The Sixth Man: A Season Inside the NBA Playground

by Chris Palmer

A sports journalist and author of Wide Open chronicles the events and personalities of the 2004-2005 NBA season, journeying behind the scenes to reveal the inner world of the modern athlete in today's high-pressure world of sports, offering close-up portraits of the lives and lifestyles of such players as Rip Hamilton, Tracy McGrady, Luol Deng, Damon Jones, Elton Brown, and others. 20,000 first printing.

Genres: Sports, Basketball, Nonfiction

214 pages, Hardcover

First published April 25, 2006

Reviews

[Will · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is about him writing the book. Terrible waste of time. I paid $1 at the dollar store for it and I feel like it should have been cheaper.

[L · Rating 1 out of 5]

This isn't really a book about the NBA as much as it's a book about Chris Palmer telling you how cool he is that he gets to hang out with NBA players.

[Ice · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this astonishingly intimate portrait of the 2004–2005 NBA season, ESPN The Magazine’s Chris Palmer steps inside the closely guarded inner circles of five NBA stars to reveal the soul of the modern athlete. Like a teammate without a jersey, he sets off on the ultimate road trip, exploring the spoils of wealth and fame with flashy champion Rip Hamilton of the Detroit Pistons, uncrowned superstar Tracy McGrady of the Houston Rockets, starryeyed rookie Luol Deng of the Chicago Bulls, charismatic utility man Damon Jones of the Miami Heat, and straight-laced veteran Elton Brand of the Los Angeles Clippers.

By examining their lives on and off the court, Palmer reveals not only the private sides of the gods of the game -- Shaq, LeBron, Kobe -- but also the joys and fears, triumphs and failures inherent to anyone with the talent to play in "The League." Filled with uncommon insight and light-hearted humor, The Sixth Man is a groundbreaking work of sports journalism, heralding the arrival of a sharp new writing talent.

[Steven · Rating 1 out of 5]

Palmer comes across as a decent writer and reporter, but someone with absolutely no idea how to put a book together. For all the access his five subjects allegedly granted him, he barely comes away with enough material for a long magazine article, and so has to pad it out to book length with a bunch of self-indulgent rambling that makes him sound like a posing adolescent. For a much meatier trip through similar material, check out Larry Platt's Keepin' It Real. Avoid this book unless you have literally nothing else to read.

[Chi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damon Jones is a pitbull in a basketball player and he got punked by my man Paul Pierce during the 2005 all star weekend in a pool tournament in Denver hosted by Carmelo Anthony.

[Cedrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

it is a good book to read it is based on basketball i think that its a book for who ever like basketball what i learned is how the nba players do there job

[Mario · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads like an ESPN the Magazine article...which isn't surprising since Palmer writes for the Mag.