Customer Reviews

Winning Defense

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I really disagree with the two negative reviews given by A Customer, particularly his stance on Coach Harris not winning a championship with the Lakers. Remember, a coach is only as good as the players he has to work with. NBA teams are fashioned by the GM's, not the coaches. If you have great offensive players who can't, or won't, play defense, you have your work cut out for you as a coach.

Having said that, the information in this book is in depth, advanced, and yes, perhaps a bit much for the average fan or basketball coach.

But for those who really want to understand the complexities of a solid NBA defensive system and the different ways to play man-to-man defense, this is a great book. It will certainly challenge your basketball IQ and make you think about defense in different ways!

Kevin Sivils - author of Game Strategy and Tactics for Basketball
Game Strategies and Tactics for Basketball: Bench Coaching for Success

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.