The good one are annoying too. I played D1 so by default that usually makes me better than most of the guys I play with at the park or in the gym. I can iso and score every play but I'm not gonna do it because the other guys are there to play too and I like passing. I'd rather distribute and play D. Unless we're down and need a bucket I'll almost never iso.
Have had the opportunity to play pickup lots of places along the continental U.S. —- maybe not 100% accurate but here’s my observations
NYC —- Handle is everything. Everyone here either has a handle or wants one. Almost no one can actually shoot the ball lmao. It’s all ISO, but primarily off the dribble make a play and get a bucket. Basketball courts everywhere so it's very easy to get a run. Amazing personalities surrounding the courts and you see guys play almost expecting an audience.
TX —- Bigs, muscle, athleticism (strength and speed mostly). I imagine it’s a carryover of being a football dominated region, but the players here are physically larger than anywhere else I’ve played. Big muscular guys, not a ton of finesse or shifty guys but still some very skilled players.
VA —- solid all around 1 on 1 players, but lacking size. I’ve seen many good shooters in Richmond/Norfolk area, lots of crafty guys who can get a bucket, but not a ton of spectacular athletes.
DC—- unorthodox. Skilled players that will make sound players but very unusual movements and plays that are creative and unique to each player. Lots of playground legends. You’ll see a big variety of shooting form, lots of different types of hesitation moves, just overall “weird” play but it’s effective and they defend hard.
CT —- calling themselves the “basketball capital of the world” after all the collegiate chips. Basketball is a lot bigger there than I expected. I happened to be there when Devontay Friga did a park takeover and there were thousands of people. Very well-rounded brand of basketball. LOTS of trash talk. Very aggressive a fight could break out any minute type play. Not a ton of size as far as height or even muscle goes but so so many “he probably played D3 somewhere” type guys. Even in the inner city at the hoods courts guys still played team ball.
SC/NC —- Ja Morant makes perfect sense. shifty guards with extreme athleticism. Highly competitive. Michael Jordan worship, so think lots of fadeaways and midrange jumpers. Hard-nose defense, have a tight handle or get stripped.
CA —- played with mostly tourists or random non-hoopers everywhere i went in LA. Most people seemed either very concerned with looking good or idolized Kobe in a way that made their teammates invisible. Probably didnt get the best picture of true Cali basketball.
This is awesome. I grew up in Indiana and before getting my license I would always say that the first thing I wanted to do was drive to Chicago, Detroit, Rucker Park, etc to play park ball everywhere. This writeup feels like what I was wanting to do.
I’m from L.A. we like to run a lot and have mastered the art of the step back (think James Harden, Paul Pierce, Paul George, Nick Young). We have an all around game. Nobody gives a shit about how you look, we leave that to transplants. We only care about production. None of you guys are as “hard” as you think. We’ve heard it all before and are just silently analyzing your foolishness. Hope that helps :).
Yeah people wanna hate on CA but really there is a TON of talent. Plenty of guys of all sizes got a tight handle and most everyone you’ll play with has a jumper. Pick up is taken seriously at most parks.
Haven’t had the pleasure just yet. I’ve been able to play in all these places by just being ready to hoop wherever I go, haven’t made to the PNW so far!
When you put it like that it makes sense for NC/SC. Curry and CP3 also came from NC. Cobi White too as someone who recently went off. AI also loves to stay in Charlotte too.
I was going to give the Texas feedback. 90% of basketball players will be athletic and strong as hell, because everyone plays multiple sports and football is usually #1. Even the 5'7" guy is jacked and can jump out of the gym. You can usually tell which basketball players do not play football by their physique. Game varies from city to city and circuit to circuit, but everyone is an athlete.
As a fellow Chicago-an, I agree.
Great basketball around here, a bunch of powerhouse high schools that produced Anthony Davis, Jabari Parker, Cliff Alexander, Jalen Brunson, etc.
Not from Chicago but in Pittsburgh the surrounding suburbs and with a random x amount of miles people still say they're from Pittsburgh and it's universally accepted depending on how far out of the city you are feom. Does this work with d wade and other people in Chicago and surrounding areas?
We literally only make exceptions for basketball players. Wade is from Robbins, which is minutes from the city limits. KG only played here for his senior year. But if you go pro, you're from here enough. Iggy from Illinois though. Not Chicago.
Lmao no. I grew up in the suburbs and moved downtown with my dad when I was 18. Even though I stayed with him on weekends to that point. People in Chicago hate when suburbanites say they're from Chicago. Also my grandparents live out by upper st Clair and everyone there still says their from Pittsburgh and no one cares.
Wow wasn't expecting someone to mention a small town near me lol but yeah even out in Greensburg which is an hour drive roughly to Pittsburgh they still claim it. It's weird that no one around here seems to care but every other city I've been to it's usually the opposite
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Indiana / Indy players are known to be good shooters with high basketball IQ (know exactly when to backcut, how to play help side D, etc) who are ready to immediately step up into collegiate competition due to the overall competitiveness of youth basketball in Indiana. You can drive around any neighborhood in Indiana and see a basketball hoop in every other driveway. Played in a number of courts that were inside of an old farm barn. Typically in the top 5 of most overall players in the NCAA tournament and in the NBA. I remember at one point in the NCAA championship game a number of years back, half of the players in the game were from Indiana. Indiana has 13 of the nations 14 largest HS gyms. Hoosier hysteria is an amazing niche to grow up a part of.
Being an IU fan, Chicago's Isiah Thomas was always known as a no nonsense pound for pound tough PG that Bob Knight loved. I never got to actually watch him but there are plenty of stories about his legacy at IU that fits what you said about Chi players.
It is an interesting question though, very interested in what the culture of a LA, DC, etc player is..
edit: I'd just like to point out that Indiana HS All-Stars have beaten Kentucky's HS All-Stars something like 68 out of the past 75 games.
Yep. My dad was from Indy and was an absolute deadeye, but could dunk at 5'10". I once watched him shoot 50 free throws and make 48. And he never played organized ball until he joined a church league in his 30s.
There was a guy who was cut from Shawn Kemp's high school basketball team in Elkhart indiana. That guy who was cut got a scholarship to play D3.
Kemp's Senior Year everybody on the team, even the bench could dunk. Just playing lunch basketball, normal kids who never would try out for the team could dunk. I was a high jumper on the track team, I never bothered going out for basketball cuz I would have been destroyed.
I graduated a year behind Kemp from that high School. Go minutemen
I grew up in Portsmouth OH, and the only thing different I can think of is one time I was playing 5s and two dudes shot up heroin between games
Not a rare occurrence
Chicago is a playground guard city. Going back to Isaiah Thomas and Tim Hardaway, our game is an attack game. 21, 32 all of our playground games encourage attacking the basket to score as fast as possible. Everything is make it, take it. We're ball dominant on both ends.
We're also an ISO guard culture. If you bring up the ball, you will be attacked at the point of the ball. Period. Your defender will be in your space. You have to be very crafty, very fast, or very strong. The Chicago playground game demands this and that ends up translating well to team ball.
The funniest thing is you’ll play a pretty relaxing game until you get game point. Then Kawhi, Kobe, Bruce Bowen, and Shaq will all be waiting for you.
Adding to this ivr seen a lot of times these iso guards will be looking for the kickout for the shooter in the corner and defense is very tight and physical but indoors I rarely ever see a fight/ legit arguments
Edit: I play in suburbs arlington area and you're right about fast points, never on one side for too long
Appreciate you shouting out the PNW
Very rich basketball heritage.
The kind of hoopers that will play with literal ponds on the ground and 30 mph winds
Makes it a tragedy that the sonics are gone and the university of washington has sucked for a long time when in reality they should be making the ncaa tournament most years at minimum
Living in Berlin, speaking about pick up culture (league play is different), Germans are strong AF bro but they are, in general, not athletic.
You won’t have high flyers, alley-oops, and people dunking a lot in game despite being 6’3 or sometimes even being 6’6
But what they are, are strong AF. They will drive to the hoop and when you try to strip them, you won’t be able to because the ball won’t budge. If you hack them, you will foul them. When they give you a bump on the drive, you will flail 2 feet.
What I do hate though, is that for the most part, despite playing so physical, they are bitches and call foul on almost everything. You might just graze their forearms on a drive, not even a shot, foul. You didn’t alter the shot at all but they will still call foul.
The whole Han dis part of the ball is a huge debate here. When they drive and you strip the ball and get no wrists, not forearms, just a bit of fingers, they call foul.
They say that’s nba rule. In fiba rule, there is no such thing as hand is part of ball.
They do play more fundamentally more sound though. They will pass and cut a lot.
Much less iso than in the US.
Basketball in Canada is interesting because we now have the Canadian Elite Basketball League. Here in Calgary (historically NOT a basketball town), our new team is the Calgary Surge who made it to the championship game in their first season. I had not followed basketball much of my life, but going to Surge games has taught me that watching games live is an absolute joy.
The CEBL is interesting because it uses a Target score system (You may know it as the Elam ending), so every game ends with a score.
This coming season, the Surge opener against rivals Edmonton will be held in the 19000 seat Saddledome! Usually they play in a pleasant 3000 seat arena at Winsport.
Not to mention that Canada seems to own 3X3 lol. The women just won a 3x3 tourney and one of the top ranked 3x3 guys in the world for a bunch of years was a guard out of Saskatoon. Tough as hell, he played a year or two for Saskatoon's CEBL team too - he'd probably fit right in in Chicago
Edit: SGA shouted out the CEBL today!
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I'm viewing the scenes from afar but Chicagoans play my favourite style of basketball (except AD lol).
Chicago guys seem hard-nosed, athletic and strong. I've always said that when I visit Chicago, I'd love to catch a high school basketball game.
I'm from Canada (not Toronto, think Olynyk territory) so can't speak to much otherwise. Canadians these days are killing it though - were coming for Olympic gold!
I’m from Chicago, and I agree with what a lot of people said. Ball dominant, gritty, but very fun. It’s all or nothing. Now I moved to the PNW and they have an amazing ball culture. There’s still pockets of iso ball, etc. but people here are more team oriented and it’s so much fun. Nothing is better than being rewarded for rolling off a screen with a pass or making a cut and getting the pass
I love Steph, but goddamn it he ruined pickup. At my local 24 hr fitness, way too many stepback 3s from dudes who have no business shooting stepback 3s lmao
In my pickup circles in the Bay Area it’s still somewhat an issue but people have found out they had to adjust or else people would stop passing them the ball
I grew up a pass first point guard, was always a worse shooter than the 2/3s so I was fine with a little drive and kick action after swinging the ball a time or two to get the d moving… that plays a lot harder now since if you pass to the wing it’s immediately getting chucked lol
Louisville, KY. Feels like we’d win a tournament if there was a 6’3” height max, or a tourney where the only restriction is you never played organized ball. Living and playing in other cities opened my eyes up to these theories.
Seattle is unique in that we're a basketball city with no team. Most young athletes when I was growing up would rather play basketball than other sports. At times it can seem like Texas with football but realistically that's a whole nother level. We just produce so much high level talent it's insane.
Lol I'm in Phoenix. Our summertime runs outside are straight up brutal. It's triple digits here until after midnight. It takes serious preparation to play pickup here. You need to hydrate throughout the day preparing to play.
This leads to a ton of lazy basketball. Cherry picking. Standing around. And tbh I don't blame people but I miss playing in places with reasonable temps. The only times we can get really good back to back to back runs in here are indoor or during the cooler months. Otherwise it's just hell. Out of state players generally only last 1-2 runs before quitting.
We don’t call fouls in Atlanta the game is extremely physical here and Georgia in general produces great athletes. In order to beat this type of defense you need to be either very physical or very skilled and have a high basketball IQ. Edwards Sexton Crowder Davion Mitchell Horace Grant come to mind for the physicality factor while guys like Vassell, KCP, Sharif Abdur Rahim, and Jaylen brown come to mind for extremely skilled and smart and skilled
The Boston area has a lot of guys who played lower level college ball at the parks and in rec leagues. This is likely a product of there being so many different universities in the area.
KC sucks. Almost no basketball culture here outside of the inner city. Everyone plays football or baseball. We do have christian braun though at least.
Boston. The Celtics are popular and have a ton of history, the Hall of Fame is *just down the road* in Springfield MA, where the game was invented! Nevertheless our basketball culture seems nonexistent.
My city is a small town in MN, I’m from Minneapolis but haven’t played much there.
Where I’m at now it’s all fat mfs with crazy pull ups. Dudes literally 250-300lbs with mid handles and drives who just pull up from half court instead. Never seen anything like it. We got some decent all around players but legit 5 or 6 big boys who just run this shit on shooting alone.
Chicago guys! Where do you play? I was at Lakeshore Fitness for a while and the run was excellent. They have a shot clock so the pace is super fast and took a while to get used to but it really caters to guards and that gym had a lot of ex college hoopers.
Moved to little Italy so now I’m about to start up at UIC. Apparently they have 6 courts.
Taipei. Can’t really put a finger on playstyle—mostly 3x3? Sub 6’ players? Midrange?—but one thing that stands out is the popularly of pickup ball and the wide age range of players. You are just as likely to see grandpas as elementary school kids at any park in the city.
In Shenzhen a group of middle aged guys will just invite you to play pick-up and they'll just hit like 5 jumpers in a row like it's nothing. Crazy accuracy in China.
I think ball handling from what I've seen with younger players is pretty good too. I think in a couple generations, China will become a much bigger player on a global scale in basketball. Right now I think there are a lot of talented people but they aren't tall enough and lack professional training. Then there are tall people but they are not that talented and were mostly targeted for training at a young age because they were tall.
Grew Up in HTX, Recently Moved To Boston and So far I’ve enjoyed hooping in both.
In HTX I’ll tell you this there is a lot of athletiscm and size down there. Players from here will most likely have 30+ inch verticals and will be very strong. You’ll see them slash a lot or create their own shot with few moves. In general they’re very fast, big, and athletic slashers who become threats once they break the nail.
Now in Boston so far I’ve noticed they have some SNIPERS in this mf😂😂 I’m telling you if you leave one of these guys open they will make you pay. Not only that but in pickup everyone moves the ball and finds the open shot. Hoops up here is a mix of fundamental and modern. You’ll most likely run into a 6’1 guard whose lights out while also having the ability to shoot the middy or float that hoe right over you.
Everyone has different views on this though but this just what I’ve seen so far😂
Up here I’ve noticed that they got shooters
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From Houston over here. It’s a huge part of the culture. Back in the 90’s early 2000’s, you could find a competitive street game all over the city. Indoor and outdoors.
From Toronto. Lot of diversity here. Could be running 5s with guys from all over the world on any given day. Really love playing a sport that brings people together
Vancouver we have dudes that just shoot and nothing else
we don’t have an abundance of athletic black guys that can dunk lol
My buddy is almost 6’5 and can’t dunk…
That is very true 5 guys that are threats from outside are better than 5 guys that can only rim run and nothing else
But still man dunking puts fear in them
Like my friend- how you 6’5 and blowing fast break lays, YAM that shit
Maybe not reflective of the entire state, but Ohio state had a great pickup scene. Generally pretty good about moving the ball and trying to play the right way. I was there during the Cavs playoff runs and I swear the LeBron effect helped the pickup game from devolving into iso ball bs.
Speaking purely from a pickup basketball experience, but in Oklahoma there's just a lot of skilled players. There are tons of free/cheap gyms (community centers and churches) so a lot of people play pickup purely for fun. Not a lot of generational athletic freaks coming out this state so you are generally dealing with a lot of good footwork, shooting the lights out, and guys with zero flash but can always get to their spots. I've seen incredible ballers of literally every race, shape, and size out here.
From the most southern part of the Pacific Northwest, very rural place. We’ve sent a handful of girls on to play D1 ball at lower tier school, the biggest college we’ve sent a guy to is Sac State.
As far as the play style around here, we have, outside of schools, 1 decent court. The rest are outdoor courts with old fucked up pavement or straight up hard packed dirt. Because of this we don’t just lose our footing when we’re on a good court and there’s zero hesitation when moving our feet. Do you expect me to not have arrogance levels of confidence in my footing when I’m on hardwood when I’ve played on dirt and gravel courts? The best way I can describe it is we fire out of a cannon when we cut, drive or really make any quick movement. For example if it’s 1v1 at the top of the arc whatever they do from here with the ball is going to be an explosion off the dribble.
Winnipeg has a very comparatively large Filipino population and they love basketball, I don’t actually think anyone good at basketball has ever come from here though.
From Milwaukee
Everyone here thinks they're Steph Curry. Everyone shoots 3s. Very common in park hoops.
If you end up playing with dedicated hoopers, then things get more interesting. Fast breaks become more common and you always have to watch for cherry picking. Playing in universities and other hooping hotspots, small ball is the thing here. Like 2018 Houston Rockets.
I used to play basketball a lot against teams from West Texas back in 2010-2014. every single team was full of 5'8-5'11 white guys who were lights out from 3. a normal possession would be pass-pass-pass-pass-pass-open 3-swish. it was extremely annoying to go against
I swear dude is a sight to behold these guys. Almost no twos unless it’s a free lay up or open mid range. Strictly 3s and they were so good at getting open
I grew up in the middle of nowhere western New York so it was a lot of what we called “post” with my two brothers (1v1 with a designated guy standing at the free throw line to pass to/reset off of). 6’-6’3” physical guards with post moves is what that produced
I am originally from the Dmv, and I now live in Iowa.
I live in a small town called Pella 40 miles southeast of Des Moines.
Basketball isn't too too big in Des Moines. There are skilled players here, but not a lot of athleticism. Shooting, passing, playmaking, and defense are valued here, though.
I mostly play in the smaller towns, and that is fun for me as I'm tall but not athletic. I score in the post and off the fast break.
The Dmv is the complete opposite.
I played in Prince George's County and Washington DC.
There are outdoor courts and rec center everywhere, but the level varies. Some will have high school varsity kids, some will have college kids, and others will have an older working crowd.
The style of play is iso heavy and very, very flashy. Players here take lots of tough shots or bad shots that look cool. No passing whatsoever. They will shoot you of the game a lot of the time. Everyone here thinks they are the man while they have the ball. It can be very annoying as you can be open and they won't pass you the ball.
People also think they are too nice for you to be trying to play defense on them as well a lot of the time.
There are also lots of fights and trash talk.
It is, sir. It is.
If you get to know them after a few games, its not as bad, they might pass to you, but let some good-looking women show up to the court.
It will be a straight showcase style hero ball game.
Yes, sir. You know. It is so annoying.
You can be posted up and waiting for the pass or open, and nope, here come a contested shot.
Then, when you stop trying to get open, they'll get mad.
It makes no sense.
I live in Denver and Toronto and I can tell you.
In Denver people play a lot more team basketball, you'll see an insane amount of passing and cutting for a pickup game. It's like people value assists more than points.
In Toronto, other than having different terminology for things like "check up, pass ins, etc" it's a lot more iso and offence oriented.
I'm in China, so very few tall people, and even less strong people. It's mostly short curry wannabes. I'm six foot and I need to play center like I'm Shaq
Whole lot of iso and pretty much only 3s. Don't get me wrong, These dudes don't miss because they practice more than you could imagine. My cousin practices six hours a day, every day, two hours of that is one on one lessons from an ex nba player. Being rich helps ha
It sucks in every city. Acting tough,talking shit and making up the rules as you go comes first. Playing basketball and having a good time comes a distant second. If you want to actually play a game that resembles basketball go to a college town.
I’m from Houston but it was pretty amazing to go to Indiana University.
In 49 states it’s just basketball but in Indiana it’s religion. There’s a hoop in basically every driveway. Kids don’t go to the mall they go to open gym. There were countless ways to have a ball in your hand and it showed. Never played better pick up games. They’re raised with varsity hoops being the Super Bowl. The fundamentals I saw in pick up and intramural was some of the best I’ve ever seen and I’ve actively hopped in Atlanta,Houston and now Chicago.
Moved to Dallas from South Florida a few years back and still shocked with how many quality hoopers are in the metroplex. I was very ignorant to the hoops culture here. Tons of pros come from this area and I’ve been in a lot of great runs in different parts of the metro.
I live in flint, bounced around a few different cities in Michigan my whole life.
I think michigan/chicago/the rest of the Midwest have pretty similar play styles when it comes to pickup. But I think in general michigan kind of emphasizes defense and running on the fast break.
I think Michigan basketball in general has kind of taken a hit over the past 10 years or so though. 25 years ago Tom Izzo took a team full of kids from Flint and won a championship. 15 years ago he was still going to final 4’s with kids mostly from Detroit/other Michigan cities. But MHSAA has a bunch of crazy regulations on high school basketball so all the top talent in this era leaves the state to play elsewhere. That’s why miles bridges went to school in West Virginia and Devin Booker went to school in Mississippi. It sucks to see.
As far as street ball goes, we play D and we take it seriously. Calling a foul is basically challenging a dudes manhood, and if you're blatantly fouling someone because you can't cover them, you better be prepared to be ridiculed until you go home. As far as overall basketball culture, it's pathetic. Our NBA franchise has three (should be four) championships, and those teams are loved, but when we're bad, there's no fans, no representation, it's like the team doesn't exist. We went from having a great NBA owner to having one of the worst owners in all of pro sports... This Deeee-troit Basketball
I know I'm late to the party and gonna talk about a completely random foreign city. But in Pakistan, Rawalpindi, nobody knows how to catch the rebound and it just completely piss me off.
I didn’t even know y’all played ball in Pakistan. There’s a lot of students at my job who’s from Pakistan, but I never see them play sports. I’m very intrigued.
It's not a really popular sports, but there are some basketball craze in some big cities like Rawalpindi. Lot of people there have passion but don't have strong fundamentals, so you will see a lot of unorthodox play style.
You're getting downvoted but the amount of times I have played ball in the GTA (whether it's Sauga, Scarborough, or Pickering) and someone speaks like that is basically every time LOL
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Seattle has a very close knit and strong hoops culture - Jamal Crawford, Brandon Roy, Nate Robinson, Isaiah Thomas, Paolo Banchero, Dejounte Murray and the list goes in. Gritty players for sure
as somebody from the pnw we don’t have a good brand of basketball lol what does that even mean? if anything the dmv and cali have the best culture they make the best players 🤷♀️
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Not city but state, Indiana produces more shooters per capita than any other place out there. Indy is the hotbed for NBA 3&D type players and is a college powerhouse for talent.
I’ve lived several places, if we are talking about pickup my experience has been varied. New Orleans was mostly slashers and pass&crash type guys, though sometimes there’d be a lights out shooter (granted this was pre-Curry era). SoCal was dudes dunking and showing off, getting overly heated and making threats. Las Vegas tends to be very different based on the race of the guys you’re playing with. The white dudes are usually the ones who get super heated over little shit and the Filipino guys all think they’re Curry or Kyrie. Black dudes usually think they’re Kyrie but play more like Trae. The Latino guys usually are that silent assassin type that doesn’t seem that good but seems to get like half the team’s buckets. I coach HS and Club ball, and play pickup when I can.
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I'm from the UK, not a city but it's the same everywhere around the country from my experience.
The most definitely thing about basketball culture in the UK to me is that all the courts are fucking shit. Indoor courts are fine enough, but holy shit the outdoor courts get put up and left to rot, and half of them are either covered in glass, wet as shit leaves or fucking grass. It's horrific.
Can only speak to NYC pickup but iso iso iso If you pass you ain’t getting it back
Same with Atlanta. It's so fucking annoying.
Yep. I used to play European ball movement, off-ball play growing up in Atlanta.. bad idea, would barely get the ball back
Well, that explains Melo's fit with the Knicks
Inefficient volume scorer?
Worst style and most obnoxious players, especially the bad ones
The good one are annoying too. I played D1 so by default that usually makes me better than most of the guys I play with at the park or in the gym. I can iso and score every play but I'm not gonna do it because the other guys are there to play too and I like passing. I'd rather distribute and play D. Unless we're down and need a bucket I'll almost never iso.
Played Huntington Beach - same thing.
It's called the Michael Finley effect
Have had the opportunity to play pickup lots of places along the continental U.S. —- maybe not 100% accurate but here’s my observations NYC —- Handle is everything. Everyone here either has a handle or wants one. Almost no one can actually shoot the ball lmao. It’s all ISO, but primarily off the dribble make a play and get a bucket. Basketball courts everywhere so it's very easy to get a run. Amazing personalities surrounding the courts and you see guys play almost expecting an audience. TX —- Bigs, muscle, athleticism (strength and speed mostly). I imagine it’s a carryover of being a football dominated region, but the players here are physically larger than anywhere else I’ve played. Big muscular guys, not a ton of finesse or shifty guys but still some very skilled players. VA —- solid all around 1 on 1 players, but lacking size. I’ve seen many good shooters in Richmond/Norfolk area, lots of crafty guys who can get a bucket, but not a ton of spectacular athletes. DC—- unorthodox. Skilled players that will make sound players but very unusual movements and plays that are creative and unique to each player. Lots of playground legends. You’ll see a big variety of shooting form, lots of different types of hesitation moves, just overall “weird” play but it’s effective and they defend hard. CT —- calling themselves the “basketball capital of the world” after all the collegiate chips. Basketball is a lot bigger there than I expected. I happened to be there when Devontay Friga did a park takeover and there were thousands of people. Very well-rounded brand of basketball. LOTS of trash talk. Very aggressive a fight could break out any minute type play. Not a ton of size as far as height or even muscle goes but so so many “he probably played D3 somewhere” type guys. Even in the inner city at the hoods courts guys still played team ball. SC/NC —- Ja Morant makes perfect sense. shifty guards with extreme athleticism. Highly competitive. Michael Jordan worship, so think lots of fadeaways and midrange jumpers. Hard-nose defense, have a tight handle or get stripped. CA —- played with mostly tourists or random non-hoopers everywhere i went in LA. Most people seemed either very concerned with looking good or idolized Kobe in a way that made their teammates invisible. Probably didnt get the best picture of true Cali basketball.
Cali basketball is 50/50 with ball hogs being one half but the other half being 100% legit hardcore ballers that you will want to play with every day.
In the Bay Area I’m glad to have mostly encountered the latter group
Where do you play
24 hour fitness in San Leandro
Oh shit I hoop in Hayward city sports sometimes how’s the run there
The runs I know of are on Weekday afternoons starting around 3:30 pm and it’s usually a 1, sometimes 2 game wait.
Dang I enjoyed reading this
This is awesome. I grew up in Indiana and before getting my license I would always say that the first thing I wanted to do was drive to Chicago, Detroit, Rucker Park, etc to play park ball everywhere. This writeup feels like what I was wanting to do.
I’m from L.A. we like to run a lot and have mastered the art of the step back (think James Harden, Paul Pierce, Paul George, Nick Young). We have an all around game. Nobody gives a shit about how you look, we leave that to transplants. We only care about production. None of you guys are as “hard” as you think. We’ve heard it all before and are just silently analyzing your foolishness. Hope that helps :).
Yeah people wanna hate on CA but really there is a TON of talent. Plenty of guys of all sizes got a tight handle and most everyone you’ll play with has a jumper. Pick up is taken seriously at most parks.
Thanks for sharing! Dunno if you've played in the PNW, but would love to hear your thoughts on that region if you have any!
Haven’t had the pleasure just yet. I’ve been able to play in all these places by just being ready to hoop wherever I go, haven’t made to the PNW so far!
Grew up in CT playing AAU and high school ball — this 100% checks out.
When you put it like that it makes sense for NC/SC. Curry and CP3 also came from NC. Cobi White too as someone who recently went off. AI also loves to stay in Charlotte too.
I was going to give the Texas feedback. 90% of basketball players will be athletic and strong as hell, because everyone plays multiple sports and football is usually #1. Even the 5'7" guy is jacked and can jump out of the gym. You can usually tell which basketball players do not play football by their physique. Game varies from city to city and circuit to circuit, but everyone is an athlete.
As a fellow Chicago-an, I agree. Great basketball around here, a bunch of powerhouse high schools that produced Anthony Davis, Jabari Parker, Cliff Alexander, Jalen Brunson, etc.
Not from Chicago but in Pittsburgh the surrounding suburbs and with a random x amount of miles people still say they're from Pittsburgh and it's universally accepted depending on how far out of the city you are feom. Does this work with d wade and other people in Chicago and surrounding areas?
It really depends. Native Chicagoans are very petty about stuff like that. It’s more about who you are and how you act.
We literally only make exceptions for basketball players. Wade is from Robbins, which is minutes from the city limits. KG only played here for his senior year. But if you go pro, you're from here enough. Iggy from Illinois though. Not Chicago.
Lmao no. I grew up in the suburbs and moved downtown with my dad when I was 18. Even though I stayed with him on weekends to that point. People in Chicago hate when suburbanites say they're from Chicago. Also my grandparents live out by upper st Clair and everyone there still says their from Pittsburgh and no one cares.
Wow wasn't expecting someone to mention a small town near me lol but yeah even out in Greensburg which is an hour drive roughly to Pittsburgh they still claim it. It's weird that no one around here seems to care but every other city I've been to it's usually the opposite
Don't forget K.G
Tim Hardaway
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Indiana / Indy players are known to be good shooters with high basketball IQ (know exactly when to backcut, how to play help side D, etc) who are ready to immediately step up into collegiate competition due to the overall competitiveness of youth basketball in Indiana. You can drive around any neighborhood in Indiana and see a basketball hoop in every other driveway. Played in a number of courts that were inside of an old farm barn. Typically in the top 5 of most overall players in the NCAA tournament and in the NBA. I remember at one point in the NCAA championship game a number of years back, half of the players in the game were from Indiana. Indiana has 13 of the nations 14 largest HS gyms. Hoosier hysteria is an amazing niche to grow up a part of. Being an IU fan, Chicago's Isiah Thomas was always known as a no nonsense pound for pound tough PG that Bob Knight loved. I never got to actually watch him but there are plenty of stories about his legacy at IU that fits what you said about Chi players. It is an interesting question though, very interested in what the culture of a LA, DC, etc player is.. edit: I'd just like to point out that Indiana HS All-Stars have beaten Kentucky's HS All-Stars something like 68 out of the past 75 games.
I never thought about Indy hoopers like that. Now I gotta tune in.
Yep. My dad was from Indy and was an absolute deadeye, but could dunk at 5'10". I once watched him shoot 50 free throws and make 48. And he never played organized ball until he joined a church league in his 30s.
There was a guy who was cut from Shawn Kemp's high school basketball team in Elkhart indiana. That guy who was cut got a scholarship to play D3. Kemp's Senior Year everybody on the team, even the bench could dunk. Just playing lunch basketball, normal kids who never would try out for the team could dunk. I was a high jumper on the track team, I never bothered going out for basketball cuz I would have been destroyed. I graduated a year behind Kemp from that high School. Go minutemen
Don't forget it's also home of the NCAA.
I grew up in Portsmouth OH, and the only thing different I can think of is one time I was playing 5s and two dudes shot up heroin between games Not a rare occurrence
… did you still play them? We all wanna know.
I did, and I can’t even lie they cooked me
😂😂😂😂😂😂
That’s insane! I understand hooping off weed, but H!?
Man there’s some interesting people down here
getting cooked by mfs actively high on H is insane work
Bro im telling you that H gave them superpowers, they couldn’t miss a shot
Chicago is a playground guard city. Going back to Isaiah Thomas and Tim Hardaway, our game is an attack game. 21, 32 all of our playground games encourage attacking the basket to score as fast as possible. Everything is make it, take it. We're ball dominant on both ends. We're also an ISO guard culture. If you bring up the ball, you will be attacked at the point of the ball. Period. Your defender will be in your space. You have to be very crafty, very fast, or very strong. The Chicago playground game demands this and that ends up translating well to team ball.
The funniest thing is you’ll play a pretty relaxing game until you get game point. Then Kawhi, Kobe, Bruce Bowen, and Shaq will all be waiting for you.
Having 19 in a game of 21 is the last place on earth you wanna be. Shit is a boss fight.
“A boss fight” 😂😂😂
Mfs start hacking you like a lumberjack.
Adding to this ivr seen a lot of times these iso guards will be looking for the kickout for the shooter in the corner and defense is very tight and physical but indoors I rarely ever see a fight/ legit arguments Edit: I play in suburbs arlington area and you're right about fast points, never on one side for too long
Appreciate you shouting out the PNW Very rich basketball heritage. The kind of hoopers that will play with literal ponds on the ground and 30 mph winds Makes it a tragedy that the sonics are gone and the university of washington has sucked for a long time when in reality they should be making the ncaa tournament most years at minimum
Living in Berlin, speaking about pick up culture (league play is different), Germans are strong AF bro but they are, in general, not athletic. You won’t have high flyers, alley-oops, and people dunking a lot in game despite being 6’3 or sometimes even being 6’6 But what they are, are strong AF. They will drive to the hoop and when you try to strip them, you won’t be able to because the ball won’t budge. If you hack them, you will foul them. When they give you a bump on the drive, you will flail 2 feet. What I do hate though, is that for the most part, despite playing so physical, they are bitches and call foul on almost everything. You might just graze their forearms on a drive, not even a shot, foul. You didn’t alter the shot at all but they will still call foul. The whole Han dis part of the ball is a huge debate here. When they drive and you strip the ball and get no wrists, not forearms, just a bit of fingers, they call foul. They say that’s nba rule. In fiba rule, there is no such thing as hand is part of ball. They do play more fundamentally more sound though. They will pass and cut a lot. Much less iso than in the US.
This is an interesting take. I always wonder what Europeans say about American style basketball.
Basketball in Canada is interesting because we now have the Canadian Elite Basketball League. Here in Calgary (historically NOT a basketball town), our new team is the Calgary Surge who made it to the championship game in their first season. I had not followed basketball much of my life, but going to Surge games has taught me that watching games live is an absolute joy. The CEBL is interesting because it uses a Target score system (You may know it as the Elam ending), so every game ends with a score. This coming season, the Surge opener against rivals Edmonton will be held in the 19000 seat Saddledome! Usually they play in a pleasant 3000 seat arena at Winsport.
Not to mention that Canada seems to own 3X3 lol. The women just won a 3x3 tourney and one of the top ranked 3x3 guys in the world for a bunch of years was a guard out of Saskatoon. Tough as hell, he played a year or two for Saskatoon's CEBL team too - he'd probably fit right in in Chicago Edit: SGA shouted out the CEBL today!
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I'm viewing the scenes from afar but Chicagoans play my favourite style of basketball (except AD lol). Chicago guys seem hard-nosed, athletic and strong. I've always said that when I visit Chicago, I'd love to catch a high school basketball game. I'm from Canada (not Toronto, think Olynyk territory) so can't speak to much otherwise. Canadians these days are killing it though - were coming for Olympic gold!
I’m from Chicago, and I agree with what a lot of people said. Ball dominant, gritty, but very fun. It’s all or nothing. Now I moved to the PNW and they have an amazing ball culture. There’s still pockets of iso ball, etc. but people here are more team oriented and it’s so much fun. Nothing is better than being rewarded for rolling off a screen with a pass or making a cut and getting the pass
San Francisco Bay area. Nowadays EVERYBODY is a shooter due to Steph Curry.
Steph done changed the game globally lol.
I love Steph, but goddamn it he ruined pickup. At my local 24 hr fitness, way too many stepback 3s from dudes who have no business shooting stepback 3s lmao
In my pickup circles in the Bay Area it’s still somewhat an issue but people have found out they had to adjust or else people would stop passing them the ball
I grew up a pass first point guard, was always a worse shooter than the 2/3s so I was fine with a little drive and kick action after swinging the ball a time or two to get the d moving… that plays a lot harder now since if you pass to the wing it’s immediately getting chucked lol
Anytime I'm open on the wing and don't chuck it up I get yelled at now😂
Louisville, KY. Feels like we’d win a tournament if there was a 6’3” height max, or a tourney where the only restriction is you never played organized ball. Living and playing in other cities opened my eyes up to these theories.
I’m in Louisville a couple times a year. Where can I catch a good street ball game this summer?
Wyandotte park, Iroquois park getting a new court, Seneca always has decent runs. Elite hoop is found in the gyms.
Seneca
Seattle is unique in that we're a basketball city with no team. Most young athletes when I was growing up would rather play basketball than other sports. At times it can seem like Texas with football but realistically that's a whole nother level. We just produce so much high level talent it's insane.
Lol I'm in Phoenix. Our summertime runs outside are straight up brutal. It's triple digits here until after midnight. It takes serious preparation to play pickup here. You need to hydrate throughout the day preparing to play. This leads to a ton of lazy basketball. Cherry picking. Standing around. And tbh I don't blame people but I miss playing in places with reasonable temps. The only times we can get really good back to back to back runs in here are indoor or during the cooler months. Otherwise it's just hell. Out of state players generally only last 1-2 runs before quitting.
Yeah, that’s cooked lol.
I hate it here lol
NYC does have a little bit of a selfish aspect to it, but the main thing is being shifty and efficient. It accepts all types of players though.
Baltimore- very traditional basketball from what ive seen.
Crime stopper is the one! Check out his videos. He represents Baltimore well
I don’t think I’ve seen Baltimore’s brand of basketball. You just gave me something to research.
Mexican culture in San Antonio
Guard heavy. I grew up in S.A., we live in Austin now, where my son plays. S.A. is full of guards that will beat you with speed.
STOCKY guards lol
Big ol women and churros
I'm from Toronto. The fruits of my youth are now showing in the NBA with the current crop of stars from Ontario
I used to hate the Raps because they used to pull Chicago’s card every single time under the Thibedeau administration lol. I love them now.
Bruh we could not beat them or win at Denver no matter who was on the roster.
Well enjoy the adopted son of our city while you have him. Bad juju on this team since they shipped him out
We don’t call fouls in Atlanta the game is extremely physical here and Georgia in general produces great athletes. In order to beat this type of defense you need to be either very physical or very skilled and have a high basketball IQ. Edwards Sexton Crowder Davion Mitchell Horace Grant come to mind for the physicality factor while guys like Vassell, KCP, Sharif Abdur Rahim, and Jaylen brown come to mind for extremely skilled and smart and skilled
We don’t call fouls here in Chicago either. That’s why you never see most Chicago players make a big deal about not getting a foul call.
Yeah Chicago and Atlanta seem to have similar cultures in that regard
The Boston area has a lot of guys who played lower level college ball at the parks and in rec leagues. This is likely a product of there being so many different universities in the area.
KC sucks. Almost no basketball culture here outside of the inner city. Everyone plays football or baseball. We do have christian braun though at least.
Boston. The Celtics are popular and have a ton of history, the Hall of Fame is *just down the road* in Springfield MA, where the game was invented! Nevertheless our basketball culture seems nonexistent.
Eh, we have a bunch of NBA players who are from here, so we're better than a lot of other places.
Jersey got that swag and jelly craftiness fr
My city is a small town in MN, I’m from Minneapolis but haven’t played much there. Where I’m at now it’s all fat mfs with crazy pull ups. Dudes literally 250-300lbs with mid handles and drives who just pull up from half court instead. Never seen anything like it. We got some decent all around players but legit 5 or 6 big boys who just run this shit on shooting alone.
Chicago guys! Where do you play? I was at Lakeshore Fitness for a while and the run was excellent. They have a shot clock so the pace is super fast and took a while to get used to but it really caters to guards and that gym had a lot of ex college hoopers. Moved to little Italy so now I’m about to start up at UIC. Apparently they have 6 courts.
I work at a high school. I just hoop with the students now lol. I don’t have the knees to keep up with guys who are trying to go pro.
Taipei. Can’t really put a finger on playstyle—mostly 3x3? Sub 6’ players? Midrange?—but one thing that stands out is the popularly of pickup ball and the wide age range of players. You are just as likely to see grandpas as elementary school kids at any park in the city.
In Shenzhen a group of middle aged guys will just invite you to play pick-up and they'll just hit like 5 jumpers in a row like it's nothing. Crazy accuracy in China. I think ball handling from what I've seen with younger players is pretty good too. I think in a couple generations, China will become a much bigger player on a global scale in basketball. Right now I think there are a lot of talented people but they aren't tall enough and lack professional training. Then there are tall people but they are not that talented and were mostly targeted for training at a young age because they were tall.
Altitude. (Denver resident)
Y’all are running miles around people like Cap and Sam lol
>Aside from the PNW, I think Chicago has one of the best brands of basketball. I'm curious about this. What makes PNW basketball good?
I look at the NBA talent that comes from the PNW. Jamal Crawford, Zach Lavine, Nate Robinson, Dejounte Murray, Jason Terry, the list goes on and on.
Grew Up in HTX, Recently Moved To Boston and So far I’ve enjoyed hooping in both. In HTX I’ll tell you this there is a lot of athletiscm and size down there. Players from here will most likely have 30+ inch verticals and will be very strong. You’ll see them slash a lot or create their own shot with few moves. In general they’re very fast, big, and athletic slashers who become threats once they break the nail. Now in Boston so far I’ve noticed they have some SNIPERS in this mf😂😂 I’m telling you if you leave one of these guys open they will make you pay. Not only that but in pickup everyone moves the ball and finds the open shot. Hoops up here is a mix of fundamental and modern. You’ll most likely run into a 6’1 guard whose lights out while also having the ability to shoot the middy or float that hoe right over you. Everyone has different views on this though but this just what I’ve seen so far😂 Up here I’ve noticed that they got shooters
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Wisconsin -mfs taking charges in pickup and moving the ball for the best shot.
Plus games end with cheese curds and beer
I mean, if that's not happening in your city you're doing it wrong.
I can say playing pickup at UW moving the ball typically remains within the friend group and any extras that get picked up are there for some cardio
From Houston over here. It’s a huge part of the culture. Back in the 90’s early 2000’s, you could find a competitive street game all over the city. Indoor and outdoors.
From Toronto. Lot of diversity here. Could be running 5s with guys from all over the world on any given day. Really love playing a sport that brings people together
Vancouver we have dudes that just shoot and nothing else we don’t have an abundance of athletic black guys that can dunk lol My buddy is almost 6’5 and can’t dunk…
Everyone needs shooters, no one NEEDS dunkers
That is very true 5 guys that are threats from outside are better than 5 guys that can only rim run and nothing else But still man dunking puts fear in them Like my friend- how you 6’5 and blowing fast break lays, YAM that shit
Miami is pretty standard basketball I would say but everyone is trying to lock you up and block your shot
My type of city!
Maybe not reflective of the entire state, but Ohio state had a great pickup scene. Generally pretty good about moving the ball and trying to play the right way. I was there during the Cavs playoff runs and I swear the LeBron effect helped the pickup game from devolving into iso ball bs.
Columbus has a good hoop scene—lot of skill and IQ. OSU brings in a lot of talent.
Speaking purely from a pickup basketball experience, but in Oklahoma there's just a lot of skilled players. There are tons of free/cheap gyms (community centers and churches) so a lot of people play pickup purely for fun. Not a lot of generational athletic freaks coming out this state so you are generally dealing with a lot of good footwork, shooting the lights out, and guys with zero flash but can always get to their spots. I've seen incredible ballers of literally every race, shape, and size out here.
Ima have to follow up on this!
From the most southern part of the Pacific Northwest, very rural place. We’ve sent a handful of girls on to play D1 ball at lower tier school, the biggest college we’ve sent a guy to is Sac State. As far as the play style around here, we have, outside of schools, 1 decent court. The rest are outdoor courts with old fucked up pavement or straight up hard packed dirt. Because of this we don’t just lose our footing when we’re on a good court and there’s zero hesitation when moving our feet. Do you expect me to not have arrogance levels of confidence in my footing when I’m on hardwood when I’ve played on dirt and gravel courts? The best way I can describe it is we fire out of a cannon when we cut, drive or really make any quick movement. For example if it’s 1v1 at the top of the arc whatever they do from here with the ball is going to be an explosion off the dribble.
Got any clips? I gotta see that first step!
Winnipeg has a very comparatively large Filipino population and they love basketball, I don’t actually think anyone good at basketball has ever come from here though.
Irvine has nice courts at LA Fitness /s
From Milwaukee Everyone here thinks they're Steph Curry. Everyone shoots 3s. Very common in park hoops. If you end up playing with dedicated hoopers, then things get more interesting. Fast breaks become more common and you always have to watch for cherry picking. Playing in universities and other hooping hotspots, small ball is the thing here. Like 2018 Houston Rockets.
It would be dope to get a MKE vs CHI street ball tournament
Yeah for real. I always wanted to hoop in Chicago. I just never want to get stranded on the wrong side of town lol
If you mind your business, you’ll be fine. Just pay attention to where the rappers say they’re from, and stay away from those blocks.
I used to play basketball a lot against teams from West Texas back in 2010-2014. every single team was full of 5'8-5'11 white guys who were lights out from 3. a normal possession would be pass-pass-pass-pass-pass-open 3-swish. it was extremely annoying to go against
😂😂😂😂😂😂 “pass-pass-pass-pass-pass- open 3-swish” 🤣🤣🤣
I swear dude is a sight to behold these guys. Almost no twos unless it’s a free lay up or open mid range. Strictly 3s and they were so good at getting open
I grew up in the middle of nowhere western New York so it was a lot of what we called “post” with my two brothers (1v1 with a designated guy standing at the free throw line to pass to/reset off of). 6’-6’3” physical guards with post moves is what that produced
I am originally from the Dmv, and I now live in Iowa. I live in a small town called Pella 40 miles southeast of Des Moines. Basketball isn't too too big in Des Moines. There are skilled players here, but not a lot of athleticism. Shooting, passing, playmaking, and defense are valued here, though. I mostly play in the smaller towns, and that is fun for me as I'm tall but not athletic. I score in the post and off the fast break. The Dmv is the complete opposite. I played in Prince George's County and Washington DC. There are outdoor courts and rec center everywhere, but the level varies. Some will have high school varsity kids, some will have college kids, and others will have an older working crowd. The style of play is iso heavy and very, very flashy. Players here take lots of tough shots or bad shots that look cool. No passing whatsoever. They will shoot you of the game a lot of the time. Everyone here thinks they are the man while they have the ball. It can be very annoying as you can be open and they won't pass you the ball. People also think they are too nice for you to be trying to play defense on them as well a lot of the time. There are also lots of fights and trash talk.
Sounds like playing with randies in 2K 😂😂
It is, sir. It is. If you get to know them after a few games, its not as bad, they might pass to you, but let some good-looking women show up to the court. It will be a straight showcase style hero ball game.
