I’d really like to get into the sport and I’m looking for tips such as where to watch (old) games and learn about interesting history.
A lot of people have mentioned great tips for getting into playing basketball but theres one absolutely crucial one that hasnt been mentioned yet: footwork footwork footwork. Seriously. 99% of the people you will play recreationally will have terrible footwork on offense and defense but it is absolutely fundamental. The best way to improve your footwork is to play soccer or be a dancer lol
edit; Also, do your Mikan Drills! I cant tell you how many easy smoked layups I see from people who should be better.
edit 2: Okay last addendum: The two moves that opened up my scoring more than anything are the windmill crossover and this unnamed fake-into-crossover move. The windmill crossover is not too hard to pull off but the other move is much more advanced. But it shows how you can make a huge advantage just using a little bit of footwork. Heres two great videos that break down the two moves
Play Nba2k. It really helps you learn all the players and rosters. I used to know pretty much every scrub in the NBA but since ive stopped playing I really only can remember starting lineups at best lol. You can also learn a lot about basketball plays from that game which should make watching the real game easier.
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Find a friend who loves basketball
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Find out what team he or she supports
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Become fan of the rival team
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Done - you will endlessly trash talk with your friends and fall in love with basketball in no time
I use https://www.basketball-reference.com/to look at stats. Really useful for comparing players/teams/eras etc.
Fantasy basketball is another good way to learn a little bit more about individual players and keeps you current on who is trending. Lots of sites have free leagues
Pick a handful of teams just based on first impressions, which usually come from players that you like for their skill and/or personality. Watch a few games for each team when the season starts (or games from last season if you have access to them) and you should click with a team pretty quickly.
Consider paying for the NBA streaming service, it lets you watch as much basketball as you want. I think you can sign up by the month if you just want to use it to get up to speed and that’ll give you access to all of last season’s games as well as a bunch of much older ones.
