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Seven Seconds or Less: My Season on the Bench with the Runnin' and Gunnin' Phoenix Suns
Sports Illustrated 's chief NBA writer, Jack McCallum, only planned to spend the preseason with the Phoenix Suns as an "assistant coach" -- and then write a story about his experiences. Instead, he stayed on with the Suns throughout their exciting and controversial 2005-2006 season. Gaining access to everything from locker-room chats with superstar point guard Steve Nash, to coaches' meetings with maverick coach Mike D'Antoni, McCallum learned what makes this wildly popular, innovative, and international assemblage of talented players and brilliant coaches tick -- making Seven Seconds or Less an all-access look at one of the greatest shows in sports.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 151 reviews
February 20, 2011
There is one thing about the Phoenix Suns back the in the middle of the last decade that is undeniable: they were a lot of fun to watch. As a lifelong Lakers fan, it was a little hard to see them lose to the Suns in the first round of the 2006 playoffs. Man, I hated Raja Bell as much as I loved Kobe in that series. Eddie House and even Boris Diaw were also easy to hate. But what to feel about Steve Nash? A medium sized white guy from Canada became a two time MVP and the premier point guard in the game dominated by larger and quicker players, and was getting better with age. His wiliness was well matched with a consuming competitive drive that defined his success and his hardships. It was hard to dislike him. In fact, I wished the Lakers could have a PG like that.
This book is the culmination of a sportswriter's season-long obsession with the Suns, with a major focus on personalities and philosophies rather than stats and strategies. In that vein, it is similar other basketball books I have loved, including Phil Jackson's memoirs. We all know what happened to this team: their run ended with a loss to the Dallas Mavericks in an epic seven game series. But their methodology was revolutionary: their head coach relied on a simple rule: seven seconds is all they needed to get the ball upcourt and get a shot up. The creativity, athleticism and sheer talent of the players working together would be the engine that drove this run-and-gun system, and man... was it fun to watch. Much like a playground game of hoops, the Suns from 2004-2007 were the most entertaining team in the conference.
McCallum is a great writer, and I have mostly read his stuff in Sports Illustrated since I was a kid following Magic and Kareem. A whole book allows much more room for introspection, reflection and thought than a magazine article. He has a deeply analytical style that approaches sports as a direct function of the personalities that make up the game. In this case, it is the pillars of the team — Nash and Mike D'Antoni — that the whole team and coaching staff pivot around. In this constellation, there are even more stronger personalities around, like Shawn Marion, whose insecurities are probably the saddest and most surprising part of this book. For a freakishly talented athlete who was able to touch the *top* of the backboard, it is curious to see how his self worth were constantly threatened by the laurels heaped on Nash. I guess the millions of dollars flowing into his bank account every month weren't enough to assuage his bruised ego.
There are a lot of great moments in this book, and the vision it grants us into each player and into each member of the support staff (no matter how insignificant) makes this a required read for any NBA fan. You may never have liked the Suns in the past, but after this book you will find yourself strangely attached to them as players and as normal guys just trying to win a game, or win precious playing time. I miss those days of seven seconds or less.
This book is the culmination of a sportswriter's season-long obsession with the Suns, with a major focus on personalities and philosophies rather than stats and strategies. In that vein, it is similar other basketball books I have loved, including Phil Jackson's memoirs. We all know what happened to this team: their run ended with a loss to the Dallas Mavericks in an epic seven game series. But their methodology was revolutionary: their head coach relied on a simple rule: seven seconds is all they needed to get the ball upcourt and get a shot up. The creativity, athleticism and sheer talent of the players working together would be the engine that drove this run-and-gun system, and man... was it fun to watch. Much like a playground game of hoops, the Suns from 2004-2007 were the most entertaining team in the conference.
McCallum is a great writer, and I have mostly read his stuff in Sports Illustrated since I was a kid following Magic and Kareem. A whole book allows much more room for introspection, reflection and thought than a magazine article. He has a deeply analytical style that approaches sports as a direct function of the personalities that make up the game. In this case, it is the pillars of the team — Nash and Mike D'Antoni — that the whole team and coaching staff pivot around. In this constellation, there are even more stronger personalities around, like Shawn Marion, whose insecurities are probably the saddest and most surprising part of this book. For a freakishly talented athlete who was able to touch the *top* of the backboard, it is curious to see how his self worth were constantly threatened by the laurels heaped on Nash. I guess the millions of dollars flowing into his bank account every month weren't enough to assuage his bruised ego.
There are a lot of great moments in this book, and the vision it grants us into each player and into each member of the support staff (no matter how insignificant) makes this a required read for any NBA fan. You may never have liked the Suns in the past, but after this book you will find yourself strangely attached to them as players and as normal guys just trying to win a game, or win precious playing time. I miss those days of seven seconds or less.
July 19, 2021
Always enjoy Jack McCallum, but i found it a little difficult to maintain motivation to finish this one. In part because I read it 16 years after the 2005 season, but also because I found it a bit repetitive. It pretty much only follows the postseason, with just some regular season bits sprinkled in here and there. Ended up being just broad game summaries over and over. Still, 3 stars because McCallum is that great
April 23, 2017
Rating - 7.5
A fresh perspective as allowing McCallum to sit in the meetings does provide some 'behind the scenes' learning (both players & coaches); However there is a lack of conflict & depth which seems fake
Interesting way to weave the backstories in (the most interesting being the arrogant Amare & the insecure, under-appreciated Matrix) - a lot of props to D'Antoni & Nash for their Suns leadership
A fresh perspective as allowing McCallum to sit in the meetings does provide some 'behind the scenes' learning (both players & coaches); However there is a lack of conflict & depth which seems fake
Interesting way to weave the backstories in (the most interesting being the arrogant Amare & the insecure, under-appreciated Matrix) - a lot of props to D'Antoni & Nash for their Suns leadership
December 13, 2008
Participatory journalism will always get me going, whether it's George Plimpton playing quarterback for the Lions or AJ Jacobs reading the encyclopedia. I was excited, then, to read that Jack McCallum conceived of his project as one of participatory journalism. Unfortunately, McCallum appears to have either not read or completely missed the point of Plimpton's great work in this field, because this book is not participatory in the least. It's just a book about the Suns for which McCallum was given more access than a journalist usually gets.
