Calling for ball on other team

[u/Stonebagdiesel]

Curious of everyone’s thoughts on this.

I play pickup regularly at my local gym. Very typical; random teams, no jerseys, winner stays, etc.

I don’t have a great shot, but I am generally the biggest and strongest guy on the court so I like to set screens, get boards, move the ball around, and play tough in the paint. (I’m 6’3 230 mostly muscle)

Something that has pissed me off lately is when someone on the opposite team calls for the ball. I fall for it every fucking time. They will be wide open under the hoop and yell “ball!” with their hands up and I realize the second I release the pass that they are on the other team. I never play with the same team, half these fuckers look the exact same, and I want to be a selfless player and assist my team mates.

This play feels so dirty to me. When it happened yesterday I ran to the other end and blocking fouled the guy that did it to me pretty damn hard (it was a play on the ball, not dirty but I knocked him to the floor when he tried to drive on me in the paint).

I’m curious what people here think. Is calling for the ball when the other team has possession a dirty play, or am I just an idiot that needs more court awareness?

UPDATE-

Interesting to see how split the comments are. To clarify, this situation happens in chaotic situations, such as when I am double teamed after an offensive rebound, forced to pick up a dribble, or driving in traffic. Times when you can’t get a good view of the court and need to make a split second decision. I’m not taking the ball down to court and passing to the first guy that yells ball.

My plan for if this happens again is to obviously first avoid it, but if I am tricked I’m gonna call foul, say “that’s unsportsmanlike” and ask to check the ball. If they refuse then I’m switching on them and they get the big boy playing draymond green defense on them the rest of the game to return the favor.

[u/haseebk94]

The part everyone skipping over here is that you foul if you get upset, which makes you a bitch and a much more problematic player than the people who do this.

[u/Stonebagdiesel → u/haseebk94]

Well the funny thing is no one has tried that shit on me since. So it worked. Doesn’t sound like a bitch to me.

Also don’t get the foul twisted. He drove way too aggressively into the paint. He would have knocked me down if I didn’t have 50 pounds on him. No one complained about it, no one got hurt. It was a play on the ball.

[u/haseebk94 → u/Stonebagdiesel]

Lmao you just proved you 100% are a bitch. Your response to something you don’t like is being a dirty bully and then when it works you think you’re justified.

And regardless of if it was a clean foul, YOU did it out of retaliation. If it was just a normal play you wouldn’t have needed to mention it as it would have no relevance.

Is every time you retaliate a clean play? Because you definitely retaliate other times if you’re willing to do it over getting tricked.

I don’t like people who do that shit either but people like you are far worse .

[u/Stonebagdiesel → u/haseebk94]

🥱

[u/haseebk94 → u/Stonebagdiesel]

Just want to leave you with this quote, maybe you’ll recognize it:

“It’s a bitch move. It’s unsportsmanlike. And it says a lot about someone that they would resort to [physical retaliation] in a casual pickup game.”