Unguarded: My Forty Years Surviving in the NBA.

Unguarded: My Forty Years Surviving in the NBA by Lenny Wilkins with Terry Pluto Simon and Schuster, November 2000, $25.00, ISBN 0-684-87374-5

Even if you're not a basketball fan, this is a great read. Wilkins deals with social issues that extend far beyond the boundaries of professional athletics. Just as professional sports are about much more than who scores the most points, this reflective, autobiographical look back at Wilkens' years in the NBA will appeal to those interested in the broader view of professional sports as socio-cultural phenomenon.

Wilkens has credibility. He has earned a place in the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach. He has been an integral part of the sport since 1960, so when he offers his opinions on the history and current state of basketball, there is little room to question the knowledge and experience behind those opinions. This is a man who has been there and done that better than just about anyone else.

Wilkens exposes himself not just as coach and athlete but as a poor kid raised in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, by an Irish mother. Wilkens' father died when the future NBA coach was only five years old. What makes Wilkens accomplishments all the more impressive is the fact that he is a race pioneer who played the sport in its earliest days. His book is plain-spoken, rarely boastful and very accessible.

Keith A. Owens is a Detroit-based freelance writer and musician whose social commentary appears in the Metro Times and the City View, two of Detroit's alternative weekly publications.