The worst pick up players.

[JerzeyReign]

Re: The worst pick up players.

ok, who's going to upload clips of themselves playing?

I've asked that before too haha. OS is full of ballaz it seems.

[DukeC]

Re: The worst pick up players.

I would but I don't have a camera or video recording device.

I also don't know if my laptop is even capable of recording footage so...

[VDusen04]

Re: The worst pick up players.

ok, who's going to upload clips of themselves playing?

I've seen a few here before, but maybe not this thread. I know I've seen some Stormb clips as well as ScoobySnax. I've posted a few things here or there as well (high school mix, random dunk clips). If you're talking about streetball footage specifically, that's going to be a little bit tougher to come by. Speaking of which...

I think I barely alluded to this incident at some point last year but, one time I showed up to my park (I think in the summer of 2011) and it was loaded with a lot of suspect talent. I mean, like any park, I'm guessing there's good days, where there's legit ball players there, and bad days where it's a lot of guys in blue jean shorts. This was a blue jean shorts day (combat boots optional).

Anyway, alongside the rough gameplay, I noticed a full sized ladder sitting atop of one of the bordering park tables. Resting atop of that ladder? You guessed it, a video camera. One of my former players was there taping all the action. I swear he's a good kid (he was probably 19 or 20 at the time) and has the best of intentions, but he's the kind of street player who loves tracking his stats during pickup games - and I mean all of his stats. As in, in between games he's likely to step in and say something like, "Man, you guys took it to us. I was only able to grab two rebounds and hand out three asissts." So I guess in a way, taping his night at the park was a natural progression of that desire, for it'd allow him to could go home and dissect the gameplay and collect everyone's stats.

And he did. Popping up on Facebook a few months later was a "mix" from the evening where he was able to pickpocket the barefoot guy then crossover and score over the top of the smoking dude in the camouflage hat, complete with generic modern rap beat, fade to black, and full run of stats (ex: Guy in Black Shorts - 2 pts (2-7), 0 ast).

To be blatantly clear, as I mentioned in my earlier story, that night is not what it's always like at that court. It was just a bad culmination of everything. The cops even stopped by at one point to see what in the world was going on with the ladder on a table. The camera popped up a few more times thereafter (sans ladder) and it kind of scared all of us away, because we didn't want to be a part of such a debacle. Soon enough though, he moved past that phase and order was restored (i.e. the players returned).

[cavsfan2]

Re: The worst pick up players.

When you guys play, do you guys pick for best talent or only adults? My court is weird, they almost refuse to pick up kids even when the kids are pretty good, and will pick a grown man who is terrible. When I say kids I mean 15-16 year olds. And it's not like they don't know the kids, they've seen then play and seen that they aren't ball hogs or anything. This used to really suck for me but I get picked up more now that I'm older.

[VDusen04]

Re: The worst pick up players.

When you guys play, do you guys pick for best talent or only adults? My court is weird, they almost refuse to pick up kids even when the kids are pretty good, and will pick a grown man who is terrible. When I say kids I mean 15-16 year olds. And it's not like they don't know the kids, they've seen then play and seen that they aren't ball hogs or anything. This used to really suck for me but I get picked up more now that I'm older.

Skill has always been skill wherever I played. If the best player was a 16 year old, he's going to be a top pick, particularly if he's someone who people all already know is skilled (as opposed to being an unknown entity).

That said, sometimes there's young players who think they're really good or the best but they're really not (definitely not referring to you though). Perhaps they're not bad offensively but have never understood the concept of defense. Or maybe they think they're good because they shoot a lot. There's honestly a lot more delusional players out there than I ever would have otherwise imagined. In fact, we had a pretty terrible player try out for us two years ago and upon receiving news from the head coach that he was being cut, the kid responded, "You're kidding, right?"

[d11king]

Re: The worst pick up players.

When you guys play, do you guys pick for best talent or only adults? My court is weird, they almost refuse to pick up kids even when the kids are pretty good, and will pick a grown man who is terrible. When I say kids I mean 15-16 year olds. And it's not like they don't know the kids, they've seen then play and seen that they aren't ball hogs or anything. This used to really suck for me but I get picked up more now that I'm older.

This reminds me of something, generally whenever I go to hoop, (lately its been at 24 Fitness) I come with a buddy, he's 6'3 with game as well and eventually I'll call next.

