By the 1950s, a former world War Two veteran and a current New York City Park and Recreation officer, Holcomb Rucker, set up a basketball tournament in Harlem. Soon this Harlem basketball tournament would become a basketball institution where every great Black ball player from Wilt Chamberlain to Lew Alcinder to Julius Erving would play on the court at Rucker.

As more Black players were selected to play in the the National Basketball Association, it still became a summer ritual to play in the Rucker league to prove that “you still had game”.

“Street ball” was introduced to mainstream America through the National Collegiate Athletic Association with teams like the “Hoya Paranoia” of Georgetown, the Phi Slamma Jamma from Houston, the Runnin' Rebels of UNLV, and finally the Fab 5 of Michigan. Those teams had a charisma and style that was just as intense and exciting as any before seen in intercollegiate ranks.

After Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson left the the NBA, there was a void to be filled and the USA was anxiously looking for their replacements. Harold Minor, Penny Hardaway and Grant Hill were all seen as being the one, but the savior wouldn’t be a single player, but a defining style.

The emergence of the hip-hop culture permeated basketball arenas throughout the NBA and Allen Iverson represented a beacon of hope for Madison Avenue as they tried to cash in after the lean years after Jordan.