Milton “UltraReady” Lee (back turned) and Sean “In Fin” Couch demonstrate closing out on a defender. Photo: Alton Ritter.

Baruch College turned into one big turntable early Sunday morning as players from NYC’s Public School Athletic League got into the rhythm of basketball conditioning on the run. Over 90 boys and girls representing 10 P.S.A.L teams came out to work on their conditioning for the upcoming season. With sneakers stuttering against waxy wood, the players got into our world-famous tap rebounding drill that takes players out of the gym, up staircases and back into the gym to catch a basketball on the far side of the court, tap it against the backboard and take off again. Trainer Milton Lee dropped cones like they were hot during the drill, turning the straight run into a defensive sliding, shuffle cutting, stutter-stepping frenzy that had the gym in a rhythm that lovers of straight ball and the street game appreciate. Read More »

Sherrod Wright – Pick 9 in Mock Playground Draft

While watching former St. Anthony’s standout Tyshawn Taylor, (first playground experience was with Dyckman/Jim Couch Foundation in the Holcombe Rucker Memorial League) start as a freshman at Kansas, I grouped him as a player who could excel as an All-Surface Performer. He possesses the killer speed and sudden stops to dead defender’s legs, the bungees to go over the 6′8″ or better big man, and the jumper to deal with the uneven elements that the outdoor game brings. Combine that with the killer disposition to recover from the back-and-forth, one-on-one challenge the playground presents, and you get a player who has the ability to excel on the All-Surface level (Grassroots/High School, College and Playground).

Playground ability is a gift that many players who are NBA pros don’t possess. The list down below presents 10 that are All-Surface types. They have the ability to play in the NBA and come through on the asphalt to produce the “spillout” that we all love to talk about. A few names are surprising. Read More »