The 25 Greatest Streetball Players of All Time

Image via Complex Original

Nickname: Homicide
City: Bronx, N.Y.
Highlights

Homicide didn't come up with the pedigree of other New York legends—he played ball for two years at Penn Valley Community College before transferring to Divsion I Alabama State, and only ended up averaging 13 points per game for the small school. He was the furthest thing from being on the streetball radar, much less an NBA one. The summer after coming back from college, he played in nine streetball tournaments around the city, dominating the local circuit.

After dropping 47 points during a game televised in NBA TV, the Toronto Raptors invited him to their preseason camp. Williams was part of the last cut at camp, but to come from community college to the cusp of an NBA roster in a few years is remarkable. In the streetball documentary, Doin' It In The Park he credits streetball for his confidence and making him into a better player.

Nickname: McNasty
City: Brooklyn
Highlights

Coming up through Brooklyn Technical High School, Conrad McRae became "McNasty" through his play at tournaments at Rucker Park. Imagine showing up to the courts one day to see this 6'11", 220 lb. monster working the paint. We wouldn't want any part of that afternoon. McRae was picked in the 1993 NBA Draft (38th overall by the Washington Bullets), but opted for a career in Europe, starring in the the Turkish League. He came back to the States in 2000 to play for the Orlando Magic, but tragically collapsed and died during a summer league game on July 10 of that year.

Nickname: Best Kept Secret
City: Bronx, N.Y.
Highlights

Playing for St. Raymond High School for Boys, Kareem Reid led his squad to City and State championships in 1993. The 5'10" point guard has never let his diminutive height keep him from balling out. At the 2004 Entertainer's Basketball Classic championship at Rucker Park, Reid took Fat Joe's Terror Squad team to the title, defeating a team led by Gilbert Arenas and Baron Davis in an epic come-from-behind victory.

Nickname: Half Man, Half Amazing
City: Brooklyn
Highlights

Anthony Heyward is a Brooklyn cat through and through, but he earned his nickname in the Bronx up at Rucker Park. While driving to the lane, the 6'6" Heyward elevated and dunked over a much larger player, causing Rucker Park MC Duke Tango to call him "Half Man, Half Amazing." The name's stuck ever since, and Heyward's continued to jam on the competition around New York. Kenny Smith should be ashamed for trying to give Vince Carter Heyward's nickname. The streets know who the real "Half Man, Half Amazing" is.

Nickname: Bone Collector
City: Pasadena, Calif.
Highlights

The most nomadic baller on on this list, Larry Williams was born in Texas and grew up in Southern California. It wasn't until he transferred to JUCO school Globe Institute of Technology in Manhattan that he was able to test his game on the New York streets. He proved to be a worthy addition to Rucker Park, taking home Entertainers Basketball Classic MVP honors in 2002. With one of the best handles in the game, Williams' mouth is as big as his talent—this is a guy who once challenged Allen Iverson to a one-on-one game, and said that Iverson "was smart" when he turned him down.

Nickname: Monchito
City: Bronx, N.Y.
Highlights

Monchito Cruz was one of the best Latino players ever. He made his name by going toe-to-toe with Nate "Tiny" Archibald and got the best of the Hall of Fame guard on many occassions. He then took his talents to Puerto Rico where he won a couple Baloncesto Superior Nacional championships. Cruz was also a regular on the Puerto Rico national team and went at it with guys like a young Drazen Petrovic.

Nickname: Blackjack
City: Brooklyn
Highlights

Unlike most New York streetball greats, Jack Ryan didn't take his talents uptown to Rucker Park. Instead, he stayed at John Jay High School and East 5th St. Park in Brooklyn to work on his tricks and shooting. NBA Hall of Famer Chris Mullin once called Ryan the greatest shooter he'd ever seen to not play in the NBA—a claim that can easily be backed up. Just check the tape. He won ESPN's City Slam three-point shooting championship back in 2005. Ryan currently tours the country performing basketball tricks at halftime shows and parties.

Nickname: Skip 2 My Lou
City: Queens, N.Y.
Highlights

The man that started the AND1 Mixtape craze, Rafer made his name in the streets of NYC and in the Riverside, Calif. summer league with J.W. North. His moves are immortalized in AND1 Mixtape Vol. 1. His dribbling skills drew Dr. J-like crowds with people climbing high objects to get a better view. Alston is also one of the few streetball players of the modern era to have a viable NBA career. While most of them have played in college, streetball players aren't taken serious by basketball elitists. If Skip did half of the moves he did on the steets in the L, he would've been raking in the doe from endorsements. But if he tried those flashy moves, would he have been given the needed playing time? 

Nickname: Black Magic
City: Philadelphia
Highlights

The name says it all. Black Magic did some wicked things on the court. He starred at Philly's Overbrook High—the same school Wilt Chamberlain attended—and played in the L throughout the '80s before getting banned for substance abuse. His game was all-around: he was a magician with the rock and his body, throwing behind the back passes, making acrobatic layups, and dunking on whomever. While attending Drake University he broke records. From an early age, folks thought he had the skills but didn't think he had it between the ears. Either way, he remains a king on the basketball courts of Philly.

