Basketball for Dummies

Rating:
Summary: Learn the basics in "Basketball for Dummies¿"
Review: "A must-have book for all basketball coaches and fans." - Jeff Nix, Assistant Coach, New York Knicks

Hit the courts with "Basketball for Dummies™" and you'll discover how to:

* Uncover the basics- from guarding, blocking, and rebounding to passing, shooting, and scoring

* Recognize the role of every player on the court- from the coach to the power forward to the point guard

* Understand the rules and regulations for high school, college, pro, and international hoops

* "Talk the talk"- from zone defense and screens to the pick-and-roll and boards

* Polish your skills through conditioning - from free-throw and shooting practice to defensive drills

* Train for the game with expert tips on diet, conditioning, and mental preparation

* Get the right gear- from shirts, shorts, and shoes to balls, backboards, and nets

* Catch all the great plays- whether you're a "couch potato" fan or a die-hard hoopster in the stands

* Inspire and work with kids via community leagues, summer camps, and local organizations

* Know what's happening on the court with play diagrams and photos

* Select the right mix of players for your fantasy basketball team

* Locate great basketball resources- from books and magazines to Web sites and TV analysts

Rating:
Summary: Decent
Review: Based on the limited rule coverage and lack of text and diagrams covering the differences between the various levels, I was tempted to give no more than three stars. However, the tips on how to improve your basketball play were worth five stars, so I averaged the two. It is not quite up to the caliber of other "for Dummies" books, but it is worth a read.

Rating:
Summary: Good reading
Review: Basketball for Dummies is more than a reference, it's a catalog of rhetorical greatness. Phelps does a great job at getting his point across while keeping it interesting. Players from all levels can benefit. Hours of fun.

Rating:
Summary: Not useful; annoying style
Review: Basketball for Dummies was a disappointment. It was a gift, or I'd have returned it. As a fan, I'd like to know what the ref's signals mean (surely that could have been included). Exactly what constitutes a foul? How about some rules? Explanations of some plays? The book contains: suggested practice routines, how to mark a scorecard, numerous annecdotes. It's destroyed my faithin the Dummies series.

Rating:
Summary: Bad Name... Great Book
Review: Digger Phelps' attempt to write a book for the novice fan to player to budding coach is a success. "Basketball for Dummies" may be the title, however any hoop fan or coach will find its contents helpful and useful. Perhaps one of the best skills development sections in print. There's enough good basketball information in there that anyone can benefit from.

Don't be affraid to place this on your bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: Uninformative about any technical details
Review: I bought this book hoping to get some insight into some technical issues that cause endless arguments between my buddies when we play (most often about whether a particular play involved a foul or not). If you have the same idea, forget about this book as it has next to no in-depth explanations for this kind of situations. For example, a defensive foul is defined as "a player engaging in illegal contact with an opponent". And this is it! There are no examples, no explanatory diagrams, nothing more. How's that for completely useless for you?
Or take this very common situation where you're watching a game on TV, then something quick happens that you don't quite follow, and the referee signals something. What exactly does the signal mean? The book has ZERO information on signals.
So what does the book contain?
- Hundreds of anecdotes, some of which make a good read but very few improve your understanding of the game.
- Very, very basic and shallow introduction to the game and the rules.
- Descriptions of playing strategies - this comes right after the introduction, leaving a big logical gap in your knowledge. If you are indeed a dummy about basketball (as the title suggests) then this part is too advanced for jumping right into it.
- Lots and lots of coaching suggestions and drills. Again, this would be a good idea but I'd assume that better knowledge of game rules would be a pre-requisite of successful coaching. And since the book is very sparse on the actual rules and jumps from very basic introduction straight to strategies and coaching, it leaves the latter parts hanging in the air.
Also, it has next to no information for practicing on your own, almost all the drills assume that you do it with many people.
- Lots of trivia on basketball history and players. Again, some of it is interesting but it doesn't improve your play or understanding of the game.
So all in all, the book was a disappointment. It might be useful if you're mostly interested in trivia but it doesn't help with anything substantial.

Rating:
Summary: A fine overview for non-basketball players
Review: I just wanted to respond to one observation in another review.

There are references to "Bookstore Basketball" in the book because this event, which takes place every spring at ND, is a great campus-wide tournament, started in 1972, that used to culminate in a final game in the parking lot behind the bookstore. Rick Telander wrote a cover article about it for SI about 20 years ago. Fritz Hoefer, Vince Meconi, and Tim Bourret were the people who got the tournament off the ground in the 70's. In the early days (I grad'd in 76 so don't know the current rules) varsity b-ball players could have their own teams, though it was quickly limited to one varsity player per team. The tournament started small but soon ballooned to hundreds of teams, requiring the first rounds to be started while snow was still on the ground. All games had to be outdoors, 5 to a team, no subs, play to 21, win by 2. Games were played all over campus with a tournament rep on hand to keep score. Some of the locations were odd, like an old asphalt court in the woods behind St. Mary's lake. There are many great stories from the tournament, which featured not only varsity might-have-beens (including many who had been good high school players), but short, unskilled duffers like me, out for the fun of it. How many people can say they played a "tournament" game against Adrian Dantley, Bill Laimbeer, or John Shumate--or, for that matter, Joe Montana? At any rate, the tourney has become a tradition at Notre Dame, and has spawned many branches around the country by alums, as well as imitations at other schools. Through it all, the idea of Bookstore Basketball is that any 5 students with an athletic urge can put a team together and compete against their fellow students. That seems like an excellent expression of the purpose of organized amateur sport--one that's got the IOC and the modern Olympics beat by a mile, in this writer's opinion. Thus, references to Bookstore B-Ball seem perfectly appropriate to a basic book on the sport, especially one written by the guy who was the varsity coach at Notre Dame when the tournament first appeared.

Rating:
Summary: This book is a definite "trey"
Review: I remember watching some Notre Dame games that Digger Phelps coached. The games were always entertaining and top notch. You could tell Phelps was excellent at getting the most from his teams. This book is a continuation of that, he combines his knowledge and occasionally humor to write an excellent guide about the sport. In an early chapter, he points out that you can play the game almost anywhere and equipment costs are low. Who wouldn't enjoy it? In later chapters, he discusses rules, stats, shooting fundamentals and offense, defense and rebounding, specific plays run during games, the various levels of play (from pickup games up to the pros and international basketball), as well as chapters on coaching and getting into "playing shape." He even lists his choices for "Ten Greatest Games" and "Ten (well eleven) Greatest Players." The book even contains a glossary of terms and drills to use in practices.

Truly a complete "instructional guide" to basketball (if there ever was such a thing).

Rating:
Summary: This was a terrific book and any basketball fan should read!
Review: I think that this is one of the best books on basketball ever.It was well written and easy to understand strategies. A coach,player and parent can find this book useful. With all the drills, helpful tips and personal experiences, you have to read this book if you are a basketball fan!

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Summary: THE TRIPLE THREAT
Review: The first thing you should do when someone passes you the ball, you should look downcourt, if they are pressing try to get around the defender, if you cant pass the ball to your teammate, if your teamate is guarded, fake the ball one way and go the other way with the ball, if someone else comes up and tries todouble team you pass the ball, if your not the point guard but your the shooting guard as soon as someone passes you the ball, you should get in the TRIPLE THREAT POSITION which is shoot,pass, or dribble.When someone gets the ball at the 3 point line dont waste your dribble, look at the basket,you can either pumpfake one way and go the other way or you can shoot the ball if your open, try to getpast the defender and get to the hoop, or pass the ball to someone on your team who is open, Dont ever pumpfake then walk three steps bfore you dribble. That is the review of the triple threat position