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Set during the NBA 2005-06 season, ace sportswriter, Jack McCallum spends time with the Phoenix Suns as an “Assistant Coach” and covers the inner-workings of an NBA team. The book stems from an article Jack wrote during the pre-season which turned out to be quite popular.

The name of the book refers to Coach Mike D’Antoni’s philosophy of scoring in the first 7 seconds of the 24 second shot clock. The 2005-06 season was significant for a few reasons:
- Amare Stoudemire was lost to injury for most of the season
- Steve Nash receives his 2nd (back-to-back) MVP after playing point-guard at a level similar to Magic, Cousy & Stockton
- Raja Bell clotheslining Kobe Bryant and getting suspended for an elimination game

The book starts off and devotes a good portion, almost half, to the first round playoff’s with the Lakers, where the Suns comes back from 3-1 down to win the series, segways to training camp and a few regular season games. After which, the book moves on to the series with the Clippers, goes back to the cameo appearance Amare makes for 3 games, and then covers the western conference finals against the Mavs. All along you get insights into the players, coaches, how teams prep for games, how they deal with losing and winning games, the chemistry and the interplay.

While insights into teams might be common today with the advent of twitter, videos and interviews done by the players in the locker room, this books covers the era before all that. Jack McCallum is a fantastic and engaging writer and Seven Seconds or Less: My Season on the Bench with the Runnin’ and Gunnin’

Phoenix Suns is a fast paced page turner which is well worth a read.

If you like this post, here are some videos from the 2009-10 season from the Suns showcasing their chemistry and why they advanced to the western conference finals.
- Nash covering JMZ in the locker room during the playoffs
- Steve Nash & Robin Lopez, balls talk
- Goran Dragic shuts down the Spurs with 26 points (23 in the 4th quarter) in 17 minutes. Check out the end of the video on how the bench, the owner (Sarver) and the GM (Kerr) feel about Goran’s play.

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