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

by Bondy, Filip

• ISBN13: 9780306814860
• ISBN10: 0306814862
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-04-23
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

The 1984 NBA draft is one of the most controversial in NBA history. Teams were losing games very suspiciously during the regular season to enhance their draft position. And who wouldn't, when the draft featured four future members of the Top 50 NBA Players of All Time team-Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, and Michael Jordan. But this draft is most often remembered as the one where Michael Jordan slipped to third and was a reason the lottery system was introduced the next year. How could the experts have been so wrong and, even more astoundingly, how could the Portland Trailblazers, who held the second pick, pass on Jordan and choose the injury-prone Sam Bowie? Filip Bondy sets out to answer that question and many more. Talking to general managers, coaches, and players, Bondy provides the entire back story of the draft: trades that were never made; wrong-headed assessments of players like Charles Barkley and John Stockton, and how Bobby Knight, coach of the 1984 U.S. Olympic team, played a major role in advising certain teams about key players.

Author Biography

Filip Bondy is a sports columnist at the New York Daily News, where he has worked since 1993. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife.

Table of Contents

Prologue : the flip
The view from Chapel Hill	p. 1
Decision time	p. 15
The Achilles Shin	p. 31
Out of Africa, into Texas	p. 45
The well-rounded recruit	p. 65
Spokane man	p. 75
Trial by Knight	p. 83
Embracing defeat	p. 101
Finishing the Picasso	p. 109
Liking Mike	p. 121
The safe pick	p. 135
The imperfect fit	p. 145
Sweet sixteen	p. 155
Portland selects Sam Bowie	p. 165
Not twins at all	p. 181
After the fall	p. 193
A different kind of star	p. 203
Far from Eden	p. 217
Charles in charge	p. 225
The player's player	p. 237
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