You probably have never heard of Yoshihiro Kagitomi. In New York’s summer league culture, even as it grows ever multicultural with each passing year, he is still just a blip. But, if you look deep enough, you do know him. If you love New York City, if you love basketball in all its shapes and sizes, you know him. He’s one of those people with a passion for the game that just never dies.

What basketball has done to help this 36-year-old Tokyo transplant and his family find a true home and culture to identify with in this otherwise foreign place, is what should make him meaningful to anyone with a deep appreciation of the game. Across barriers of language and culture, basketball has made Yoshi one of New York’s own. Read More »

The next issue of Bounce Mag currently being chopped and screwed will feature our take on the NYC Nike Tournament of Champions and the Boost Mobile Elite 24 game in Venice Beach. But with the first ever World Basketball Festival making its home here in the city, we had to be heavy in the streets that weekend to cover it will definitely be highlighted with pics, players and the overall unprecedented level of illness that took over the NYC hoops scene for a little over four days. Like any other great production, some things just didn’t quite make it to the finished product and ended up here on the site like the extra credits portion of your favorite DVD.

I got the chance to kick it with Renaldo Balkman at the WBF where we spoke about his heritage, his adjustment to ballin’ with his Boricua brethren and other goodies like that.

Enjoy!

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It was a busy week for us. Fury vs. Watch Out exhibition game last Thursday was a good one.  We got the chance to play against Roman “El Regalo” Perez and Spanish pro Nacho Martin along with Dominican pro Victor Toribio and good friend of the Fury, 40 Cal.  To keep with the international flavor, we even tried to use the official FIBA pro league ball but it still isn’t broken in yet, and got the blame for an excessive amount of turnovers. Read More »

The one-man Fury traveling team, Darren “DJ” Jiang of Battlegrounds fame and now part of the Nike team, came back to NY on Tuesday to help oversee the opening of Nike’s new space in Harlem. When not acting as Lebron and Kobe’s personal translator in China, DJ drops in from time to time and gets a game in with us. And, he ALWAYS has on the latest from Nike

Unfortunately, I’m no sneakerhead by any stretch and shame on me, I’m an embarrassment to Bob especially. I didn’t even get good shots of the kicks. In the game, DJ wore a pair of new, Carolina Blue pre-release Nike Hyperfuse, the latest incarnation of the Hypderdunk line, set to launch at the World Basketball Festival in August. Read More »

Last week, got a win in the Lower Manhattan Classic on Sunday but then took a tough loss to Iced Tea on Thursday. No excuses, we had a full roster, 6-9 Spanish pro, Nacho Martin, even filled in for us off the bench, he’ll be running with us until he goes back to Spain at the end of the month. We played well enough to win, got within 3 pts in the final 3:00 min but for the first time in this league, we flat out got outplayed.

PG for Iced Tea sealed the deal with back-to-back 3s. I don’t know the kid’s name but he put in work. Feisty, too, my kind of guard, a lot like Joe Kim. Anyway, Ham-Fish up on Wednesday night then we have a “friendly” (or “exhibition game” in American) against good friend of the Fury, Roman “El Regalo” Perez (who plays on our Fastbreak NYC team), Nacho and some pros from Spain and the DR they’ve put together. Should be a good run, come out to Fury vs. Watch Out, Thursday, 8:30pm @ MLK HS (122 Amsterdam Ave) to take a peek. Until next time…

Photos by Jocelyn Lam

I debated doing this journal again this summer. Last year, if felt kind of like the Borat section of Bounce. The Fury’s experience as an All-Asian American team in NYC’s Men’s Unlimited leagues hopefully did as much to expose Asian Americans to the beauty and rigors of NYC’s summer streetball as it did to expose streetball to Asian American athletes. Our “Cultural Leanings of Streetball,” if you will, were more like a goodwill tour. But now, our team is hardly a punchline. Read More »

If it starts to get wet out and you’re in the neighborhood, duck into “The King,” MLK HS (122 Amsterdam Ave.) today and check out some of the best and brightest Asian-American basketball talent New York and DC has to offer. Read More »