Basketball Movie Review
Gunnin' for That #1 Spot
Before draft nights and shoe deals, eight elite high-school prospects hit Rucker Park in a documentary that now doubles as an outrageous time capsule of a generation.
Pure prospect-culture gold: the names are fun in hindsight, but Adam Yauch's real win is capturing elite youth basketball before everyone's future was known.
Movie details
2008 · 1h 30m · Documentary
Director Adam Yauch
- Michael Beasley
- Kevin Love
- Brandon Jennings
- Tyreke Evans
- Beastie Boys co-founder Adam Yauch directed the documentary around the first Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic at New York's Rucker Park.
- The featured prospects include Michael Beasley, Kevin Love, Brandon Jennings, Tyreke Evans, Jerryd Bayless, Kyle Singler and Lance Stephenson.
01
The Take
Adam Yauch follows a group that now reads like a basketball trivia answer sheet — Michael Beasley, Kevin Love, Brandon Jennings, Tyreke Evans, Lance Stephenson and more — while they are still teenagers carrying rankings instead of professional résumés. The hindsight makes every confidence level, weakness and expectation more interesting.
02
Does the Basketball Hold Up?
Rucker Park gives the prospect showcase an arena with its own history. The Elite 24 setting lets the players compete in a style looser than school ball but more consequential than a casual run, exposing personality and shot-making without pretending the event is normal five-on-five development.
03
Best Basketball Moment
The Elite 24 game itself, when future NBA players are still just prospects trying to separate themselves on a court where reputation has always mattered.
04
Ball Cred
The documentary centres on the first Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic at Rucker Park and follows eight of the highest-rated American high-school players of the era.