by Duane Watson / @sweetswatson
The Oscars are around the corner and while the Academy Awards often include films that you’ve probably never seen or heard of, we’re talking about the classics.
SLAMonline polled some NBA players with a simple easy goal—to get their picks on their favorite basketball movie.
Glen Davis: I like Juwanna Mann, in fact I’ve always thought about that. Like, What if I dressed up as a girl and be like the…Shaq of the WNBA?
SLAM: Do you think you can pull that off?
GD: Hell no!
Manu Ginobili: Of course, Space Jam was amazing. When was it ’93, ’94? I remember that one, MJ was of course my hero and seeing him in that situation was great.
Deron Williams: Above The Rim. It was just one of the first ones…well not really the first one. I loved Hoosiers too, Hoosiers is a classic. But just for urban basketball, Above The Rim is a good urban basketball movie.
Klay Thompson: The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh, just cause my dad (Mychal Thompson) was in it and was like a total clown for like five minutes. Terrible movie, but it was funny.
Damian Lillard: Hoop Dreams, it was a documentary, and it was a real story. It told the story about a guy who basically came from nothing, a troubled family. He went to the private school, it didn’t work out and went back to the inner city and balled up. He had a good story and it was that story versus the guy that had the solid family, went to private school and then went to college. It showed the two different routes they came from and I like the fact that people get a chance to see that, because it’s common.
Chris “Birdman” Andersen: The Basketball Diaries. That’s the only basketball movie I know.
Greg Monroe: I’m a Love & Basketball guy myself. It’s a great basketball movie, a beautiful love story and I can relate to it in multiple ways, so I’m a pretty big Love & Basketball fan.
SLAM: It appeals to the romantic in you?
GM: Yeah!
Jamal Crawford: I loved Above The Rim, just Tupac, and the whole essence of New York basketball and the street feel, just the way it brought that movie to life. And I loved He Got Game ’cause at that time in high school I kind of felt like, not to that extent obviously, but I could relate to what he was going through.
Al Jefferson: Coach Carter probably. It was a true story and showed it’s not all about basketball; it’s about academics too. You can relate to it on a real life level.
Tony Parker: I liked Glory Road, the fact that it was five black guys and the first time. The coach had to have the guts to do it, to put them out there back in the day the way it was. It’s pretty amazing.
Andrew Bogut: Just one? Hoosiers, Love & Basketball, He Got Game. But definitely want to add Blue Chips, ’cause it really shows what’s going on, and still going on in the NCAA.
Kendrick Perkins: I got to say Above The Rim. It was just a classic movie, I thought Tupac played a nice role in there, he was an animal in that movie! So that’s one of my favorites.
