OS Basketball Players Thread.

[RockinDaMike]

Re: OS Basketball Players Thread.

Damn Ehh sucks to hear that story bro. I knew someone with what you had and they coped with it by doing a lot of yoga. I started doing yoga a couple months ago because of injuries from a car accident and from football and its almost taken almost all my pain away but I have to do it almost everyday now.

[st0rmb11]

Re: OS Basketball Players Thread.

Yo Storm, did you play college ball?

I was on the team and was practicing with them, but it was made clear when I came in that I would be redshirted, as the team had 6 or 7 seniors returning, as well as a few juniors, (several of which were guards), so I wasn't needed that year, and half way through the season, I was going through some personal issues following my grandpa's death, so I ended up withdrawing from school.

[Nathan_OS]

Re: OS Basketball Players Thread.

What division?

Sorry to hear about your gramps

[st0rmb11]

Re: OS Basketball Players Thread.

What division?

Sorry to hear about your gramps

thanks. and it was NCAA Division II, in Conference Carolinas.

[12]

Re: OS Basketball Players Thread.

6'6" 215 listed size in HS.

I played mainly the 4, but did get some minutes at the 3. My jump shot was the biggest strength in my game. I would describe my athleticism as average at best. 30-inch vertical, so I could dunk fairly easily... I was never fast, but was quick in the paint with the ball in my hands. I never played great defense, but I did block a good number of shots (second or third in school history). I was a good rebounder and averaged around nine boards a night over my junior and senior years. I prided myself on my J and a "portfolio" of post moves. Man, I spent hours upon hours perfecting my game with my back to the basket. Up and under, fade away, jump hooks, drop steps, quick spins... A lot of fakes... When I was feeling it, I was tough to guard in the paint. I was a damn good 3-pt shooter, but my actual mid-range game was average. I made my living in the paint during high school but would make my defender play tight D out at the 3-pt line.

In a summer league AAU game at Gonzaga team camp before my junior year, I knocked down 11-12 trey's and finished with 50 points. It was a pretty nutty game. I think I averaged right around 30 during that camp, and finished second in the one-on-one tournament. It was basically a group of about 20 guys playing in a tournament after the team games were done for the day. I made it to the championship but got worked pretty good by a guy that I think ended up at Saint Mary's or something. Humbling, considering the game was in front of the entire camp at center court and the whole camp was watching, but still cool. I think I lost 11-5 or something like that.

That camp earned me a letter of interest from Gonzaga. This was before they began their Cinderella madness and started crashing the NCAA tournament. That one little letter was my only correspondence with them. After they made the tourney, I never heard back from them. It was cool to get something, though.

I averaged around 20 PPG my junior year but dipped down to around 13 my senior year. That was a rough year because we finished 4-16 on the season despite leading (and losing) games 10 times when we had the lead going into the fourth quarter. It was a mixture of things. My role had changed a bit because we had more scorers, and I was in my first serious dating relationship and basketball took a back seat to that. I pumped the brakes on my effort and it cost me a bit.

I played at a 4A HS.

I played in a HS all-star game and despite playing on the losing team, I got this blurb in the local paper:

"The East All-Stars were led by [my name], who had a game high of 24 points. [Name] was 7-10 from the field (5-6 3-pt FG). He also finished with 11 rebounds (six offensive), five blocked shots and four assists."

Sadly, that was the last real game I ever played. I had a lot of interest from some junior colleges and two D2 schools throughout the state. I chose to stay home and play at a local JC. I went through a week of hell during tryouts and then my girlfriend and I broke up. From here, it's typical. I made the team, but walked out of practice during the first week and never looked back. I regret it of course, but money would have never put food on the table for me... While it would have probably been cool to play, and there is some regret, there's not a lot. I was burnt out, sadly. I had no one to really kick my *** and tell me to get back to the team. I guess I wish I did, but life goes on.

My biggest problem was I didn't have the best work ethic. I joke with people and tell them that in HS, while my buddies were out partying on Friday nights, I was at my house shooting jumpers under the lights. It was true, but looking back, my overall work ethic was bare minimum. I didn't really lift. I worked on my offensive game but gave little thought to D. I got a lot of blocks because I was good at staying on my feet and my height, but the effort I put out was not that great. I didn't work at getting better, but rather relied on natural talent. To this day, I feel like I can walk in a gym and shoot better than almost anyone, but I never worked on much else. I was like Jimmy Chitwood from Hoosiers. All I did was shoot, but my overall work ethic was lacking.

I can look back with pride though and know that I was a damn good player who had a good HS career and could have played in college. I think my overall love for basketball was never that strong, and it has become even less now, but I still love to play pick up games as often as I can.

[12]

Re: OS Basketball Players Thread.

Another good basketball memory...

We were playing the #1 team in the state. They were monsters. I am from a fairly small farming town. This team was from a bigger area and had an all-black starting line up. It's funny because the one black guy on our team was called an "Uncle Tom" during pregame warmups by these guys. They were clowning on him mercilessly. Our gym was PACKED. It was standing room only and to this day, I heard that there was a line of people trying to get in to see this game. It's not often that the #1 team in the state comes to your gym.

