Overall Summary of The Last Season

The Last Season, written by Phil Jackson is my favorite book. The Last Season is about the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2003-2004 season. This book talks about how the Lakers had many problems during the season, such as the rape allegations of Kobe Bryant and the contract dispute of Phil Jackson. The Lakers also had conflicts within the team, such as the main conflict between Shaq and Kobe. Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant were two of the best players in the league, and with them working together, the Lakers were the best team in the league. The Lakers also had Gary Payton and Karl Malone, two other hall of fame players. The 2003-2004 Lakers were one of the best NBA teams ever, and having one of the best coaches in Phil Jackson omly made matters better. For the first three years of the twentieth century, the Lakers were the best team in the league and every other team feared them. Their three consecutive championships reflected this skill.

Summary of first 30 pages of Game of Shadows

 Game of Shadows is a book about Barry Bonds, arguably the best hitter baseball has ever seen. Barry Bonds was accused of using performance enhancing drugs and human growth hormone, and as soon as he was accused of using steroids, this book was published. In the first 30 pages of this book, the authors of this book talk about how Barry Bonds was first accused, and how every reporter wanted to talk to him about it. Bonds had over 200 interviews throughout the investigation. Throughout this investigation, other atheletes were convicted of using steroids, such as track star Marion Jones, and football player Bill Romanowski.

Collage with captions

Three future hall of famers - Karl Malone
Gary Payton, and Shaquille O'Neal

 

Karl Malone snatching a
rebound, one of the many
thousands.

The Cover of the book The Last Season

Phil Jackson doing what he does best, coaching

A preview poster for the
2003-2004 L.A Lakers

Kobe Bryant discussing his
rape allegations

Kobe Bryant and
Devean George celebrating a win

Skill, Talent, Abilty,GreatnessThe LA

The Lakers three - peat
championship poster

The main theme in The Last Season

There is one main theme in The Last Season, the first theme there is no "I" in the word team. We learned that there is no "I" team when the feud between Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant began. Shaq and Kobe were two of the most talented players in the league, and this one of the reasons why they did not get along with each other. Since they are both superstars, they thought they should be the focal point of the team. When Shaq thought Kobe was turning into a "ballhog", he waqs not happy. Kobe thought that he deserved to get the ball more, and Shaq often confronted Kobe about his continuous shooting. When Sahq and Kobe were not on the same page, and did not want to work together, the Lakers were a good team, but they were not championship contenders. When Shaq and Kobe were on the same page, the Lakers were definately a force to be reckoned with and the best team in the league. We learned that Shaq and Kobe, two of the best players, when working together, made the Lakers better than any other team. When they did not pass the ball and get along, the Lakers were an average team.

Dialogue the first 100 pages

In non-fiction books, there is usually a lot of dialogue. Dialogue is just a conversation between two people. We use dialogue everyday, and it is probably the most common language device. Dialogue is usually put in quotation marks to indicate what someone has said. On the sixth page, Phil Jackson, the coach of the Lakers was having a conversation with Jerry Buss, the owner. "I'd like to win two more championships" said Jerry. "Gee, I don't know Jerry", said Phil, who was skeptical about whether the Lakers could win two more championships, which would tie the Celtics for most championships. Another example of dialogue is found on page 9, between Phil Jackson and Gary Payton. "Do you feel you've still got that defensive killer instinct?", Phil asked Gary. Gary replied "Yeah I'm still there".

Dialect in the first 100 pages

In non-fiction books, there is almost always some dialect. Dialect is basically slang, or any form of conversation that is not proper or in the dictionary. Dialect comes from verbal story-telling and people making up words.One example of dialect is found on page 35, when Kobe says "He popped off", referring to Shaquille O'Neal. If someone who was not used to this kind of language read this, they would probably have no idea what it meant. By this, Kobe meant that Shaq "ran his mouth" or said something that he shouldn't have said to Kobe. This all traces back to the feud between Shaq and Kobe. Another example of dialect is found on page 50, when Phil Jackson said "He'll hit the shots we need". He'll is the conjunction for he will, and since conjunctions aren't in the dictionary, this sentence is slang. Phil Jackosn implies that John Paxson, a former player of his, was a good shooter that could make important shots at important times. Also, on page 90, an unknown Laker player says "Oh Phil, he's just tweaking us". This laker player implies that Phil Jackson is deceiving them, or tricking them.

The Main conflict in The Last Season

There is one main conflict in The Last Season. That is the conflict between Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. This is an external conflict. Shaq and Kobe, who are both very talented players, and will one day be in the hall of fame, did not always work together well. they had problems working together well because both players were superstars, and they wanted to be the head of the team. In the triangle offense, the main objective is to get the ball close to the basket to make it easier to score. Shaquille O'Neal loved the triangle offense because it gave him an opportunity to showcase his offensive skills. Kobe, however, was not too fond of this offense because he was more of a perimeter player, and did not get a lot of scoring opportunities. When Kobe started to disregard the Triangle Offense and take over the game, Shaq became irritated. Even though the Lakers were still winning, Shaq' number of touches was decreasing, and he felt that he didn't have the ball enough. Shaq and Kobe eventually settled their differences and The Lakers rose back to top of the NBA.

