OS Hoopers....What are your balling tips?

[Altimus]

Re: OS Hoopers....What are your balling tips?

Play defense. Period.

It pisses off everybody when you don't play defense. That **** gets on my nerves.

I agree.

I hate when after a offensive possession people will just slowly walk to defense or just stand there.

[NC State-31 UNC-27]

Re: OS Hoopers....What are your balling tips?

for smaller guys/guards....be aggressive, get inside the 3 point line on offense. If you're a shooter, make some pump fakes to get a closer or more open shot around the free throw line. If you have a lane to the basket take it strong and people won't usually step in front of you once you are within seven feet or so. If the bigs are waiting for you, develop a floater or a 10 foot pullup jumper.

the worst thing I see in pickup games is the sloppy passing, it's a mess sometimes.

hey marino do you play at carmichael much?

[Marino]

Re: OS Hoopers....What are your balling tips?

for smaller guys/guards....be aggressive, get inside the 3 point line on offense. If you're a shooter, make some pump fakes to get a closer or more open shot around the free throw line. If you have a lane to the basket take it strong and people won't usually step in front of you once you are within seven feet or so. If the bigs are waiting for you, develop a floater or a 10 foot pullup jumper.

the worst thing I see in pickup games is the sloppy passing, it's a mess sometimes.

hey marino do you play at carmichael much?

I play 2-3 times a week there.

[youvalss]

Re: OS Hoopers....What are your balling tips?

Never play with fat-hairy-sweating-guys who don't wear a shirt.

[stewaat]

Re: OS Hoopers....What are your balling tips?

Don't take stupid *** shots

[NYJets]

Re: OS Hoopers....What are your balling tips?

Play defense.

If your going to demand the ball a lot, do something with it, make something happen. Can't stand the guys who stand at the top of the 3 point line just dribbling through there legs for 10 seconds, not moving at all, and then they pass it off, call for it again, do the same thing, etc.

[Brankles]

Re: OS Hoopers....What are your balling tips?

A lot of good tips have already been said, so some of these might be repeats or just blatantly obvious.

Offense:
1.) Move around, find open spots on the court. It's useless standing around waiting for the ball three feet behind the three point line, especially if you're playing pick up and not running plays.
2.) Take good shots.
3.) Be patient and don't force yourself into situations you're not good in.
4.) Set your feet before you get the ball. Feet square to the basket and ready to jump into the shot. This will save you valuable time and increase your accuracy big time.
5.) If you're not good on offense, pass the ball, set screens and only shoot if you have to. Also if the other team plays way off of you, put yourself in situations where they HAVE to guard you, otherwise it's like playing 4 on 5 for your teammates. One good way to help out is to crash the boards and set screens. Be involved... but not in the way.
6.) Dribble with a purpose. Don't stand in one place dribbling for longer than 2 or 3 seconds. If you're not the best dribbler, call for picks. I have pretty good handles but am not really quick enough to get my own shot, so I use a lot of picks to create space and get the defense to get off balance.
7.) Don't clog the paint. If you're 5'7" and just standing in the lane with a man on you, chances are you're not going to get the ball and you're going to get in someone else's way. Think while you play, where should you be and what can you do when you get the ball there.
8.) Pump fake and ball fake. Most guys that are out there don't really want to win, they just want to send your sh** into the stand or get that steal so they can get a fast break dunk. If a guy is shot block happy or overplays passing lanes, nothing works better than a simple ball fake. Basketball is all about balance, and ball fakes throw most players off balance and makes you harder to guard.
9.) If everyone is crashing the glass on offense, and you're the furthest from the basket... GET BACK ON D! Don't give up easy, automatic buckets.
10.) Don't be a bitch. Call a foul only if it legitimately ruined your shot. I'll get fouled but think I should have made my shot regardless, so I won't call it. Or I'll put myself in a bad situation and get fouled taking a bad shot and won't call it. Simple sportsmanship, which is lacking in the majority of places I play at.