After that initial disappointment, though, I was ready for a good yarn: team, supposed to be on the verge of greatness, loses Amare Stoudemire but makes use of new additions Raja Bell and Boris Diaw to make a run through the regular season and then into the Western Conference finals before finally falling to Dallas. No such yarn emerged. To say that there's a narrative here would stretch the meaning of the word. It's a collection of anecdotes loosely tacked on to the playoff run, with "timeouts" so that McCallum can have flashbacks to anecdotes from the regular season that he thinks are appropriate at the time. This could have worked, but it didn't. The "timeouts" didn't really add flesh to the playoff story so much as provide secondary anecdotes marginally related to the ones he'd told in the chapter before.
Now that I've lowered the expectations from "masterwork of participatory journalism" down to "collection of anecdotes about an interesting team", did the book work as the latter? Kind of. I don't think I have a lot more insight into Steve Nash or Mike D'Antoni, the two leaders of the Suns revolution. I didn't get anything new about Tim Thomas or the down-bench guys (Pat Burke, for instance).
But it's not all bad. The role of the assistant coaches is illuminated effectively, as McCallum shows how each coach takes on a particular persona and has very specific responsibilities on the team, with some of them acting as the "personal coach" of particular players who the coaching staff thought needed individualized attention. Amare Stoudemire's slow comeback from knee surgery is revealed to be at least in part due to his lack of desire to do the work necessary to come back. (Although there is one infuriating moment when Stoudemire hurts his other knee and attributes it to "overcompensating". McCallum dismisses this out of hand as a "predictable layman's theory", which is absurd. Injury cascades due to changed mechanics from compensating for the pain or inability to move an injured joint the same way are well known. Dismissing Amare's theory out of hand in this way may have been correct in this case (the doctors said the two injuries were unrelated), but to dismiss the entire idea is silly. More on silly comments later.)
The most fascinating character in the book ends up being Shawn Marion, the guy who thinks the coaches dump on him harder than anyone else, the guy about whom the coaches admit they might dump on him harder, the guy who can dominate a game or completely coast through it, the guy who wants desperately the attention and adoration given to Nash and D'Antoni. Bill Simmons took potshots at Marion for years, but having read the book, I'm not sure they were entirely warranted. Marion's more complex than "he wants his own team" and it's unfair to characterize him with simple aphorisms.
Boris Diaw, meanwhile, has become my new hero because he is apparently the consummate Frenchman: diet, clothes, attitude. The best line: someone breaks wind and Diaw responds, "Someone has died but does not yet know it." Is that not brilliant coming out of a 6'9" basketball player? It is.
Ok, now to my actual biggest complaint about the book: McCallum's horrible homerism. I understand that as you get close to a team, you start to root for them. You get to like the players and the coaches, you're watching all their games, it's only natural. But as a professional journalist, as someone who, as a Sports Illustrated writer, is supposedly at the top of his profession, I'd expect McCallum to be able to separate his personal feelings from his professional feelings a little bit better than this. The most egregious examples are when McCallum simply takes what a coach or player has (presumably) told him and repeats it as fact, not "D'Antoni says X" but simply "X". A brief catalog of infuriating instances:
1. On pg. 142, Kwame Brown is quoted saying that the Suns "are not a fundamental team. They just go out and they just run a bunch of screen-and-rolls and have such good shooters." McCallum launches a mighty defense of the Suns: "In Brown's world, 'fundamental' equates not to movement and spontaneity but to isolation plays and set offense." No, Jack, that's not what Kwame said at all. He said that Phoenix doesn't run an offense, they just run around, set a few screens, and hope one of their shooters gets an open look. Kwame, as a guy who was trying to learn the triangle, understood very well that basketball was not about isolation plays -- the triangle is very motion-oriented, with backdoor cuts and interior passing being staples of the Lakers' repertoire. There's a reason that the Lakers, as an inferior team, almost won the series with the Suns: they were able to slow the game down and the Suns had no real answer in the half-court set because they don't have an offense to fall back on. How many times did the Suns offense actually devolve to isolation, with Nash or Barbosa breaking their man down? McCallum bought into the revolution a little bit too hard.
2. On pg. 151, McCallum refers to the Lakers walking off the court without shaking hands as "poor sportsmanship." He notes that the Pistons did the same thing to the Bulls in 1991, "but at least the Pistons, who had won the previous two championships, were somebody." First, it's entirely unclear to me how that last thought is relevant. If you're "somebody" (whatever that means), you can get away with not shaking hands? But not if you're a struggling seventh or eighth seed? Second of all, poor sportsmanship! Raja Bell had clotheslined Kobe Bryant earlier in the series! Not even in the context of a play! Bell literally put the cheapest shot I've ever seen in my years as an NBA fan on Kobe, and the Lakers were supposed to shrug that off and shakes hands etc.? Fuck that.
