They sort of run plays. The level of the teams and players is really widely varied in their league. The team they played tonight was legit impressive.
My daughter's team has a few plays they run, but they don't seem very effective to me - I can see how it would take time for them to pay off, but as noted, the problem I see over and over again is that the basics aren't there yet, so even when the play works, no one can take advantage of it. But they're definitely beyond just running around like six year olds chasing a ball.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Sunday, 29 January 2023 06:27 (one year ago) link
Weirdly, manalivette does have a good fastbreak when she gets past her anxiety - I've seen her pull it off really well a few times, just grab the re and go coast to coast - she's both big and reasonably fast and handles pretty well so the few times she's done it she's hard to stop. In fact I haven't seen other players on her team just go straight down the middle the way she does, most of them tend to veer off to the side.
The coach is like way overcoaching them though I think. And also they, and especially she, tend to take stuff a little too literally and try a little too hard to do exactly what they're supposed to do. Like today she told me the coach told her her main job is to get rebounds, not shoot. And I was like I'm pretty sure the coach doesn't want you to not try to shoot if you have an open shot.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Sunday, 29 January 2023 06:31 (one year ago) link
i agree that 5th grade probably a little early for plays, PNRs and what have youboxing out, layups and basic spacing probably better to nail firstmy 14 yo son is on a very good team that plays against other very good teams and they have plays they run but more often it’s just improvisation and reads. he’s actually a little annoyed at his coach who wants them to do way more structured plays and it’s very tough to pull off and the coach yells at them when they fuck it up and in general they are not playing with “joy”my 11 yo is in i guess a comparable situation to yours man alive and they do have the concept of picks but they never actually execute them in games.. it’ll come eventually i guess. for now what i’m struck by is how slow offenses are at making decisions, how badly they telegraph their passes. everyone just gets stuck, like triple teamed, lobs a pass, gets it stolen, rinse and repeat. spacing still a big issue.
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 29 January 2023 18:31 (one year ago) link
lol yeah, that's a pretty perfect description of their team for the most part. Their spacing isn't bad actually bc the coach constantly reminds them about it, but they don't really know what to do with the spacing. In the game I watched yesterday, every back court player kept driving around the outside to the right when they had the ball instead of driving toward the hoop.
Manalivette also clearly has a lot of anxiety about messing up in the game and maybe a little of an attitude of "it's better if I don't get the ball" to shake off. Not really sure what, if anything, I can do about that - whatever approach I take to talking with her about it seems to fail, soft, firm, positive, constructive criticism, doesn't matter much. I want her to make the connection that she has a team to help and every time she's on the court she should be trying to help the team, whether it's spacing, rebounding, shooting, passing, whatever the team needs. I guess practice and experience mean more than anything else.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Sunday, 29 January 2023 18:47 (one year ago) link
kids just need to learn to shoot threes, then after that dunking
― lag∞n, Sunday, 29 January 2023 18:56 (one year ago) link
Watching the pickup game at my gym while working out, think I’ve seen 15 missed threes in a row. Steph really ruined pickup ball.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Sunday, 12 February 2023 19:11 (one year ago) link
I don't think I saw a single three sink. And a skilled and athletic bunch of ballers too.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Sunday, 12 February 2023 20:56 (one year ago) link
a couple years ago all those guys would have been bricking from 20 feet
― call all destroyer, Sunday, 12 February 2023 21:15 (one year ago) link
nah threes have been popular in pickup since they painted the line
― lag∞n, Sunday, 12 February 2023 21:17 (one year ago) link
also a 20fter is a three on most courts
― lag∞n, Sunday, 12 February 2023 21:18 (one year ago) link
ah true good point
― call all destroyer, Sunday, 12 February 2023 21:42 (one year ago) link
sometimes over lunch i walk past this court outside a junior high, and sometimes the kids are out playing pickup -- except all they do is heave threes that most of them can't even get to the basket
steph curry is hurting america's children
― mookieproof, Tuesday, January 15, 2019 10:24 PM (four years ago)
