CONMAN ONLINE SERIES | THIS IS BASKETBALL EP2 Feat: New York Streetball Legend & Freestyler

i'm tom con man connors professional street basketball player and multiple guinness world record holder follow me as i go around the world to meet the most exciting basketball players high flying dunkers freestyle masters and street ball legends [Music] [Applause] so i first got into basketball when i was 14 years old and i was at school i remember seeing this kid about two years older than me with a basketball doing some pretty cool tricks dribbling up and down the court through his legs bam bam bam bam and i remember looking around and saying to my friends look how cool that is so that day i went home and my mum is the kind of person that never gets rid of anything so i was like you must have a basketball in the shed somewhere so i went looking found a flat basketball pumped it up and i was out the back garden practicing that move that i saw that day so after hours of practicing that one move i went inside to turn the tv on and this movie came up called white men can't jump that for me and seeing the guy at school do the trick just inspired me to play basketball and now it's my turn to inspire others in this episode i head to dublin where i have my first pint of guinness i meet street ball legend and pro basketball player jermaine the beast turner and we tear it up on court together i show you my move from the bolt and this week's trick tip tutorial then i head over to the big apple new york city to meet professional basketball freestyler sizzler another city that doesn't spring to mind when you mention basketball is dublin the capital of ireland it has many similarities to cardiff and has loads of must-see tourist spots and of course it is the home of guinness my guinness this is my first point of guinness ever let's give it a go [Music] that's what i am [Music] i didn't just come here to sample the local beverages i've also come here to meet former usa street ball legend jermaine the beast turner this guy lives in dublin plays pro here and he coaches at dublin university pleasure to meet you again man it's been a few years yeah it's been it's been a few so tell me how you first got into basketball was it something that you've seen how old was you tell me about it okay uh it's kind of crazy story like i was never into basketball i was about 15 and there was a bomb scare in my high school what a true sticker and everybody was outside and all the kids said listen we're going to the dunkin courts all right what are you talking about dunkin courts they're like yeah we're gonna just follow us to go up the street so we went the street and there was this basketball hoop and both sides full court were eight and a half feet oh okay and i fell in love with the game like we were jumping from everywhere and we were just dunking the ball on each other playing games and it just evolved from there so it went from that little mishap into me playing every single day from that point on [Music] when i came to europe it really involved my game completely like everything like americans kind of have this stigma of being you know oh they think they know it all they invented i'm telling you right now we don't our fundamentals kind of lacking at this point so i came to europe and i really expanded my game so i say my style is kind of more the european style now as opposed to americans down there wow so what advice would you give for people or youngsters that want to start playing basketball what sort of advice would you give to these youngsters i'd say you have to practice every day like you rains leaders snow you have to go out there and practice if you put in the work you reap the rewards like i started late and i had people tell me all the time you couldn't you can't you couldn't you can't right right you don't listen to him you know if you want it you really if it's in your heart you go out there and you practice every single day it's just hard work and determination and not listening anyway wow [Music] get on get on and check this guy out this guy's a beast you need some plays an amazing basketball player and he's made a massive impression on me since i came here many years ago twilight and playing that all-star game it's been a pleasure once more to see you and we're gonna we're gonna go into a little open run and have a little bit of fun so don't go anywhere [Applause] [Music] it's a pleasure to be on the court with the beast and have some fun with the [Applause] locals but i'm up to my old tricks again i can't help it this is why i'm called the con man [Music] it's great to see a mix of all ages playing the game that i love [Music] i've had an awesome time in ireland it's been a great honor to meet jermaine the beast turner so now it's time for the trick shot challenge [Applause] for this trick shot challenge you have to hit a backwards basketball shot from half court i currently hold the guinness wall record for this shot so let's see how they get on [Music] another one so close [Music] so close there we go tom world record holder it's the one [Music] this move is called off the knee and this is how you do it so step one you've got to get your balance and the basketball underneath your kneecap okay you bounce the basketball and it comes off your knee okay practice makes perfect balance drop the ball and knee once you've mastered that i want you to do it with the left knee so you're gonna balance on your right side drop and catch the ball you've got to make sure the ball bounces and then you're near now once you've mastered that you've got to get into a situation where you can dribble the basketball with both knees okay and it all starts just from the balance of dropping the basketball off the knee to practice at home it's just a matter of time and practice makes perfect [Music] i'm a professional street basketball player which is slightly different from conventional basketball so street basketball started in new york city the world famous rucker park the minute you're playing basketball outside you're playing street ball but it's down to you as an individual to come up with your own style and creativity and so let loose let you be you whether you're a great passer you've got amazing handle ability a dunker whatever or however you play you're playing street ball outside and it's up to you to show everybody your skills [Music] so [Music] new york city represents the mecca of basketball it's truly the city that never sleeps it's always busy which means i always have an audience [Music] okay so i'm wandering in the streets of new york and i bump into this little yellow thing right now they're pet snakes don't worry about it can you record this on my phone oh man no whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa don't put that near me put his head down okay get off get it off get off yeah get off get up that's it i love exploring the city and i can't resist driving around and trying to take it all in of course i can't travel anywhere without my basketball [Music] [Music] to the statue of liberty is right over there you can't see it so we're gonna get a boat we're gonna take a closer look [Music] so i've not just come to new york to check out the statue of liberty and this amazing city i'm here to meet up with one of the best up up-and-coming basketball freestylers on the planet let me introduce to you [Music] sizzler [Music] how are you my friend all right man so tell me when you first got into basketball how did you start so basically when the movie space jam came out i was about eight years old i saw it at the cinema and then my dad built a little tiny basketball hoop it was about two foot too short and too small to barely even fit a basketball in it but i would just go out there shoot for hours and hours every day after school sometimes before school i started playing at my my school team first and then went try out for them went all the way through the club so it was great that's awesome when did you sort of sort of shy away from the normal game of basketball so bring in the freestyle tricks so i was al i always loved ball handling and uh bull handling never really felt like i was training it just felt like fun basically so i was always pretty good at you know just regular one ball dribbling and did a little bit of spin and stuff just for fun and then went to two really to try and train and get better at basketball i just basically thought well i can do two pretty well i can do some some stuff with that um looked at some people that do juggling type things before well maybe i could kind of flip that and do it downwards um so really just wanted to push myself and keep trying new things so well why not try try add another one um i basically just love anything to do with basketball when people talk to me about it they they think those two have to be separate regular basketball and freestyle street ball and really i just feel like i love basketball and that's it i don't care if it's spinning them juggling them dribbling them teaching someone an offensive play how to play man man defense i just love basketball no matter what what kind it is basically i like that that's enough talking i want to see some action two basketballs three basketballs take it away [Music] this guy's control is insane i thought i was good with two basketballs but this guy is taking things to a whole new level [Music] whoa hold on this dude cannot even see he's got a blindfold on look at his hands his control this guy is just too much [Music] i couldn't come to new york without paying a visit to rucker park this is the most iconic basketball court on the planet and i'm here right now it's an honor to stand on this basketball court knowing that some of the best in the world the legends of the game have played here not just from the nba not from the streetball courts but everyone around the world comes to this court i can only imagine some of the incredible games and street ball moves that's been pulled off on this call i just need a moment to take it all in so i had a great time here in new york city i'm at times square signing out make sure you stay tuned for the next episode coming up next time on this is basketball i head to sunny hollywood to meet the man behind the best outdoor league in the world nico i jump into a helicopter and i meet the man behind the internet sensation b-ball breakdown i also show you some moves from the vault