3. "[Avery] Johnson notwithstanding, there is something irritating about the Mavericks." He goes on to cite Jason Terry and Mark Cuban. Does Jason Terry really irritate anyone who's not a Suns fan? And come on, if you can't acknowledge that Mark Cuban is irritating precisely because he wants to be irritating, because he wants to be like the small-town mayor who bets a turkey against the other small-town mayor on the high-school football game, then you need to take a step back.
4. Probably the most egregious and utterly irresponsible moment comes when he lauds Raja Bell's takedown of Bryant as a "big moment" for Bell. Not in a neutral way does he say this, but in a positive way, as one of his "three big moments" in the playoffs, the other two being a game-tying three pointer and his Willis Reed moment against the Mavs. I really couldn't believe when I read it that McCallum would applaud Bell's ugly thuggish move like this.
5. On page 289, he refers to the Dallas PA announcer as "obnoxious." I don't know what planet McCallum is on where every PA announcer in the NBA isn't obnoxious. To call out Dallas's isn't really justified.
Those aside, there was one place where he just said something dumb that I feel obligated to point out. On pg. 101-02, he writes "[H]ome teams generally get more favorable calls than visiting teams. ... [O]verall, a home team gets the majority of close ones." But does he back this point up in any way? I don't expect him to break his chapter down and start an empirical study, but come on, a footnote maybe? This kind of unattributed nonsense without any pretense of proving it's true is the worst of the journalistic world.
One thing McCallum gets right: "If the [dress] code is not inherently racist, it is certainly racial." I like that he took two paragraphs to basically just give his thoughts on the dress code, and I like that he got it right.
Finally, one other bit: Raja Bell's mom actually talked trash to Kobe after the series was over (pg. 153), proving that Raja Bell's mom has exactly the same amount of class as Raja Bell.
After that initial disappointment, though, I was ready for a good yarn: team, supposed to be on the verge of greatness, loses Amare Stoudemire but makes use of new additions Raja Bell and Boris Diaw to make a run through the regular season and then into the Western Conference finals before finally falling to Dallas. No such yarn emerged. To say that there's a narrative here would stretch the meaning of the word. It's a collection of anecdotes loosely tacked on to the playoff run, with "timeouts" so that McCallum can have flashbacks to anecdotes from the regular season that he thinks are appropriate at the time. This could have worked, but it didn't. The "timeouts" didn't really add flesh to the playoff story so much as provide secondary anecdotes marginally related to the ones he'd told in the chapter before.
Now that I've lowered the expectations from "masterwork of participatory journalism" down to "collection of anecdotes about an interesting team", did the book work as the latter? Kind of. I don't think I have a lot more insight into Steve Nash or Mike D'Antoni, the two leaders of the Suns revolution. I didn't get anything new about Tim Thomas or the down-bench guys (Pat Burke, for instance).
But it's not all bad. The role of the assistant coaches is illuminated effectively, as McCallum shows how each coach takes on a particular persona and has very specific responsibilities on the team, with some of them acting as the "personal coach" of particular players who the coaching staff thought needed individualized attention. Amare Stoudemire's slow comeback from knee surgery is revealed to be at least in part due to his lack of desire to do the work necessary to come back. (Although there is one infuriating moment when Stoudemire hurts his other knee and attributes it to "overcompensating". McCallum dismisses this out of hand as a "predictable layman's theory", which is absurd. Injury cascades due to changed mechanics from compensating for the pain or inability to move an injured joint the same way are well known. Dismissing Amare's theory out of hand in this way may have been correct in this case (the doctors said the two injuries were unrelated), but to dismiss the entire idea is silly. More on silly comments later.)
The most fascinating character in the book ends up being Shawn Marion, the guy who thinks the coaches dump on him harder than anyone else, the guy about whom the coaches admit they might dump on him harder, the guy who can dominate a game or completely coast through it, the guy who wants desperately the attention and adoration given to Nash and D'Antoni. Bill Simmons took potshots at Marion for years, but having read the book, I'm not sure they were entirely warranted. Marion's more complex than "he wants his own team" and it's unfair to characterize him with simple aphorisms.
Boris Diaw, meanwhile, has become my new hero because he is apparently the consummate Frenchman: diet, clothes, attitude. The best line: someone breaks wind and Diaw responds, "Someone has died but does not yet know it." Is that not brilliant coming out of a 6'9" basketball player? It is.
Ok, now to my actual biggest complaint about the book: McCallum's horrible homerism. I understand that as you get close to a team, you start to root for them. You get to like the players and the coaches, you're watching all their games, it's only natural. But as a professional journalist, as someone who, as a Sports Illustrated writer, is supposedly at the top of his profession, I'd expect McCallum to be able to separate his personal feelings from his professional feelings a little bit better than this. The most egregious examples are when McCallum simply takes what a coach or player has (presumably) told him and repeats it as fact, not "D'Antoni says X" but simply "X". A brief catalog of infuriating instances:
1. On pg. 142, Kwame Brown is quoted saying that the Suns "are not a fundamental team. They just go out and they just run a bunch of screen-and-rolls and have such good shooters." McCallum launches a mighty defense of the Suns: "In Brown's world, 'fundamental' equates not to movement and spontaneity but to isolation plays and set offense." No, Jack, that's not what Kwame said at all. He said that Phoenix doesn't run an offense, they just run around, set a few screens, and hope one of their shooters gets an open look. Kwame, as a guy who was trying to learn the triangle, understood very well that basketball was not about isolation plays -- the triangle is very motion-oriented, with backdoor cuts and interior passing being staples of the Lakers' repertoire. There's a reason that the Lakers, as an inferior team, almost won the series with the Suns: they were able to slow the game down and the Suns had no real answer in the half-court set because they don't have an offense to fall back on. How many times did the Suns offense actually devolve to isolation, with Nash or Barbosa breaking their man down? McCallum bought into the revolution a little bit too hard.
