playing basketball

lol

btw the air max turnaround los look fucking beautiful. Although I probably can't justify spending $70 on a secondary pair of athletic shoes right now.

http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1230423234/rondooo.jpg

too much time on twitter: last night i made a pass almost just like this (i'm not good enough to be pulling these off in my sleep or anything but it was an ill pass) and one of the first things i thought of was "yo that's like what my twitter picture is!"

So I've been practicing pretty consistently several times a week, in addition to regular workouts, and I'm feeling a lot of improvement in my shot and handling. I feel like I'm ready to give a pickup game a shot, even if just to get my ass kicked a little. I really don't know much about how these things work though. I have all these stupid questions, e.g., if you're playing one point per basket, is a 3-pointer still one point? What kinds of fouls do people typically call/not call, and do you have to be as careful on defense as NBA style (assuming it's not a playground-style game)? Are people going to expect me to roughly play a position?

3-pointer is still one point
fouls are called when a shooter is hacked and maybe if a dribbler is really hacked
offensive fouls and over the back fouls are not called
you will be expected to play man-to-man defense on someone roughly your size
offensively, bigger dudes with no shot will get low. that's about all for positioning

shots from behind the three point line are generally counted as 2 tho its not uncommon to just ignore the line and count everything as ones, the particular rules youre playing by are generally negotiated before hand and can include what score youre playing to, if you have to win by 2, if youre playing half court what shots you have to clear (everything, only shots that hit the rim, the rim and backboard) what the clearing line is (foul line or 2pt line) and various other minutia

fouls are called less than the nba, generally only if someone strongly affects your shot or like knocks you over if youre dribbling, guys will complain abt other things like moving picks or w/e but in more of a hey watch that way than an actual game stopping foul call - two of the things that ruin a pick up game fastest are dudes who call too many fouls and dudes who foul too much - so its a delicate balance as far as just how physical to play / what to call

lol 3pt line cultural discrepancies

id recommend 3 on 3 as the best beginner game, its more controlled than full court 5s and you have more space to do your thing, while at the same time you have two other guys team so the situation wont be as reliant on you personally as it would be in 2s

cool ty

concur w/ all that

been playing rondoball the last week or so - messed up a nerve in my arm playing water polo intramurals a week ago and bizarrely have lost some of the strength in my wrist - i can still dribble fine and shoot relatively normally within 15 ft but outside of that is pushing it and 3balls have been airball city in warmups. it's beginning to get better - i shot around just now & i'm able to shoot foul shots almost completely normally now and can hit rim consistently (lol) on 3s if i really get my legs into it. v strange. something v similar happened last year also right after water polo but was way more severe, lost grip strength in my right hand, couldn't palm a ball or play tennis for a few weeks

dude stop playing water polo wtf!

i kind think its sweet that people who arent 'into' sports are getting to play them via 'irony' but they shouldnt be displacing actual sports

― ice cr?m, Saturday, February 12, 2011 2:44 PM Bookmark

tho i admire yr sporting multifariousness xp

i'm def not playing next year lol this is too weird, plus we won the league this year so i won't want to as badly next year

lol hurting i am a straight up jock at heart - i play lots of sports & am good at lots of weird ones - check it:

http://web2.uconn.edu/recreation/intramurals/fall2010/Badminton_Singles/index.php

lol niice

lol 3pt line cultural discrepancies

once played with this kid from detroit long ago who put the ball between his knees and insisted this was like an in-game timeout. i don't even remember why he wanted to do that. no one there had ever heard of this and i have never encountered it anywhere else

"oh the international sign for in-game timeout sure"

where im from we usually just said time out

weird, i know

I averaged a double double on the streets

About 10 turnovers and 11 missed rebounds per game

on the playground this girl we didn't like used to shoehorn herself into the games during elementary school and she insisted that when you got the ball, if you shouted "SPOT", you could take an uncontested jump shot, and that she knew this was true cuz her dad played basketball.

she ruined sports

I learned to shoot from Curly Neal instructional home videos. so I actually have decent form. just can't do much else

fucked around an got atriple double

hurting you just gotta ~feel~ the game

to paraphrase cracked magazine, who the fuck keeps track of their rebounds and assists in a street game?

air max turnaround lows came in the mail today, whoop whoop

and today they fucking shredded my feet. Ordered some basketball socks -- didn't realize the lack of extra padding would be a problem.

