Where the best players ball in the offseason

	An anonymous player last year, Joakim Noah returned to the Rucker this summer as a star. Chuck Solomon/AP

By Matthew Waxman

Turns out the basketball offseason isn't all piña coladas and inflatable pool furniture. We've located the summer pickup games that consistently lure All-Stars and All-Americas, despite the less-than-ideal conditions. We'll tell you who plays where, the house rules, how to sneak in and a famous rumor from each of the four most prolific offseason hoops runs in the country.

Rucker Park

The Regulars: Ron Artest, Stephon Marbury, Jamaal Tinsley, Jamal Crawford, Rafer Alston, Sebastian Telfair, Joakim Noah

Access: When superstars like AI, Kobe or KG are rumored to be in town, the rickety bleachers that line the perimeter of the court and hold a couple thousand people fill up more than an hour in advance of the early game at six. If you arrive after that, do as the kids do: scale the chain-link fence that surrounds the playground or perch yourself in a tree for a view of the action.

The Rules: NBA rules with refs, a time clock and a scoreboard.

The Run: "You're back in school, Joakim," the emcee crows. At the free throw line Noah, the Florida Gators' sophomore forward and Most Outstanding Player of last year's NCAA tournament, dips his knees and hits the first shot. "Congratulations on winning the NCAAs, but they gonna test you here," the emcee continues as Noah prepares for his second shot. "Ladies and gentleman, he could have gone to the league. Decided to enjoy another year" -- Noah starts his shooting motion -- "spending his parents' cash." Mid-stroke Noah cracks, flashing his gap-toothed grin and shaking his bouquet of long hair before clanging the second shot. The crowd laughs in amusement.

Fat Joe pleads his case on the sidelines while his team, Terror Squad, plays on. AP

At 155th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard -- next to Mama's Fried Chicken, Nas Deli, Miny Nails and Uptown Laundromat -- stands Rucker Park. The most historic slab of concrete since the Rosetta Stone has evolved since the days when Goat, Pearl and Tiny made names for themselves there. Streetballers like Homicide, Antifreeze and the Bone Collector now suit up in the Entertainers Basketball Classic (EBC), a league in which sponsors like Fat Joe, The Game and Jadakiss own and often coach teams featuring any NBA players they can get their hands on, even for a single game.

Despite the debris, dusty surface and on-court emcees, who lollygag within the court lines while maintaining a running commentary/comedy show for the fans ("Potato chips at three in the morning is a dead giveaway you getting high," one of them once said to the crowd), the top ballers can't resist. "You got a lot of tradition out there," said Vince Carter after he played there in 2002. "It's just something where I wanted to say, 'Yeah, I played.'"

Regulars Sebastian "2 Fast 2 Furious" Telfair (12) and Jamal "the Essence" Crawford (8) get some instruction before a game in 2003. AP

The Rucker's star power on-court is matched by those in attendance, from Fabolous and Mike Tyson to Alicia Keys, who has been known to stroll out of the stands and put on an impromptu a capella halftime performance. "I remember being at Rucker Park in the company of President Clinton," says commissioner David Stern, "and the MC says, 'Yo, Bill' and then decided it would be better to call him 'Mr. President.' It's neighborhood fun."

The assist-to-turnover ratio may not be to Stern's liking, but the rough, And1 brand of ball helps pampered stars maintain their edge. "I got my swagger at the Rucker," says Noah, who played last summer as an unknown freshman before returning this year as a main attraction. "The basketball is completely different here; it isn't for everybody. But if you can play at the Rucker, you can play anywhere."

Rumor Has It: When Rafer "Skip to My Lou" Alston was a junior in high school and a defender went up to block his layup, Alston is said to have let the ball roll down his arm, behind his neck and down the other arm before flicking it to a streaking teammate for a layin.