2. On pg. 151, McCallum refers to the Lakers walking off the court without shaking hands as "poor sportsmanship." He notes that the Pistons did the same thing to the Bulls in 1991, "but at least the Pistons, who had won the previous two championships, were somebody." First, it's entirely unclear to me how that last thought is relevant. If you're "somebody" (whatever that means), you can get away with not shaking hands? But not if you're a struggling seventh or eighth seed? Second of all, poor sportsmanship! Raja Bell had clotheslined Kobe Bryant earlier in the series! Not even in the context of a play! Bell literally put the cheapest shot I've ever seen in my years as an NBA fan on Kobe, and the Lakers were supposed to shrug that off and shakes hands etc.? Fuck that.
3. "[Avery] Johnson notwithstanding, there is something irritating about the Mavericks." He goes on to cite Jason Terry and Mark Cuban. Does Jason Terry really irritate anyone who's not a Suns fan? And come on, if you can't acknowledge that Mark Cuban is irritating precisely because he wants to be irritating, because he wants to be like the small-town mayor who bets a turkey against the other small-town mayor on the high-school football game, then you need to take a step back.
4. Probably the most egregious and utterly irresponsible moment comes when he lauds Raja Bell's takedown of Bryant as a "big moment" for Bell. Not in a neutral way does he say this, but in a positive way, as one of his "three big moments" in the playoffs, the other two being a game-tying three pointer and his Willis Reed moment against the Mavs. I really couldn't believe when I read it that McCallum would applaud Bell's ugly thuggish move like this.
5. On page 289, he refers to the Dallas PA announcer as "obnoxious." I don't know what planet McCallum is on where every PA announcer in the NBA isn't obnoxious. To call out Dallas's isn't really justified.
Those aside, there was one place where he just said something dumb that I feel obligated to point out. On pg. 101-02, he writes "[H]ome teams generally get more favorable calls than visiting teams. ... [O]verall, a home team gets the majority of close ones." But does he back this point up in any way? I don't expect him to break his chapter down and start an empirical study, but come on, a footnote maybe? This kind of unattributed nonsense without any pretense of proving it's true is the worst of the journalistic world.
One thing McCallum gets right: "If the [dress] code is not inherently racist, it is certainly racial." I like that he took two paragraphs to basically just give his thoughts on the dress code, and I like that he got it right.
Finally, one other bit: Raja Bell's mom actually talked trash to Kobe after the series was over (pg. 153), proving that Raja Bell's mom has exactly the same amount of class as Raja Bell.
May 24, 2022
3.75
A very charming look at a team that has since proved a sort of bellwether of the modern league. Not a deep cut on D’Antoni or Nash by any means but instead a heartfelt mental portrait of this group…12 years later with Nash in Brooklyn and the way the Suns season ended it’s a hell of a retrospective.
A very charming look at a team that has since proved a sort of bellwether of the modern league. Not a deep cut on D’Antoni or Nash by any means but instead a heartfelt mental portrait of this group…12 years later with Nash in Brooklyn and the way the Suns season ended it’s a hell of a retrospective.
April 24, 2025
Oh my poor Phoenix Suns. Whenever we go deep and it looks like we might win the whole thing, the doors always fall off.
But this was such a great time and this was such a fun team to watch and I’m glad there’s a book that documented the entire 05-06 season. And at least we eliminated the Lakers in the first round and sent Kobe packing. I loved that part.
But this was such a great time and this was such a fun team to watch and I’m glad there’s a book that documented the entire 05-06 season. And at least we eliminated the Lakers in the first round and sent Kobe packing. I loved that part.
July 10, 2016
My favorite type of hoops book involves a writer writing about a team for a year. If the writer is on the inside, it is even better.
McCallum's rep as a NBA writer was established a long time ago in Sport's Illustrated. This book started out as an article for S.I, then turned into a book. McCallum was allowed into coaches meetings and allowed to travel with the team.
The cast of characters is intriguing. There is 2-time MVP Steve Nash, 6th man of year Boris Diaw, insecure superstar Snawn Marion, defensive ace Raja Bell, and injured superstar Amare' Stoudermire, among others. The coaches are the stars: head coach Mike D'antoni (architect of the fast-paced Phoenix offense that stresses putting up the shot within 7 seconds), his brother Dan, defensive coach Marc Iavaroni, well traveled Alvin Gentry, and the ever-optimistic Phil Weber. There planning, strategy sessions, personalities, and interactions shine through.
Every game and almost every day of the playoffs are covered. A few regular season games are mentioned. The weaknesses of the book are that so little of the regular season is covered (numerous stories and insights were lost) and the players' histories could have been covered in more detail. The first may have been because the author did not travel with the team all season - perhaps because he was writing other articles for S.I. The last was because the book was more focused on the coaches. This is unfortunate, since the NBA is a player's league. That is why Stauth's book "The Franchise" is still my standard.
However, the view from the coaches is unique and very well detailed.
McCallum's rep as a NBA writer was established a long time ago in Sport's Illustrated. This book started out as an article for S.I, then turned into a book. McCallum was allowed into coaches meetings and allowed to travel with the team.
The cast of characters is intriguing. There is 2-time MVP Steve Nash, 6th man of year Boris Diaw, insecure superstar Snawn Marion, defensive ace Raja Bell, and injured superstar Amare' Stoudermire, among others. The coaches are the stars: head coach Mike D'antoni (architect of the fast-paced Phoenix offense that stresses putting up the shot within 7 seconds), his brother Dan, defensive coach Marc Iavaroni, well traveled Alvin Gentry, and the ever-optimistic Phil Weber. There planning, strategy sessions, personalities, and interactions shine through.
