The Newbie’s Guide to Pick-Up Basketball in Brooklyn
THE ETIQUETTE
1. Always agree to join a game: Look, we know you haven’t played in a while and you need to work on your left hand and that your one-man layup drill is very important to you, but the only way you’re really going to get better is by playing. So when people ask you to jump in so they can make even numbers, you should always say yes. YES.
2. Don’t call every little foul: If one guys starts calling the softest little hand-checks it initiates a mutually assured game of tedious stoppages. Sure, as games go down to the wire, and there are three other teams waiting for the court, things will get a little more tense, but don’t be a jerk.
3. Don’t call any but the most obvious violations: There’s nothing worse than hearing “moving screen!” during a sunny Saturday morning pick-up game. Also, everybody travels all the time, it’ll even out.
4. Don’t call for a switch every time you sense the possibility of a pick: Yeah, seriously. You gotta try to fight through or slip under the screen, and make guys hit the outside shot before you worry about getting in their face or asking for help (this is a good general rule).
5. You gotta give it up to get it back: Sure, Brooklyn streetball entails—how can we put this—a more individual approach to play, but you can’t just jack it every time you get the ball. Use your teammates and they’ll use you—and then your team will probably win.
6. When you pick, roll: Even at the very best pick-up games, teams have a hard time defending a properly executed pick-and-roll (and at the mediocre ones, holy shit you can clean up). So for the love of Pistol Pete, ROLL HARD TO THE HOOP AFTER SETTING A SCREEN.