Del Harris
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This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2010) |
Delmer "Del" William Harris (born June 18, 1937) is a basketball coach, who was last the head coach of the Texas Legends of the NBA Development League. He was an assistant coach for the NBA's New Jersey Nets, Chicago Bulls, and Dallas Mavericks. He also served as an NBA head coach for the Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks, and Los Angeles Lakers.
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United States [edit]
Harris is a graduate of Milligan College in northeast Tennessee, where his basketball career landed him in the school's Athletic Hall of Fame. Early in his career Harris was coach at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana before entering professional ranks in 1975 as an assistant coach for the Utah Stars of the American Basketball Association, under head coach Tom Nissalke. When that franchise folded, Nissalke and Harris were hired as head and assistant coach, respectively for the NBA's Houston Rockets. When Nissalke was let go by the club, Harris was asked to take over head coaching duties. Harris led the Rockets to the NBA Finals in the 1981 season, where they were defeated by the Boston Celtics four games to two.
Don Nelson brought Harris to Milwaukee as his assistant for the Milwaukee Bucks team, where he later became head coach and, later, also General Manager. Harris claims to have originated the term point forward. He says he first mentioned the term to Nelson while discussing strategies to use Paul Pressey. Harris says he came up with the term while coaching Robert Reid while at Houston. Harris credits Nissalke with creating the point forward strategy with Rick Barry's role in Houston.[1] However, former Bucks player Marques Johnson claims to have coined the term during a conversation with Nelson in the 1984 playoffs.[1]
After his stint with the Bucks, Harris became head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, winning NBA Coach of the Year honors in '94-'95. The Lakers fired Harris after leading them to a 6–6 start at the beginning of the lockout-shortened 1998–1999 season.
Harris was assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks from 2000 to 2007.[2]
Harris is a 1955 graduate of Plainfield High School (Indiana) in Plainfield, Indiana, a school with rich basketball tradition. He was one of the first inductees into Plainfield High School's Hall of Fame.
He has four sons (Larry, Alex, Stan and Dominic) and one daughter (Carey). All of his children played basketball at the collegiate level (Eastern New Mexico, Eastern New Mexico, University of North Texas, Dallas Baptist University, and Marquette University respectively). He is the father of former Bucks general manager Larry Harris and comedian Dominic Harris.
On July 3, 2008, the Chicago Tribune reported that Harris agreed to become an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls along with former Charlotte Bobcats head coach Bernie Bickerstaff and longtime NBA assistant Bob Ociepka. Along with Bickerstaff and Ociepka, Harris was expected to help establish a veteran presence on the coaching staff and help rookie head coach Vinny Del Negro.[3]
In June 2009, it was reported that Harris would step down as assistant coach to the Bulls, and retire after a career spanning 50 years.[4]
On November 30, 2009, it was announced that Harris would be the top assistant coach of the New Jersey Nets.
On October 3, 2011, it was announced that Harris would be the new head coach for the Dallas Mavericks' NBA Development League affiliate the Texas Legends.[5]
International [edit]
Harris coached seven seasons in Puerto Rico’s National Superior League (1969–75), posting a 176-61 record and winning three national championships (1973–75).
He was an assistant coach under Rudy Tomjanovich with the US national team in the 1998 FIBA World Championship, winning the bronze medal. The team was handicapped by only using college players as there was a lockout in the NBA.[6]
Harris also served as coach of the Chinese national men's team, where he coached NBA All-Star center Yao Ming and led China to a surprising upset victory over Serbia and Montenegro in the 2004 Athens Olympic basketball tournament.
Prior to becoming the Lakers' head coach Harris was also a special consultant of Canadian basketball and their then head coach Ken Shields. The team finished 5th in the 1994 World Games in Toronto.
In the fall of 2011, Harris assisted coach John Calipari with the Dominican Republic national team. They won bronze in 2011 FIBA Americas Championship in Mar del Plata, Argentina (the first major basketball medal in the Dominic Republic's history).