Anyone have tips on increasing my general 'court IQ', even for 3-on-3? Finding it hard sometimes to figure out how to position myself on offense. Obviously the #1 answer would be play more 3-on-3, but 3-on-3 games at my court don't get going that often -- it's usually either random shoot around or full-court 10 man pickup games.

From the pinch post make a controlled drive down the lane. Make a shot fake or lean into your defender, then take a quick step back away from the defender. Dribble back and jump behind the ball. Pick it up in front of your shooting knee with your shooting hand on top of the ball and balance hand under the ball. Shoot a jump shot. Maintain balance by picking up the ball at your knee and exaggerating the follow-through of your shoulders, head, and shooting hand toward the basket to counter any tendency to lean back on your shot.

lol j/k i think just like general principals like go to where the other players are not, if youre not open pass the ball immediately and move to a spot where you might be open, find out where youre effective from and go to that spot, generally lots of activity and ball movment is good, like go for every rebound, youll be able to get a lot that you thought you couldnt

also pick and roll/pop - set a pick and then move right after - you will probably be open

Yeah, the two things I seem to be alright at so far are (1) boxing out and getting rebounds and (2) playing aggressive D

When I have an open lane to the basket I tend to rush or spazz out though. Probably just need more experience.

you should practice layups, take a few dribbles then jump and extend yr shooting arm fully in one motion letting the momentum of yr body softly loft the ball off the glass, once you get comfortable w/that you wont be so tempted to spaz, prob greatest utility as far as practice time goes

yeah whenever the full court's available i'll do fast break practice where i start on one end, dribble up and lay it in. go back and forth about 10 times and you'll be nice and winded. good for ball handling and layups.

yeah some main points of advice i could give:

move a lot without the ball on offense. set picks for the better players at the top of the key, and set off the ball screens for shooters. when you get the ball, RELAX. make smart passes rather than cool ones - think about making high pecentage plays. don't dribble unless you've got a plan about what you're going to do with it. if you're open and you're confident you can make the shot, take it. other than that, make short, low-risk passes

this might sound condescending but when i'm playing medium-quality pickup i'd much rather have someone on my team who's not necessarily a scorer but i can trust to play adequate defense, get rebounds, and generally not fuck up than someone who thinks they're a lot better than they are - ie takes way too many shots, dribbles for no reason and gets trapped, is over-aggressive on defense & leaves their man, etc. play within yourself, until you've been playing for longer and are confident in other parts of your game

seriously just ~playing smart~ is something everyone should work on

like these past couple weeks where i've been without probably the best part of my game - my jumpshot - i've actually been playing really well still. i've noticed i'm taking higher percentage shots, making a higher pecentage of my shots, and getting more assists.

don't dribble unless you've got a plan about what you're going to do with it.

this is so key

yeah that should be on a banner hung across gyms across america

haha feelin everybody on the 'just relax' tip

seriously just ~playing smart~ is something everyone should work on

― kl0p's son (k3vin k.), Thursday, March 24, 2011 3:44 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

playing on a team thats collectively ~playing smart~ is so joyful and flowing, and usually winning

btw the worst ppl on the court are dudes who call for the ball every single time

the most vile savages are 'player coach' types imo

i love short guys who insist on playing point but can't pass at all

would you rather they played in the low post?

i'd prefer that they freakin get fucked!

lol

feelin the player coach comment unless the dude is really good and gives genuinely good advice. ive played with dudes who have said things that legit had an effect on me, but played with many more who were annoying/wrong. i save my "coaching" for trash talk to the other team lol

communication and occasional advice are fine, its just when guys are habitually babbling on every play and feel like theyre being meaningful - and lol i feel like the most effective/obnoxious form of trash talking is when you act like youre giving sincere advice abt what the guy youre guarding is doing atm like 'thats right protect the ball keep it low use your body' it really can throw a dude off - tho its not something i really do as it just comes off kind of lame and weird

haha last night this guy was checking me up top all game and pissing me off and i was letting him know - later he was one on one on a fast break and i block his layup and i let him know he should keep the ball high on those if he wanted to score

Good stuff all, ty. Must say I enjoy playing D -- there's something satisfying about realizing that your man is starting to get annoyed at the pressure you put on.