Nickname: The Big Dipper
City: Philadelphia
Highlights

Entering high school, Wilt measured in at 6'11"—nobody could literally touch him on the court. The dude was too tall. He played at a time when basketball players were normal sized men, and his statistics show. Through his first three seasons at Overbrook High School, he averaged 37.4 points per game. He never left the streets, either. In the summer of 1957, already a national star at the University of Kansas, Wilt and fellow NBA legend Elgin Baylor engaged in a series of pick-up games at parks around Washington, D.C. Said Baylor on the encounters: "My team won. Always. Every time." Ouch.

Nickname: Jumpin Jackie
City: Brooklyn
Highlights

High school teammates with Hall of Famers Lenny Wilkens and Connie Hawkins, "Jumpin Jackie" was one of Rucker Park's first streetball stars in the early 1960s. With his jaw-dropping leaping ability, it's no surprise that he played 20 years for the Harlem Globetrotters, even after being picked in the 1962 NBA Draft (he opted for Harlem instead). As playground legend has it, Jackson once dunked over Wilt Chamberlain and blocked one of his shots in the same Rucker Park pick-up game.

Nickname: Tiny/The Skate
City: Bronx, N.Y.
Highlights

Before "Tiny" was an NBA Hall of Famer and NBA champion, Nate Archibald was known as "The Skate," the lightening-fast kid from the Patterson Housing Projects. He made his rounds around courts in the Bronx and Harlem, but Archibald, along with many other streetball legends, became The Skate at Rucker Park. There, he battled with fellow streetball king Rick "Pee Wee" Kirkland from 1970-1971 and Angel "Monchito" Cruz. Even when he became an NBA star, he still came back to the Rucker to train in the offseason, and would later host youth basketball clincs as a retired NBA Hall of Famer.

Nickname: Sad Eye
City: Philadelphia
Highlights

Considered to be the greatest streetball player out of Philly, Sad Eye is a mythical figure in his city. He was 6'5" and by many accounts, he could do it all offensively: score in all ways, dribble, pass. His nickname was attributed to his demeanor, always with a poker face on the court. He was never too high, and never too down.

After getting bored with dominating organized ball during his grammar and high school years, Watson got the love back by playing streetball. However, Sad Eye caught so much wreck and beat the competition so easily that he got bored with it and quit playing basketball competitvely. To him basketball was just a game and he felt he wasn't as good as everybody thought he was because of his defense. It's amazing that he quit because there was no competition. Maybe he really was that good.

Nickname: Helicopter
City: Harlem, N.Y.
Highlights

Out of all the players on this list, Herman "Helicopter" Knowings is perhaps the most mysterious. He balled at Rucker Park in the 1960s and 1970s, but never broke into the professional ranks. He was killed in a car accident at 37 years old, and with few images of him surviving, his tale is left up to urban legend. NBA Hall of Famer Bernard King once told the most well-known story of Knowings: "When I was in 9th grade, I saw the Helicopter, with my own two eyes, pick a quarter off the top of the backboard to win a bet, and I was in complete shock." You can figure where he got his nickname from now.

Nickname: The Big Fella
City: Harlem, N.Y.
Highlights

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's NBA career was punctuated by the glitz and glamour of Tinseltown's Lakers, but make no mistake: Kareem was and always will be a streetballer. While leading Manhattan's Power Memorial Academy to three-straight championships, a 71-game winning streak, and a 79-2 overall record, Kareem honed his famed sky hook at Harlem's famed Rucker Park.

His finesse style seems to be at odds with the smash-mouth street aesthetic, but nobody should be at odds with a Rucker Park legend. He came up playing with Earl "The Goat" Manigault and Connie "The Hawk" Hawkins. Kareem was one of the smarter ones and took advantage of his superior skills, going to UCLA to play for the legendary John Wooden.

Nicknames: Black Jesus/The Pearl
City: Philadelphia
Highlights

The Pearl caught so much wreck in Philly everyone called him Black Jesus. He was credited with inventing a slew of crossovers and layups on the playgrounds and was a legend by the time he finished high school. He then moved onto Winston-Salem St. where he averaged 41.5 points per game during his senior year further cementing his legend. In the NBA, The Pearl played for the Baltimore Bullets and won a championship with the '73 Knicks. Monroe's silky offensive game made him one of the L's premier scorers and during his time with the Knicks he and Walt "Clyde" Frazier were dubbed "The Rolls Royce Backcourt."

Nickname: Hook
City: Oakland
Highlights

Hook Mitchell grew up playing Jason Kidd and Gary Payton and they'll both tell you that he was the better of the three. Standing at 5'10", Mitchell made his name by dunking all over the place, including 360s over cars. The documentary Hooked: The Legend of Demetrius "Hook" Mitchell tells his story. Like the Goat, Hook fell into a life of crime and drug use, forever derailing his basketball career.

