Pick Up Basketball

[xkrndreamer]

i play at LA fitness usually or when im at school just play at the gym here at ucr.

hmm dont really have stories of me crossing over ppl rather the opposite haha,

but i actually made a couple ppl fall with my jab step this year and then make the J haha.

my friends play intramurals at UCR

i wonder if you ever played with them

i play at the gym(la fitness) and some parks.....so people say i don't look like a baller.. watever that means and people say i wear "gay" clothes as a front. i have an alright jumper but im very streaky. yea so worst thing is when you are guarding a girl... its like a double edged sword. if you block her, you look like an richard simmons but if she scores on you, you looke like an richard simmons so yea. the best feeling in the world is crossing someone over then nailin the shot and then of course giving them a stare down. hah! im such an richard simmons....

i dislike la fitness

my membership is expiring soon

i used to be a member but switched over to 24 because more people go there and the court is bigger

plus i can work out after 12 am

yeah, i used to hate guarding girls but i just block them nonetheless

it's fun stealing the ball from them

i play at the south coast 24 hr fitness. I usually play in the mornings around this time. The compitition becomes really good at 4 in the afternoon. I have been really lazy to play ball lately. I have different variety of shots and moves, but i rarely use them because i get tired quickly (i think its the small lungs i have... ahhahah). And so i dont really like handling the ball very much. LOL well unless the people i play with cant seem to pass.

nice

i'm a 24 hour member also

seems to be a few heads in LA/OC who play... maybe we should all meet up someday and get a game going... haha

i try to play at LA fitness, but they're always so packed...

dang

come to 24 hour fitness

the one in la mirada gets packed and there are a lot of good players

I play Ball everywhere.

School, YMCA, Local parks (depending on who showed up)

I'm pretty decent so i get pick to play all the time.

Some pepz at the park call me "Chinese Iverson" funny nick cuz i'm not even Chinese at all. they assume all Azns are Chinese.

My style = Attacking Shooting Guard

I have decent jumper but i like to do crossovers and attack the basket (just like AI)

I was a big fan of "And1" back then, so i practice on crossovers all the time. I soon learn when i play High School basketball that all the And1 stuff i learnt is junk in a real game..haha

one thing i like to improve is Defense. I'm too lazy sometimes, i just want to guard your strong side and settle there.

haha

seems like you're a street baller

i wanna see your crossovers

[Guest kritical]

the only sports i'm good at are football and volleyball

and everything else, i'm okay.

but, one sport i wanna pick up is basketball.

hahaha, its suposably "joking" but

i get made fun of because i cant ball.

but i always end up tackling them playing football xD

so its all good, but

football is for the fall, but during the winter

i wanna pick up basketball.

and the state where i stand right now is "i'm okay"

i have crappy form, i'm lucky if i get it in, and i get crazy.

but, even in the summer, what can i do to advance myself?

[Guest aznboi1107]

learn how to shoot, that's the first thing you should learn. If you add a jumper to your game it'll change everything else in your game. Boost up your basketball IQ also, keep playing and learn more about defense and such.

[Guest irkou]

i was at your level.. in fact i still am since i just got into a deep slump in my bball skills....

my 1st suggestion is watch the pros... HOWEVER DONT think about copying them... it'll discourage you.... (like their shots etc) but get a feel on what they do in certain situations... (but dont go over board and thing you can split 3 defenders and take it to the hoop like Kobe... which i did and embarrassed myself MANY times)

2nd is just play a lot with ppl who try.... and are good... you learn from losing way faster than from wining

take everything slow (right now im just being a hypocrite) i take everything too fast... in my head i go i have/can get the form today.... but in real life you need a lot of time... practice your form and get comfortable. make sure your elbow isnt sticking out as where your elbow points, its where the ball should go.. follow through on your shots and give a gentle flick on the ball before leaving your hand.... shoot a few free throws for a little form warm up too...

and for me taking even 5 days from basketball can really slump you.... so try to add basketball to your schedule few times a week...

[Pogichinoy]

I play at universities in the City or at the KGV (King George V) centre at the Rocks. But I've been sidelined for the past year after getting a knee reconstruction surgery last year.

