Tip-Off: How the 1984 NBA Draft Changed Basketball Forever

by Filip Bondy

Overview

The 1984 NBA draft is most remembered as the one where Michael Jordan slipped to third behind number-one pick Hakeem Olajuwon...and the immortal Sam Bowie. You could understand the Houston Rockets choosing Olajuwon, but how on earth could the Portland Trailblazers pass up Jordan for the injury-prone Bowie? For the first time, Filip Bondy pieces together the entire backstory of the draft: from Michael Jordan's indecision over whether he should declare himself eligible for the NBA draft after his junior year...to Charles Barkley's calculated attempt to avoid being drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers and to improve his position at the Olympic trials...to the trades that were considered but fatefully never made.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306816123
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	04/22/2008
Edition description:	First Trade Paper Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Filip Bondy is a columnist for the New York Daily News and author of Tip-Off, among other books. He lives in New York.

Table of Contents

Prologue: The Flip     ix
The View from Chapel Hill     1
Decision Time     15
The Achilles Shin     31
Out of Africa, Into Texas     45
The Well-Rounded Recruit     65
Spokane Man     75
Trial by Knight     83
Embracing Defeat     101
Finishing the Picasso     109
Liking Mike     121
The Safe Pick     135
The Imperfect Fit     145
Sweet Sixteen     155
Portland Selects Sam Bowie     165
Not Twins at All     181
After the Fall     193
A Different Kind of Star     203
Far from Eden     217
Charles in Charge     225
The Player's Player     237
Epilogue     247
Acknowledgments     263
Bibliography     267
Index     271

Editorial Reviews

Thoughtful...This mother lode of wouldas, couldas, and shouldas will make very entertaining and informative reading for NBA fans.

Booklist

Fascinating.

Sports Illustrated

If you love the NBA, you won't put this book down...A fascinating story, told true and told well.

Yahoo! Sports

A pro basketball fan's dream book, full of insider stories and anecdotes, offering a return to a bygone era.

Nashville City Paper

It's not the worst mistake in sports history, but it's among the most famous-with the second pick in the 1984 NBA draft, the Portland Trailblazers selected Sam Bowie instead of several future stars, including Michael Jordan. In this tremendously readable book, Bondy tells the full story of that draft, which most experts consider the best ever. Bondy follows six draftees-Bowie, Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, Sam Perkins and John Stockton. With commentary from scouts, general managers, coaches and the players themselves, Bondy draws a portrait of each player from just before the draft to the present day. Bondy perfectly synthesizes exactly why each player landed where he did, examining prevailing draft philosophies, recent roster blunders and the possibility that teams lost on purpose. While not as revelatory as Michael Lewis's Moneyball(Bondy's post mortem of Portland's mistake focuses on familiar themes, particularly the fetishism of height), this book is every bit as enjoyable as the baseball bestseller. Bondy delves deeper into the character of Bowie than anyone has before, revealing a likable man with terrible luck, and gives the reader a sense of how profoundly Jordan, Barkley and Olajuwon reshaped the league. It may not be transcendent enough to breakthrough with nonbasketball fans, but anybody with a cursory interest in the game is in for a treat. (May)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

Savvy overview of a paradigm-shifting moment in basketball, and the legends it created. In 1984, the NBA was hardly the slick hip-hop marketing juggernaut it is today. Teams were just beginning to utilize technology to improve scouting practices, operating budgets were a fraction of their present value and there was still some question as to whether a black athlete could be a successful pitchman in white suburbia. One thing, however, was the same: The draft was a crapshoot, which is why the '84 Portland Trailblazers and 2003 Detroit Pistons inadvertently passed up transcendental talents Michael Jordan and Dwyane Wade, respectively. In sports columnist Bondy's languorous stroll down memory lane, he shares recollections from players, coaches and team executives about that year's now-legendary draft, as significant for the future superstars it birthed-Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, John Stockton-as it was for the fact that it was the last non-lottery draft. (To prevent teams from intentionally losing to improve their draft position, the league instituted a lottery system the following year.) Had the draft yielded Jordan alone, it would have forever altered the game. It was also the first to choose a foreign-born player as number one (Olajuwon), and it decisively affected the fortunes of many major franchises. The author's exhaustive interviews and player profiles aren't particularly revelatory, but any basketball fan will enjoy reading the candid, often conflicting insights and opinions of talent evaluators concerning some of the biggest successes (and busts) in league history. Bondy doesn't devote enough time to analyzing the significance of Olajuwon's selection or how it relatesto the later influx of foreign-born players, and overall analysis of the draft's significance takes a back seat to key players' stories, but overall this is a lively and enlightening look at one of the NBA's decisive turning points. Like an all-star game: lots of style and flair, but not quite enough substance until the closing buzzer. Agent: David Black/David Black Literary Agency

Kirkus Reviews