PCTI Basketball Training: BINNY

Ben "JD" Wilson:

-Usually play 2x a week...Wednesday nights and early Saturday mornings.  Don't play outside of this game.

-First few times I played in the game was during visits to Nashville, and Ahop was able to slide me into the game.  Two of my high school teammates also play in said game, so that also helped for my vetting process.  One of three people put the game together...you get a text a day or two before each game asking if you can play.  A tight rotation of guys is usually kept...so if you miss a couple games, you move down the list depending on that game's organizer.  The "staples" get the text every time, and I think I've gotten into that group having played for a year now and making it a point early on to be available for every session when I first moved here.

-The usual group of guys range from late 20s to early 40s...I'm one of the youngest guys that plays.  Skill wise it's pretty comparable to PCTI minus the intensity most of the time...a couple of the guys probably played small college ball.  Size wise (in PCTI terms) it's usually 4 non-guards that get split up 2/2, and then 6-8 guards.  The staples pretty much play on the same team every time, so you have an idea of who you'll be playing with each time.  It's a mostly Caucasian game with an occasional dash of an ex-Titan player that one of the organizers would prolly give a handy to if he could.

-My role in these games is similar to my PCTI role...I think I'm relied upon to score so I don't hesitate to fire away, usually all for naught.  I usually have a non-guard that can also score that I can defer to if needed, but guard-wise I'm usually the top option to create my own shot...hardly goes in when I do, but you get the idea.  Will occasionally have better scorers put on my team, and I can defer to them as well.  But I'm not as effective that way because I'm not a great mover without the ball.  Defensively, I usually guard the other team's least threatening scorer...the only difference from Wes is that he doesn't stop moving, so I don't mind to guard him as PCTI prep so I can try to be totally not out of shape when I show up for PCTI.

-I love the format/timing of the games (3 games to 50 by 2's and 3's, sub in/out freely since we usually have 12, takes about 1.5 hours to play, winning team of last game gets ball first the next session).  The post-ball Chick Fil-a with the guys I hang out with outside of the game is also cool.  Dislikes, there are 1-2 people I just don't like playing with, and I'm basically always on my least favorite guy's team...and the 7am Saturday time can be hard to get up for sometimes, but it's getting easier in my advanced age. 

Editor's Note: This is the same game I play in so more to come when I post.