― mookieproof, Sunday, 12 February 2023 21:45 (one year ago) link
Everyone chucks cos 1) they are lazy and/or not in good shape 2) even if you make like one out of four it’s a good shot cos in most pickup games it’s worth twice as many points as any other shot
― four square ups... no punches thrown (Spottie), Sunday, 12 February 2023 22:00 (one year ago) link
It's funny because when I was a kid everyone just wanted to do reverse windmill layups and no one cared about long ball.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Sunday, 12 February 2023 22:06 (one year ago) link
high school line aka the top of the key line was added in the late 80s and thats around when they started painting them on every court everywhere, since then its been a three party baby, you cant see the line and not want to shoot from it
― lag∞n, Sunday, 12 February 2023 22:14 (one year ago) link
― four square ups... no punches thrown (Spottie), Sunday, February 12, 2023 5:00 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
exactly, it’s super valuable in pickup
― k3vin k., Monday, 13 February 2023 15:27 (one year ago) link
2x zero. I'm sure that on at least a few of those plays someone could have driven and made a layup
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 14 February 2023 01:23 (one year ago) link
playing by ones and twos is lame imo
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 14 February 2023 02:28 (one year ago) link
no its good it encourages hoisting
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 14 February 2023 02:44 (one year ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/KCEm704.jpg
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 20 February 2023 21:05 (one year ago) link
My kid has got into it in a big way. He's 12, and at 5'9" is not afraid to play with adults. He's made me remember how much I enjoy playing, even though I've never been that good.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Monday, 20 February 2023 21:20 (one year ago) link
I broke my wrist last night, fell back and used it to save my head from a concussion, but it paid the price. Displaced fracture, lucky it didn’t break skin. Bummed, this might be it for me.
― four square ups... no punches thrown (Spottie), Friday, 17 March 2023 18:00 (one year ago) link
fuuuuuck sorry to hear that man
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 17 March 2023 18:22 (one year ago) link
oh no sorry! you can bounce back tho, i broke my wrist, got a steel plate, all that stuff and it's been fine for 20+ years.
― call all destroyer, Friday, 17 March 2023 18:25 (one year ago) link
noooo spottie I’m sorry
― k3vin k., Friday, 17 March 2023 18:45 (one year ago) link
I recently had to go to two ankle braces from just one, father time is undefeated
― four square ups... no punches thrown (Spottie), Friday, 17 March 2023 18:49 (one year ago) link
yeah i followed the same path (and injured myself basically the same way breaking a fall)--set in the ER, give it a few days and then assess with the orthopedist. mine wasn't going to heal right. surgery is obviously not pleasant but you get a more certain outcome i think.
― call all destroyer, Friday, 17 March 2023 19:07 (one year ago) link
I’ll say this… ketamine is a helluva drug
― four square ups... no punches thrown (Spottie), Friday, 17 March 2023 19:33 (one year ago) link
hell yeah
― k3vin k., Friday, 17 March 2023 20:43 (one year ago) link
Damn spottie I’m bummed for you. I was just asking my dad how old he was when he tore his achilles which shut him down for life and he was just 5 years older than I am now. On the other hand some dude that must be in his 70s balls with us now and then so who knows
― Heez, Friday, 17 March 2023 21:07 (one year ago) link
I said I’d never play again after I tore my achilles but the hoops spirits are persuasive and I was lured back after a few years.
― four square ups... no punches thrown (Spottie), Friday, 17 March 2023 22:24 (one year ago) link
Wow, Spottie good luck on the recovery.
― awaiting the ILX acquihire (PBKR), Saturday, 18 March 2023 11:28 (one year ago) link
Ty friends
― four square ups... no punches thrown (Spottie), Sunday, 19 March 2023 02:18 (one year ago) link
damn man heres to healing up as fast and good as possible
― lag∞n, Sunday, 19 March 2023 03:43 (one year ago) link
Here’s my X-ray for a jump scare https://imgur.com/a/qz9LUOx
― four square ups... no punches thrown (Spottie), Sunday, 19 March 2023 04:59 (one year ago) link
https://imgur.com/a/qz9LUOx
― four square ups... no punches thrown (Spottie), Sunday, 19 March 2023 05:00 (one year ago) link
o shit thats gnarly
― lag∞n, Sunday, 19 March 2023 13:28 (one year ago) link
now, im not a doctor, but if i had to guess u probably got a diagnosis of "fucked up bones syndrome" right there
(get well soon spottie)
― slai gorgeous-alexander (m bison), Sunday, 19 March 2023 18:38 (one year ago) link
the er doc did mention FUBS as a diagnosis.
