The 5 Best Hoops Mix Masters Of Youtube

I Freak A Funky Beat Like That
Shit Was In A Blender

When you're having the time honoured discussion of who the greatest players of all time are, inevitably the phrase "youtube mix" will be used. It's usually a negative thing in the discussion because it means someone is basing too much on highlights. Everyone looks good in highlights. In reality, it's one of the reasons why basketball is the fastest growing sport in the world. And why do they all look good?

Making a truly great mix is more then merely copying video. You can observe countless subtleties from people who know what they're doing. It's about including rare footage that matters. It's about getting the musical choice just right. Knowing when to cut that music for a dunk because the call from announcers is part of the moment. It's about timing particularly amazing slams on the beat to create rhythm making you feel they were made side by side, instead of separately. Matching lyrics to poignant moments or to have a player lip sync to the song.

It's about time we appreciated the guys who put so much sweat into giving us 5-10 minutes of basketball enjoyment at a time. Here's the 5 best Mix Makers on you tube, in the order I remember them.

1. KBlaze

In the mix-making universe, KBlaze has got to be considered a legend. He's produced 100's of mixes which makes it so difficult to pick just a few to demonstrate how he flexes his skills with his knowledge of the NBA and it's history. He must be an archivist (or work for the NBA). I have no idea where anyone can get the access to the footage.

Expect mixes to have all the key moments you'd expect and lots of clips from high school and anywhere else the subject played. In his stellar Dominique Wilkins mix he made sure to get a clip of 'Nique lifting the trophy over his head, way past prime but still ballin in Europe. No one else does things like that, and that's why KBlaze and his love for the game (and amazing Hip Hop) goes first.



His awesome career retrospective of The Round Mound Of Rebound, Charles Barkley is worth watching too. Notice how all the slams, shots blocks and moments are all timed to match the beat? How much time does it take to do that for 100's of plays on a 10 minute video? Props.



2. Yinka Dare


When people tell me that Tim Duncan is a non-athletic player, I invariably send a link to Yinka Dare's TD mix. I tell them to watch the whole thing, but pay attention to the dunks at 4:10 and 4:20. He has not posted a new mix in a while and I hope he gets back at it.

Yinka has mixes for the standard stars, but he also devotes his time to lesser known players like Keon Clark and Larry Hughes. He made throw backs to Isiah Rider's and Antonio McDyess's mostly forgotten elite high flying career. It's only had 7,000 views, but he made it because it should be done, and fans should appropriate it. Yinka's mixes are always highlighted by some of the best hip hop choices in the game. How perfect does Rappin 4 Tay's smooth ass delivery of Player's Club fit Tim Duncan's smooth fundamental game? TD is definitely in the Player's Club.



3. Maxamillion711

Maxamillion is something of an archivist. What may be lacking in styling is more then made up for in sheer content. When the best NBA mixes are brought up his Vince Carter Top 100 Dunk mixes are always in the discussion. Some of them are famous, some of them are from cell phone videos in unknown gyms, but they're all in his killer mix.



He's also got a great ability to capture the poignancy of some of the better moments in sports. This recent mix, made 3 years after the VC one, shows how he's honed his skills. Simple edits don't distract from the flow of the game as you watch one of the best come backs in NBA history come back to life.



 
4. Coose

Fourth, but maybe first. Technically, subjectively, historically, it's hard to imagine any pro or amateur creating more stylish basketball videos then Coose. Check out his tribute to the new decade of hoops in 2010. I don't think anything the NBA or anyone else has produced has done a better job of summing up the new era of PRO hoops.



5. Mix Tape Live

If anyone does make more stylish videos, maybe it's Mix Tape Live. Maybe the best straight up dunk mix on You Tube, the NBA High Flyer Series, Volume 1, throws down with everything it has to show why the NBA has the best athletes in all of PRO sports. Filled with eye candy and slick transitions Mix Tape Live should really be working for the NBA, not out-performing them on You Tube.






6. Vincent Da

Many claim that Vincent Da's "Art Of War" is the greatest mix of all time. Is it the amazing score from Requiem For A Dream, the classic speech from Patton, or the fusion of the two with a relentless assault of testosterone driven hoops clips that cause this video to crescendo. It doesn't matter, when you're finished watching you see all the excitement that basketball has to offer.

Art Of War has over 30 different variations on youtube since he first made it in 2003. He hasn't made a mix since his redux version in 2008. If he is the GOAT or not we can all agree on one thing: we wish he'd make some more. Watch in full screen, it's recommended.

And there you have it. The best 6 Mix Makers on you tube. If you're a fan of the game you should subscribe to their channels, post some comments and click some ads to say 'thank you' for all the hard work.

