Mo with Rice Varsity and JV during Pre-Season Conditioning
From Harlem New York’s Young World Summer League Tournament to Rice High School excellence, Maurice “Mo” Hicks steams the talent and serves it hot for the New York City area. For more than 30 years, Hicks has treaded the asphalt and wood of the City with dignity and skill as a player, coach, and summer league tournament director. He learned the game from Coach Mike Mcllwain at Harlem’s Stone Gym and then went on to join a phenomenal Riverside Church team that featured future pro’s Ed Pickney and Chris Mullin. He’s one of the most respected high school coaches in America and is highly regarded for his dedication to the playground game. I interviewed Mo briefly to get his playground highlights.
Bounce: Who taught you how to play and respect the game? Read More »
TNT announcer Kenny Smith wasn’t giving props at last year’s dunk contest to anyone who went with an unoriginal dunk. If it was done before, he and the crowd demanded more. Rudy Gay went straight to youtube to find the moves for the slam dunk contest. Dwight Howard and Gerald Green came with props, using cupcakes and capes to revive the event that many said was playing itself out. Now that the bar is raised and people are looking forward to the contest, I’m personally waiting for someone to add some streetball/b-boy flavor to the festivities. We got players lobbing and kicking the ball to dunkers. How ’bout some “Alimoe-B-boy” aka “The Section 8″ to add more flavor to the event.
The Section 8 movement is for all my brothers and sisters who came up from the jects, tenements, and homes that were looking for someone to notice their skills. I’m down with it and a part of it. Alimoe is one of the most original ball handlers in the world. His infamous “wrap the ball around the defenders head and then pass it off the backboard to himself for a dunk” is a game-executed move that was done at EBC and the Holcombe Rucker Tournament. Here are some good “section 8″ suggestions. Read More »