Every game and almost every day of the playoffs are covered. A few regular season games are mentioned. The weaknesses of the book are that so little of the regular season is covered (numerous stories and insights were lost) and the players' histories could have been covered in more detail. The first may have been because the author did not travel with the team all season - perhaps because he was writing other articles for S.I. The last was because the book was more focused on the coaches. This is unfortunate, since the NBA is a player's league. That is why Stauth's book "The Franchise" is still my standard.
However, the view from the coaches is unique and very well detailed.
June 13, 2023
Jack McCallum being embedded with the flashy Phoenix Suns of Steve Nash vintage provided a whirlwind experience. “Seven Seconds or Less” was an interesting look behind the scenes of one of the most unique basketball teams the NBA has ever seen. The Suns not only had interesting characters on the court during this time, but also had a deep and experienced coaching staff who provided as much insight into the inner workings of the NBA, in this book, than any of the players. From Nash’s golden boy status, to Amare Stoudemire’s aloofness to Shawn Marion’s insecurity, McCallum provides a terrific ride through their playoff run.
May 5, 2015
A well done season with a team book. The Phoenix Suns of nearly a decade ago were entertaining but seemed snake bit when it came to the playoffs. It was nice to remember how good Steve Nash was though his body was a bit creaky even back then.
October 5, 2009
Charles Barkley is a punk.
Shawn Marion is a head case.
Amare' Stoudamire has huge issues.
Shawn Marion is a head case.
Amare' Stoudamire has huge issues.
March 11, 2020
For many people this is the definitive basketball book since The Breaks of the Game. It has been written and talked about so much that it was unavoidable that I would have preconceived notions about it and that it would inevitably not live up to those notions. Shock of all shocks, it is different than I thought it would be, mostly covering the playoff run with relatively little about the regular season (which makes sense).
I should love this book because it is about a team I admire and includes at least three of my favourite basketball players ever: Steve Nash (my favourite), Shawn Marion and Boris Diaw. Because of the time difference I didn't watch enough of this team at the time (also: hockey) and I rooted against them in the Conference Finals (I'm a Mavericks fan because of Nash), a series I clearly barely remember. (I forgot about the Dirk 50 point game for example.) I enjoy experiencing them again from the inside, but something is missing. At least part of that is definitely not McCallum's fault: he talks a bit about how they "revolutionized" the league but, writing in 2006, he really had no idea. Still, I can't help but feel like this isn't quite nerdy enough - as someone who consumes a lot of basketball and basketball analysis, there isn't enough about how they were doing it beyond "this team takes more threes than everyone else" and "they run a lot". Maybe that's asking too much about a book written for the average sports fan at a time just prior to the analytics revolution, but I can't help but feel that way.
My other nitpick is that this book was written before another so-called revolution, that of attempting to check your privilege and treat everyone with respect. I appreciate McCallum's seemingly unfiltered portrayal of what coaches and players say. I'm sure to this day there's a lot of this going on in all locker and coach rooms and that's fine. I don't have an issue with that even when some of these comments would be viewed as "offensive" in 2020. My issue is more with McCallum himself, who has some very funny ideas about the rest of the world and African Americans. I can't tell whether it's for the reader or whether it's real but it comes across as "Aw shucks, I'm just a humble American, what do I know about foreigners?" towards Nash and Diaw, especially early on, and "Why can't black people have some self-respect" for the black American forwards (Stoudemire particularly, but also comments about Iverson and some other African American players on other teams). Neither of these things would fly today if the book was released now; he would be heavily criticized for these takes - the latter more than the former - and I don't think that's a bad thing. You can write about an intelligent Canadian without suggesting he's a socialist. You can write about a French player without invoking cliches about French arrogance. You can write about African American players without implying and sometimes even explicitly saying they dress like children.
All that being said, I still mostly enjoyed the book. McCallum does an excellent job with the daily banter and he does a good job with the tension. I know what happens and the test for me of a good narrative non-fiction book about something I know about it often "Do I still want to turn the page?" and McCallum absolutely made me want to do that. It's accessible and entertaining, which is probably much more of a blessing for most people than it being more wonkish (which I would have preferred).
This team was important even though they didn't win, so I'm glad there's a document of it and I'm glad I read it.
I should love this book because it is about a team I admire and includes at least three of my favourite basketball players ever: Steve Nash (my favourite), Shawn Marion and Boris Diaw. Because of the time difference I didn't watch enough of this team at the time (also: hockey) and I rooted against them in the Conference Finals (I'm a Mavericks fan because of Nash), a series I clearly barely remember. (I forgot about the Dirk 50 point game for example.) I enjoy experiencing them again from the inside, but something is missing. At least part of that is definitely not McCallum's fault: he talks a bit about how they "revolutionized" the league but, writing in 2006, he really had no idea. Still, I can't help but feel like this isn't quite nerdy enough - as someone who consumes a lot of basketball and basketball analysis, there isn't enough about how they were doing it beyond "this team takes more threes than everyone else" and "they run a lot". Maybe that's asking too much about a book written for the average sports fan at a time just prior to the analytics revolution, but I can't help but feel that way.