Defense:
1.) Talk to your teammates. You don't have to be "That Guy" on the court that gives advice to everyone on the court, but simple communication gives you a huge advantage over a team that doesn't talk. Call out switches, picks, call for help if you get beat, etc.
2.) If you're guarding a bad player, play help defense. Don't give up wide open layups, but you can usually do more damage on D if you know you're guarding a bad player on D and helping on penetration and doubling down on good post players.
3.) If you're guarding a good player, force him towards your teammates and as a general rule don't let him go baseline, because help defense is no good once they get down there.
4.) Get physical. Don't hurt anyone, don't undercut people or step underneath their feet after a jumper, but a little nudge here or there is actually very effective, especially off the ball. A forearm on the post player to move him a few feet from the basket or bump on a guy cutting to the basket will make your job a lot easier once your man finally gets the ball.
5.) Box-out. Throw your butt into their hips. Again, don't go overboard with it, but enough to knock them off balance and give yourself the advantage after the ball hits the rim.
6.) Just like on offense, stay moving on defense or ready to move at all times. If your man is at the corner and the ball is at the opposite corner, you shouldn't be standing right next to your guy, you should be in the middle of the paint. If the ball gets swung around the key and gets closer to your man, you should get closer to him as well. A defense that moves around in relation to where the ball is is way harder to score on than 5 guys trying to play individual lockdown D regardless of where the ball's at.
7.) Give people foul calls if you fouled them, tell the truth, and don't take people down. Again, simple sportsmanship.

[stewaat]

Re: OS Hoopers....What are your balling tips?

Yea the foul calls can be ridiculous. They called a double-dribble on me after I got the long rebound on a bounce. I paused, looked for someone to pass to, then dribbled. I'm not an idiot who dribbled, picked it up, and dribbled again.

Some people turn into huge b-words when playing sports

[BTB]

Re: OS Hoopers....What are your balling tips?

I agree with everyone here, defense is the most important thing in my opinion. Everything else will come as long as people hustle, but if you don't play D that's inexcusable in my opinion.

One thing that really pisses me off is when someone who is ok thinks they are nasty and takes every shot like an idiot. I can't stand being on the court when someone takes a shot and it literally would be a better shot if someone else on our team (aka me) would have taken the exact same shot. Just move the ball around, set screens off the ball and hit guys in a position to score or make something happen. I also hate when people try to force passes inside instead of working it around and taking what the defense will give and end up turning the ball over. Just make the easy pass or put yourself in a better position to make the entry passes instead of forcing.

[ehh]

Re: OS Hoopers....What are your balling tips?

Dunk on people, it makes life easy.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: OS Hoopers....What are your balling tips?

The Most IMPORTANT thing to do while playing Defense: Slide your feet.

If you don't slide with your feet, you will be setting yourself up for an embarrassment real soon. But yeah, I'm like everyone else on here, if you're on my team and don't get back on Defense or even play Defense...don't even bother being on my team.

Me and my cousin went to a gym down here in Jacksonville today and it was amazing how people just refused to play defense. It was like playing playing 2K Arcade style. People just driving freely to the lane and getting the layup and folks either staying behind and cherry picking or people trying to play zone defense but folks not staying in their zone.

That type of **** pisses me off when people want to play zone defense and don't even stay in their own freaking zone!!

[J0nnD0ugh]

Re: OS Hoopers....What are your balling tips?

Never play with fat-hairy-sweating-guys who don't wear a shirt.

I already said don't pick me.

[Brankles]

Re: OS Hoopers....What are your balling tips?

Dunk on people, it makes life easy.

Braggart

[TMagic]

Re: OS Hoopers....What are your balling tips?

simple sportsmanship.

Man, you are not lying about that.

I remember one time I tried to rise up over dude on a fast break. Jumped as high as I could with the ball stretched out over my head because I seen him coming over for the block. He came across both my forearms.

Now just a little physics lesson: Velocity + Elevation + Force applied in opposite direction at the arms= Pain.

Dude, caused me to start fall backwards in the air and I landed flat on my back.

They waited until I got up after a while, then dude on the opposite team says, "Alright. Our rock. Check up. He ain't call it."

WTF!?

[Brankles]

Re: OS Hoopers....What are your balling tips?

Wow man, that's garbage. What's the point of going out to a court with the intention of injuring other people? This isn't prison ball or a late-90s Knicks/Heat playoff game.

Stuff like that is why I cut back on playing ball with random people. It's like a constant battle of manhood. I didn't come out to the courts to debate calls, tackle people and try to out-do and embarrass everyone in my way, I came to play basketball and beat you straight up.

I mean I'm just as competitive as the next dude, I can't stand losing.
But I usually hoop to relieve stress, not elevate it. And I damn sure don't want to re-injure myself the way I did in high school, limping around with a bad back the rest of my life. Pickup ball isn't worth it to me when I run into nonsense like you did. They don't even give you the rock cuz you didn't have the wind left in your lungs to call foul. Horrible.