Leg will never be 100% but I'd love to get it as close as I can to that.

[Pogichinoy]

Play as much as you can, however start on the basics and focus mainly on dribbling, once you are confident dribbling on both hands then begin practising shooting.

Don't forget to work out as well, build your vertical leap strength.

[Guest mojomunkeez]

I just played for two days straight, morning till 11 at night. So sore.

Pulled off a Tayshaun Prince block on a breakaway layup, though. That was very fulfilling.

[Guest flipdragn]

well i'm in chicago so i won't bother saying the specific park i play in since you all seem to be in cali. my game is mostly defense: stealing, blocking shots, and rebounding. but the worst thing that's ever happened to me in a pickup game has been getting dunked on. that is like the most demoralizing feeling ever. i'm 5'8" and the other guy was 6'5"(obviously not much i could do there). i was just staying in the paint and one of his teammates alley oops him the ball. i mistakedly follow the ball, not seeing the big guy. and he just dunks it while i duck down and cover my head. that killed my basketball thirst for like half the game. i'm just thankful i didn't try to block it and get facialed.

[Guest KeepinItReal]

I used to play a lot when I was younger. Me and my homeboys would always ball at "our spot." The court wasn't all great but for some reason we were just emotionally attached to this court cuz of the history, the stories, and bond we had over the years. There was always these particular pick up games like asians vs. non-asians or the old school ballers vs. the new school ballers, lol. Then we get those mini-tournaments whenever we had a BBQ. Man good memories.

My skills? I'm a very streaky mid-ranger shooter but when I'm feelin it, then I'm on. I like to talk a lot of garbage on court and off court. Yea got into a lot of fights cause of my mouth but it was all good. My weakness is the three, I just can't make one even if my life depended on it.

[Guest mofo]

and for me taking even 5 days from basketball can really slump you.... so try to add basketball to your schedule few times a week...

thats the biggest thing..

i hate the feeling of going back on the court after like months of not playing lol..

[Guest mojomunkeez]

Right now I'm a pretty streaky shooter, some days it's lights out, some days I can't buy a basket. I'm a bit of a slasher, I can split two defenders fairly easily, but I need to work on finishing the play. When I'm lazy, I don't set up my release right and I'll be lucky to hit a shot, but when I'm focused and my release is right, the shot falls. Whenever I cut, I always seem to get to the spot too quickly because I'm always ahead of the pass, effectively defeating the purpose of my cut. Since I'm pretty short, I've developed a high release and a high arc to shoot over defenders. Turnaround jumpers on my weakness, I can't seem to propel the ball far enough, it always seems to come up short. Defensively, it's all about whether I'm lazy or not. If I don't feel like working, I play really lax defense, but when I feel like playing defense, I can get my fair share of blocks even at my height. I jump pretty high, and rebound well for my height. I need to work on my ballhandling, though, I keep getting stripped on the way to the hoop.

[Guest ZWD]

who here plays pickup basketball?

if so, where?

i usually play at 24 hour fitness (la mirada) and at my school.

any tales of crossovers, dunking on other asians, or african americans dunking on koreans?

Yeah I play quite a lot of pickup basketball in my freetime with my friends. We're all 6 feet to 6 feet 4 tall so on average, we're quite big and tall.

I play point guard or small forward (or point forward) usually. According to NBA height standards, I'm a point guard but I tend to play larger than my height usually because normal ballers aren't that big lol.

There's a perfect facility at my university and we ball almost every uni-day.

On Sundays, we play comp for our uni against other unis.

Basketball isn't too big of a sport over here in Australia but it's very popular among young asian males.

As a result, most of the people we play against are asian ballers and unfortunately, the variety of talent is considerably low.

Too many undersized combo guards who jack up a shot each time the ball reaches their hands or excessively try to do a fancy pass or cross-over. Not enough swingmen or forwards. In other words, not enough dunking haha

[Kenstr]

Used to with a few of my old friends. Totally out of shape atm. -.-

[Guest amaru]

I'm about 5'10 and I play like a guard most of the time but there will be those times where I play down in the low-post, kinda like a foward. Trying to work some post up moves into my game.

