Sharing a team with the man who is probably the best player in the history of a sport has great advantages. The main one is that in decisive moments you can give him the ball because he will know what to do with it and that detail conditions absolutely all the components of the game: from the strategy to the personality of the team, passing through the fears of the rival or the self-confidence. They are also usually a pole of attraction for the spotlights and the fans, in such a way that it frees his teammates from the pressure of the media and the stands. But you also have to share a dressing room with him on a day-to-day basis. And that, seen from the inside, is not as pleasant an experience as it might seem.
Jordan’s rules (Against) is the book that American journalist Sam Smith wrote about the legendary 1990-1991 season of the Chicago Bulls, in which the team won the NBA championship ring for the first time in its history (five more would follow in the same decade) and in which Michael Jordan would change the history of basketball and his own, becoming an icon of global impact. Smith had almost total access to the inside of the franchise, and that allowed him to create a work in which the reader feels like they are inside the Bulls locker room or accompanying the team on the plane. And he traces a very interesting narrative arc about the figure of the legendary 23. An evolution that leads Jordan to understand that no matter how much talent he has, the role of a good leader is to make the team work and achieve goals that seemed impossible.
A complicated personality – Smith says he could be “unpleasant, biased or overwhelming” and often hurt the feelings of others – Jordan’s relationships with his teammates, coach and managers are portrayed in the book with a level of detail that makes it a first-class journalistic document. A fascinating chronicle, full of stories, details and testimonies in which no one left any stone unturned.