Well, the game starts, and on the opening possession, they miss a long three attempt. On a thunderous put back dunk, I was the one who got yoked on. It was terrible. The guy I was guarding was an absolute man child. He was listed at 6'8" and 310 pounds, but he was closer to 6'6" and probably 320. This ****** ****** had a 38-inch vertical jump and was quicker than ****. I had played against him before and he always gave me trouble. When the ball was in his hands, he was like a damn textbook of post moves. Anyway, I got dunked on, hard, and our crowd seemed to collectively **** their pants.

We ran out on them, though. I had 14 in the first half and we were up big. By the end of the third quarter, we had them on the ropes. We were up by 15. I still have the video and will try and find a way to make a little highlight video of it. There was always that thought of, "This team can flip the switch at any time and come back."

I got dunked on by the man child a couple more times. I think he broke the 40-point mark in the fourth quarter. He finished with like 42, and was literally like 14-15 from the field and 14-14 from the free throw line. We'd double him, but it didn't matter. He either worked me, or he beat the double team, or he was fouled. I think he scored on almost every possession where he got the ball in the paint. It was just game over when he got the ball. My coach told me, "Hands up, that's it. Nothing else. Don't try and swat him." He did a quick spin baseline on me and I stayed with him. As he went up for a reverse lay up, I pinned his **** against the glass and ripped the ball down. Our crowd went absolutely nuts. I threw an outlet pass to one of our guards, who started the break. I ran up court and was following right behind him. He threw the ball back to me, between his legs, and I pulled up from about 25 feet and sunk the three and was fouled by the man child. I hit the free throw. Our crowd was going nuts.

But then they flipped that switch, and in the final six minutes or so, they outscored us like 20-4. We lost at the buzzer basically. One of their guards drove it to the basket and hit a runner. It was tied at 71 at that point. Of course, the ref blew the whistle indicating a foul. Count the basket, 0.4 seconds left. He sinks the free throw despite the gym's deafening noise. I throw a football pass during the inbound pass but it gets knocked away. We lost, 72-71.

That was actually my best game my senior year. I finished with 28 points, 12 rebounds and that one HUGE block. It's too bad that we couldn't close that game out, but it was the story of our season. The man child ended up with 42 I believe. It was so damn frustrating not being able to do anything that would work on that guy. He had a full ride to Washington for football but could not get in academically. Last I heard, he had dominated in junior college playing hoops, but I haven't heard of him since. To this day, I have never played against anyone better. What he could do at his size, and the soft touch he had, was the stuff you only hear about. I was dunked on maybe five or six times during my HS career, but I think four of those were in that game. I still get clowned on by my old HS buddies to this day. I have to find the newspaper picture that shows him dunking on me, lol.

It was a great night, but the end result was heartbreaking. Damn, wish we could have that last minute back.

[12]

Re: OS Basketball Players Thread.

Sorry about the long posts, but this is what happens when I get to reminiscing.

[VDusen04]

Re: OS Basketball Players Thread.

Sorry about the long posts, but this is what happens when I get to reminiscing.

Good stuff, sir. I think a lot of folks go through the same things you mentioned, such as the drop in play between junior and senior years. I definitely underestimated the effect losing our seniors would have on our team as a whole. We went three months without losing a game my junior year. All five starters all had games where they scored 20 or more points. Then, our point forward and center graduated and we were left with a freshman point guard and giant, uncoordinated sophomore center to fill the gaps. It was borderline disastrous.

As a coach, I try to educate players now (and my little brothers) about the distractions that can come along with high school. Just as you mentioned, I also had some issues where my commitment wavered my senior year. I sort of felt my progression would be natural and my scoring average would bump up to 18-20ppg just because I was older. Further, like you, the girlfriend started coming into play, along with all the other high school hijinks. And to be truthful, those extra things are a big part of what makes high school fun, but I think it's possible for players to have that fun while not losing their commitment to what they've often been working on their entire lives. I remember an assistant coach we had, he of little basketball experience, once telling us that girlfriends would always be there later, that basketball wouldn't. I thought he was crazy, but he was right.

Also, regarding your regrets, I understand where you're coming from, but I think it's important you remain thankful for what you did accomplish (and it sounds like you are). You know you were good enough to play college basketball. It sounds like you had some spectacular high school moments and that's something to hang your hat on. College basketball leaves players very susceptible to burnout. I'm surprised so many people can make it happen year-by-year.

[Nathan_OS]

Love to see posts like this. It helps a player like me try to dodge these mistakes. (not trying be rude or anything, I am truly grateful). You guys were so good, and im pretty arrogant sometimes. But you guys just put me in my spot. Thank you

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: OS Basketball Players Thread.

6'8 235.

I was a face-up 4. The most common comparison I heard back in the day was Toni Kukoc though I wasn't that finesse and posted up a bit more.

