PETER ROBERT CASEY

Old-school style, new-school scenery.

In September 2019, we took Five-Star back outdoors for a training session at East River Park in NYC to give back to the game and pay homage to the camp’s rich roots of top-notch instruction and grinding under the hot sun.

Fifteen kids were treated to a complimentary 3-hour buffet of basketball skill development, led by Tobin Anderson (St. Thomas Aquinas College) and high-energy trainer, Kwabena Brenya, who served up the finer fundamentals in an organized package of teaching stations and competitive drill-work.

Just like the old days in Honesdale, Radford, and Robert Morris.

In July 2019, we paired leading grassroots basketball brands - the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) and Five-Star - to elevate their shared vision and values of developing players, fostering quality and consistent competition, and giving back to the game.

The partnership began with the inaugural NBPA x Five-Star Camp at Basketball City, providing boys and girls ages 9-17, with a structured basketball learning experience that emphasizes fundamental skill development, team participation and competition.

Campers received expert basketball instruction from top-notch coaches, including former NBA players and current union members, while going through Five-Star’s rigorous and renowned teaching stations. Each player received uniform, sponsored by Champion and a player evaluation card with direct feedback from their camp coach. Other sponsors included Spalding, NBA 2K, and Dr. Dish.

ROKIT exemplifies a clever blend of basketball and skateboarding sensibilities, with inspired minimalist tendencies. In collaboration with the LA-based streetwear brand, SLAM created the "Crossover" capsule, serving as a homage to a shared experience between basketball and skateboarding; one born of blood, sweat, and tears.

Presented by AT&T and in partnership with Levi’s, Bose and Stance, the 2019 SLAM Draft Suite — in its seventh year running — has become the “unofficial” NBA Draft Suite.

In the days leading up to Draft night, future rookies —including Zion Williamson and Ja Morant — came by the Suite to grab some cool gifts from our partners, create exclusive video content, and just hang for a little, taking a break from their otherwise crazy schedules.

SLAM pulled up to Charlotte for NBA All-Star ‘19 in a wrapped Sprinter van featuring 25 years of iconic covers — including the premiere issue with Larry Johnson and unveiling the latest edition with Kemba Walker — to sling exclusive merchandise, capture content, and serve as a moving billboard throughout the weekend.

Classic covers. Modern apparel.

In 2018, we teamed up with Mitchell & Ness to create a capsule collection of SLAM cover threads — shirts, hoodies and hats — that hit the shelves and e-commerce engines at select retailers, including Macy’s, Urban Outfitters, Fanatics, Lids, Jimmy Jazz, and the NBA Store.

In August 2018, we rolled out the inaugural SLAM Summer Classic, an outdoor high school All-American game at the iconic Dyckman Park. Presented by Facebook Watch, the Classic featured 20 of the top sophomores, juniors and seniors in the country.

At Duke, The Brotherhood is more than a shared history or hashtag. It’s more than a common connection to a campus or logo.

The Brotherhood is a commitment. A culture. A loyalty. It’s a bond forged by sacrifice and cemented by selflessness. Five players coming together as one.

From four-year reserves to one-and-done pros. From one generation to the next. From Bilas to Bagley and beyond. It starts with K and it lasts for life.

---

In January 2018, we descended on Durham's to learn more about Duke's Brotherhood, which manifested in this mag, web, and social feature titled "Just Like Brothers."

Debates for days.

In late February 2018, we published a standalone special collector’s issue — The 100 Greatest Players of All-Time — that sold over 45,000 issues across all 50 states and over 50 countries.

FIGHTBALL is the world's most intense one-on-one basketball competition: Eight-player tournament. Eight-minute game. Eight-second shot clock. All in a nightclub atmosphere. 

In addition to helping FIGHTBALL devise and refine their game rules, I created the brand's Q1 2016 story arc and editorial calendar, advised on social strategy and wrote all outbound social copy and TV/digital video scripts (shown on this page).

In a span of 42 days from announcement to end of FIGHTBALL 03 NYC, we drove 12 million video views, 100 million social impressions, and generated over 270,000 new social followers.   

Visit Fightball.co for more details. 

To commemorate Five-Star's 50th anniversary in 2016, we partnered with up-and-coming designer Geoff Simms to recreate the camp's iconic t-shirt designs from the '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s, along with a special anniversary look.

We also digitized and indexed over 14,000 camp photos dating back to 1966, all released year by year on SmugMug.

To celebrate LeBron James reaching a significant statistical milestone - 20,000 points, 5,000 rebounds, and 5,000 assists - I wrote the on-image copy for this Nike Basketball digital poster. 

As the NBA's 2015 midseason classic descended on New York City, Foot Locker and Nike Basketball teamed up to launch its largest House of Hoops pop-up shop ever, all within a free-throw's distance of Madison Square Garden.

The 51,000-square foot retail space was stocked with fresh heat from Nike Basketball, Nike Sportswear and Jordan Brand and featured appearances from several NBA All-Stars, all while serving as an ode to NYC basketball.

I wrote all Nike Basketball-related copy for Foot Locker's social channels, including product drops, customization calls-to-action and announcements for athlete appearances. 

The Swoosh surged on social media during March Madness 2014 as UConn shocked the 68-team field en route to its fourth national championship.

Nike Basketball highlighted key pre- and post-game moments with defining digital posters. Meanwhile on Nike.com, we told the product story behind each Nike Hyper Elite Dominance Uniform, which fused premium innovation with program heritage.

In Q1 of 2017, we released v1.0 of Sports Passport's iOS app, the easy way to track, chronicle, and relive every game you attend.

