Sam isn’t the biggest self-promoter, so how did he come up with the idea before the Bulls’ fateful 1990-91 season? “I modeled it after David Halberstam’s ‘Breaks of the Game,’” he said. “I always liked how he did a book that followed that season and backtracked into the players’ lives to get the humanity of it superimposed on current events. When I proposed this project, I literally went to a publisher housed across the street from the Tribune. I went up by myself and told them my idea. I wrote out a proposal and they offered me $4,000 for an advance. I said I’m not in this for the money, but I need to buy a computer and pay for babysitting. I said I need $6,000 and he said couldn’t afford it.”