Nickname: Booger
City: Brooklyn
Highlights

Booger Smith was the last playground legend to spread via word of mouth. His exploits on the courts of NYC are featured in the 1997 documentary Soul In the Hole. He was so good that he made the cover of Sports Illustrated. Smith made his name early and by the time he was 17 he was already a legend. He's considered to be one of the best point guards in streetball history. Smith's handles and court vision were uncanny and many believed that he would play in the NBA one day. But like many that came before him, Smith let crime get in the way.

Nickname: N/A
City: Los Angeles
Highlights

Lewis is arguably the greatest streetball player to come out of California. Unlike many of the guys on this list, he wanted to play in the NBA, but felt like he was blackballed. He was drafted in the first round of the '73 Draft by the Sixers but they couldn't agree on a contract. However, he managed to put 60 on No. 1 pick Doug Collins in a scrimmage by halftime. College coach Jerry Tarkanian said that Lewis was the greatest player he'd ever seen. Raymond played some college ball at Cal State L.A. where he averaged 38.9 points per game and shot nearly 60 percent from the field. Many say that he was the Allen Iverson of his day, and as a matter of fact, A.I. took home the 2001 All-Star MVP the same day Lewis passed from an infected leg. Life is weird that way.

Nickname: The Fly
City: Brooklyn

One of the stars of the legendary book by Rick Telander, Heaven Is a Playground, The Fly is one of the more charismatic guys on this list. By the time he was a freshman in high school, Williams was 6'5" and had tremendous scoring ability. He was recruited by Austin Peay and he made the most of it. Fly scored 1,541 points and clocked 28.5 points per game during his two years there. His famous performances sold out crowds at Austin Peay's gym, eventually forcing them to build a bigger one. He had a brief ABA career that was cut short due to a robbery attempt which left him with a gunshot wound on his back and low lung capacity.

Nickname: The Hawk
City: Brooklyn
Highlights

Before putting on an ABA or NBA jersey, the Hawk's name already rung bells. He came up playing with guys like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Earl Manigault, Connie was one of the greatest forwards to ever come out of New York. If it weren't for a point-shaving scandal—a scandal in which he had no involvement, his name just came up—while he was attending Iowa, The Hawk would've had a longer professional career.

He was a dynamite scorer and rebounder to go along with his incredible soaring ability, hence the nickname. One of the biggest crimes in sports history was not allowing basketball fans to see The Hawk in his prime. Instead all we have is his legend in the streets of NYC told by ghetto historians that saw him play with their own eyes.

Nickname: The Claw/Dr. J
City: Long Island, N.Y.
Highlights

The good doctor became a legend at the famed Rucker Park on 155th St. in Harlem. He drew crowds that were so insane, people had to watch from the tops of rooves just to get a glimpse. His enormous hands led the streets to call him "The Claw." He would float in the air for an hour and manipulated the ball every which way until he felt like dunking on somebody. Before he became a Hall of Fame pro player, the Doctor had already built his legacy in the concrete basketball Mecca of New York.

Nickname: Pee Wee
City: Brooklyn

A legend in two games, Kirkland is famous for turning down an NBA contract because he made more money dealing drugs. He's also credited with inventing the crossover. Pee Wee easily could've been a Top 50 NBA player due to his all around game and extreme confidence. Kirkland was serious about his basketball game, always practicing to get better. After finding himself in prison, he had legendary games in jailhouse basketball leagues. He made his name at the Rucker where he would park his Rolls Royce, hop out, and drop 50 on fellow streetball legends. Check the documentary Doin It In The Park for lovely Pee Wee quotables.

Nickname: The Goat
City: Harlem, N.Y.
Highlights

When Kareem's jersey was retired by the Lakers, he said the greatest player he ever played against was Earl "The Goat" Manigault. Listed at a generous 6'1", The Goat had legendary hops. He used to grab change from the tops of backboards across New York to win bets and build his rep. However, he wasn't just a freakish leaper, Earl also had a wicked jumper and nice handles. He packed a big punch in a small package.

Unfortunately, he let dope get in the way of his destiny and ruined his promising organized basketball career. Those shortcomings and misfortunes are depicted in the HBO movie, Rebound. But his life wasn't a total waste. Manigault got clean and dedicated his life to the parks he grew up playing in up unil his death from heart failure in 1998. 

Nickname: The Destroyer
City: Harlem, N.Y.
Highlights

Dropping out of school in the ninth grade, The Destroyer earned his namesake by taking apart college players, pros, and street legends at the Rucker. He once entered a game in the second half and dropped 50 on Dr. J. Yes, Julius Erving, the immortal with the 'fro. And the Doctor wasn't the only one that felt Hammond's wrath, The Destroyer dropped 40 or better every time he stepped on a court, setting a Rucker record by scoring 82 points in a game.

His reputation was so great, the Lakers took him in the fifth round of the 1971 Draft because Wilt Chamberlain told them to, but Hammond turned them down because he was too caught up in the drug game. That same year he got arrested for dealing drugs and was sentenced to 11 years. Many say that he was the greatest streetball player ever. He didn't miss from outside and was unstoppable in the lane. Stay away from drugs, kids.