Drake Breaks a Sweat with NOCTA Basketball Launch

The collection, launching across NOCTA.com and Nike.com, includes everything from an engineered-knit jersey, a fitted short, and a single-leg compression tight, to player accessories like socks, arm sleeves and headbands.

Prices range from $12 to $120. Register for updates on the drop at nike.com/basketball.

Photos courtesy of Nike

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2,250 Pairs of Converse

Energized in the belief of the the dying breed, Converse traveled around the world, from New York and Mexico to London and Israel, collecting over 1,700 hours worth of footage, then curated down to the best 42 minutes for your viewing pleasure. Front and center are skate icons like Sage Elsesser, Louie Lopez, Sean Pablo, Jason Jessee, Bobby De Keyze and more.

The film itself took 18 months worth of filming, 240 days in a van traveling over 57,120 miles, 1,400 hotel rooms, and 2,250 pairs of Converse shoes. Chardourne intergrates the footage together with artistic, old 18mm footage, creating a look and feel that is virtually foreign to the world of skate films.

The physical and emotional effort that goes into a project as gigantic as Purple is unique; a 30 second clip is a weak comparison to the work from the Converse team that, in the pressure cooker of 18 months, became a brotherhood. And in this film, that sentiment is more than clear.

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“I think most people don’t have the balls to do what our team did.” -Pope

Images courtesy of Converse Cons

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Footwear of the Future

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Rose Classic

Anton — Rose Classic is a tournament for girls. We try to make the experience more important than just basketball. You can’t get this experience in most places. It’s very intense, and we try to make it very organized, scheduling-wise, et cetera. You know when you come here you have to play hard. There is just one court, not multiple courts, so everybody is watching. There’s someone on the mic, there’s music, a lot of movement and action around the basketball court. We like to say that’s the experience that is more important than basketball. We know that these girls love basketball or they wouldn’t be playing, but we’re trying to get them to fall in love with the experience also.

Ari — For me, I’d rather come here than pay $300 for NBA tickets.

Anton — They love basketball. They love being around their friends. You see a lot of these girls, they hang out together. It changes when you’re getting a paycheck. Some of these girls end up going on to get a paycheck. A lot of them, as a matter of fact.

Ari — When did the Rose Classic start?

Anton — It started in 2005, this is our eleventh year. It really started out as our boys’ tournament. We started to have more girls participating in our boys’ stuff, and then my partner Silk and I said, let’s try something that’s just for the girls and see what happens. Then it was word of mouth between the girls, girls who play know other girls who play. They started to get the word around to coaches and we started to build. We started with twelve teams and now we’re over 120 teams in New York.

Ari — Where are the teams from?

Anton — As far north as Toronto and as far south as Virginia. We’ve had teams from Ohio, Cleveland and Cincinnati. So it’s starting to expand. Our ultimate goal is to get to China. They have so many girls playing basketball and there is no organized league there. But we want to first go to the Midwest, either to Chicago, Cleveland, or Indianapo- lis, and then go to the West Coast somewhere.

Ari — And your love for basketball?

Anton — My love for basketball came from my uncles. I’m from Dean St. Park, which is right around the corner from where the Barclays Center sits now. We grew up playing every sport. Whether it was baseball, football or basketball, your day consisted of that. But then you start figuring out what sport you like the most. For me it was basketball because of my uncles and some of the older guys in the neighborhood. They used to take me to their games with them and then I just fell in love with the sport after that. I remember some of my friends shoveling snow in Dean St. just to play. The ball was hard—it wouldn’t bounce. We didn’t have those rubber balls, just the leather ones. You know, it’s cold, it wouldn’t bounce, and the ball is skidding on the ice, but you just loved being out there playing. My love for basketball started when I was about nine or ten years old.

Ari — What can you say about the level of the girls playing here?

Anton — The level is really high. Aside from dunking, they do everything better than the boys because they are taught the basics. You can get five or ten boys together and go play in the park. You can walk to any park and there’s always a game going on. You’re not going to get that with girls. They’re somewhere getting taught how to play the right way. They’ll jump stop, they’ll make the right pass, they don’t have the athleticism to finish above the rim that the boys do. The fundamentals make the girls’ game, to me, better. I love the girls’ game. Even in the WNBA, there is a high skill level. They can shoot, they can pass, and they can dribble. An athletic male can get further on his athleticism. A female has to have skill.