I'm the kind of guy who doesn't like losing, I hate losing more than I like winning, so I'm the guy who'll tell the "bums" or anyone else I don't think will help, that I already have 5. I'll even go around asking specific people that I know can also hoop if they want to run just cause I know the team I'll have is compressed of 5 good basketball players, sometimes they might even be playing in the current game haha. I'll just be like if you lose, you're getting picked up. I don't care about age, kids, how long he's been sitting there, whether we're friends or not ha, I want to be on the floor running for like 2 hours consecutively so I'm picking up hoopers haha.

I'm surprised no one has brought up the "I got 5" guy ha but yeah that's me

[ojandpizza]

This reminds me of something, generally whenever I go to hoop, (lately its been at 24 Fitness) I come with a buddy, he's 6'3 with game as well and eventually I'll call next.

I'm the kind of guy who doesn't like losing, I hate losing more than I like winning, so I'm the guy who'll tell the "bums" or anyone else I don't think will help, that I already have 5. I'll even go around asking specific people that I know can also hoop if they want to run just cause I know the team I'll have is compressed of 5 good basketball players, sometimes they might even be playing in the current game haha. I'll just be like if you lose, you're getting picked up. I don't care about age, kids, how long he's been sitting there, whether we're friends or not ha, I want to be on the floor running for like 2 hours consecutively so I'm picking up hoopers haha.

I'm surprised no one has brought up the "I got 5" guy ha but yeah that's me

You got downs bro?

"Yeah but I already got 5"

**** you! lol

Usually when I play I bring a couple guys with me and we always have a legit shot at running courts for awhile.. Some days we will walk in with a whole 5 and run for a couple hours and leave.. On days it's just a couple of us I try to be selective about who we pick up.. Someone who's really good on D, a good PG, or a good spot up shooter is usually what I'll look for..

[Kashanova]

Re: The worst pick up players.

I've uploaded some footage of me shooting or something like that before don't remember which thread though. Also I also used to say I got 5 but I've learned you never judge a book by it's cover. There's was this one time I had my 5 and there was this one kid that had asked me to play and since he looked kind of slow and unathletic I said no. So My team wins and this kid had next. I actually heard him talk and said aw man this kid must have it rough he sounded like he had some sort of disability. So anyways this kid is playing and grabs the ball no lie like 5 feet from the NCAA 3pt and shoots this astronomical rainbow shot that felt like it was in the air for 10 seconds and it goes in nothing but net to everyones amazement even the kid's own team. They literally shouted nooooooooYes!. At first I thought it was a fluke but then he went on to hit 3 more of those rainbow threes so I guess it wasn't a fluke lol.

[wwharton]

Re: The worst pick up players.

This reminds me of something, generally whenever I go to hoop, (lately its been at 24 Fitness) I come with a buddy, he's 6'3 with game as well and eventually I'll call next.

I'm the kind of guy who doesn't like losing, I hate losing more than I like winning, so I'm the guy who'll tell the "bums" or anyone else I don't think will help, that I already have 5. I'll even go around asking specific people that I know can also hoop if they want to run just cause I know the team I'll have is compressed of 5 good basketball players, sometimes they might even be playing in the current game haha. I'll just be like if you lose, you're getting picked up. I don't care about age, kids, how long he's been sitting there, whether we're friends or not ha, I want to be on the floor running for like 2 hours consecutively so I'm picking up hoopers haha.

I'm surprised no one has brought up the "I got 5" guy ha but yeah that's me

Yeah... I hate that guy.

Not much worse than playing on a team with 4 guys that can't talk and walk at the same time. Not much better than running with "average" guys that play smart and with teamwork and beat the team of "I got 5" guys.

[VDusen04]

Re: The worst pick up players.

This reminds me of something, generally whenever I go to hoop, (lately its been at 24 Fitness) I come with a buddy, he's 6'3 with game as well and eventually I'll call next.

I'm the kind of guy who doesn't like losing, I hate losing more than I like winning, so I'm the guy who'll tell the "bums" or anyone else I don't think will help, that I already have 5. I'll even go around asking specific people that I know can also hoop if they want to run just cause I know the team I'll have is compressed of 5 good basketball players, sometimes they might even be playing in the current game haha. I'll just be like if you lose, you're getting picked up. I don't care about age, kids, how long he's been sitting there, whether we're friends or not ha, I want to be on the floor running for like 2 hours consecutively so I'm picking up hoopers haha.

I'm surprised no one has brought up the "I got 5" guy ha but yeah that's me

I think I definitely lean toward being inclusive (allowing players to play in due time) but I cannot find fault in trying to assemble a good team. It usually takes an extremely bad teammate for me to get to the point of trying to usurp his right to get next. And even then, I'll try to be subtle about it.