― four square ups... no punches thrown (Spottie), Monday, 20 March 2023 01:41 (one year ago) link
I snapped the very tip of my pinkie back 90 degrees playing hoops 22 years ago. Can't even imagine the entire wrist - getting shivers right now thinking about it.
― can i play with march madness? (PBKR), Monday, 20 March 2023 12:28 (one year ago) link
Are you rehabbing with Iggy?
― Chyiv Kyiv (Fetchboy), Monday, 20 March 2023 15:20 (one year ago) link
I wish
― four square ups... no punches thrown (Spottie), Monday, 20 March 2023 15:54 (one year ago) link
my weekly monday night game now features a dude who played 3 years in the NFL and another who was an all-american cornerback for Maryland but blew his knee out on pro day. they are both prob 10 years younger than me. it's a blast
― Heez, Tuesday, 28 March 2023 16:08 (one year ago) link
When I hear Jones say this phrase, I imagine that I'm playing basketball on a Sunday morning on the good courts at Roosevelt Park in Sacramento. It is not yet 9 a.m., but the June sun has already begun to bake the asphalt, trees, and detritus, an ominous sensation you smell more than feel. I have already played two games to 15 and am sapped to exhaustion when a new player joins the run, someone whose presence instantly heightens the game's tension. On every possession, they talk to themselves and their opponents. They hit beautiful swishes with an ugly jumper, and they staunchly refuse to call a foul even when they're thumped. They are making a really stupid ball fake work. They score the last bucket. Nobody sees them arrive; nobody sees them leave. They are wearing black Air Force 1s.
― mookieproof, Friday, 7 April 2023 03:12 (one year ago) link
i was taking my child to the playground today and we have to walk by some basketball courts to get there. there was a one-on-one game happening between a couple of teens, one very lithe and muscular but small and one who was just enormous, not in shape at all but with an offensive lineman's body. i watched the bigger kid mercilessly back down the smaller kid and make an ugly layup adjacent to the rim, and a third kid who was watching yelled at the smaller kid about the quality of his defense. the smaller kid looked at the spectator with complete disgust and anger and said "he's 6'5", what do you want me to do?"
― call all destroyer, Sunday, 16 April 2023 03:04 (one year ago) link
lol
― Spottie, Sunday, 16 April 2023 05:52 (one year ago) link
played tonight for the first time in a couple of months — have really only been playing a few times a year since the pandemic, which is sad to think about. I play a good amount of reasonably high level pickleball, which is a solid workout, and I walk a lot, but it’s nothing like full court pickup. you get reminded pretty quickly that it’s a different beast when you’re out of playing shape. and pushing 35 and playing with college kids
anyway, I’m on the faculty at BU, so I decided to check out the rec center. (I’m trying to take better advantage of these faculty perks, like free museum passes etc, before I move to LA this summer.) got into a game pretty quickly, and overall think I played fine especially considering how rusty I am. played 2 games to 15, had 4-5 buckets each game including a couple of really tough finishes, and some nice dimes. but man was I gassed about halfway through that first game, and I had some sloppy turnovers in traffic just because I didn’t have the burst my brain thought I had. or maybe I’ll never get that burst back because I’m old now, idk.
anyway, legitimately nothing like pickup culture, man, I really miss it. always say I should get back into playing regularly, but never actually follow through. maybe the better weather in LA will make it easier
― brony james (k3vin k.), Friday, 5 April 2024 01:11 (five months ago) link
the only thing i ever found that kept me in basketball shape at all was olympic lifting which makes sense cause theyre both about explosive actions, not that i was trying to stay in ball shape just i had been doing a bunch of cleans and i played after a long layoff and was like what im not totally gassed, but i was still kind of gassed
― lag∞n, Friday, 5 April 2024 01:35 (five months ago) link
just read this whole thread btw getting very wistful about my long gone youth and athleticism, getting oldis sad
― brony james (k3vin k.), Friday, 5 April 2024 02:00 (five months ago) link