My other nitpick is that this book was written before another so-called revolution, that of attempting to check your privilege and treat everyone with respect. I appreciate McCallum's seemingly unfiltered portrayal of what coaches and players say. I'm sure to this day there's a lot of this going on in all locker and coach rooms and that's fine. I don't have an issue with that even when some of these comments would be viewed as "offensive" in 2020. My issue is more with McCallum himself, who has some very funny ideas about the rest of the world and African Americans. I can't tell whether it's for the reader or whether it's real but it comes across as "Aw shucks, I'm just a humble American, what do I know about foreigners?" towards Nash and Diaw, especially early on, and "Why can't black people have some self-respect" for the black American forwards (Stoudemire particularly, but also comments about Iverson and some other African American players on other teams). Neither of these things would fly today if the book was released now; he would be heavily criticized for these takes - the latter more than the former - and I don't think that's a bad thing. You can write about an intelligent Canadian without suggesting he's a socialist. You can write about a French player without invoking cliches about French arrogance. You can write about African American players without implying and sometimes even explicitly saying they dress like children.
All that being said, I still mostly enjoyed the book. McCallum does an excellent job with the daily banter and he does a good job with the tension. I know what happens and the test for me of a good narrative non-fiction book about something I know about it often "Do I still want to turn the page?" and McCallum absolutely made me want to do that. It's accessible and entertaining, which is probably much more of a blessing for most people than it being more wonkish (which I would have preferred).
This team was important even though they didn't win, so I'm glad there's a document of it and I'm glad I read it.
December 3, 2018
Jack McCallum continues to be one of my favourite sports writers. Regardless of the subject, including this ultimately disappointing year for the Phoenix Suns, you understand that the characters make the NBA so entertaining. The author always knows how to portray the characters involved with tremendous detail especially telling the stories of their careers. This book is less entertaining than Dream Team but the author's work is an incisive look into everyone from the superstars to the end of the bench players. More crucially for those who are not involved in the NBA, we learn about the immense workload of a coaching staff. Early on it is noted that the perception that basketball is an undisciplined game is further from the truth it is often overcoached.
The book was at is strongest when it is in those coaching rooms preparing gameplans and telling stories. It was also a joy to learn more about Shawn Marion's complex relationship with fame and status, Dan D'Antoni and the blur, and everything involving the world's most interesting man, Boris Diaw.
I only disliked the author's takes on Amar'e Stoudmaire since they seemed more of the traditional critiques of many basketball players gifted but stupid. This could be true, but it was treated without some of the richness that McCallum treats everyone else, well except maybe Kobe Bryant.
I appreciated the author's honesty about the now universally derided dress code that it was somewhat racist but he prefered when players like Iverson did not dress the way they did. I disagree but it was at least a frank accounting of a contentious issue at the time.
The book was at is strongest when it is in those coaching rooms preparing gameplans and telling stories. It was also a joy to learn more about Shawn Marion's complex relationship with fame and status, Dan D'Antoni and the blur, and everything involving the world's most interesting man, Boris Diaw.
I only disliked the author's takes on Amar'e Stoudmaire since they seemed more of the traditional critiques of many basketball players gifted but stupid. This could be true, but it was treated without some of the richness that McCallum treats everyone else, well except maybe Kobe Bryant.
I appreciated the author's honesty about the now universally derided dress code that it was somewhat racist but he prefered when players like Iverson did not dress the way they did. I disagree but it was at least a frank accounting of a contentious issue at the time.
May 18, 2019
As a fan I must give both this book and the 2005-2006 Phoenix Suns season, 5 stars.
That postseason I had gone to several home games of the Suns and most watched the rest live on TV. Apologies to my family who at the time had to witness my frustration with the team and the refs during some tough loses (and probably wins as well). I've toned it down a bit more recently, but strong emotions still arise when I watch basketball. I remember driving home from a concert with some friends on the night of Game 6 against the Lakers. The radio was on in the car and I remember the moment where Tim Thomas hits the overtime 3 pointer to keep the suns alive and push a game seven back in Phoenix. I can't recall specifically which game I went to in person, but I am pretty sure I went to game 5 or 7 of the Clippers there in Phoenix- or maybe both. We had dinner at a restaurant in downtown Phoenix before the game. The wait staff was so happy that the Suns season had extended a series again. As it was good for business. We were happy about the Suns success as well, but for a different reason.
With such a connection to that postseason it was comforting to relive the moments from each playoff series. This while peeking behind the scenes into the locker room, the closed doors meetings and strategies of the Phoenix Suns. I give a tip of the hat to Jack McCallum for spending his time on the road and back at America West Arena for an entire season and postseason.
There is no critique of the book's writing itself. If you are a Suns fan or basketball fan- go read it.
Go Suns!
That postseason I had gone to several home games of the Suns and most watched the rest live on TV. Apologies to my family who at the time had to witness my frustration with the team and the refs during some tough loses (and probably wins as well). I've toned it down a bit more recently, but strong emotions still arise when I watch basketball. I remember driving home from a concert with some friends on the night of Game 6 against the Lakers. The radio was on in the car and I remember the moment where Tim Thomas hits the overtime 3 pointer to keep the suns alive and push a game seven back in Phoenix. I can't recall specifically which game I went to in person, but I am pretty sure I went to game 5 or 7 of the Clippers there in Phoenix- or maybe both. We had dinner at a restaurant in downtown Phoenix before the game. The wait staff was so happy that the Suns season had extended a series again. As it was good for business. We were happy about the Suns success as well, but for a different reason.
With such a connection to that postseason it was comforting to relive the moments from each playoff series. This while peeking behind the scenes into the locker room, the closed doors meetings and strategies of the Phoenix Suns. I give a tip of the hat to Jack McCallum for spending his time on the road and back at America West Arena for an entire season and postseason.
There is no critique of the book's writing itself. If you are a Suns fan or basketball fan- go read it.
Go Suns!
July 12, 2019
This was my first experience of participatory journalism, and I enjoyed it very much from start to beginning. McCallum writes the book in a personal and engaging way, without the tales becoming too much about him. At the beginning of the book he apologises for his of 'I' during stories, though these are not noticeable while reading.
