51 pages • 1 hour read
Carl DeukerNight Hoops
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2000A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Sports Context: Night Hoops Basketball Versus Contemporary NBA Basketball
Night Hoops focuses on Nick’s high school basketball team, but the primary model he and other players base their game on is professional basketball, or the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nick consumes Sonics games, and his primary inspiration is Gary Payton, the All-Star point guard for the Sonics. Nick, too, plays point guard, which makes him the point person. Nick leads the offense and controls the ball. It’s his job to involve the other players; at first, he mainly passes to Luke; then, he favors Trent. In the NBA, the emphasis on specific positions is somewhat obsolete. Night Hoops came out in 2000, and current basketball discourse highlights “positionless basketball,” where players shoulder various roles regardless of their listed position. Thus, the seven-foot MVP centers Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic can run offenses and make three-pointers like a point guard or shooting guard.
Coach O’Leary emphasizes a fastbreak offense, meaning that he wants his players to hurry the ball up the court and score quickly without running a set play. O’Leary’s style of basketball anticipates the quick pace of the contemporary NBA, where the offense is a priority, and coaches encourage players to either shoot three-pointers or drive the ball to the basket for a layup, dunk, or foul. Conversely, Trent’s physical play alludes to the tough basketball that defined NBA culture in the 1990s. Adam Silver, the NBA’s fifth commissioner, thought the rugged brand limited the NBA’s growth and adjusted the rules to make it more free-flowing, like O’Leary’s preferred offense.
Literary Context: The Similarities Between Night Hoops and Other Carl Deuker Novels
Carl Deuker has published more than 10 novels for young readers. All of them link to sports, and many of them have similar elements. Deuker’s first novel was On the Devil’s Court (1988). Like Nick, the main character, Joe Faust, is passionate about basketball. While Night Hoops is realistic, On the Devil’s Court features surrealism, with Joe making a pact with the devil so that he can excel at high school basketball. As with Nick, Joe has a contentious relationship with his father. Joe also has a problematic friend, Ross, but unlike Trent, Ross never becomes a redeemable young person. While Nick and Trent battle the judgmental Bothell community, Joe’s main struggle is with himself and his increasingly taxing pact.
Deuker’s next novel was a baseball story, Heart of a Champion (1994). As with Night Hoops, the novel centers on two teen boys, Seth and Jimmy. Their dynamic mimics the bond between Nick and Trent, with Jimmy misbehaving and Seth regularly acting mindfully. In Night Hoops, Deuker reveals the potentially lethal consequences of unchecked bullying. In Heart of a Champion, Deuker displays the deadly risks of teen drinking. More so, Jimmy doesn’t have a good relationship with his father, and Seth’s father died when he was little; this leads to a lack of fathers and father figures in Deuker’s second novel.
Runner (2005) deviates from Deuker’s formula. Chance Taylor, the central character, is a teen who likes to run, but sports don’t play a prominent role in the narrative. However, Chance’s relationship with his father is crucial. While Nick and his father’s relationship is contentious due to the latter’s overbearing nature, Chance’s father has both positive and negative moments. Thus, Runner presents a multilayered father-son relationship. Like Nick, Chance is mindful, but feeling the pressure to earn money, he inadvertently becomes involved in a “terrorist” attack that pushes Chance’s father to collect himself and become a hero.
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