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The Speed Game: My Fast Times in Basketball
Paul Westhead was teaching high school in his native Philadelphia when he was named La Salle University’s men’s basketball coach in 1970. By 1980 he was a Los Angeles Lakers assistant, soon to be hired as head coach, winning an NBA title with Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and rookie guard Magic Johnson. After compiling a 112-50 record, he was fired in November 1981. After a short stay as coach of the Chicago Bulls, Westhead reemerged in the mideighties as a coach at Loyola Marymount in California, where he designed his highly unusual signature run-and-gun offense that came to be known as “The system.”
The Speed Game offers a vibrant account of how Westhead helped develop a style of basketball that not only won at the highest levels but went on to influence basketball as it’s played today. Known for implementing an up-tempo, quick-possession, high-octane offense, Westhead is the only coach to have won championships in both the NBA and WNBA. But his long career can be defined by one simple question he’s heard from journalists, fellow coaches, his wife, and, well, Why? Why did he insist on playing such a controversial style of basketball that could vary from brilliant to busted?
Westhead speaks candidly here about the feathers he ruffled and about his own shortcomings as he takes readers from Philadelphia’s West Catholic High, where he couldn’t make varsity, to the birth of the Showtime Lakers and to the powerhouse he built nearly ten years later at Loyola, where his team set records likely never to be approached.
Westhead says he always found himself telling prospective bosses, “My speed game is gonna knock your socks off!” So will his story and what it could do to bring back a popular style of play.
The Speed Game offers a vibrant account of how Westhead helped develop a style of basketball that not only won at the highest levels but went on to influence basketball as it’s played today. Known for implementing an up-tempo, quick-possession, high-octane offense, Westhead is the only coach to have won championships in both the NBA and WNBA. But his long career can be defined by one simple question he’s heard from journalists, fellow coaches, his wife, and, well, Why? Why did he insist on playing such a controversial style of basketball that could vary from brilliant to busted?
Westhead speaks candidly here about the feathers he ruffled and about his own shortcomings as he takes readers from Philadelphia’s West Catholic High, where he couldn’t make varsity, to the birth of the Showtime Lakers and to the powerhouse he built nearly ten years later at Loyola, where his team set records likely never to be approached.
Westhead says he always found himself telling prospective bosses, “My speed game is gonna knock your socks off!” So will his story and what it could do to bring back a popular style of play.
216 pages, Hardcover
Published November 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 30, 2020
When basketball fans, players and journalists mention the name Paul Westhead, the immediate thought is fast paced, fast break basketball. That was the type of game he would coach to his players, no matter who may have agreed or whatever the cost (namely his job) might eventually be. This is the overall theme of his memoir which reads much like his basketball style – quick and entertaining.
The bulk of this book is dedicated to his time coaching the Los Angeles Lakers. Both the beginning and the end of his time as head coach of the Lakers was unusual. He was an assistant coach under Jack McKinney when the latter suffered a near-fatal injury in a bicycle accident. Westhead was given the job on an interim basis, with that tag being lifted when the Lakers won the NBA championship the following spring in 1980. However, after a humiliating loss to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs in 1981 plus a slow start to the next season, Westhead was fired when Magic Johnson made certain remarks to the press about Westhead's system.
As he continually states throughout the book, that didn't change his coaching philosophy as he still sold his fast break system to get coaching jobs. He not only coached elsewhere in the NBA (Denver Nuggets) but also had several college coaching jobs, the most famous of these being at Loyola Marymount University in California. Here, he brought in two transfer players, Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble (both Philadelphia natives like Westhead) who ran the system to near perfection. They set many NCAA records that very likely won't be broken. Their magical run ended tragically when Gathers collapsed and later died during a NCAA Tournament game due to a heart condition.
The last notable accomplishment for Westhead and his fast break system was when he coached the Phoenix Mercury, led by Diana Taurasi, to the WNBA championship. By doing so, he is the only coach to win both an NBA and WNBA championship. Westhead doesn't devote much space in the book to this accomplishment, and compared to how much he wrote about the Lakers, the same could be said for his time at Loyola Marymount as that was only one chapter. Nonetheless, the reader will gain great insight into Westhead's coaching philosophy and why he believes the fast break system is the best basketball system despite the skepticism of many and also his occasional lack of success with it, as evidenced by his poor record with the Nuggets. If one was or is a fan of his style, then this book is one to read.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
The bulk of this book is dedicated to his time coaching the Los Angeles Lakers. Both the beginning and the end of his time as head coach of the Lakers was unusual. He was an assistant coach under Jack McKinney when the latter suffered a near-fatal injury in a bicycle accident. Westhead was given the job on an interim basis, with that tag being lifted when the Lakers won the NBA championship the following spring in 1980. However, after a humiliating loss to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs in 1981 plus a slow start to the next season, Westhead was fired when Magic Johnson made certain remarks to the press about Westhead's system.
As he continually states throughout the book, that didn't change his coaching philosophy as he still sold his fast break system to get coaching jobs. He not only coached elsewhere in the NBA (Denver Nuggets) but also had several college coaching jobs, the most famous of these being at Loyola Marymount University in California. Here, he brought in two transfer players, Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble (both Philadelphia natives like Westhead) who ran the system to near perfection. They set many NCAA records that very likely won't be broken. Their magical run ended tragically when Gathers collapsed and later died during a NCAA Tournament game due to a heart condition.
The last notable accomplishment for Westhead and his fast break system was when he coached the Phoenix Mercury, led by Diana Taurasi, to the WNBA championship. By doing so, he is the only coach to win both an NBA and WNBA championship. Westhead doesn't devote much space in the book to this accomplishment, and compared to how much he wrote about the Lakers, the same could be said for his time at Loyola Marymount as that was only one chapter. Nonetheless, the reader will gain great insight into Westhead's coaching philosophy and why he believes the fast break system is the best basketball system despite the skepticism of many and also his occasional lack of success with it, as evidenced by his poor record with the Nuggets. If one was or is a fan of his style, then this book is one to read.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
June 24, 2023
This is a quick read--a speed book, if you will--about Westhead's coaching philosophy and experience--some of it. And, that's the dilemma with this book.
On one hand, Westhead devotes a big chunk of this tome to his years at La Salle, his time with the Lakers, and, to a lesser extent, his LMU years, his time with the Phoenix Mercury, and the Denver Nuggets. However, I was disappointed that he devoted at most, a few paragraphs to his year with the Bulls, and he did not even mention his Oregon State experience. This reader was left wanting to read much more than was offered.
On one hand, Westhead devotes a big chunk of this tome to his years at La Salle, his time with the Lakers, and, to a lesser extent, his LMU years, his time with the Phoenix Mercury, and the Denver Nuggets. However, I was disappointed that he devoted at most, a few paragraphs to his year with the Bulls, and he did not even mention his Oregon State experience. This reader was left wanting to read much more than was offered.
May 10, 2025
Oh man. Westhead is insane, but sometimes insane works. His system is fascinating, and with the right buy-in, he looks like a genius. It was cool to get his side of what happened with the Lakers. There's plenty of takes that made me go "Huh?" and I wish he talked more about the championship with the Mercury. I've never read anything from a coach who bounced around so much. Lead to a cool perspective. Overall, surprisingly fun read from one of basketball's quirkiest minds.
August 3, 2021
Paul Westhead was successful at many different levels. It was a good overview of his career. I wish the book would have talked more about his time at LMU.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews