What do you think about Asian ballers?

[Horde of Temujin]

I used to play with nothing but asians back in cali. For the most part they are short and can shoot and play good d. Ive played with quite a few asian ballers that could ball with the best of any race. Id say fiilipinos are the best of asians, usually more athletic and bigger. Dont really like playing with vietnamese, they call too many fouls and when you foul them once after theyve been foulin you all day, you get jumped (general rule).

[ghettoracer]

Hi guys, I'm visiting Tokyo and I'm staying at Shin-Okubo which is right next to Shinjuku. I'm an avid ball player although not exact the fancy streetball style. Just solid foundamentals, good shooting, great bank shots, good post up moves, fakes, decent hops (I have about 25" vertical I think and I've never trained to jump, my goal is to spend sometimes training so I can dunk, need about 33" vertical I think...), excellent timing (to grab re's) and good passer (i'm a great team player). I guess I'm a shooting guard although when I play against Asians usually I'm F or Center lol. I like playinig against black ppl because 1. usually they are physically gifted and 2. i like to stun them esp the cocky ones lol. I am quite skilled and I can hold my against anybody my height (5'11"). I often shock black player (because most of them are too cocky) with my skills... haha. I love the game so much and I really enjoy it. Be it 1 on 1 or 3 on 3 or full court. I live in SF Bay Area and it sucks ass for pick up games in the East Bay. Not enough places to play. IMO the best place is UC Berkeley's RSF which is in doors and very nice...

Anyway, I looked at the fareastballer's site but it doesn't have much English. where are the parks they play at? I am staying here at least until March 20th. So if anybody here know where I can get some good pick up games please let me know.

[ghettoracer]

BTW, I can give some perspective on Asian balling as far as Taiwan goes. about 10 years ago or mid 1990's, they were still not that good at hoop. I mean it was sad. I postd them up, and they get scared and dunno what to do. They also ball any kind of touching "foul". It is gay ass fawk. They still call weak ass fouls even today. Then past 2000, they improve a lot. I think it is because finally they get to watch a lot of quality games... NCAA and NBA broadcasts. And they've been improving ever since. Right now I would say they are as good as American kids of the same age. If anything, they love bball more (by the numbers). The average Taiwanese kid is a better shooter and ball handler than American kid. However American kid usually have much better post up games. But on average, even size for size, American kid are stronger physically. Taiwan kids rarely work out and are not physically strong. Kids now days are also a lot taller. I have nephews that are in 8 and 9th grade and he's 5'9" already. So they should be over 6"...

With training, Asians have mad hops too. On my local play ground, there's a dude he was just out of military in 2004. He was in the Taiwanese Navy Seals... and he can dunk with 2 hands. He was only 5'7". He was super strong too. I used to ate me up in 2004 (I was out of shape). However I play him again 2 weeks ago. This time I'm in shape. He is no match for me now hahaha (well, he still more than hold his own, but I think he was thinking wtf dude, this guy is getting older, but he's getting better...). He's like 26 now I am 33. Lot of solid ball player in Taipei I would say.

[ghettoracer]

I recently started playing ball again after almost a 2 year layoff just dont have the stamina and skills at this point to be as good as i can be.

I know what you mean about being off for a while. It takes time to come back. Let me know where you play. I eager to shoot some shots while I'm in Shinjuku. hit me up on aim theghettoracer or skype ghettoracer

[3stat2]

I'm an Aussie and I play both club and streetball, and one major thing I've noticed is the disparity in sportsmanship levels.

There are a lot of asians who have great sportsmanship, even apologizing when they miss an open shot or do a light foul. Those types of players are great to play with; they play purely for the love of the game.

But then there are those who call nonexistent fouls, travel, foul others and can't handle good defense. I've seen a lot of cases where groups of people from local leagues have a few pickup games with asian streetballers, and it gets ugly. League/club players usually play fundamental defense ie. using your body and staying between the basket and the defender with quick lateral movement - the way it's meant to be played - yet these asians with no sportsmanship often get angry and frustrated. This is because the pickup groups they usually play against do not have the defensive fundamentals and skills of league players. They're just not used to facing hard, tough, yet clean defense. As a result, in extreme cases, violence can ensue in these regular league players vs streetballer clashes.

The thing is, most asian streetballers are built very very lightly, yet challenge people to fights. Furthermore, they usually threaten violence towards white people or other asians. When groups of large African-American or Sudanese exchange students play against them, they're too scared to do anything, and usually will move away so they don't have to play against them. It's quite hopeless to watch in all honesty.

