For decades, Scott Howard-Cooper has reported on the NBA, conducting thoughtful interviews and producing stellar stories for the Los Angeles Times, the Sacramento Bee, ESPN.com, and NBA.com, among other media outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Howard-Cooper\u2019s NBA reporting work began in 1988. He witnessed the entire Chicago Bulls dynasty and every one of Phil Jackson\u2019s 11 title-winning trips to the Finals while chasing deadlines on the basketball beat. This, of course, helped him form relationships with key NBA personnel \u30fc players, coaches, front-office executives, broadcasters, et al \u30fc all of whom provided invaluable insights for him as he worked on his recently published book \u201cSteve Kerr: A Life<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This reporter recently wrote a review<\/a> of Howard-Cooper\u2019s book. He also had the opportunity for a wide-ranging exclusive interview with the veteran author about the experience of writing the book, which he described in various examples as a labor of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some sections of the Q&A with Scott Howard-Cooper have been amended for brevity and\/or clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For you, what was the most rewarding aspect of writing the book? And what was the most challenging or difficult aspect of limiting the depth and breadth of Kerr\u2019s life, which includes eight NBA championship rings as a player and head coach, to less than 300 pages and 15 chapters?<\/strong> There certainly is some material that people may be familiar with, but I like the chance to sort of put it in context: The biggest shot of his life, the biggest moment on the court in his life was the 1997 Finals, hitting the shot that gave the Bulls the title. But I found a way to sort of talk about how that is more surreal than anybody would\u2019ve imagined, and there\u2019s a lot of different aspects like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA Conversation with Scott Howard-Cooper<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Scott Howard-Cooper:<\/strong> Well, the most rewarding was to take a guy who has been in the national spotlight, maybe even an international spotlight in some cases, since the 1980s, has been very prominent in the American sports scene<\/a> and still come up with new stories. Putting certain events in his life in a new context, I was really proud of that. It\u2019s not just sort of rehashing the stories that have already been told. There certainly is a lot of that because you\u2019re telling the guy\u2019s story. He got in a fight with Michael Jordan. That\u2019s not new, but it has to be in there. He almost took the (New York) Knicks (coaching) job. \u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n