Am I leaving someone out who deserves to be on this list? Let me know in the comments and I'd be happy to add more ass kicking hoops vids to this page.

In Defence Of: Vince Carter

There's Really No Debate That This Dunk Will Be
 At Or Close To The Top Of Every Best Dunks Of
All Time List For 50 Years (At Least)

(In Defence Of is a new regular feature on Full Court Pest who's goal is to defend players who have controversial and/or negatively viewed careers in the NBA. If you'd like to see someone defended, feel free to send the suggestion along, and if I agree, will do my best, enjoy!)

Being a Raptors fan (by default when you're Canadian) inherently involves having an informed opinion on Vince Carter. I've followed Carter's entire career. I can't disagree with anything in the well established plethora of his faults, but I've also got to say that rap sheet is overly harsh on Carter. It kills to me to have to defend him but I'm compelled when history is unjust.

One thing I know about the NBA: you can't win without good bigs. You just can't. At minimum you need someone who can rebound, defend and bring some toughness at the 5. Without it, the other team's tough role players to superstar big will exploit you a la Dwight Howard vs Big Z in last year's East finals. You need a Kendrick Perkins, a la Boston/Orlando in this years finals, or you are done. Agreed?

So who's the best big that Vince played with in his pre-Orlando career? That comes down to a choice between post-prime Antonio Davis who showed up being 31 years of age after he was still a role player topping out at 28 MPG in his prime in Indiana.

Everyone Wins Titles With The Diesal

Davis was an utter post season no show in 2000 with 9, 4 and 12 boards. Played well the next year (TO came within a shot of the east finals) and after that it was evident his time being an impact player was over, all before Carter entered his prime. Davis' season ending injuries sank the Raptors to the point that Toronto's best front court players were a 37 year old Kevin Willis and a 36 year old Charles Oakley.

The next best choice is Nenad Kristic. Do I need to say more? Except Kristic got hurt, so his best big was... a 39 year old Clifford Robinson! Seriously. Or maybe Josh Boone... and that's arguable.

So you have to do some comparisons with Carter's peers.

y = Carter + x (other player's big)

x (Manu/Parker) = Duncan y = titles
x (Kobe) = Shaq y = titles
x (Wade) = Shaq y = titles
x (Pierce) = KG y = titles
x (Kobe) = Pau/Odom y = titles

And that's an entire decade of champions minus the Pistons which is a team Carter would have no place being on. In the very, very least, the result of any of those pairings is legitimate contender.

Charles Oakley And His Girlfriend

The fact is, no one is going to win or make any noise starting an injured Nenad Kristic, post-prime injured Davis or on average 38 year old front courts. Or Josh Boone. Or Brian Scalanbrine who the Nets actually did start at center while Carter was there.

Carter deserves lots of blame, but no one else in that situation, Jason Kidd or not, is going to win in the post season even if they are. Michael Jordan who actually lost with prime, not 37 year old Charles Oakley. Does Jordan win with Clifford Robinson, Kristic or Josh Boone? No. People attach the losing to Vince because he was famous, however, if you follow those player's careers as starters you can see that they had their peaks with Vince Carter. Kristic 'starts' in OK City, but only plays 22 minutes a game.

People still act as if the losing is all Carter's fault. He didn't play optimally, his heart is questionable, he lacks toughness but even if he put in MJ performances, he probably wouldn't have won much more then he did, or at all. Maybe one year in TO he gets to the east finals. That's about it. MJ on the Raptors still loses. On the nets he loses to Shaq and the Heat twice. He still loses to Big Z when he was still an effective player with Bron in 07 cuz over 40 Cliff, Josh Boone and Mikki Moore just can't compete. And no one even considers that when Kidd left the Nets the team won the same # of games, 34, as the year before. When Carter left, they won 12 and Devin Harris did not look nearly as spectacular.

Sure, Vince mailed in some games and he's hated for it. Lest we forget though that in the NBA situation is everything. Carter's attitude stank, but not nearly as badly as the dysfunctional teams he spent his prime on. Now he's frankly too old to make up for either vs an absolute defensive juggernaut.

Vince Doesn't Deserve This

Lets be fair. Look up Coleman, Derrick or Mercer, Ron for players who are much worse examples of no effort postage. He's unquestionably the greatest NBA dunker of all time which is an accomplishment and put up pretty great numbers for his whole career. People are trying to fill him full of 'blame pie' like Kevin Spacey filled the fat guy full of spaghetti in Se7en. Hey, maybe that's justified. All I'm saying is relax Kevin, now that he's full of your hate-fruit filling, is it really necessary to kick him in the stomach?