Pickup Basketball: "The Torture Chamber"

It's amazing what you learn out on the court while playing pickup basketball. One of the things that I have learned is their a lack of low post moves by my fellow competitors. Any guy can go out there take jump shots, but a low post game will set you apart from others.

A low post game is the most underrated part of basketball. If your nimble enough and you have good footwork, then you should have a killer low post game. Kevin McHale and Hakeem Olajuwon are hall of fame basketball players who's games are still talked about today because of their low post moves. Hakeem made "The Dream Shake" his signature move. "The Dream Shake" is to stop use your pivot foot to move in one direction for you have the defender going into one direction, then you shake to your opposite direction and shoot the ball. It's unstoppable.

So why do I bring up low post moves? Because I have incorporated some low post moves when I play pickup basketball. Specifically I incorporated some of Kevin McHale's low post moves into my game.

You might remember McHale as the General Manager who drove the Minnesota Timberwolves into the ground. You might also know McHale as the guy who on NBA TV during Tuesday Fan Night or you might have seen him on Inside the NBA with Charles, Kenny, and EJ. What you might not remember is McHale was the 2nd best player on the Celtics in the 1980's and one of the most dominate big men in the NBA during that time.

McHale looked like the love child of the Plastic Man and Freddy Kruger. McHale could bend in ways that cannot even be described. His long arms could reach around people and score. When McHale was on he felt he was unstoppable even going so far to calling his low post game a "Torture Chamber." "When I was healthy, I always felt I could score," McHale once told reporters. "When it went into what I called 'The torture chamber,' I knew it was in." Just look at this video and marvel at the many low post moves of McHale.



That's how I will always remember McHale. Not as a crappy general manager, but as a dominate basketball player.

The one specific McHale low post move I Incorporated into my own game was McHale's step-back jumper from 12-15 feet. This move is unstoppable. Our team has become the best team because I use this step-back jumper, while the other guys on the team use other McHale low post moves.

Other McHale moves I'm working on include, the turnaround jumper, up-and-under no. 1 (faked a turnaround, drew the guy in the air, pivoted, and did an ugly scoop shot), up-and-under no. 2 (faked a jump hook, drew the guy in the air, and did an ugly scoop shot), the drop-step (started off on the left side with the defender overplaying the right hook, then did a quick drop-step toward the baseline and laid the ball in). Now you can use these moves in many different combination's.

Incorporate these moves into your own game and you will be unstoppable and you will create your own little "Torture Chamber". They have done wonders for myself and the guys that I play with.