RealGM

So the Lakers were here in DC yesterday and before the game me a friend were discussing whether the movie White Men Cant Jump was a true representation of early 90s LA streetball.

So I thought this was an excellent question to ask on this forum.

Is the movie White Men Cant Jump a true representation of early 90s LA streetball?

I know it is just a movie but overall would you say yes or no?

No offense to the younger members of this forum but I am especially interested in the reading the replies of those of you (ages 34 and up etc...) who actually lived it.

Here on the east coast the street ball scene is absolute garbage compared to back then so I am curious if the same holds true over there on the west coast as well.

White guys girl was the best part of the movie.

The action was just as tough. Although the movie was a bit over the top. Much more hustlin' back then. Not so much now I don't think maybe with the older players but the youngin' are trying to polish skills or what not cos they all going pro.

Here on the east coast the street ball play was way more competitive back then than now.
The shooters and ball handlers were deadly.
People would literally spend all day on the court and even into the night if the court had lights.
Lots of trash talking

Of course over here there is a weather factor which takes us off of the court for 5 months out of the year (November-March) and sometimes longer. Many people stopped and never started back up and again once the weather turned warm.

Then obvioulsy people got married and had kids, got full time jobs then our cost of living (in the DC area) went through the roof where many people had to get 2nd or 3rd jobs in order to survive.

Generation X was more dedicated to street ball than Generation Y over here.
They took it way more serious than kids do now.

During the warm months over here most basketball courts that were packed back in the day are empty now.

I do not know if video games or technology has something to do with it but the dedication over here is seriously lacking.

I don't think it has very much to do with video games. Maybe for the very young folks maybe highschoolers. If you play in high school now a days it seems that kids like to play in the gym more than playing out on the street so their game is 'stale' and homogenous. Kids with any form of skill and or talent these days are aware of traveling teams. So a lot of them are on those teams traveling in the summer. Players like LBJ and Wall spent summers on teams like these. I have an example. There is a kid that is from this town that I am currently living in. He has skill but his game needs polish and some toughness. Many old schoolers were all saying that he could improve his game if he left that gym and hit the playground locally or head north to Chicago to play up there. Unfortunately he did not he stayed continued on with a traveling to team that continued to homogenize his game. Eventually the kid will end up a one trick pony. He was once No.8 prep kid in the nation. Now he rides the bench for UK. Why because tougher more skilled kids are on the team. Toughness and basketball savvy is something you can pick up from streetball. Ask Kobe, Garnett, and Steve Nash.

Yes I do agree for the older players the economy probably has a lot to do with it. When I visit courts in Los Angeles, Nashville, and St.Louis all I see now are local college players, a very few amount of highschoolers, and many YMCA guys (lawyers, doctors, and other professionals) just balling for exercise. No hustlers no "real" street ballers. Maybe when the economy gets better people will have more time to spend on the courts.

Similar but without the Hollywoodism, there's now a handful of parks and courts I use to frequent back in the days that are no longer present. Liberty was one of the best spot in social to ball up but parks and rec decided to tear down the bball courts because of the intense competition that resulted in many shootings between the players. Many innocent people that use the park got hurt in the process. Other bball hot spots either turned fullcourts into halfcourts or completed got rid of it to avoid fights.

H00PDREAMS wrote:I don't think it has very much to do with video games. Maybe for the very young folks maybe highschoolers. If you play in high school now a days it seems that kids like to play in the gym more than playing out on the street so their game is 'stale' and homogenous. Kids with any form of skill and or talent these days are aware of traveling teams. So a lot of them are on those teams traveling in the summer. Players like LBJ and Wall spent summers on teams like these. I have an example. There is a kid that is from this town that I am currently living in. He has skill but his game needs polish and some toughness. Many old schoolers were all saying that he could improve his game if he left that gym and hit the playground locally or head north to Chicago to play up there. Unfortunately he did not he stayed continued on with a traveling to team that continued to homogenize his game. Eventually the kid will end up a one trick pony. He was once No.8 prep kid in the nation. Now he rides the bench for UK. Why because tougher more skilled kids are on the team. Toughness and basketball savvy is something you can pick up from streetball. Ask Kobe, Garnett, and Steve Nash.

Yes I do agree for the older players the economy probably has a lot to do with it. When I visit courts in Los Angeles, Nashville, and St.Louis all I see now are local college players, a very few amount of highschoolers, and many YMCA guys (lawyers, doctors, and other professionals) just balling for exercise. No hustlers no "real" street ballers. Maybe when the economy gets better people will have more time to spend on the courts.

I agree.

LBJ did not really have much of a jumpshot when he came into the league.
Walls jumpshot is average at best.

Now back in the days I remember many street ball players who were deadly from anywhere within the half court line. Those players also had to adjust their shots due to the sunlight, the wind, the rain, the snow (yes I said the snow I am not making that up) and also from excessive fouling from the other players who were guarding them.

Their shots still went in though.

PierceWalker wrote:Similar but without the Hollywoodism, there's now a handful of parks and courts I use to frequent back in the days that are no longer present. Liberty was one of the best spot in social to ball up but parks and rec decided to tear down the bball courts because of the intense competition that resulted in many shootings between the players. Many innocent people that use the park got hurt in the process. Other bball hot spots either turned fullcourts into halfcourts or completed got rid of it to avoid fights.

We had similar incidents here in the DC area as well back then.
That just goes to show you how serious many players were back then about pick up streetball games.
Back in the days on the rare occasion I would decide to play a full court 5 on 5 pick up game you had best believe I was expected to give my team a 100% effort or else I would have felt the wrath from my team mates.
I can only imagine what would have happened to me back then had I pulled out a cellphone and starting texting (like many people do now) during one of the games. I probably would have ended up getting shot at by one of my team mates.

There is an interview that Steve Nash did with Ahmad Rashad( i think) I will search for it and post a link here if I can find it. Anyway in the interview Nash tells a few stories about going to high school in Canada and and about balling up north in the gyms. He was one of the top kids in Canada. He then got to Santa Clara and visited the playground courts of Oakland and Santa Monica where he met and played against the likes of Gary Payton and Jason Kidd. Word of mouth traveled south about Nash's game. He then visited Santa Monica and became good friends with Baron Davis and apparently they hustled on the courts. Thats funny to even think about.

I mean thats an example that street ball turns really good players into more cerebral type players. Nash easily can break down a defense with his passing skill and ball handling. He has very little athletic ability but the guy is hell on the court and tough as nails. Try telling a kid to leave the gym today or get these travel team kids on the court at Ruckers or on the courts in Chi-town and they will look at you like you're crazy.

Can you imagine LeBron trying to dunk on guys at the park all day long. Hmm it wouldn't happen to much because those guys would never allow LBJ to sail through the paint with no contact. He would be floored alot. Thus he would have learned how to SHOOT much earlier on!