As for the team itself, well, there are plenty of characters to talk about. Steve Nash is one of my favourite players, Eddie House provides some comic relief, and Diaw, Barbosa and Marion are interesting, though complex, players to understand. Even the coaches are good personalities to follow; in particular, the relationship between the D'Antoni brothers provides an insight to working with family in sport. Amar'e Stoudemrie doesn't get a lot of pages written about him due to his season long injury, though his stories are a welcome interjection when they appear.
The only reason it doesn't get five stars from me is the sometimes slow pace, quite unlike the Suns' style of play. I feel there were more tales from the regular season to tell - Nash and Marion's appearances at the All Star Game, Diaw's acceptance of the Most Improved Player award. Minor quibbles though in an otherwise riveting read.
After this, I would definitely read another book involving participatory journalism, and if McCallum's name is on the front it would be a bonus.
As for the team itself, well, there are plenty of characters to talk about. Steve Nash is one of my favourite players, Eddie House provides some comic relief, and Diaw, Barbosa and Marion are interesting, though complex, players to understand. Even the coaches are good personalities to follow; in particular, the relationship between the D'Antoni brothers provides an insight to working with family in sport. Amar'e Stoudemrie doesn't get a lot of pages written about him due to his season long injury, though his stories are a welcome interjection when they appear.
The only reason it doesn't get five stars from me is the sometimes slow pace, quite unlike the Suns' style of play. I feel there were more tales from the regular season to tell - Nash and Marion's appearances at the All Star Game, Diaw's acceptance of the Most Improved Player award. Minor quibbles though in an otherwise riveting read.
After this, I would definitely read another book involving participatory journalism, and if McCallum's name is on the front it would be a bonus.
January 26, 2022
Most sports books tend to read like an extended article but it's to Jack McCallum that he managed to avoid that pitfall. Seven Seconds or Less is an engaging story about one of the most influential teams in the history of the NBA. It chronicles the highs and lows of an NBA season without shying away from the lows or exaggerating the highs. The main characters are the coaches, Mike D'Antoni in particular, so a lot of the story is framed from their perspective. It's an interesting story, albeit one told very simply. The writing isn't anything to remember fondly nor does the authors occasional input matter. Seven Seconds or Less is at it's best when it captures a moment in the locker room or meeting, such as when the coaches discuss Shawn Marion and Steve Nash. When it deviates from that formula, as it must, it loses a lot of it's luster. There weren't parts that were a chore but McCallum's writing did lead to some glazed eyes moments. Overall, a worthwhile read for any serious fan of the NBA but if you're not already interested, Seven Seconds or Less wouldn't make you suddenly care more about the NBA.
March 29, 2021
Пичуи ( и пички ), провъзгласявам се за кралят на НБА книгите т.е. като човекът изчел най-много НБА биографии и книги ... & still counting !
Този шедьовър отдавна ми се въртеше в баскетболната глава и най-накрая успях да си лепна баскетболното IQ върху него ( нея -> книгата ). Автор е небезизвестния Джак Макълъм, спортен журналист за Sports Illustrated и автор на няколко книги , някои от които са за Dream Team 92 и Unfinished Business: on & off the court with Boston Celtics ( също прочетени :P ). Проекта тук е завъртян около отборът на Слънцата от Финикс през сезон 2005-2006. Сезон в който Финикс имат шампионски амбиции, но е без една от звездите си Амаре Студемайър почти през целия сезон и силите им стигат до финал на запад срещу Далас Маверикс. По принцип обичам биографии от първо лице, но това което може да извлечете от тази книга е доста дълбок и обширен поглед вътре...в съблекалнята, под душа, в офиса на треньора и на терена. Един поглед през който може наистина да надникните какво се случва с един отбър извън терена, техните емоции, разговори, шеги, скандали и т.н. Авторът прави и много добри психологични портрети на играчи и треньори, леки резюмета за живота им и как са стигнали до този момент, както и анализ на характерите им. Една наистина поучителна, трогателна и любопитна книга относно баскетбол ... и нещо повече ;)
Този шедьовър отдавна ми се въртеше в баскетболната глава и най-накрая успях да си лепна баскетболното IQ върху него ( нея -> книгата ). Автор е небезизвестния Джак Макълъм, спортен журналист за Sports Illustrated и автор на няколко книги , някои от които са за Dream Team 92 и Unfinished Business: on & off the court with Boston Celtics ( също прочетени :P ). Проекта тук е завъртян около отборът на Слънцата от Финикс през сезон 2005-2006. Сезон в който Финикс имат шампионски амбиции, но е без една от звездите си Амаре Студемайър почти през целия сезон и силите им стигат до финал на запад срещу Далас Маверикс. По принцип обичам биографии от първо лице, но това което може да извлечете от тази книга е доста дълбок и обширен поглед вътре...в съблекалнята, под душа, в офиса на треньора и на терена. Един поглед през който може наистина да надникните какво се случва с един отбър извън терена, техните емоции, разговори, шеги, скандали и т.н. Авторът прави и много добри психологични портрети на играчи и треньори, леки резюмета за живота им и как са стигнали до този момент, както и анализ на характерите им. Една наистина поучителна, трогателна и любопитна книга относно баскетбол ... и нещо повече ;)
July 28, 2023
The most interesting part of the book is when It is game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals and the Phoenix Suns are dribbling out the clock on their way to a 127 to 107 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. 07 Seconds or Less by Jack McCallum gives the reader an inside look of the 05/06 Phoenix Suns season. In this novel, the narrator explains his point of view of the team practice and play. The readers through the narrator's eyes got to witness the Sun's player struggle to swallow a pill. The novel was very realistic and showed an inside view of the Suns. The author showed the feelings of the players and coaches with every win and loss. The dialogue in the novel was very realistic as it shows an NBA team preparing for games. In the book, McCallum goes into great detail about Coach Mike D'Antoni preparing for the game by making different plays. This book is for NBA fans and Suns fans in general.
