Do you have a bunch of friends that have been playing basketball for years, and love to play pick up basketball at the park? If so, in order to not be left out you may be wondering what the best way is for you to contribute in a pick up game. So what’s the answer?

There are many ways to contribute to a game when you don’t have the necessary skill and those ways include hard defense, rebounding (boxing out), setting good screens, and being ready for open jump shots.

Let’s take a further dive into each of these ways to contribute.

Make Sure You Play Good Defense

If you could play good defense, you could be valuable to any team. Defense doesn’t take any type of special skill, all you have to do is move your feet side to side and make sure you stay in front of your man. When you are playing good defense, it disrupts the flow of the other team’s offense and can lead to easy scoring opportunities on the other end of the floor.

It’s important to play your man when he has the ball, but also know how to help when another persons man has the ball. The key is to stay between the ball and your man at all times. This way you’re ready to help if you need to, but also if they swing the ball to your man, you can help quickly enough to stop the scoring opportunity.

Some Tips To Play Good Defense

1. Pay close attention to the player you’re guarding, and their tendencies. For instance, if they’ve shot a couple time and you realize they don’t have a very good jump shot, letting them shoot may be a good idea.
2. Make them play with their off hand if it seems like they can’t use it very well. If someone is right handed and it seems like they’re bad at dribbling with their left. Position yourself in front of their right hand, which will force them to switch hands and try and dribble with their left. This will potentially give you a steal opportunity, or mess with the flow of their offense.

Rebounding (Boxing Out)

The second key to fitting in is boxing out. It doesn’t take rocket science to figure this out, it just takes some hustle. If you could learn to box out consistently, you could help your team on both the offensive and defensive end of the floor.

The trick to boxing out is once the ball goes up in the air, you need to locate your man, turn around, and then get your body between them and the ball. Once the ball comes down, either you or another teammate should have the opportunity to grab the rebound and start an offensive opportunity.

Setting Good Screens

Setting good screens is a great way to contribute in a pick up game. If you’re a beginner, chances are you won’t be very good when it comes to scoring the ball on offense. This means that setting good screens can be a key way for you to get your teammate open for an easy look.

It’s not called in pick up much, but it’s important to stand up straight, keep your feet shoulder width apart, and set a strong screen that gives your teammate an opportunity to really get open. While setting a screen it’s illegal to move, so make sure you get to the spot where you won’t have to move in order to screen the defender.

Being Ready For Open Shots

When you’re playing with a couple good offensively players and you’re not to talented offensively, there’s a chance that they could overly focus on guarding those players, letting you get open shots.

If you see the defense overly crowding a specific offensive player when he drives, space the floor and be ready for a mid range jump shot. All you need to be able to do is catch and shoot the ball. If you’re worried about missing, don’t be.

If they’re overly defending a player at the top of the key, there may be a cutting opportunity. So be aware of these situations and be ready to contribute when needed.

A good tip to get ready to shoot the ball is to take the shots you may be taking before the game.

In these cases, you’ll mostly be taking layups and mid range jumpshots. One warm up drill I’ve done over the years to get my touch down before the game is a drill where you start under the basket, and each time you make a shot you take a step back. This will get your confidence up, and improve your touch for when you do need to potentially take a shot.

Don’t Forget To Have Fun

Many people take pick up basketball way too seriously and forget to have fun. It’s important to keep this in mind, especially if you’re playing with a bunch of people who are out for blood.

Remember, it’s just pick up basketball – there’s no need to get overly competitive and upset if you make a mistake or miss a shot. Just keep your head up, keep working on getting better, and have some fun!

The only way you’re going to get better is if you take chances. So don’t let missing shots and other things get to you – just keep playing with confidence.

Why Some Beginners Are Sometimes Needed In Team Basketball

The Dennis Rodmans of the world are overlooked. Dennis made a career, and won championships off of playing defense, setting screens, and getting rebounds.

Being the beginner player in pick up basketball allows for good team basketball, as too many good offensively minded players could actually hurt a team.

If you ever watch basketball, take a look at Draymond Green as well. A lot is said about Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, but if you watch their highlights on YouTube, you’ll notice that the warriors offense and defense wouldn’t be as good if it weren’t for the little things Draymond has done over the years.

Conclusion

As long as you don’t do more than your role, you should be able to fit in just fine. If you want to dive into these things deeper, YouTube the terms how to set screens, how to rebound, etc. The more you learn ahead of going out and playing pick up games, the more you can contribute.

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