volume 148 - offball screen
ball don't lie
memes of the week 🤠
leaving group chats is simultaneously the most nerve-racking and most empowering thing i’ve ever done
love it when my coworker lingers too long and talks about the prison industrial complex and how she’s going through a divorce (i wish i was joking)
hahahaha
ahh yes, my go-to for therapy sessions 🥲
happy Tuesday y’all :)
today’s volume is all about basketball. i’ll be highlighting some of my fav pieces of content from the archives and the music that accompanies them
i talk about my love for hoop briefly in volume 143:
but i wanted to go a bit deeper today. so let’s start at the top: why offball screen? what even is an offball screen?
first, let’s set the scene with onball screens:
you’ll see these in pick and rolls where a player will set an screen onball then rolls to the basket or pops out for a shot to provide options for the ballhandler to make a decision. will they take a shot? pass to the screener? pass to their teammates? reset the offense?
all these options while working within a 24 sec shot clock
then we have offball screens:
offball screens have a similar philosophy to onball but as the name implies, everything happens while the ball is in someone else’s hands
unless the defense is hyperaware of everything going on (which is hard to be everywhere at once), there’s ripe opportunity to create offense while not touching the ball. you don’t need to be highly skilled to execute these either!
i love setting screens in pickup hoop because it enables others to get involved and feel like they’re part of a team. that’s already a win enough in my book, getting buckets is the cherry on top 🥲
so why is offball screen my username? i was tired of using some variation of my name for social handles. i’m blessed enough to have @claudio for Cash App and Soundcloud but i don’t use them much. i wanted to go back to when i was younger on AIM and Myspace and pick something unique to me
@offballscreen represents everything i’m about, both on and off the court. (the handle also happens to be fully available everywhere 😉)
i’m all about being behind the scenes enabling others. i don’t need to be at the forefront for validation
as the saying goes: faster alone, farther together
and with that, let's get to the music for the week ❤️🔥
- claudio / claud / @offballscreen
this week’s music ⤵️
Hip-Hop
Dead Prez
Released: 2000
i have no idea how i stumbled upon Yinka Dare’s mixes but they were so influential on my love for the game growing up. Yinka Dare the player had a cup of coffee in the league (aka a bench player who barely played and had a short career)
but the anonymous Yinka Dare creator? they were my entry to the NBA and to rap in general
it’s classic early 00s highlights in potato quality but this particular mix is ingrained in my memory. i think of it whenever this Dead Prez song comes on
this was my intro to Tracy McGrady aka T-Mac. he was a silky smooth 6’8 shooting guard who looked sleepy on the court but would give you bucket after bucket after bucket. these highlights focus on his time with the Raptors (with their dope ass jerseys) along with some highlights of when he blossomed with the Magic:
What Happened To That Boy Feat. Clipse
Baby
Released: 2002
the commercial and shoes had me in a chokehold when i was younger!! this embodied the different ways T-Mac would give you a three piece combo no biscuit
he went straight from HS to the league and his line in the commercial about taking rookies to school every night is so class:
the T-Mac 3s in particular were my favorite from his sneaker line. they’re so crispy and clean cut. i definitely had to cop for middle school basketball
they were my gateway for my love for sneakers. he even broke out mismatching patent leather pairs for the all-star game which was and still is hard af:
Invincible
Capone-N-Noreaga
Released: 2000
i LOVE old school AND1 mixes. Curry making all these kids shooters today was what AND1 was doing to kids back then developing their handles:
it toed the line between entertainment and quality hoop. but it’s not about what’s technically right, it’s about what’s fun to watch. at their peak they even had a video game, a reality tv show, and were playing in arenas!!
the equivalent nowadays is all these youtubers going to parks and recording their games. it shows how streetball persists in different forms and fashions over time
Ayva Çiçek Açmış
İstanbul Şarkıcıları
Released: 1979
the Houston Rockets are my favorite team and have a long history of big men coming through the ranks all the way from the 60s: Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone, Ralph Sampson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Yao Ming, Luis Scola, Clint Capela, (we skip over Dwight Howard), and now Alperen Sengun:
he’s in the Jokic mold but not elite (yet). he creates for others with his flashy passes, shifty af for a big man, a throwback to the old game with his post moves, and is generally fun to watch
he’s not the most athletic but knows how to use his body. he’s how i envision my game aging as i get older 😌
also, HUGE shout out to Dunk Comp: they have the best mixes out with great music selection and oscillate up n down the obscurity levels of players. a treasure of content we should cherish while they’re still around
the pains of trying to get your teammate to stop ball watching and look at the perfect off-ball screen you're setting