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

[FlyRice]

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

Man I wish I could play again. I tore my ACL and meniscus after jumping in the air to steal a ball that was inbounded from full court, and then planting my left foot into the ground to avoid going out of bounds on the sidelines. Won't be able to have surgery until February or March.

In the mean time, I'm going to practice working on my left handed dribbling since that is my biggest weakness. I can take it strong to the hoop using my right, but once guys figure that out, they start pushing me to my left, so I gotta take advantage of that.

[jfsolo]

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

Hedging is definitely the way to go about defending the P&R in pick up games. I always do it when playing pick up and its effective against almost everyone, you just have to make sure to talk to your teammate who's guarding the ball and let him know not to leave his man and fight through the pick and that you're just gonna hedge and recover.

Most guys coming off a pick w. the ball don't know how to handle hedges so unless you're playing with college guys or high bball IQ guys you should be all set.

I've spent the last seven years trying to teach the players that I play with how to hedge, some have gotten it and do it well now, others still just want to hang back in the lane and watch the guy getting picked do all the work and try to guard two players.

Now I'm teaching the offensive players to slip the screen occasionally when the hedger is too aggressive in showing. What I will do sometimes is instead of setting the pick, slip out and take a dribble hand off, curl off the screen that the previous ball handler now sets, and get a wide open jumper off that curl.

Its amazing how so many people can play with the same players day after day and year after year, and never pick up on the tendencies of other players. They don't know who to go under on, who to trail, who to run off shots, it makes me crazy that so many players aren't students of the game.

I make people mad when I'm yelling out that their pet move is coming 5 seconds before they do it, "cross middle", "he's going base" the thing is they still do it, because the muscle memory practically takes over their body, and because the defender doesn't take it away despite seeing it thousands of times before.

[Muzyk23]

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

Just play defense, offense will come to you naturally

[cubsfan203]

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

Tip: Do this when you make a shot.

[J.R. Locke]

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

I played three times in the last week. I got some blisters that are just killing my feet right now to prove it.

On my third day I came out on fire. I hit 10 straight shots, about 6 were from three. Most of them were catch and shoot jumpers, which isn't really my forte. But I did get in the lane twice and finished with my off hand. I carried my team to a win offensively.

If my shooting was good everything else of my game was terrible. Too slow, too out of shape and played way to upright. I need to work on my core to get back the explosiveness I used to have. So I can play defense again.

I am thinking about getting a personal trainer through Wright State in Dayton OH to get me a program to lose some body fat and strengthen my core. Over the next few months I hope to really get back to playing at a high level.

[CWSapp757]

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

Merry Christmas fellas. Its funny I came across this thread because I am a counselor and work with two kids in a residential facility. Yesterday, me and a staff member played full court with those two kids and some other kids on their unit. This was the first time in years that I have played ball and everyone else was under 18. It was horrible. Although some of these tips were discussed earlier, my experience with these kids forces me to reiterate.

1) If you have an open lay up, take the open lay up. If you can't consistently dunk, don't try to. If no one is defending you, do not do a reverse lay up. Take the high percentage simple lay up and keep it moving.

2) A hand in the face works wonders. I was guarding the groups best player and he couldn't get his shot to fall at all. Which brings me to my next point.....

3) If your shot isn't dropping that day, let it go. Get your teammates involved (which you should be doing anyway). The kid was so frustrated that he couldn't make his jumpshot, he shot 11 straight shots until he made one. By then, they were already down and out of the game.

4) Play with energy but be in control. Those kids were fast as lightning, and could run around for days, but they were losing the ball half of the time they got past their defender.

Just a few I wanted to share. By the way, any ballers up here from the 757 area?

[ProfessaPackMan]

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

PLEASE, PLEASE stretch out properly before playing.

I seen too many people today down at UMD getting cramps left and right.

Today was an off day for me. Lost each game I played in(0-3)and played like crap on Offense although I did have a couple defensive rebounds and a few blocks but other than that, today was not a good day for me.

[The 24th Letter]

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

NEVER hoop in low top A1's, I dont care if theyre the only shoes you have on you....youll f up your ankle....like The 24th Letter lol

[ProfessaPackMan]

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

Never ball in low tops PERIOD because all your doing is setting yourself up for embarrassment and all it will take is one simple old school AI crossover and down you go lol

[ehh]

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

Yeah I can't believe anyone who's serious about ball would hoop in lows unless you've got your own trainer around to tape your ankles before each pick up session or rec game.

[ProfessaPackMan]

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

I think Gilbert Arenas hoops in low tops and I don't know how he does it without injuring his ankles.

[Gibbz]

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

I play in low tops about half the time. I like how they feel better, but I don't like the idea of injuring my ankles. I've only had one ankle injury, a sprain years ago, so I feel like I'm overdue playing in lows for so long.

[LanteriX]

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

Make sure to wear ankle supports/braces unless you have some Kirk Hinrich ankles.

Almost came real close to ending up on IR earlier today.

Amen to that and your post about playing in low tops. I rolled my foot/ankle so bad this summer that I fractured my navicular and fifth MTP joint. Wasn't the first time I rolled it like that either. There were about 3 or 4 separate occasions where I've rolled it mildly but not enough to injure it and was able to keep playing.

I'm gonna need to start taping my ankles before I play cause I only have one pair of shoes and they are low tops so I gotta deal with what I got. But yeah, have only played once since the injury. I didn't feel all that comfortable making cuts and putting weight on the foot and ankle so I decided it would be best to take the rest of the year off to make sure it heals completely.

In any case to break down my game:

Strengths:
- Hustle. I always give 100% when I play.
- High basketball IQ. I pride myself on knowing where I need to be on the court both offensively and defensively. I know what I'm capable of and don't try to do what I'm not.
- Strong on ball-defender. I know how to position myself and take away player's strengths. Very good at moving laterally to stay in front of my man.
- Spot-Up shooting. I can consistently knock down the open J from anywhere on the court.
- Moving without the ball. I try to be like Rip and Reggie as far as moving without the ball.

Weaknesses:
- Ballhandling. I have no left hand. I don't go between the legs, I don't go behind the back. I can handle the ball with both hands, but I pretty much won't drive left ever.
- Creating my own shot off the dribble. As I mentioned in my strengths, I'm a spot up shooter. If I have to create my own shots it's not gonna be a good day for me.
- Help defense. I struggle with rotations and helping on switches.
- Inside game. I have no inside game. I rarely, if ever, slash.

[ehh]

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

I think Gilbert Arenas hoops in low tops and I don't know how he does it without injuring his ankles.

It's no problem for NBAers or college guys since they have their ankles taped every game. When Kobe announced his new lows that he's been wearing the last few weeks, Phil Jackson didn't care at all in terms of his concern for Kobe getting hurt. He said something along the lines of, "I played in low tops back in the day and just taped my ankles and was fine."

But if you ball in lows without tape or braces you are asking for an injury, unless you're slow, never make any sharp cuts or jump more than a few inches off the ground.

[DC]

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

PLEASE, PLEASE stretch out properly before playing.

I seen too many people today down at UMD getting cramps left and right.

Today was an off day for me. Lost each game I played in(0-3)and played like crap on Offense although I did have a couple defensive rebounds and a few blocks but other than that, today was not a good day for me.

Where yall be ballin at on UMD campus? What building?