Unguarded, Scottie Pippen
Unguarded, Scottie Pippen
20 Rating(s)
List: $25.99 | Sale: $17.15
Club: $12.99

Unguarded

Bestseller

Author: Scottie Pippen, Michael Arkush

Narrator: JD Jackson

Unabridged: 9 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/09/2021


Synopsis

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

This unflinching “master class” (The New York Times) of a memoir from two-time Olympic gold medalist and NBA Hall of Famer reveals how Scottie Pippen, the youngest of twelve, overcame two family tragedies and universal disregard by college scouts to become an essential component of the greatest basketball dynasty of the last fifty years.

Scottie Pippen has been called one of the greatest NBA players for good reason.

Simply put, without Pippen, there are no championship banners—let alone six—hanging from the United Center rafters. There’s no Last Dance documentary. There’s no “Michael Jordan” as we know him. The 1990s Chicago Bulls teams would not exist as we know them.

So how did the youngest of twelve go from growing up poor in the small town of Hamburg, Arkansas, enduring two family tragedies along the way, to become a revered NBA legend? How did the scrawny teen, overlooked by every major collegiate basketball program, go on to become the fifth overall pick in the 1987 NBA Draft? And, perhaps most compelling, how did Pippen set aside his ego (and his own limitless professional ceiling) in order for the Bulls to become the most dominant basketball dynasty of the last half century?

In Unguarded, the six-time champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist finally opens up to offer pointed and transparent takes on Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson, and Dennis Rodman, among others. Pippen details how he cringed at being labeled Jordan’s sidekick, and discusses how he could have (and should have) received more respect from the Bulls’ management and the media.

Pippen reveals never-before-told stories about some of the most famous games in league history, including the 1994 playoff game against the New York Knicks when he took himself out with 1.8 seconds to go. He discusses what it was like dealing with Jordan on a day-to-day basis, while serving as the facilitator for the offense and the anchor for the defense.

Pippen is finally giving millions of adoring basketball fans what they crave; an unvarnished, “closely observed, and uncommonly modest” (Kirkus Reviews) look into his life and role within one of the greatest, most popular teams of all time.

About Scottie Pippen

Scottie Pippen played seventeen seasons in the NBA, winning six championships and two Olympic gold medals. He was honored as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996. Pippen is the only person ever to win an NBA championship and Olympic gold medal twice in the same year. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. He lives in the Los Angeles area and you can follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @ScottiePippen.

About Michael Arkush

Michael Arkush has written or cowritten fifteen books, including the New York Times bestsellers, From the Outside with Ray Allen and The Big Fight with Sugar Ray Leonard. Arkush previously served as a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times. He lives with his wife, Pauletta Walsh, in Oak View, California.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Corban on November 17, 2021

Man, this was tough. I respect Scottie Pippen's career and I feel that he definitely deserves more credit than he has received in "The Last Dance" and other Chicago Bulls-centric retrospectives but man.... resentment and bitterness permeate this entire book. Pippen spends most of it talking about ho......more

Goodreads review by Fabio on November 13, 2021

let's be clear! i really don't like the way Scottie market this book. Too much bitterness and resentment. I think we can not allow every time someone is going to write a (auto)biography to use some BS about someone else. Especially in the sports world this happen too many times. "but it's the only w......more

Goodreads review by Ken on November 22, 2021

Scottie Pippen's negativity toward Michael Jordan and The Last Dance documentary has been taken out of context when blasted across the media. The attention is one reason why I decided to read the book. I wasn't a big Chicago Bulls fan and never worshipped at the altar of MJ during his reign. I live......more

Goodreads review by Kelly (Simply Kelina) on November 10, 2021

3.5 Stars I have always been a fan of the Bulls, especially Pippen and Jordan. If you were worried about reading this based on the pre-release press, I recommend still giving it a try. There is a lot of context around what came out for the release of this book. It was not as it was made out to be. I d......more

Goodreads review by Erika on April 21, 2023

This is probably a controversial thing to say but I feel like Unguarded is a little bit too much about… Basketball. Hear me out! Scottie Pippin describes the games, and stats, and media stories blow by blow. He offers little about what was happening behind the scenes. Most of what he talks about is......more