1. I read this book because I am a Chicago Bulls fan and I wanted to know more about why Phil Jackson was such a great coach and what it took for him to coach superstar players like Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Kobe Bryant.

2. The book gives an inside look into Phil Jackson's coaching methods and how he became a successful coach. He starts all the way at the bottom of coaching and eventually goes on to win eleven rings. Through his love of Zen Buddhism he learns very effective ways on how to coach his team.

3. I thought that the book was very good at detailing his life and how he became a coach. With that being said his life is not too interesting until he begins coaching the professional teams. Much of the book is wasted on unimportant parts of his story and makes the book too slow.

4. I would strictly recommend this book to only sports fans because it is so centered around Phil Jackson and if you do not follow basketball you don't know enough background information on who he is.

Have you ever wondered what Legendary coach Phil Jackson does with his players during practices and games? Read this book as Phil Jackson takes you through his life and the life of a head NBA basketball coach. He shows you the work and time you have to put in to be a successful coach in the highly competitive NBA world which is always adapting to the new players coming to the NBA. Phil Jackson tells the world how he uses meditation to calm his temper cause in the fast paced NBA because being a head basketball coach can be and is very stressful job This is a great book for those who love sports or basketball. I like this book because I thought is was interesting for me so see first person what a head coach in the NBA had to deal with. The book was super informative for me I learned a lot of new thing about the game of basketball. The way Phil Jackson takes through his life as a NBA coach it was a great book.

The Inspirational Book Sacred Hoops
Sacred Hoops is a book about Phil Jackson, the Chicago Bulls coach from 1989-1998. He got to coach the Michael Jordan, one of the greatest players of all time. The book isn’t only about basketball, it is also about faith and family.
Phil wasn’t always a happy and successful man. In 1972, he got divorced, he said it was his all time low. He rented an apartment in Brooklyn, New York, and met a man named Hakim. Hakim owned all the apartments in his lot, they soon became close friends. Hakim was a muslim, he wanted to find happiness, so he chose to be religious. He said that when every time his life fell apart, he found newfound freedom in praying. Phil tried to do the same thing when his life was the same. When Phil Jackson became head coach of the Bulls in 1989, they had won 3 championships. When Michael Jordan retired to go play baseball, the team couldn’t seem to get past the Lakers. Michael was the heart and soul of the team, and they really needed him. When he retired the first time in 1993, the whole world was in shock. Was baseball the right choice? Apparently it wasn’t, and he only played until March of 1995. He then announced that he was coming back to play basketball. When he first told Phil that he wanted to come back to the Bulls, Phil was in shock. Not only him, but the whole world was very excited to see him play again. When Jordan attended his first practice in April of 1995, the Bulls were a playoff team, but they just couldn’t seem to beat the Lakers. When the team saw how good Michael was, they were scared to ask for the ball. In the first game Michael played in since he retired, Steve Kerr, his teammate was scared to ask for the ball, he was wide open when Michael had it. He said he would Michael would probably make it anyway. Their season improved, but they couldn’t make it to the finals that year. 1996 was their comeback year, they ended up going to the finals in 1996, 1997, and 1998. They beat the SuperSonics in 1996, Jordan was named finals MVP. They beat the Jazz in 1997, Jordan was named finals MVP. In 1998, they beat the Jazz again, Jordan won finals MVP. Also to add onto the greatness of Michael, he won every honor imaginable. MVP, All-Star Game MVP, All-NBA first team, Defensive player of the year, and Slam Dunk Champion. Phil was lucky to coach such a great player, he went down to be one of the greatest coaches of all time.
I suggest reading this book because the reader will get to understand the life that the great Phil Jackson had. Not always easy, but in the end turns out incredible. The reader will also get to learn about Michael Jordan, one of the greatest to play the game. I’d give the book a 5 star review.

After watching the documentary series, The Last Dance, I felt the desire to read one of Phil Jackson's books. I have been intrigued how he has found success in coaching by getting his players to understand the spiritual aspect of the sport and life itself. This book turned out to explain what happened with the early Bulls championship teams of the 1990s, while explaining how he incorporated spiritual lessons into the development of the team.

