-Michael Jordan era for the NBA. In fact, there's a whole chapter in there about Jordan. Because we haven't quite read enough about the guy. And the stories of these other players do not pertain to Jordan.
And other than Maxwell these players are boring. Webber is in the midst of being on his third team and the swaggy kid from Michigan with his long shorts is starting businesses and reading self-help books. Maloney was simply a poor choice for the book. He's a rich smart kid, who has his brother running his life. Somehow Platt made Barkley boring, focusing too much on his evolution from the outspoken young kid to the conservative millionaire hobnobbing with politicians.
Maxwell, though, has a story. At this point in his career he's become a 10-day contract veteran grasping to playing time like it's manna from heaven. He faces a true crossroads having been pistol-whipped in an apparent robbery (he claims he was set up by a friend) with loose gang ties. He even is put in jail for drug possession near the end of the book, missing the playoffs with his team. He is truly a man (who probably should know better) who seeks to have one foot in a tumultuous upbringing while being an NBA player. That rarely works. But Platt winds up putting Maxwell in relation to other NBA players, which is fascinating. Playing pool with Sam Cassell, moving from team to team, talking about former players.
In general though, Platt did the unimaginable and got great access to four fascinating NBA players and made three of them boring (he is quick to note that HE is having shots with Maxwell or that HE is eating steaks with Stackhouse).
Also, sloppy writing and editing. He refers to ancillary individuals by their last name (as if it's second reference) with no first reference. I assume text was removed and the second reference was never amended. Also, simple typos exist throughout. Comes off as being self-published. Automatic three-star deduction for me.
Larry Platt is a white Philadelphia journalist and he approaches the "hip-hop" culture in the NBA so awkwardly that it's hard to determine if he's making fun of it or giving it it's due consideration as an evolution of player style in pro sports.
However, contrary to what I took away from the book's title and some initial attention paid to Allen Iverson (while concentrating on teammate Jerry Stackhouse), this has very little to do with the period of NBA basketball when hip-hop and black culture became a marquee talking point about the game. Essentially, the game "becoming too black." When Commissioner David Stern instituted a dress code and other tactics to draw back the high-spending white crowd to arenas.
No, this is more or less a season with five NBA players: the hard-nosed aging veteran in Vernon Maxwell; the old soul in Chris Webber; the nerdy white Ivy Leaguer Matt Maloney; college stud turned sixth man Jerry Stackhouse; and superstar on the brink of retirement in Charles Barkley.
There is no coherent theme here. The reason it's a "turbulent" season at the "crossroads" is because it's about the post-Michael Jordan era for the NBA. In fact, there's a whole chapter in there about Jordan. Because we haven't quite read enough about the guy. And the stories of these other players do not pertain to Jordan.
And other than Maxwell these players are boring. Webber is in the midst of being on his third team and the swaggy kid from Michigan with his long shorts is starting businesses and reading self-help books. Maloney was simply a poor choice for the book. He's a rich smart kid, who has his brother running his life. Somehow Platt made Barkley boring, focusing too much on his evolution from the outspoken young kid to the conservative millionaire hobnobbing with politicians.
Maxwell, though, has a story. At this point in his career he's become a 10-day contract veteran grasping to playing time like it's manna from heaven. He faces a true crossroads having been pistol-whipped in an apparent robbery (he claims he was set up by a friend) with loose gang ties. He even is put in jail for drug possession near the end of the book, missing the playoffs with his team. He is truly a man (who probably should know better) who seeks to have one foot in a tumultuous upbringing while being an NBA player. That rarely works. But Platt winds up putting Maxwell in relation to other NBA players, which is fascinating. Playing pool with Sam Cassell, moving from team to team, talking about former players.
In general though, Platt did the unimaginable and got great access to four fascinating NBA players and made three of them boring (he is quick to note that HE is having shots with Maxwell or that HE is eating steaks with Stackhouse).
Also, sloppy writing and editing. He refers to ancillary individuals by their last name (as if it's second reference) with no first reference. I assume text was removed and the second reference was never amended. Also, simple typos exist throughout. Comes off as being self-published. Automatic three-star deduction for me.
August 6, 2012
The writing is not breathtaking, but the subject matter is very interesting. I appreciated that the book seemed intent on trying to capture the context that led each of the five players who were profiled to behave the way that they did in the NBA.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews