No spoilers
One of the best coaches I know is named J.S. (I don’t want to disclose his name). I’ve known Coach S for almost twenty years. He’s no longer on the bench and it breaks my heart. Coach is one of the best basketball minds in the country. He’s worked at every level from high school to JUCO, from D-1 to Semi-Pro leagues and the one constant with Coach S is that he makes the teams he’s a part of winners. I’ve seen him drive from Texas to Tennessee and then drive from Tennessee to New York to kick it with hoops legend Coach Tippy (RIP) and I would be amazed at how hard he pushed. He had one goal, to land the job that would enable him to do what he loves and take care of his family. The unfortunate aspect of basketball is that there aren’t many jobs, and the game remains based on who you know. I’ve watched entire staffs be removed because the head coach made a mistake, but the head coach was never faulted. I’ve seen assistants take the fall and get blackballed for years. I saw Coach S go from a D-1 assistant coach to selling insurance today. I don’t pity him, I blame basketball, but I love basketball.
You can take Coach S out of the paragraph above and insert an endless list of names. The people in basketball operating on the fringes make the game run. We all give to the game that made us dream. There are coaches, referees, scouts, trainers, organizers who have all hung on to basketball for too long. We get lost in the sound of squeaking outsoles across wooden courts. The pounding of the ball on concrete, in gyms is a metronome, hypnotizing and holding us captive, until we run out of time and realize we are trapped in a world that celebrates newness and youth. We become old men recalling our brightest moments on the court, never creating new memories unless they are attached to a dream of the next generation.
The cliche of unsung heroes is true. I worked as a college scout from 2004 to 2010. It was my side hustle in operating my website Center Court Basketball. I didn’t understand business, but I loved basketball. I would drive 5 hours in all directions from Memphis to discover the next kid who was being overlooked. I had segments of the website called The Lab (Alabama), The Roux (Baton Rouge and New Orleans), The Sip (Mississippi), The ARK (Arkansas), and a section for where I began my coaching career San Diego Hoops. I worked a full-time job and then spent an additional 3 to 5 hours a night editing video to put on the website for coaches to view. I lost an ungodly amount of money, eventually going bankrupt, but I didn’t stop because I love basketball. I realized in 2010 I couldn’t continue to subject my family to my basketball dreams. We had two children and it was time to prepare for “real” life situations. When I sat down to watch Hustle these are the experiences I brought into my viewership.
In all of Adam Sandler’s comedies there is an underlying emotional gravity appealing to the underdog. There is honesty in what he does. As critics pan his films and catalogue, fans realize the heart is always what’s important. We’ve all seen Hustle before. The story resonates through basketball’s best films: He Got Game, Blue Chips and most recently in other Netflix films (that you should definitely watch), Amateur and High Flying Bird ‘Amateur’ Gives A Glimpse Into Where Sports In The U.S. Could Go | The Backstory is a Master Class – JmksportStore-USA & High Flying Bird on Netflix Is a Case Study on Disruption – JmksportStore-USA
Hustle, like Blue Chips and He Got Game, utilizes NBA players and personalities to root the film in authenticity. It was backed by Lebron’s Springhill film company and bolstered by casting featuring Queen Latifah and a breakout performance by the Utah Jazz’s Juancho Hernangomez who plays Bo Cruz the ‘diamond in the rough’. The film dropped in the heart of the NBA Finals and will only pick up steam as the NBA Draft arrives. Is it worth the two hours to watch? If you’re a fan of the NBA, no doubt. If you like redemption, definitely. If you’re like me and you still shoot fadeaways into the garbage can yelling “Kobe!”, this film will undoubtedly land on your list of best basketball movies.