In addition to preserving fan memories, Sports Passport dishes out personalized stats:

- Number of games you've attended
- Number of venues you've seen a game
- Top-10 performances you've witnessed
- Personalized W-L records (and streaks) for your favorite teams
- Composite personalized player stats

Sports Passport, presented by New York Life, is the easy way to track, chronicle, and relive every game you attend. I co-founded Sports Passport in 2013 with Kyle Whelliston. 

Sports Passport has been featured in several national publications - Forbes, SportTechie, Sports Illustrated, Sports on Earth (USA Today), New York Magazine, Sporting News and SLAM. 

In college basketball, it’s all about environment. The hallowed halls of Hinkle. The haunting hums that reverberate inside Allen Fieldhouse.

Cameron Crazies.
Hilton Magic.
Big Blue Nation.

The Pit.
The Kennel.
The Roundhouse.

Each is distinct. All are iconic. Together, they form the holy grounds of Our Game. To commemorate these most sacred venues, I created an 18" x 24" Cathedrals of College Basketball poster to sell via Basketball Passport.

The poster shot up to No. 1 on the College Basketball Subreddit, sparking a debate over which venues warrant cathedral-like status. 

Illustrations by Robb Harskamp. 

There’s only one way to 'Become Immortal' as an NBA player: Win a championship. With visual direction from Village Green and Robb Harskamp, we told the story of each key Nike Basketball athlete's quest for immortality--before, after, and between each round of the 2014 Playoffs. The top image celebrated the Spurs' 5th NBA banner.

For March Madness 2013, Nike Basketball partnered with R/GA and set up a social response lab, creating a series of roughly 40 March Madness metaphors that celebrated each Nike team's victory.

The metaphors, including those pictured in which I wrote, were based on program insights and in-game performances and were released at the buzzer via Nike Basketball social channels. 

After Five-Star celebrated its 50th birthday and pivoted towards a franchising model, we rolled out a new visual identity, trademarked tagline, digital commercial, and manifesto, which I wrote:  

Greatness Starts Here

Greatness may start small. 
Unknown,
Or undiscovered.

But we find it. 
Focus it. 
Sharpen it. 

Through every drill.
Every station. 
Every session. 

For over 50 years.
Over 500 NBA players,
250,000 alumni and counting.

From Moses to Michael,
Laettner to LeBron,
KD, CP3, Steph and Melo too.

The intensity… it’s iconic.
The teaching… it’s constant.
The competition… it’s calling. 

Will you answer it?  
Greatness starts now.
GREATNESS STARTS HERE.

The 2013 NBA Playoffs were punctuated by LeBron James winning back-to-back titles in Miami, but not before Nike Basketball gave golden tributes to the Spurs' Manu Ginobili and Danny Green. 

NBA 2K13 featured groundbreaking Nike Basketball integrations: The ability to sign an in-game contract with the Swoosh, unlocking designs in the Nike Innovation Kitchen and making real-life purchases for NIKEiD shoes designed in the game. 

Along with a colleague, I had the fortune of writing the Nike shoe and technology descriptions featured in the game, the in-game billboard and shoe commercial copy, shoe contract and Nike Innovation Kitchen welcome letters. 

In celebration of basketball's 125th anniversary on December 21, 2016, I collaborated with the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and Position Sports to create a list of the "Top 125 Basketball Venues to Watch a Game."

In addition to creating and refining the list, I helped plan the rollout strategy and wrote the Instagram caption copy for many of the venues. 

In November 2013, I embarked on a grueling 30,000-mile journey to see "30 NBA games in 30 days" at every arena in the League.

The trip was a planned publicity stunt to drive awareness around the launch of Basketball Passport, a web application that lets you chronicle every NBA and Division I college basketball game you've ever attended.

The story was featured on NBA.com, NBA TV, Fox Sports, ESPN Radio, Vibe Magazine, SLAM, Bleacher Report, Indy Star, Toronto Sun, New York Daily News and dozens of other domestic and international publications.

For the 2012 NBA Playoffs, Nike Basketball created game-summarizing post-game posters, memorialized consumer tweets into EPIC-themed digital assets (surprise and delight style), bearded up James Harden super fans, distributed player-specific social packs, and managed one-to-one communications with Nike Basketball consumers. 

During Team USA's march to a pair of Olympic gold medals, Nike Basketball responded to peak moments in real-time with custom social assets. 

During the 2011 NBA lockout, I helped Five-Star Basketball coordinate, promote, and capture content for a once-in-a-lifetime skills clinic that featured LeBron James, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade. 

In 2011, the New York Knicks launched an innovative content community called Knicks Now.

The launch was written about by Sports Business Journal and Adweek, and I served as the site's Editor-in-Chief and first-ever social media specialist covering every Knicks game, practice, and community event. 

When Michael Jordan was cut from his high school varsity basketball team as a sophomore, the last player to make the Laney squad was Leroy Smith.

Wieden + Kennedy and Jordan Brand used this insight to turn Smith into a wildly successful motivational guru - played by the late Charlie Murphy - in a campaign leading up to Michael Jordan's enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame. 

After interviewing Leroy Smith for my personal blog, Murphy surprised me with this gem. 

In 2009, I became the first media-credentialed microblogger in college basketball history when receiving a press pass to cover St. John's mens basketball on my personal Twitter feed.

The story was featured on ESPN, Mashable, New York Magazine, PR 2.0 and the New York Times Sunday paper, and opened up the door for me to become the second person to ever take over the NBA's Twitter handle for a game. 

In the fall of 2008, I wrote a handful of pieces for ESPN The Magazine’s website to tip-off the NBA and NCAA seasons. 

- Small Fry: The Cal State Northridge Matadors
- Are the Atlanta Hawks for real? 
- NBA Fun Facts: New Orleans Hornets
- NBA Fun Facts: Utah Jazz
- NBA Fun Facts: Cleveland Cavaliers