By Rudy Tomjanovich with Robert Falkoff
Ranking:
A good, solid basketball book. It's a typical biography, in that Rudy T. tells about growing up, playing in high school, college, and the pros. What makes this unique is that he has spent his entire professional career with the same franchise. He tells of playing with different coaches and what he learned from them as a player, and also what he learned working with them (Del Harris, Bill Fitch, Don Cheney).
He provides lots of insights into his coaching philosophy on the court and off the court. He tells of dealing with problem players like Vernon Maxwell, and true professionals, like Calvin Murphy (his room mate as a player) and Hakeem Olajuwon. The book goes through how they built the champion team of 1994, and the reasons behind the controversial Clyde Drexler trade of 1995, and how they defied the "expert" opinions of those who said the trade was bad.
And yes, he does cover in depth the Kermit Washington sucker punch. Tomjanovich comes across a decent guy. A bit of a touchy-feely liberal type of fellow, but a good coach to play for.
Introspection: 4
Insight: 5
History: 1971-95
Readability: 5
A Rocket at Heart. Rudy Tomjanovich with Robert Falkoff. Simon and Shuster. 1997.
