Sports Equipment & Infrastructure Blog | Sport Systems - Building A Better Game

Can Your Streetball Hoop Stand The Heat?

Written by Jeff Hurrle | Jan 16, 2014 6:01:00 PM

One of the most magical things about basketball is how despite the set of standard rules, no two games are alike, and each player can express him or herself on the court with a sense of style and flare unique to the sport. Streetball, or street basketball, refers to pickup games of hoops on outdoor courts by amateur players. It doesn’t feel quite right calling any of these athletes amateurs exactly - theirs is the kind of raw skill and talent that can’t be taught. The individual nature of streetballers’ spirit and enthusiasm on the court is what gives street basketball its very character.

By its very nature, streetball is light on rule-enforcement and heavy on the expression individual skill. There are no referees on the street basketball court, so the game tends to move at a fast, uninterrupted pace. In order for a player to hold his own in these types of games, he must be quick and nimble, with killer ball-handling skills. It is no wonder so many young NBA stars got their start on the streetball court.

High among the ranks of the greatest NBA players of all time is the the legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But before he made history playing for the LA Lakers on the west coast, Abdul-Jabbar got his basketball start back east on the the street courts of New York, NY where he mastered his trademark “Skyhook” shot.

A whopping 12 pounds 10 ounces and 22 ½ inches long at birth, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was a formidable presence from the start. Towering at 6 feet 8 inches by the time he reached high school, Abdul-Jabbar was busy tearing it up on the streetball court as well as setting records for his school team. He went on to earn countless MVP and All-star titles throughout his career, owing a great deal of his success to his unique skills - like his famous Skyhook - that he learned on the streetball courts in New York.

When unharnessed talent takes the court, like the young Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once did for a game of streetball, will your outdoor basketball hoops be able to take the heat? When it comes to outdoor basketball hoops, durability is the name of the game. The structure must be able to weather the elements as well as the intensity of future NBA All-star players. With all of this in mind, Sport Systems proudly offers the most rugged and recognizable basketball systems in the outdoor sports market! Our directly-welded backstops provide a durable, maintenance-free solution to outdoor basketball courts.