Bones Hyland’s Favorite Player Wasn’t in the NBA
Bones recently revealed who his basketball idol was and how he taught him to be creative with the basketball. He also wasn’t in the NBA.
If you grew up during the And1 era of basketball, you know the name Hot Sauce.
Hot Sauce is an And1 streetball legend who had the most unorthodox ball handling.
He had a flair to his style and his main objective with the ball wasn’t to break your ankles, but rather to embarrass you while he created space for his shots.
He constantly danced with his ball handling -literally- to mock defenders, bounced the ball off of defenders’ foreheads, and nutmegged them after making them freeze in time.
He did all of these movements with his unique flavour. Some might even say that they’re spicy (sorry).
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Hot Sauce’s style was the definition of streetball and he was Bones Hyland’s idol growing up.
On the KG Certified podcast, Bones told Kevin Garnett that when he was young, he barely watched NBA games because he was too busy watching streetball and And1 and practicing the moves.
“It was Hot Sauce and it’s a funny story and I always talk about this. I always come home from school and I eat a bowl of cereal and I put Hot Sauce up and I watch it.
“And after I’m done eating, I go to the mirror with a ball and I just start doing all his moves. And then after that, I go to the gym and start like, working on all his moves…I never really watched the NBA. Just them.”
He also added that by mimicking Hot Sauce, he was able to learn how to be creative with his movements and ball handling -something that Jason Williams relied on to develop his style.
“[He’s] just been the guy who just showed me how to, you now, just be creative with the basketball.”
So, if you were curious as to why Bones’ game seems so unique, it’s because he was influenced by streetball and And1, not popular players, such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant, from his youth.
Bones just finished his second season in the NBA, where he suited up for two teams, the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers. He also averaged 11.8 points and 3.1 assists per game in year 2.
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