The schools that were recruiting me were Notre Dame, Richmond, Old Dominion, Rhode Island and a bunch of low-majors.

Senior year of HS I had a fun freak accident on a two-handed dunk, came down real awkward (tried to hang on the rim on a fast break and my hands slipped) and basically jammed my spine how you'd jam your finger. The ensuing tests revealed that I had spondylosis and apparently this injury really brought it out or triggered it or whatever. That was pretty much all she wrote.

Senior year was done, didn't play AAU that summer which killed all the recruiting buzz I had, did a PG year to try to get some schools interested in me again but that didn't work out since I could barely play. I ended up taking a DII schollie but played in only 15 games in two years because my back got so bad and then hung up the sneaks. Haven't had a pain-free day in my back since I was 17. Good times!

Damn dude, sorry to hear that. I know it's off topic, but this reminds me of my mom. In the middle of the winter, she was driving me to school one day back when I was in like 7th grade. We had stopped at an intersection and one of the cars that was coming from the opposite direction apparently wasn't paying attention and tried to slam on their brakes too late and they couldn't stop so they swerved out of the car that was directly in front of them and hit us head on. I wasn't even paying attention. I just had my head down in the car up against the back of my mom's seat. But apparently she tensed up (and I've always thought it might be because of where my head was positioned) but it completely ruined her back. She had gotten scholarship offers from Florida, Florida State, Indiana, pretty much any school she wanted to play at for soccer, but she blew her knee out and couldn't play anymore. But she still played a ton of softball and stuff back then and taught me how to play baseball, but after that car crash, she isn't even allowed to lift more than 5 pounds anymore and she says she's been in constant pain 24/7 every day for the past 6 or 7 years or whatever it's been now. I luckily came out relatively unscathed, although my back is a little bent out of shape and it gives me issues sometimes, but I can still ball a decent amount, but yeah, really sorry to hear that man.

Much respect to you for keeping your head up. I can't even imagine.

[VDusen04]

Re: OS Basketball Players Thread.

Senior year of HS I had a fun freak accident on a two-handed dunk, came down real awkward (tried to hang on the rim on a fast break and my hands slipped) and basically jammed my spine how you'd jam your finger. The ensuing tests revealed that I had spondylosis and apparently this injury really brought it out or triggered it or whatever. That was pretty much all she wrote.

I'm sorry to hear about that, man. That does not sound fun. Can I ask, was it a two-hand dunk off one foot? Those are my favorite dunks to pull off (because the hanging feels sweet) but I fully acknowledge that I've been completely lucky to have not fallen on my back. I haven't pulled one off in-game in a long time because the fear has sort of taken over. The highlights of injuries or horrible falls stemming from the two-hand, one-foot hang are just piling up (especially when attempted from directly in front of the rim). Vladimir Radmanovic, Adam Waddell, Even Turner, Jackson Vroman, Andrew Bogut, Joe Johnson ..there's a significant list of YouTube-able disasters from those types of slams.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/j87KEovOAWQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jP7n41CURKc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[st0rmb11]

Re: OS Basketball Players Thread.

I've only dunked a handful of times in my life, and they were all just one handed.

I see guys who dunk two handed and hang on the rim, while going at almost their top speed, and I've seen several times where that resulted in what VDusen posted above.

I notice that a guy like LeBron very rarely hangs on the rim, if at all, when he dunks 2 handed off of 1 foot. I've dunked 2 handed on 8 & 1/2, 9 foot, and 9 1/2 goals, and I just did the same thing where I dunk, and don't hang.

My question is - why the hanging? I see enough guys who never hang on the rim when they dunk two handed, so why do so many people still do it, even when everyone has seen what can happen?

[Nathan_OS]

Re: OS Basketball Players Thread.

Landings. When I dunk and I know theres a guy behind me, i want to hang on it to make sure hes not under me, so i don't sprain an ankle or something even worst.

[cubsfan203]

Re: OS Basketball Players Thread.

Nice thread!

I played basketball heavily through 8th grade, when I stood around 5'11" and weighed like 190lbs. Despite being a chubby guy growing up, I played every position on the floor on both offense and defense up until middle school where they forced me to be a post player. I was mostly a wingman. I could shoot from anywhere, and I remember people going crazy back when I was little in the YMCA days cause I would shoot from 3 point land and make it like it was nothing.

Unfortunately my freshman year of high school I landed wrong and messed up my knees and that pretty much ended my organized ball days. That sucks even more after the fact, because I wound up shooting up to 6'5" which would be a great height to be a SG/SF which was what I would call my natural position.

Nowadays I'm 6'5"/180lbs or so and while I still like to shoot from outside, I molded my game similar to how Chris Douglas-Roberts played during his Memphis days. Attack off the dribble and pull up, or just go straight to the rack and pull of some crazy circus shot.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: OS Basketball Players Thread.

I love all this talk about whether or not to hang on the rim when all of you are dunking... I can get a pretty good piece of the backboard...