Absolutely up there as one of my favourite books.
-Compassion and Kindness is Pivotal
-The Journey is the reward
-Chop Wood, Carry Water
-Triangle Offence Principles are everything - engage everyone
-Willing to surrender yourself to the gods and let it go
-Zazen Introduction
-Important not to over intervene
-Don't always need to exert control
-Greatness comes from helping team mates
- Lakota Warriors + Zazen - idea of a spiritual quest
-Greater than yourself

If you followed the Bulls through their run in the 90s this book will provide a wonderful inside view from coach Phil Jacksons perspective. The thing that appealed to me about this book though was the story of how coach Jackson took his spiritual approach to life and impressed it upon his team to build a "we" mindset that won all those championships. As a student of Zen, I found this very instructive.

very good book, even if you are not into basketball.

because it's about leading egos, managing chaos, and turning a bunch of million-dollar testosterone filled minds into a single, breathing organism. phil jackson did it. and not only once, not twice, but eleven times.

just imagine yourself managing one spoiled current pop star...

now imagine managing not one, but twelve of them! and let's go even further - imagine those twelve changing every few years, and you still have to make them the best in the world.

that's what phil did. and he did it with crazy methods: zen, mindfulness, native american wisdom. stuff that should've gotten him laughed out of the locker room. instead, it made titans like jordan, pippen, shaq, and kobe trust the process.

and this book ain't just for basketball nerds.

it's for anyone who has to deal with big personalities: managers, coaches, parents, or just someone trying to keep their family from killing each other over the dinner.

and the best part? you can actually use this stuff.

my key takeaways:

EGO KILLS THE TEAM: whether it's a basketball squad, a workplace, or a family, if everyone's out for themselves, everything falls apart. success happens when individuals sacrifice for the greater good.

MINDFULNESS MATTERS: phil got his players to meditate, stay present, and block out distractions. in real life, that means less overthinking, more focus on what's in front of you.

LEADERS PULL, NOT PUSH: phil didn't bark orders (well, at least most of the time). he usually nudged, taught, let players figure things out. in work or family, the best leadership is about influence, not control. pull, not push.

EMBRACE THE WEIRD: phil's methods weren't conventional, but they worked. sometimes the best solutions aren't the obvious ones. trust your gut.

SUCCESS IS TEMPORARY, GROWTH IS PERMANENT: winning a championship wasn't the end goal. evolving as a person and a team was. same for life. goals come and go, but self-improvement never stops.

Who doesn't want to win? Our society focuses on winning. Thinking of March Madness, there is so much to gain with each win, and so much to loose. This is a memoir from Phil Jackson coach of the Chicago Bulls, 1989-1996. Making a vow to create an environment based on the principles of selfishness and compassion with help from Christian, Zen and Lakota Sioux philosophy's he was able to lead the Bulls to several championships. Bu teaching players mindfulness, their ability to play "in the moment" the Bulls were able to play better and win more. This is a MUST read for all leaders.

A fun read recollecting the Bulls rise to stardom from ‘89-‘93, but also emphasizing a lot of the Buddhist and Lakota teachings the shaped Jackson’s coaching style. It was a short book that really touched briefly on both topics (The Chicago Bulls success & Buddhism, Mindfulness and Meditation). There are other books and shows that dive deeper into each topic. However, this was still a nice blend.

Voor mensen die geïnteresseerd zijn in het motiveren van teams, valt dit boek een beetje tegen. In het begin komen het zenboeddhisme en de levenslessen van de indianen geregeld ter sprake, maar op een gegeven moment neemt het basketbal de overhand. Voor wie niet zoveel met deze sport heeft, is het tweede deel niet interessant.

The middle third of this book is what gets it up to four stars for me. If you enjoyed The Last Dance documentary, you will probably enjoy this book. I really loved the sections in the middle where Jackson connected lessons related to leadership/coaching to his mindfulness & meditation practice. I found it refreshing that he acknowledged many of his own flaws. There is a bit too much play-by-play rehashing of games for me, especially at the end, but other readers might enjoy that.

I was honestly quite disappointed with this book. It started off great, and it’s right up my alley. This book has a lot of connections to my own personal life, so I was really excited to read it. Just to put into perspective how intertwined this book is with my life, I’m currently reading a book by someone who was frequently quoted in this book, and I’ve been told many of the Buddhist anecdotes in this book. That being said, it was quite uncanny reading this book because there’s definitely a reason for it coming into my life that I don’t understand. (Usually I give these books 5 stars….clearly that’s not the case) Phil Jackson is a phenomenal coach, but not a great writer. I have many opinions about some of the things he said (I found him to be very hypocritical). His style is redundant. The first 1/4 of this book was great, but when similar stories kept happening over and over again, I found this book quite unbearable to read. Anyways, tomorrow is the day that our whole team is going over the book, so maybe my opinion will change.

Update: I want to clarify that I analyzed this book from a literary, scholarly lens, which we were explicitly told not to do (I may leave AP Lit, but it will never leave me). There were many positive take aways that I had from this book, but because I’ve read many Buddhist books, the particularly interesting points were stuff I’d already heard.