Welcome! I started working on this site in 2020, when the universe inadvertently handed me the gift of extra free time via a global pandemic. It officially launched at the start of the 2021–2022 NBA season, and here’s the thought process and motivation behind it:
There’s so much basketball content constantly flooding our eyes and ears these days that keeping up with news and rumors has become increasingly time-consuming and, honestly, a little tedious. Every time we step away from our TVs, phones, or laptops for a couple of hours to handle real-life responsibilities, we’ve likely missed four podcasts, seven articles, box scores, highlights, memes, rumors, and a ton of great tweets. For hardcore NBA fans who want to stay informed day in and day out, that’s not a great feeling.
I also realized that many of the more well-known basketball sites tend to fall into one of two buckets: (1) super specialized (like team-specific blogs), or (2) massive platforms with so much content that it’s hard to keep track of what they offer or where to find it. And regardless of the site’s size—big, medium, or small—we usually end up discovering that none of them offer quite the mix of content we were hoping for. That leads to bookmarking a bunch of pages, following way too many accounts on social media, and hoping we remember where we saw that one great thing.
The CONCEPT:
I wanted to create a basketball site that would distill the best of everything I hear, see, find, research, or think—and share only the most top-shelf content and analytical tools, all in one aesthetically pleasing place. The goal: to cut through the daily fatigue of trying to keep up with everything circulating in the NBA world.
I plan to serve this up to everyone in three ways:
- Highlighting top-shelf specialty sites that have built tools which border on perfection for NBA fan enjoyment, so I’ve added those sites front and center (in the sidebar actually), along with a few others, for easy access, so you can quickly reference the best news, rumors, salary cap rules, create trades, mock drafts, or analyze stats and rosters/salaries.
- Hoops Distillery X, my own hand-crafted list on Twitter which I will consistently update and refine, as needed, to provide a broad selection of the best content available. Leave this page open in the background as you do your work at home or at school, and feel confident that you’ll never miss a thing!
- Posts highlighting news, rumors, and analysis from the top basketball minds along with additional commentary for added perspective. I’ll also sprinkle in some posts featuring my own original content if I feel I have a unique slant on a particular topic.
SUPPORTING THE FUTURE of HOOPS:
Our Hoops Distillery store on Threadless.com is now live, stocked with high-quality gear—t-shirts, hoodies, stickers, and more. The store was created with a clear purpose: to give back. That’s why 100% of profits will be donated to these two incredible charities that support youth development through sports:
PeacePlayers International is a global movement of youth leaders using basketball to create a more peaceful and equitable world. Through a combination of bridge building, leadership training, peace education and professional development, our programs produce inspired and capable peace advocates with the skills, network and motivation to influence social change.
Since 2001, PeacePlayers has been working in some of the toughest regions of the world using the simple yet powerful premise that “children who play together can learn to live together.” The movement began in South Africa, with locations in Northern Ireland, the Middle East and Cyprus opening soon after. 20 years later, PeacePlayers has expanded to include 5 Cities in the United States and has directly reached more than 80,000 young people across the world.
Rise Up & Care identifies and builds personal relationships with leaders of successful, passionate, and innovative non-profits in developing communities around the globe with at least five years and preferably ten years of success. Their partners use high-level performance training to provide a ladder of inspiration, teamwork, identity and opportunity for success that can transform the lives of young people.
Please read more about these two great charities and consider donating too!
SPECIAL THANKS to my site editors and strategists, Benjamin J. White and Steve Theo, for their invaluable guidance and support—and to the site’s spiritual leader, The Reverend Chuck South.
