Street Basketball Charges Into the Mainstream Mix

There’s no need to seek out the urban playground legends anymore. No need to get in the car or hop on the subway to see the guy with the serious hops or crazy handles you heard about.

These days, they’re just as likely to come to you. No element of sports is more fashionable than street basketball. It has found a place in commercials, videotapes, satellite TV and video games, with a spot on the stage to come.

“They’re finally beginning to show where it really comes from, where the basics begin,” said Willie Farmon, also known as “The Mayor of Venice” for his long tenure at the beachside courts.

“You knew it was going to be commercialized. It’s just a matter of time.”

Advertisers are desperate for anything with an edge because that’s what the kids want. Mountain Dew commercials feel like the X Games. Wrestlers lock down endorsements and movie roles.

Playground ball has that feel to it. No referees to bog things down with their three-second or backcourt calls. There’s the trash talk. And the reactions from the people lined up around the fence, serving as a Greek chorus. Even something as basic as the score can start an argument.

But can ball still be “street” if it’s in the living room?

Pickup games got a good run in the movie “White Men Can’t Jump” a few years ago, but lately there’s a whole wave of street themes.

The most talked-about commercials of the spring were the Nike “Freestyle” spots that blended unknowns with pro stars, showcasing moves that were as much about dance as they were basketball.

Adidas has a series of print ads that showcase a shoe designed for doing everything from hooping at the playground, grabbing a bite to eat and hanging out at the bar.

Even the NBA has latched on to street chic. This summer, NBA.com TV showed games from the Entertainer’s Classic League at Harlem’s famed Rucker Park. Former President Clinton dropped by to check it out, with NBA Commissioner David Stern at his side. Shaquille O’Neal came by too.

And the league gave its weighty licensing blessing to “NBA Street,” a video game for PlayStation 2.

The game features real NBA players going three-on-three, outdoors. Score is by ones, with no referees. You can rack up style points for doing moves with extra flavor, such as throwing the ball off the backboard to yourself and slamming it home. And it’s all backed by hip-hop beats and a commentator tossing out lines such as “You better D up, playa.”

“Obviously, a lot of our players have come out of the street game,” said Gregg Winik, executive producer of NBA Entertainment. “But absolutely, in the last year, it’s become more popular, more mainstream. Consumers are wanting more of it.”

And 1 has made street ball the center of marketing since it began making basketball shoes and apparel eight years ago. When they started giving away “mix tapes” featuring playground highlights from around the country and new hip-hop songs with purchases, the company took off.

Today at 1 p.m., the Venice Boardwalk court where Farmon has run for some 20 years will be the latest stop for the And 1 Mix Tape tour, featuring such playground stars from around the country as Philip “Hot Sauce” Champion from Atlanta, Aaron “A-O” Owens from Philadelphia and Robin “Sik Wit Dit” Kennedy from Pasadena.

“Street ball, we bring a whole new level of ball playing,” Kennedy said. “We might throw it off your head, throw it off your leg, throw it off anything, just to hear the crowd say, ‘Mann, unnnh.’

“We’re out there to entertain everyone to see us play.”

And people are coming out to see them play. Thanks to the mix tapes, these players have reps as large as some NBA stars.

When Owens played in New York recently, he rolled to the park with Champion and Stephon Marbury (who was traded from the New Jersey Nets to the Phoenix Suns this summer).

“One of the kids was like, ‘Yo, there goes Steph, right there,’ ” Owens said. “The other kid was like, ‘I don’t care, there goes A-O and Hot Sauce.’ That’s crazy.”

One of the more intriguing players with the group is Rafer Alston, who picked up the nickname “Skip To My Lou” because of the way he dances with the ball. Alston played with Fresno State and now is in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks.

He can go street on you or keep the coaches happy.

“It’s hard for some of the guys to convert,” Alston said. “You’ve got guys that play that shake-and-bake game, that play that one-on-one game, but when they stop and go to college, they can’t get that team thing. College, one thing that I’ve learned is that you have to be able to run the team as a point guard.

“College and NBA, it’s a team-oriented game. In the playground game, it’s who can shake who, who’s going to take who.”

What’s he doing back on the playground during the summer?

“It’s helping the kids understand the fun about the game,” Alston said. “That’s my main purpose.

“One thing I’ve learned on those two levels, some of the fun is taken out of the game because it’s so business-oriented.”

Will business take over the street? That’s the worry. Whenever the advertisers and corporations come in, the fun and innocence can go out.

Mark Woolsey, marketing director for And 1, says, “The game itself is true. We don’t try to fabricate anything with these games. These guys are playing the way they’d be playing if they were on a court at midnight. It’s really taking it and commercializing it, is our goal.”

Where can it go next?

“There’s potentially a show coming to Broadway,” Winik said. “From the people that created the [Nike] freestyle commercial. They’re working on a concept, called ‘Ball.’ There’s a story. The basketball’s a thread, but there’s a narrative attached too.

“That would be just about coming full circle. Street ball comes to Broadway. You couldn’t get any more mainstream than that.”

*

J.A. Adande can be reached at ja.adande@latimes.com.