''The Jordan Rules: The Inside Story of a Turbulent Season with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls'' is a 1991 book by

Sam Smith Samuel Frederick Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer and songwriter. After rising to prominence in October 2012 by featuring on Disclosure's breakthrough single " Latch", which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart, they ...

, chronicling the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January ...

' 1990–91 championship season. The book takes its name from the " Jordan Rules" strategies used by the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

at the time to limit Michael Jordan's effectiveness.

Background

When Smith initially proposed the idea of writing a book about a Chicago Bulls' season to potential publishers, there was no interest in it. Smith states that he got "90% rejection letters" due to a notion that though Jordan was a great player, he had not won anything important and that the Bulls were irrelevant. After more failed attempts to sell the book on his own, he then hired an agent and was able to find one to publish Smith's book.

Reception

The book was released on November 13, 1991 and became a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' bestseller, selling about 200,000 copies by 1995. The book generated controversy for its sometimes unflattering depiction of Michael Jordan and its discussions of infighting within the team. Among other things, it claims that Jordan once punched

Will Perdue William Edward Perdue III (born August 29, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a member of four NBA championship teams, three with the Chicago Bulls (1991–1993) and ...

and deliberately threw hard-to-catch passes to

Bill Cartwright James William Cartwright (born July 30, 1957) is an American former professional basketball player and a former head coach of the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A 7'1" (2.16 m) center, he played 16 seasons for the N ...

to expose Cartwright's deficiencies. Bulls players largely criticized the book upon its release. Jordan said, "I'm going to laugh at it and keep moving. We as a team know what the truths are." His teammate Stacey King remarked, "I think this is going to be one of the best fictional stories since Mother Goose. It's sick."Mike Mulligan
"Players find book laugh-a-Bull,"
''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

'', November 15, 1991, p. 84. Defending himself, Smith wrote, "This book is about basketball and what happens within a team and a league that draws the attention of millions. It's an attempt to allow people to look behind those closed curtains of sport. And find what? Human beings with everyday emotions trying to do their highly visible jobs as well as they can and confront the obstacles of their relationships and their very lucrative, very public profession." In 1995, Smith wrote another book about Jordan and the Bulls, called ''Second Coming: The Strange Odyssey of Michael Jordan - From Courtside to Home Plate and Back Again''.Allen Barra
"Missing Mr. Jordan: Two Journalists Search for Chicago's Elusive Superstar,"
''Chicago Tribune'', November 19, 1995, Books, p. 5.

References

Basketball books Michael Jordan 1992 non-fiction books {{Michael Jordan