Coaching record [edit]
| Legend | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | W–L % | Win-loss % | |
| Post season | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PW–L % | Playoff win-loss % | |
| Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOU | 1979–80 | 82 | 41 | 41 | .500 | 2nd in Central | 7 | 2 | 5 | .286 | Lost in Conf. Semifinals |
| HOU | 1980–81 | 82 | 40 | 42 | .561 | 2nd in Midwest | 21 | 12 | 9 | .571 | Lost in NBA Finals |
| HOU | 1981–82 | 82 | 46 | 36 | .561 | 2nd in Midwest | 3 | 1 | 2 | .333 | Lost in First Round |
| HOU | 1982–83 | 82 | 14 | 68 | .171 | 6th in Midwest | — | — | — | — | Missed Playoffs |
| MIL | 1987–88 | 82 | 42 | 40 | .512 | 4th in Central | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | Lost in First Round |
| MIL | 1988–89 | 82 | 49 | 33 | .598 | 4th in Central | 9 | 3 | 6 | .333 | Lost in Conf. Semifinals |
| MIL | 1989–90 | 82 | 44 | 38 | .537 | 3rd in Central | 4 | 1 | 3 | .250 | Lost in First Round |
| MIL | 1990–91 | 82 | 48 | 34 | .585 | 3rd in Central | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | Lost in First Round |
| MIL | 1991–92 | 17 | 8 | 9 | .471 | (resigned) | — | — | — | — | — |
| LAL | 1994–95 | 82 | 48 | 34 | .585 | 3rd in Pacific | 10 | 5 | 5 | .500 | Lost in Conf. Semifinals |
| LAL | 1995–96 | 82 | 53 | 29 | .646 | 2nd in Pacific | 4 | 1 | 3 | .250 | Lost in First Round |
| LAL | 1996–97 | 82 | 56 | 26 | .683 | 2nd in Pacific | 9 | 4 | 5 | .444 | Lost in Conf. Semifinals |
| LAL | 1997–98 | 82 | 61 | 21 | .744 | 1st in Pacific | 13 | 7 | 6 | .538 | Lost in Conf. Finals |
| LAL | 1998–99 | 12 | 6 | 6 | .500 | (fired) | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | 1013 | 556 | 457 | .549 | 88 | 38 | 50 | .432 |
Awards [edit]
Harris was inducted into the Plainfield High School (Indiana) Hall of Fame, the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame,[7] and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame.[2]
References [edit]
- ^ a b Aschburner, Steve (December 21, 2010). "LeBron a point forward? Well, he wouldn't be the first". NBA.com. Archived from the original on June 1, 2012.
- ^ a b Del Harris, NBA
- ^ K.C. Johnson (2008-07-03). "Bulls focus on own". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Eddie Sefko (2011-10-03). "Former Mavericks assistant Del Harris to coach Texas Legends". The Dallas Morning News.
- ^ 1998 USA Basketball
- ^ http://hoopshall.com/hall/h/delmar-harris/
External links [edit]
- Biography at hoopshall.com
- Del Harris bio on NBA.com
- RememberTheABA.com page on Utah Stars, including Harris' season as their assistant coach
- Profile of Harris
- Del Harris basketball-reference page
| Preceded by Tom Nissalke |
Houston Rockets head coach 1979–1983 |
Succeeded by Bill Fitch |
| Preceded by Don Nelson |
Milwaukee Bucks head coach 1987–1991 |
Succeeded by Frank Hamblen (interim) |
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- 1937 births
- Living people
- BSN coaches
- Dallas Mavericks assistant coaches
- Houston Rockets head coaches
- Los Angeles Lakers head coaches
- Milwaukee Bucks executives
- Milwaukee Bucks assistant coaches
- Milwaukee Bucks head coaches
- National Basketball Association head coaches
- Utah Stars coaches
- People from Hendricks County, Indiana
- Earlham College faculty
- Chicago Bulls assistant coaches
- Texas Legends coaches
