Streetball in Puerto Rico

Taking influence from the grassroots connection of Nuyorican streetballers to the Baloncesto Superior Nacional, the practice is widespread in Puerto Rico, with impromptu games being a highly common occurrence for decades.

Initially, the Puerto Ricans arriving to New York as part of the great 1940s-50s migration were spurned by pre-established ethnic groups, which was also reflected when they attempted to practice basketball along players with these backgrounds.

[1] Fernando Torres, who had experienced this discrimination was also among the first two players to break the "natives only" rule of the main professional league in Puerto Rico, the Baloncesto Superior Nacional along Blondet.

Following his arrival to the BSN, Blondet established a bolder style of playing the sport, earning the nickname of "El Mago" (Spanish for "The Magician") due to his passing and overall abilities.

The success of Blondet and "Los Tres Reyes" in the BSN and national program had a significant impact in the Latin American communities in New York, particularly in the mostly Puerto Rican Spanish Harlem, which sparked a wave of interest in basketball.

[5] Fantauzzi entered the BSN with the Atléticos de San Germán earning a reputation as a power dunker and shot blocker, eventually following the footsteps of the other prominent Nuyoricans into the national basketball team, but his participation was brief for unrelated problems.

[7] Cruz was instrumental in brigging Andrés "Corky" Ortíz, a product of streetball raised on 117th off Madison, where he played against some of Rucker Park's legends, to the Gigantes de Carolina.

[8] Cruz was eventually joined in the Canovánas Indios by Bronx-native Héctor Olivencia, who had developed by playing pick up games in Rucker Park and the Webster Projects, who had entered the BSN when he was only 16 years old with the Criollos de Caguas.

Another Nuyorican raised in the Bronx was Georgie Torres, who began playing at the Mitchell Projects, gaining a fame as a sharpshooter that extended throughout his BSN and national team career.

[13] He was recruited to the Mets de Guaynabo by Earl Brown and four years later gained prominence in the national team by scoring 36 points in a game against the United States, which had Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin in their lineup.

Another Hip Hop figure that became involved in streetball is Nuyorican rapper Fat Joe, who created the Terror Squad Team, which participates in the New York Summer Leagues.

Danny Reyes' Red Eye NYC Street Ballers are a recurrent participant in the Hoops and Music Del País and have traveled to Puerto Rico several times.

Ayuso joined the BSN in 1996 and became the national team's shooting guard during the late nineties and throughout the 2000s, peaking at the 2006 FIBA World Championships, where he scored 62% from the three-point range.

Tim "Headache" Gittens, autodenominated as the "Jackie Robinson of Street Basketball" is another Nuyorican to heavily influence the practice, becoming one of the first players to innovate the discipline, giving birth to modern playground wildstyle.

Growing up in New York, he established himself by winning the Holcombe Rucker Memorial and Nike Pro-City, earning his nickname by scoring 30 points in a game held at Ajax Park.

Even though he decided to represent the United States, he still honors his father Carmelo Iriate, a former BSN player, by wearing a tattoo of the flag of Puerto Rico in his shooting hand.

Anthony later visited his father's homeland, paying for the restoration of the old school concrete streetball court of La Perla in San Juan, Puerto Rico among other projects.

Rivera soon organized his own streetball team, PR Pride, along Paul, Ira Miller, Danny Basile, Shannod "JFK" Burton, John Oliver and former Dyckman Most Valuable Player and 3-point challenge champion Eric Opio.

The following year, PR Pride entered the Kingdome Winter Classic, the Hoops in the Sun tournament and Dyckman, defeating a Luis Flores-reinforced Dominican Power team in their home court with Ray Rivera scoring 37 points.

Balkman commonly participates in streetball held events at New York, even joining the Tri State Classic and the Fireball Tournament, which notably featured him and Nate Robinson in a game between the NYAC and Brooklyn United.

[31] Outside of New York, the Puerto Rican diaspora has also produced prominent players, such as New Jersey's Mike Rosario, who was raised playing in the Lincoln Park court adjacent to his home at Harry Moore Housing Projects, eventually joining the senior national program while still a youth-aged athlete.

[35] The team became affiliated to the then-flourishing reggaeton movement, working along figures such as Daddy Yankee, Héctor "El Father", Julio Voltio and Baby Rasta among others.

1 by Flow Music studio and Top Quality Sport Events on November 23, 2004, and featuring "Benny Boing", "Fever", "Dement", Jansy González also known as"Jancy" and "Master Yancy", "xUAx", "Nighmare", "Griffin", "Lighthouse", "Zoom", "MC Shaka", "Unico", "Crack", "JosephFire," ".45" and "Inhuman".

Their opponents were the Puerto Rico Streetballers, which were making their debut and had José Juan Barea serving as their head coach and Alberto J. Lebron as the team's general manager.

[39] On the other hand, Team AND1 had a lineup of Dennis "Spyda" Chism, Robert "50" Martin, Alonzo "Amazing" Miles, Brandom "Werm" LaCue, Guy "Easy J" Dupuy, Marvin "Highrizer" Collings, Jamar "The Pharmasist" Davis, "Roscoe" Johnson and Andre "Silk" Poole, completed by “Big Dave” and “Irv”.

[48] Beginning in 2005, the AND1 brand began working along Puerto Rico national team captain, Carlos Arroyo, who had gained prominence in the Spanish ACB and NBA professional leagues.

With the company, the FIBA All-Olympic point guard promoted clothes and shoes, also displaying his streetball skills as part of a video interview for their Global Invasion DVD.

The documentary entitled, Nuyorican Básquet, focuses on the Puerto Rico men's national basketball team of the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, in which 8 of the 12 players were from New York or neighboring areas.

These were: Angelo Cruz, Raymond Dalmau, Georgie Torres, César Fantauzzi, Charlie Bermudez, Nestor Cora, Roberto Valderas, & Michel Vicens.

With reggaeton losing some of its popularity during the late 2000s, the practitioners of the discipline have experienced some obstruction by the mainstream media, which has adopted the term "streetball", used interchangeably along "guerilla gameplay", as a derogative manner to describe a league or FIBA game in which one or both teams disregards systemic basketball and defense, instead relying heavily on guards penetrating the baseline seeking layups, run and gun style and excessive three-point shots.