Winning Defense

Rating:
Summary: It didn't help the Lakers
Review: I can't believe that Del Harris wrote a book about so-called "Winning Defense" but yet he couldn't apply those principles to coach the Lakers to the championship. I remember when Harris was the Lakers coach, LA had among the top offenses in the league, but were towards the bottom in defense. And I think it's outrageous that Harris has Nick Van Exel on the cover of that book, someone who is one of the worst defenders in the NBA. It was Phil Jackson's defensive system that brought the Lakers back to the championship, not Harris's. If you're still not convinced, here's the score: NBA Titles won as Head Coach: Phil Jackson-7, Del Harris-0. I rest my case.

Rating:
Summary: For advanced coaches only.
Review: I found this book much to complicated. I would recommend this for advanced coaches only. I've coached basketball for 12 years and I'm still trying to sort out the information in this book after weeks of reading.

Rating:
Summary: Complicated, but also very good
Review: It is a book for advanced levels, but every coach can take something out of it. What was the person who slammed Del Harris and wrote about Phil Jackson talking about? Del Harris doesn't know defense because he didn't have Kobe Bryant? Just because the guy couldn't understand the book doesn't mean that it isn't good. I agree that implementing some of the things here would be tough, doing all would be impossible, but reading it and understanding it will give any coach or player a better understanding and more ideas about defense for their own team.

Rating:
Summary: Complicated, but also very good
Review: It is a book for advanced levels, but every coach can take something out of it. What was the person who slammed Del Harris and wrote about Phil Jackson talking about? Del Harris doesn't know defense because he didn't have Kobe Bryant? Just because the guy couldn't understand the book doesn't mean that it isn't good. I agree that implementing some of the things here would be tough, doing all would be impossible, but reading it and understanding it will give any coach or player a better understanding and more ideas about defense for their own team.

Rating:
Summary: It didn't help the Lakers
Review: Outstanding advanced book for experienced teams, although some principles can be applied to less experienced teams.

Much of the book deals with higher skilled strategies and philosophies, but gives a great foundation to playing solid defense.

In this day of offense being the number one priority of most teams with many variations, it is nice to find a book that details sound defense philosophies in a straight forward manner.