Pages 21-35

In the next 15 pages of this book, Phil Jackson writes about the upcoming off season. This off-season was interesting because Kobe Bryant, the star of the Los Angeles Lakers was about to go into free agency, because his contract was about to expire. "I would never oppose a player's decision to explore his true market value" says Phil Jackson on page 32 of his book. Kobe often reitrated the fact that his decision to re-sign with the team, or explore the free agent market would be mainly based on the actions of Shaquille O'Neal, the other superstar of the Lakers. What many people do not know is that off the court, Kobe and Shaq often had major disagreements. It is unknown where their fued started, but it is known that both of them wanted to be the star. I personally believe that this is why the two future Hall-of-Famers had constant confrontations. During the off-season, the Lakers were able to convince Kobe Bryant that his best shot at winning a championship was with the Lakers. In addition to role players like Derek Fisher, rookie Brian Cook, and rookie Luke Walton; the Lakers were able to pull a few strings and sign forward Karl Mailman, "The Mailman", and guard Gary Payton, "The Glove". At first, Jackson feared that Malone would try to come and take over the Laker's offense, since he was not that far away from the scoring; but after Karl promised that he wouldn't Phil Jackson began to trust that he would pass the ball. Jackson did not want three people on the team that wanted to be "superstars". After these accusations, the Lakers became an immediate threat to win the Western Conference. The only thing that stood in the way was the San Antonio Spurs, and the presences of Tony Parker and Tim Duncan. Duncan, the reingning MVP, was arguably the most talented big man to ever play the game, besides Wilt Chamberlain, in my personal opinion. "Nobody in the NBA can defend him" recalls Jackson, who debated on whether Shaq or Duncan should ATTEMPT to guard him. Later in the book, we will discover how the Lakers thrived with this unbelievable squad.

"The Squad"

The setting in The Last Season

The main setting in The Last Season is Los Angeles, California. All of this book, however, does not take place in Los Angeles. Some of this story takes place in Phil Jackson's hometown of Deer Lodge, Montana. During the off-season, Phil Jackson spends most of his free time in his town, doing things such as riding his bike, fishing, and spending time with his family. During the season, he spent nearly all of his time in Los Angeles, (except on road trips with the team). He spent lots of time practicing with the team, being with the team during training camp, and coaching the team during home games.

Types of character in The Last Season

The two main characters in The Last Season are Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant. Phil Jackson is a static character. A static character is a character who remains the same throughout the book. Phil Jackson, however remains the same throughout his whole life. Phil has always been a calm, non-shalant person. Phil Jackson takes his job serious, but he does not let it stress him out and take over his life. Phil virtually has the same reaction to a win or a loss, which is not much of a reaction. You will probably never see him jump up and down to celebrate, or get really emotion and upset because of a loss. Kobe Bryant, on the other hand,  is the exact opposite.You might not exactly see Kobe jump up and down after a win, but he will be very emotional and upset after a loss. Kobe is often regarded as a bad teammate, because he sometimes yells at his teammates and put them down because of their mistakes. Kobe is highly emotional, and he is not afraid to show his emotions. This affects his game. Sometimes, Kobe may be having a bad night, and he may shoot about 15 percent and only score eight points. Another night, he might shoot about 60 percent from the floor and end up scoring 45 or 50 points.

Comparing and Contrasting Kobe and Phil

Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson have VERY different personalities. Kobe Byrant has always been regarded as a selfish player, and a ball hog. In Phil Jackon's triangle offense, the object is to spread the ball around by passing it until you find the open. Kobe likes to get the ball and wait for the play to develop, and even create his own shot. Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson fueded continually on whose offense worked better. Kobe would always threaten to demand a trade, or opt out of his contract because he knew that the Lakers needed him more than he needed the Lakers. Phil and Kobe also had arguments about whether the team supported Kobe. Kobe was always a good player, but he was not so much a good teammate. He would often times yell profanities at the other players because he felt that they were not doing their job.

Descriptive quotes in the first 50 pages

The are many different descriptive quotes in the first 50 pages of The Last Season. "I need to decelerate, allowing the natural of the landscape to usher in serenity" - says Phil Jackson. In this sentence, Jackson implies that his life is going faster than he can handle it, and he may need to slow down a little bit. Also, Jackson states that he is in love with nature and he would like to sit back and enjoy it. The next quote that he uses is "The exchange with Mitch revealed the underlying contradiction in Kobe's attitude toward Shaquille, a symbol, in fact, of a much broader dichotomy in his psyche". In this sentence, Jackson attempts to explain the feud between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. Phil Jackson knew that Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal were two of the most dominant players at their respective positions, and they still are. Mitch Richmond, another guard on the Lakers was caught in between their disagreements. Kobe directly said that he "didn't give a s*** what the big guy does". This statement was sort of an oxymoron, because on the other hand, Kobe Bryant's decision was mainly based on the actions of Shaq. Finally, another descriptive quote can be found on page 28, when Phil Jackson talks about Rick Fox. "He's the conscience of this team". Rick fox was a veteran player, that held all the team together in times of struggles.

Pages 1- 20

During the first 20 pages of this book, Phil Jackson, the coach and author of this book, explains how Kobe Bryant, the star of the Los Angeles Lakers, was accused of sexually assaulting a 20 year old Colorado woman. These accusations were very shocking to every Kobe fan, especially in Colorado, where the word no means no, as Phil Jackson said in his book. After 14 months of a torture for Kobe, the charges were finally dropped and Bryant became a free man, for the most part. Kobe still to this day, denies those speculations. For a while, Kobe did not talk to anybody or answer any phone call. After 14 months, he went back to normal.

The Introduction

This book, The Last Season , is about the Los Angeles Lakers during the early 2000's. This book tells about the struggles that the Lakers had, as well as their triumphs. This book was written after the Lakers' three peat run for consecutive championships. All three of those championships stemmed from Shaq and Kobe, of course. The reason why I chose this book is because I love the Lakers, and I love Kobe Bryant. I enjoy reading about books that I can relate to, and this is one of them. Since the book is mainly about sports, it will be much easier for me to understand and read.