Unguarded

In this autobiography, former Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen telegraphs his pass—in this case a takedown of Michael Jordan, he of the carefully cultivated perfect image and the man in whose shadow Pippen played during the Bulls’ dynasty. He acknowledges Jordan’s greatness, but there is always a but. Jordan scored 50 points in this game or that one, but he needed 40 shots to do it. Jordan demanded perfection from his “supporting cast,” but often crossed into harshness in doing so. While Jordan is his focal point, Pippen writes about many others with the same passive aggressive approach. For instance, he writes that coach Doug Collins excelled at X’s and O’s, but couldn’t unite a team; Phil Jackson was a great coach, but his new-age ideas were too out there for Pippen; and on and on, as Pippen tries to settle every score. All this is valuable insider information, but a shame in a potentially heart-warming tale of a hometown hero.