In this essay, I will teach you how to play pickup basketball.
- 2s and 3s, up to 15 if more than 5 are waiting, up to 21 otherwise
- First ten people in the gym play first. The best way to pick teams intially is to designate two similarly skilled players to pick teams
- Everyone is an atomic unit, no one gets to pick their team
- If there are too many people waiting, then shoot for it
Rule number 1 is the most consistently violated out of these, and it the most critical. I believe that playing by 1s and 2s is highly distortive and changes the game beyond comprehension. In short, it makes shooting behind the arc the only viable strategy. Let's do some quick math.
Team A only shoots 1s, and they shoot 100%. Team B only shoots 2s, and they shoot 51%. Team B wins.
In 2s and 3s, if Team A shoots 100% from 2, then Team B has to shoot 66% to keep pace. This seems much more reasonable. Some of what I am saying here is selfish. I like to post up, and I do not want to constantly have to close out to shooters. But most of it is aesthetic. I believe that the quality level of games that play 1s and 2s devolves into a 3 point shooting contest.