March 30, 2018
What a missed opportunity! This Suns team basically invented modern basketball and had an embedded reporter for the entire season and what we mostly get is page upon page of Shawn Marion bitching that he doesn't get enough credit and some homeless man's version of John Fienstien's prose. This book is basically a glorified gamer, that day after column your dad used to read from the sports section at breakfast. What this could and should have been is The Blindside or Moneyball for the NBA. Here was an organization, the Phoenix Suns, exploiting the inefficiencies and wrongheaded thinking of basketball executives to remarkable results and all McCallum seems to want to do is pick fights with Charles Barkley. What a waste!
November 21, 2020
With the reunion of Steve Nash, Amar'e Stoudemire, and Mike D'Antoni on the Brooklyn Nets, I decided to pick up this book and appreciate a season frozen in time. This is one of the last books released before 24/7 NBA coverage became vogue. Jack McCallum had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cover the breakneck "Seven Seconds or Less" Phoenix Suns down to the team's inner workings and machinations. Though the team exuded joy on the court, there was turmoil in the locker room with the ownership change. The Suns eventually fell in six games to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 Western Conference Finals but they catalyzed basketball's fun-and-gun approach into what it is today.
May 26, 2024
The jokes, metaphors and references used in the book may not have aged well, but the basketball philosophy of 7 Seconds Or Less continues to this day. I read it 18 years after the season and the pace still gripped me, as if it was this year’s playoffs.
However, it all seemed so broad - just picking up the banter between coaches, players and general descriptions of the game. Would’ve appreciated it more if it dived deeper on the D’Antoni run and fun mentality, which is very influential today or inside info on how the team was assembled. Overall, it is like a ride along as aptly described by the subtitle.
However, it all seemed so broad - just picking up the banter between coaches, players and general descriptions of the game. Would’ve appreciated it more if it dived deeper on the D’Antoni run and fun mentality, which is very influential today or inside info on how the team was assembled. Overall, it is like a ride along as aptly described by the subtitle.
January 15, 2018
jack mccallum is a wonderful writer devoid of pretension but without annoying fake humility. this book is very good and i still love steve nash the same i did as i was 16 years old and got a swingman dallas mavericks steve nash jersey. i grew my hair out and patterned my game after him at the local ymca, where i'd dribble from the top of the key down the lane and then under the hoop, bypass the reverse layup then dribble back up to the foul line and shoot off the dribble swish, bang. anyways, yeah like i said. very good book.
June 3, 2025
I will say, the only thing I didn’t like about the book was just a stylistic choice by the author, where he jumped around a good bit in terms of chronology. I am more a fan of behind the scenes sports books like this when they don’t have flashbacks. But overall as an NBA fan and fan of behind the scenes NBA books like this, it is hard to say much else bad about a book like this that documents behind the scenes of a team’s season. It was overall super enjoyable and fast paced, making it a fun read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2025
Found this disappointing. I've enjoyed some other McCallum books, but this one didn't really have a core theme or interesting insights on how basketball changed. There's very little here about how D'Antoni developed this offense, or the larger context of a somewhat dead ball era in the NBA in the 2000s. So there wasn't much to chew on and the characters (sorry, Steve Nash) weren't interesting to carry the story. I'd pass.
June 21, 2019
Great behind the scenes look at a team that wasn’t a super exciting personality team. Interesting to consider what this level of access would look like today, and whether teams allowing this close of access could be a compromise in replacing the current daily deluge of media availability that feels unnecessary.
June 27, 2019
"At one point late in the season, a radio interviewer asked me, quite seriously: “You’ve been close to him all year now—is Mike D’Antoni a genius?”"
Entertaining semi-insider perspective on Mike D'Antoni and Steve Nash's revolutionary Phoenix Suns team. Can't help but feel like the author wasted most of his time/access by only writing about the playoffs...
Entertaining semi-insider perspective on Mike D'Antoni and Steve Nash's revolutionary Phoenix Suns team. Can't help but feel like the author wasted most of his time/access by only writing about the playoffs...
August 19, 2021
3 1/2 stars. Slightly more fun, but not as well written as Breaks of the Game for my personal tastes. The great thing about this book is that it has all the same structure as Breaks, but is a bit shorter, and the tangents don't veer too far away from the main subject. Very entertaining.
December 10, 2021
This was a really fun look at a team within the scope of one season and one playoff run. Jack does a good job of peeling back the layers of the fascinating personalities within the Suns and storytelling. The book was also a fun look back and a way to remember better a team that came oh, so close to winning something — but ultimately didn't.
February 7, 2017
If you grew up watching the NBA in the late 90's/early 2000's, there are plenty of memorable names, games, and coaches in this book to bring back some serious nostalgia. A great read for any basketball fan looking for a glimpse into the locker room of an NBA team.
January 7, 2020
Largely forgettable account of a special-ish season played by a special team. The author's overall outlook (jump shooting teams are soft and can't win, lots of mildly sexist quips, etc) did not age well.
March 29, 2020
McCallum had a lot of access to the locker room and staff. He has a good sense of humor and isn't afraid to to be blunt about what he sees. I felt like I really got to know the coaching staff and I enjoying "meeting" them in the book. Although it's not a coaching strategy book, there are still some nice details, especially about D'Antoni's offensive philosophy.
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