But hey, all races probably have a similar type of thing; this is just what I've personally witnessed.

edit - typo

[Unfullfiled]

Amen to that, I totally agree with yah....

[ghettoracer]

So I went around Shinjuku trying to look for a place to hoop. One of the local PD told me the Central Park in Shinjuku has hoops. Now, Central Park is located right next to Tokyo Metro. Gov Building, which governs the huge ass metropolis that is Tokyo. You would think that this park would be bad ass and has a lil' of everything.... not. Next to it is the Haytt...



Out of the blue ran into an Music Artist @ Shinjuku Haytt just now (March 4th 2007). I was actually looking for a basketball court to play at, but I couldn't find any so I decided to check out Haytt to see if any foreigner knows... ran into Tamia & Crew checking out and heading back to Chicago!!!

So the Concierge desk ppl of Haytt (thank you!) actually found the courts for me. It turns out to be less than 0.5 mile away from where I'm staying in a place call Shin-Okubo whic is just about 1 miles North of Shinjuku. It is a public gymnasium that has many activities including hoop but only certain days and certain hours. It is 400 yen (about $3.50, cheap!) and indoors. I'm about to go check it out... finger crossed for good games. :-)

So I'm still looking to play with some good players here... somebody know how to get a hold of those Far East Ballers let me know please. Thank you.

[Rameek]

I know what you mean about being off for a while. It takes time to come back. Let me know where you play. I eager to shoot some shots while I'm in Shinjuku. hit me up on aim theghettoracer or skype ghettoracer

i sent a pm. i looked at the fareast ballers but i dont read kanji... dont speak much japanese either what days are available to play ball at the community center? I usually play friday nights indoors. if the weather stays nice we can hit up the park or hit up the indoor gym. if you live locally at the community center usually its 1.oo or 1.50 outsiders pay 3.oo to 5.oo to play.
i recently destroyed both my ankles yet again so i am on the mend...

[j Fresh]

Never really played with Asian ballers, but from what I hear they are quick

[heavensdevil]

Id say fiilipinos are the best of asians,

U done Know.

[ghettoracer]

quickness is all just a matter of conditioning and training. it also has a lot to do with proper techniques. it doesn't have that much to do with race. most pinoy brother are generally fast because they are in good shape and condition than the average player. you put a "fast" pinoy brother against any well condition college or high school baller and they won't appear to be that fast. this goes true for all weekend warrior ballers... naturally the best street ballers play & practices ALOT.

i'm learning a lot about internal Chinese Martial arts and to generate power you must learn how to user your body properly; need to have correct postures so the right body mechanics = mucho power, most of the MMA fights you see (UFC, K1... etc.) actually has very little internals... and for quickness, you don't need muscles, you need to learn to relax your body. i'm pretty sure as i progress in martial arts i will become even faster and jump higher. i can't wait until i can dunk! w00 h00!! and i'm 33 years, not young by the average standards... but i'm in the best shape of my life... yet!

[IBall280]

i think they r quick and some of em r tall

[ghettoracer]

I went to Shinjuku Sports Center to play yesterday. I played from 4:30 PM to closing @ 10 PM. Lots of good players here actually, and they do understand the game very well. Many were Chinese studying or working here, some from Taiwan. Several ppl from Canada and USA. And of course Japanese locals. It was great fun. We played some 3 on 3, 4 on 4 half courts... then also ran few 5/5 full court. It has two full sized college court. it only cost 400 yen to play or about $3.50. not bad at all.

[Mavs4ever]

Almost all every cities/towns/ streets here in the Philippines usually organized basketball leagues, and to tell you frankly, all of em can play ball. Low post game is done only by the big men with heights 6 ft above which is a rarety here, ( So low post gamers are not favorites here unless your 6'5 up) but below 6 ft you can only watch in awe how quickly these guys run and gun, fastbreaks are common, we can't dunk that much but we can do a variety of lay ups, may it be left or right just to avoid your shotblockin' skills. We also have a professional basketball league (Philippine Basketball Asociation), where we import, professional players from around the world, usually americans to spice up the game. Just an info guys..

[ghettoracer]

That sounds awesome. I'm gonna have to visit .ph someday and hoop it up there. My sister in law is Filipino-chinese so we have some distance family there. Many pinoys are physically gifted more so than the average Asian. So I wouldn't be surprised if some are quick as hell. There's a name Jojo about 55 years old who used work at my father in law's company and he was on the National PH Team. He was 5'10 and back in the days he can easily dunk. He was the PG I think. I think all the older Filipinos know of him.