Deadspin: ...And Other Unsung Heroes Of Showtime

One of the more interesting transformations in the book is what happens to Riley. He starts off as a shot-and-a-beer, an approachable hardass and turns into something darker, self-aggrandizing.

Riley was warped by success. He was a blue-collar kid from upstate New York who made the mistake of truly believing the job of basketball coach holds worldly importance. By his final years, he was a mean, arrogant, dismissive bully. I've always believed you judge someone by how he treats the waiter. By that measure, he was a colossal failure.P

There's an interesting split in the hedonism off the court—the whole Forum Club scene—and how hard the Lakers' stars played. You mention those Nets teams. So many other teams would have just imploded with that kind of nightlife, don't you think?P

I agree. I compare two books I've written—Boys Will Be Boys and this one. Many guys on the '90s Cowboys saw partying as the ends, and playing football as the means. They played, because it allowed them to have sex with gorgeous women and snort coke and get high and party like Mötley Crüe. That wasn't the case with the Lakers. They wanted to win—desperately. That's what it was about for Magic, for Norm, for Coop, for Worthy. And the fun—the parties, the women—was a payoff for the hard work. It wasn't WHY they worked hard, it was merely a reward. But winning was the greater reward. Honestly, it all stemmed from Magic. His drive to win surpassed his drive to have sex. It really did.P

I love the phrase "historically dumb" to describe Mark Landsberger. Do you think his teammates really thought he was dumb because he told his wife about what his teammates were doing at the Forum Club?

No, they thought Mark Landsberger was dumb because he's dumb. I mean, he really seemed to be quite extraordinarily stupid. I love how a kid asked for Landsberger to sign his name and number—and he wrote his name and phone number. I love how, after their first meeting, he asked Riley if there were any "rebounding plays." I love how he spilled a chocolate shake all over his uniform. He was lovely to speak with, and maybe he was overwhelmed by the '80s. But he wasn't getting into MIT.P