Max Resetar

A ballplayer’s style is illuminating. The way people hoop says a whole lot about their personality off the floor. Basketball is soul expression. Shoot-first gunners might never stop talking about themselves. Pass-first floor generals might never talk about themselves. All-out defenders might only talk to themselves. Now consider what Elena Delle Donne’s playing style might reveal about her personality.

Midnight at Astoria Park in Queens, the hour at which the evening’s only companion is nostalgia—tomorrow can’t be seen yet and the past is still close. Sentimentality so strong that it comes to life and flows down from the wind, skids along the trees, bounces off the park’s basketball rims, seeps into the pores of the asphalt and cascades down into the water of the East River. A roaring boom inspirits the whole park without a human soul in sight. It’s the trees that speak up first.

Jimmer Fredette was a cultural force that gathered steam at the dawn of social media. In the early days of Twitter, posts showcasing his long-distance missiles only required two words for their captions: THE JIMMER. His run in 2011 sent basketball fans around the country into a frenzy. He was one of the people responsible for stretching the conventional shape of the game.