I think our system tends to work because most involved can recognize if a matchup is grossly unfair and those same folks tend to acknowledge and welcome a relative leveling of the playing field. For instance, if one team made up entirely of experienced 20+ guys wins and is due to face a next five that, say, had two 12 year olds stepping up to the plate, the system usually welcomes logic where the 12 year olds would be divvied up between the two teams with one of the winning players coming over to the other side.

Of course, I think the inclusive system tends to work best with 15 players or so. If it's going to end up being a matter of sitting out 45 minutes if I lose, winning suddenly becomes a little more important to me. Elsewise, winning is still the goal, but it's the spirit of competition and enjoyment that I'm looking for. I just want to play and I can understand how that's a lot of people may feel, so that's why I tend to lean toward providing opportunities.

[wwharton]

Re: The worst pick up players.

I think I definitely lean toward being inclusive (allowing players to play in due time) but I cannot find fault in trying to assemble a good team. It usually takes an extremely bad teammate for me to get to the point of trying to usurp his right to get next. And even then, I'll try to be subtle about it.

I think our system tends to work because most involved can recognize if a matchup is grossly unfair and those same folks tend to acknowledge and welcome a relative leveling of the playing field. For instance, if one team made up entirely of experienced 20+ guys wins and is due to face a next five that, say, had two 12 year olds stepping up to the plate, the system usually welcomes logic where the 12 year olds would be divvied up between the two teams with one of the winning players coming over to the other side.

Of course, I think the inclusive system tends to work best with 15 players or so. If it's going to end up being a matter of sitting out 45 minutes if I lose, winning suddenly becomes a little more important to me. Elsewise, winning is still the goal, but it's the spirit of competition and enjoyment that I'm looking for. I just want to play and I can understand how that's a lot of people may feel, so that's why I tend to lean toward providing opportunities.

Yeah, my feelings on the matter are somewhat tied to transforming to more of a coach thinker than player thinker. I prefer situations like you described, but for that to work EVERYTHING has to be controlled. There has to be a limited number of people waiting or you know EVERYBODY there is cool with this type of set up. That is more of what I'm looking for now in my older days.

But even back when I used to just crash outdoor courts, dealing with the popularity contest of who gets on next... I still didn't like the idea of trying to "pull a Lebron" (yup, I said it). I could understand wanting to play with your boys or legitimately trying to muscle a certain guy who sucks off your team. But the "lets get the best players out here together so we can win all day" mentality just never flew with me. I always wanted to look at the group put together and figure out how to win. If it's a dominant team you have a little fun with it, but a challenge (even a little one) is part of the fun imo.

[turty11]

Re: The worst pick up players.

havent played pickup since lunch at highschool but always ended up with

the guy who thinks he is allen iverson and spends the entire game dribbling the ball trying to be fancy and doesn't pass it then throws a fit if you dont pass it to him right away.

[ojandpizza]

havent played pickup since lunch at highschool but always ended up with

the guy who thinks he is allen iverson and spends the entire game dribbling the ball trying to be fancy and doesn't pass it then throws a fit if you dont pass it to him right away.

I used to know people like that.. Thank god I'm old enough now that most people I play with are past that crap

[Chairman7w]

Re: The worst pick up players.

And he did. Popping up on Facebook a few months later was a "mix" from the evening where he was able to pickpocket the barefoot guy then crossover and score over the top of the smoking dude in the camouflage hat, complete with generic modern rap beat, fade to black, and full run of stats (ex: Guy in Black Shorts - 2 pts (2-7), 0 ast).

LoLzzz... Oh Lawd...

[VDusen04]

Re: The worst pick up players.

But even back when I used to just crash outdoor courts, dealing with the popularity contest of who gets on next... I still didn't like the idea of trying to "pull a Lebron" (yup, I said it). I could understand wanting to play with your boys or legitimately trying to muscle a certain guy who sucks off your team. But the "lets get the best players out here together so we can win all day" mentality just never flew with me. I always wanted to look at the group put together and figure out how to win. If it's a dominant team you have a little fun with it, but a challenge (even a little one) is part of the fun imo.

Right on. I'm in the same boat. Winning is the goal of the game, but it's not the reason I play in the first place. If everything was just about winning all the time, all day, no one would play above Rookie level on NBA 2K. As you said, succeeding in the face of a challenge is a large part of the fun. You stated it very well.