Customer Reviews

The Smart Take from the Strong: The Basketball Philosophy of Pete Carril

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Coach Carrill boils the game of basketball down to a very simple philosophy that being good at the fundamentals of the game make you a good player, regardless of what position you play. The ability to pass, shoot, dribble, rebound, and play defense are becoming a lost art in the "complete" player. Coach Carrill accurately points to the fact that the "specialists" of today are usually lacking in one or more of these skills. This book is a MUST read for high school and youth coaches. It should also be read by anyone who loves basketball.

In the summer of 1991, I spent a week at Pete Carill's Basketball Camp in Princeton. When Coach Carill listened to me speaking spanish with a group of friends he came by and started joking with us... in spanish. He told me about his Spanish roots and kept practicing it all week long. We made quite a friendship. As a 14 year old boy I was very impressed with his philosophy of life. He's not only one of the premier basketball brains of the era but a master philosopher. He made us think and he made us laugh in a unique way.

His effective teaching techniques are old school and modern at the same time and that's what I like most of this book. I'm 100% convinced Coach Pete is the reason for the latest success of the Sacramento Kings in the NBA. If not go on and ask Chris Webber and Predrag Stojackovic.

I hope one day I can meet with Coach again and tell him how much I appreciate everything he did for us in just a week.

This book is a great look at the "Yoda" of college hoops. Carril's biography is a good look at a blue collar coach who got the absolute most from his players. He reveals no "mysteries" of the game-he stresses hard work around a solid philosophy. It is NOT an X and O book-don't buy it for that reason. It is a great basketball philosophy book. If you love the college game and the personalities that coach in it, buy this book.

This book is a great look at the "Yoda" of college hoops. Carril's biography is a good look at a blue collar coach who got the absolute most from his players. He reveals no "mysteries" of the game-he stresses hard work around a solid philosophy. It is NOT an X and O book-don't buy it for that reason. It is a great basketball philosophy book. If you love the college game and the personalities that coach in it, buy this book.

What can you say about Pete Carril, The man is bringing the skills back into the game. Now, with the defensive rules in the NBA going back to their original state persistance with philosophy like this is the way the game will be played for years to come. This offense and its principals are great for any age group. The lost art of passing and cutting to create opportunitys for your teammates is no more. Buy the BOOK, see the VIDEOS and realise how you can aim to perfect your team at the basics, and beat teams that you otherwise shouldn't by teaching instead of coaching. For the love of the game, Edward Worrall- Ranger Coach in Australia

The role models for young coaches today are all salesmen. Coach Carril is a teacher first and foremost. Teaching is something that is being done less and less in basketball and the quality of play is reflecting this. Coach Carril can get you thinking straight again.

In The Smart Take from the Strong, legendary Princeton coach and Sacramento Kings bench adviser Pete Carril offers an assortment of aphorisms jotted and compiled over the course of his college career. Ranging from one sentence (e.g., "Overcoming Certain Obstacles: A good mind has never handicapped a player") to 6 pages ("You Never Tire of Making Shots"), Carril's end product is part Quotations of Chairman Mao, part Clausewitz, offering dozens, if not hundreds, of pithy insights that are as useful to a successful life as they are to success on the basketball court. He is Yogi Berra turned upside down (or right-side up): elegant, yet intellectual, in utter simplicity.

In early sections of the book, Carril sheds biographical light -- and, in an unassuming style, makes light of it -- on his life growing up in industrial Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The son of Spanish immigrants, Carril learned from his father how craftiness can overcome physical talent. "Every day, before he left for work, [Father] would remind my sister and me how important it is to be smart," Carril writes. "Then, as he was going out the door, he would point his finger at his head and say, 'Use El Coco'"(17). As a young player standing only 5'6, Carril took the simple message to heart -- and, around it, developed an entire doctrine of coaching that guided Princeton to 13 Ivy League titles, an NIT tournament win in 1975 (the only by an Ivy League school) and a classic upset of defending champion UCLA in the 1996 NCAA Tournament. That he did it all in one of America's elite academic institutions, without offering a single scholarship, makes his accomplishments even more remarkable.

Contemporary, NBA-focused readers of Carril's little masterpiece will also come away with a better understanding of the style of basketball that transformed the Sacramento Kings from NBA doormat into a perennial playoff team (and, in the early 2000s, arguably the "greatest show on court", in the words of Sports Illustrated). Sections entitled "Play without the Ball (and the Coach)" and "Cut with Credibility" underscore the primary objective of a good offense: to move the defense. He touches on details ("Every little thing counts. If not, why do it?") such as bounce-passes and jump balls; he discusses his love of the three-pointer and good passers; he considers at length the value of mastering fundamentals such as dribbling, pivoting and layups. Carril is a basketball fundamentalist without hestitation. But, in an interesting contrast to the Kings teams he has helped to coach (with former Princeton star pupil Geoff Petrie), Carril is also a tough-minded, defensive-oriented coach who denounces the "three car garage guys" -- players who come from the rich side of town. "I liked to find players from schools whose names begin with 'bishop' or 'monsignor' -- city Catholic schools -- because they have learned discipline and because they tend to be shrewd, tough, hardworking, loyal to their friends and families" (169). Judging by the struggles with which the Kings have had on defense and rebounding in recent seasons, one wonders whether Coach Carril is still getting enough say in team huddles.

Ultimately, the gold nugget in Carril's treasure is perhaps his simplest point. He writes, "The most important thing you can do is to DO what you are doing well. The word 'focus' does not carry the same weight with me...When you play, PLAY...When you study, STUDY. Then it's not hard to separate the two" (191). In a world of information overload, pressure to multitask, and need to exceed beyond any realistic expecation, it is a valuable lesson for any competitor in life.

I am not a fan of the Princeton Tigers but a Wisconsin Badger basketball fan, Pete Carril is a tough, tenacious basketball coach who beleived in certain principles that went beyond the game of basketball. These principles gained the trust and confidence of his players. Which explains why he was able to coach basketball for so long in an age defined by "image over substance"... shoe contracts, commercials, etc. I wish that I could have played for a coach like this.

The Smart Take From The Strong gives the reader an opportunity to sit down with Princeton's well respected basketball coach while he describes his philosophy of life, coaching, and the playing of basketball. Not your typical coaching biography where coach whoever tells you how great winning a championship was and the best place to invest your money and hang out with celebrities! Carrill's book is written for coaches that would have liked to sit down with Coach Carrill and talked basketball over a cup of coffee.

"The closer you live to the wrong side of the train tracks tells me if your gonna be a good rebounder." Reading this book I got blown away about the lessons in it. First off, there's very little your learn in terms of X's and O's, so for that matter go to a basketball camp and learn from a coach live. What you will learn is that life and basketball is about putting forth the expriences you've had into the best possible mold of yourself. I've read about Andrew Carnegy so I know about the town fo Bethlaham PA, but that doesn't give the hardship that Pete Carril grew up in. What I did get was that it doesn't where your from or your who your parents were(your parents and family are important for personal matters), it's what you do with your self that makes the difference. Carrils insight in what made his teams successful are very helpful. Athletes are pampered too much today, what is really needed is honesty and a fair shake. Pete Carril was best in saying that the true stars at Princeton were the ones in the libary. Alot has been said about Carril's teams and their offense but I like the fact that it was always about the "teams" and not individuals. The sad fact is that in the big time college basketball world, there's not enough Pete Carrils. Just look at the graduation rate of college basketball players and ask yourself who's getting the raw end of the deal. Carril's got his deciples out there, John Thompson the younger at Georgetown to name one. Read this book and forget about basketball and take it like a wise bartender or cab driving giving you his life expriences.