But anyways, I was playing a pickup game today for the first time in a while. So out of shape so fast lol. I was shooting around before and I was doing alright, but as soon as I got tired, I was hitting airball after airball during my games, so sad. I need to get my cardio up forreal ha. At least I was doing well passing the ball.

[Guest DOVAHKIIN]

Streetball is ehhh... "unrealistic" and "unfair", (almost) everyone's a ballhog because they think they can do everything themselves. Then they get pissed off when the guys who get almost no touches end up missing their shots.

No one sets plays, no one understands that some guys like me aren't perimeter shooters, no one calls fouls, no one sets a pick when I signal for one.

Back in middle school, I was power forward/center due to my height during my early growth spurts, but everyone else got their growth spurts in highschool afterwards, so now I'm shorter than most. Usually I have to adjust to point guard with my size and speed, although my handles aren't the best. I'm still used to being a rebounder so it's hard to change my game. Trying to create plays with selfish teammates screaming for the ball on every possession doesn't help either.

My mid-range jumper is excellent, can't say the same for three-pointers. I try to imitate Vince Carter's one-leg jumper often. Either it goes in like 3 times in a row, or it misses 10 times in a row. If it were organized basketball, my slashing would get me to the free throw line. Not the case in streetball unfortunately.

Despite getting thrown to play in the backcourt rather than front, I still get my unexpected blocks on bigger guys with "OOOOHHHH's" from the teammates.

Wish I was taller; been trying to practice Hakeem Olajuwon's Dream Shake moves in the post.

Unless the guy is absolutely huge, I can defend almost any position ala Shane Battier style.

I get praised by my smarter unselfish teammates for my IQ, but they tell me I should stick to coaching rather than playing

[Guest 3taticKills]

Yeah back in my HS days (only graduated bout a month ago lol), I never could play much pick up because I played for the team, and coaches don't really condone it and practice just takes up way too much time to even play street anyway. Too much fricking travelin in street...kind of pisses me off sometimes, especially when people don't even know the basics of a stroke or a jab step. I just started going playing street this month and Saturday is when there are 5's and 3 on bench.

The spin they put on the ball is just plain ugly and they put the ball waist level when jab stepping so I just pick it out and steal em like nothing. The thing is tho everyone is accepeted whether you can ball or not and that's what the great thing about street is. For an Asian I am pretty tall (5'10-5'11 ish), and I got long reach, I can't really dunk but I can get close.

Pretty much I play PG cause I got some Jets and can fly thanks to baseball. Basic elementary combo back ur man down, put a head shake left and then turnaround shoot right. And man skateboarders have HOPS, people wouldn't think they could ball, but these frickers can jump high. My friend skated throughout his whole life and he's about the same height as me and can slam it. Basketball is all about a lean sleek build if your not blessed with 6'0+ height, and of course stamina.

Im actually going back to Korea soon to live there and it'll be fun seeing how the guys over there play.

[xkrndreamer]

dang

it seems most of you got game

i just wish i can run a pick up game with all you guys

i'm a very competitive guy when it comes to sports

i rolled my ankle again!

it's healing slowly

i'm still debating if i should play or not today after class

[Guest PHO-KING]

yea i play pick up at my school mon-thurs. Just recently got my face busted open yesterday by some black guys elbow charging into me I usually like to play the small forward postition and post up because I'm taller than most of the asians at my school. I'm only 5'11 =P

[Guest ZWD]

Haha, I'm starting to develop into a shot-blocker.

Been swatting more and more shots these days.

[Guest natdc2]

Nice to know there are ballers here on Soompi hah. Me and a bunch of friends usually play ball every weekend night till 2-3 a.m in the morning down at the college park. Usually we play 5vs5 full court and whoever wants to play wait for the winner. Even though most of us are Asian, we usually destroy the cocky "black" team attitude who thinks that they all that with their height advantage. I think stamina and ball handling is very crucial when street balling. The team that usually win always have people who doesn't stand still and run around constantly without slowing down.