BASKETBALL THOUGHTS FROM DEL HARRIS

This is what I tell young coaches I deal with in regards to swearing:

• If you over use the "F" bomb and "S' bomb, what have you got when you're really pissed off
• A well placed hell or damn is not going to keep you from going to heaven, but use it sparingly so they know when you're actually upset.
• Throwing things doesn't work so well anymore.

Don't get into coaching for the money:

• We didn't get in coaching for the money.
• I got in with the goal of becoming a small college coach.
• My first job: I make $2750 for nine months.
• I worked fifteen years before I made $10,000 a year.
• My first job in the ABA was for $15,000.
• Back in those days we had summer jobs.
• Ultimately, I was able to make money in the job. But advised everyone not to get into coaching, if they could do anything else.

Work Ethic:

• Depends on your definition of work ethic as a coach.
• If it's about the time you spend in the office, then I disagree.
• Efficient work is what you need to strive for.
• You need to have time to grow as a person.

Read Books:

• George Raveling taught us the value of reading books. He'd always come to our clinics with great book recommendations.
• If you don't take time to read, you won't develop as a person.
• If you don't like reading, listen to a tape in the car.
• "The Talent Code" is a book I'd recommend.

Film is overrated:

• Back when I was with the Rockets we could only tape 10 games a season.
• Second year in the league we played in the finals against the Lakers. We eliminated the Lakers from the playoffs without film.
• Don't use it as a hammer; use it as a positive tool.
• Don't wear your guys out with film. Pace yourselves, don't be glued to the camera.

Respect the job:

• This is a great job.
• This job is about relationships.
• You have to take care of the little people; the secretaries, custodians, parking attendants.
• I still have guys that are sixty years old who played for me back in college, still rely on me for advice.
• The most important thing is the relationships that we develop.

Be thankful:

• There are only two kinds of jobs in the NBA and NCAA: 1. Good jobs 2. No jobs.

Don't fight the media:

• You can't win that battle!

Keep your old friends:

• I'm lucky to have thirty year friends, forty year friends, and fifty year friends.
• Go back to where you came from. Visit your old high school hometown.

On offene forget about breadth, focus on depth:

• Have a few sets with lots of options
• When you get to the playoffs everyone knows your stuff, everyone know your option 1 or 2.
• If you can have more depth to the sets, have different options to counter, then you can be successful.

Find your "A" game:

• You need to pick out your "A" game.
• Your "B" game needs to be pretty good too.
• You can't just do the same thing all the time without adjusting.
• Commentators talk about pick and roll as if it's one play.
• What kind of pick and roll is it? There isn't just one pick and roll.

Teaching:

• The best thing I learned on teaching was from Don Nelson. He didn't have an academic background on these things, but he had a knack for teaching. He's going to end up as the winningest coach in the NBA
• If he made a mistake in practice he would stop.
• In watching film he never needed to rewind, he always knew where the 10 guys were. He would go to the mistake and run the play from there. That's how he taught, and he was very successful at that.