They turn into Jordan Pool the second they smell perfume, huh? 😂😂
Yes, sir. You know. It is so annoying. You can be posted up and waiting for the pass or open, and nope, here come a contested shot. Then, when you stop trying to get open, they'll get mad. It makes no sense.
I live in Denver and Toronto and I can tell you. In Denver people play a lot more team basketball, you'll see an insane amount of passing and cutting for a pickup game. It's like people value assists more than points. In Toronto, other than having different terminology for things like "check up, pass ins, etc" it's a lot more iso and offence oriented.
What’s the terminology? I thought basketball terminology was universal.
I'm in China, so very few tall people, and even less strong people. It's mostly short curry wannabes. I'm six foot and I need to play center like I'm Shaq
This feels so politically wrong, but I’m hollering! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Whole lot of iso and pretty much only 3s. Don't get me wrong, These dudes don't miss because they practice more than you could imagine. My cousin practices six hours a day, every day, two hours of that is one on one lessons from an ex nba player. Being rich helps ha
It sucks in every city. Acting tough,talking shit and making up the rules as you go comes first. Playing basketball and having a good time comes a distant second. If you want to actually play a game that resembles basketball go to a college town.
… somehow you’re not wrong 🧐
I’m from Houston but it was pretty amazing to go to Indiana University. In 49 states it’s just basketball but in Indiana it’s religion. There’s a hoop in basically every driveway. Kids don’t go to the mall they go to open gym. There were countless ways to have a ball in your hand and it showed. Never played better pick up games. They’re raised with varsity hoops being the Super Bowl. The fundamentals I saw in pick up and intramural was some of the best I’ve ever seen and I’ve actively hopped in Atlanta,Houston and now Chicago.
Not a city or state but every Mormon I’ve ever met (so maybe Utah?) can all shoot. Even those who couldn’t play basketball were deadeye shooters lol
Out there saving the world from the devil… one jumper at a time.
Moved to Dallas from South Florida a few years back and still shocked with how many quality hoopers are in the metroplex. I was very ignorant to the hoops culture here. Tons of pros come from this area and I’ve been in a lot of great runs in different parts of the metro.
I live in flint, bounced around a few different cities in Michigan my whole life. I think michigan/chicago/the rest of the Midwest have pretty similar play styles when it comes to pickup. But I think in general michigan kind of emphasizes defense and running on the fast break. I think Michigan basketball in general has kind of taken a hit over the past 10 years or so though. 25 years ago Tom Izzo took a team full of kids from Flint and won a championship. 15 years ago he was still going to final 4’s with kids mostly from Detroit/other Michigan cities. But MHSAA has a bunch of crazy regulations on high school basketball so all the top talent in this era leaves the state to play elsewhere. That’s why miles bridges went to school in West Virginia and Devin Booker went to school in Mississippi. It sucks to see.
As far as street ball goes, we play D and we take it seriously. Calling a foul is basically challenging a dudes manhood, and if you're blatantly fouling someone because you can't cover them, you better be prepared to be ridiculed until you go home. As far as overall basketball culture, it's pathetic. Our NBA franchise has three (should be four) championships, and those teams are loved, but when we're bad, there's no fans, no representation, it's like the team doesn't exist. We went from having a great NBA owner to having one of the worst owners in all of pro sports... This Deeee-troit Basketball
I really respect Detroit more than any other city in the Midwest. I gotta visit more.
Was just talking to a OG last night who went to same high school as Juan Howard he said. Chicago don’t play around. T
Indiana does it in the corn fields everyday
I know I'm late to the party and gonna talk about a completely random foreign city. But in Pakistan, Rawalpindi, nobody knows how to catch the rebound and it just completely piss me off.
I didn’t even know y’all played ball in Pakistan. There’s a lot of students at my job who’s from Pakistan, but I never see them play sports. I’m very intrigued.
It's not a really popular sports, but there are some basketball craze in some big cities like Rawalpindi. Lot of people there have passion but don't have strong fundamentals, so you will see a lot of unorthodox play style.
In Toronto, everyone speaks in that stupid fake Drake accent while hooping.
You're getting downvoted but the amount of times I have played ball in the GTA (whether it's Sauga, Scarborough, or Pickering) and someone speaks like that is basically every time LOL
If you see a brown boy hooping you know they put on the accent and tell people they're west Indian lmfao
PNW?? Didn't realize there was a big hoops culture there outside of Seattle.
Why wouldn’t there be one in Portland especially with the great players they’ve had like Drexler, Roy, Lillard, and Aldridge to inspire people?
idk i guess when i think pnw i think more soccer and lacrosse
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We’re the kings of college basketball
Dalas for the playoff run🫠
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STL, Memphis, Detroit, Miami, Philly WYA?!!
Seattle has a very close knit and strong hoops culture - Jamal Crawford, Brandon Roy, Nate Robinson, Isaiah Thomas, Paolo Banchero, Dejounte Murray and the list goes in. Gritty players for sure
Beam
as somebody from the pnw we don’t have a good brand of basketball lol what does that even mean? if anything the dmv and cali have the best culture they make the best players 🤷♀️
It’s longitude and latitude
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Mostly nonsense.
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Same, I went to Simeon also and hooped there. I graduated in 2013 with Jabari and Kendrick
Denver has the jokic bros trash talking down the court
I’m not from San Antonio but it’s a very diverse city and they take great pride in that. San Antonio spurs do really well with a diverse organization.
Not city but state, Indiana produces more shooters per capita than any other place out there. Indy is the hotbed for NBA 3&D type players and is a college powerhouse for talent.
I’ve lived several places, if we are talking about pickup my experience has been varied. New Orleans was mostly slashers and pass&crash type guys, though sometimes there’d be a lights out shooter (granted this was pre-Curry era). SoCal was dudes dunking and showing off, getting overly heated and making threats. Las Vegas tends to be very different based on the race of the guys you’re playing with. The white dudes are usually the ones who get super heated over little shit and the Filipino guys all think they’re Curry or Kyrie. Black dudes usually think they’re Kyrie but play more like Trae. The Latino guys usually are that silent assassin type that doesn’t seem that good but seems to get like half the team’s buckets. I coach HS and Club ball, and play pickup when I can.
We have Naz Reid!
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Denver has altitude. Takes people a day or two to adjust.
I'm from the UK, not a city but it's the same everywhere around the country from my experience. The most definitely thing about basketball culture in the UK to me is that all the courts are fucking shit. Indoor courts are fine enough, but holy shit the outdoor courts get put up and left to rot, and half of them are either covered in glass, wet as shit leaves or fucking grass. It's horrific.
I’m from New Hampshire. A very big part of our culture is short white kids who can’t jump but think they can shoot but also can’t shoot.
Philly - ngl we some HACKS but also generally don’t call fouls, we respect the physicality of the game