Watch NJ teen’s homemade basketball trick-shot machine in action

Wow. A Middletown teenager constructed a contraption called the “Swish Machine” that starts and ends with a basketball going through a hoop but has 70 steps in between. The amazing video has been viewed over 780,000 times on YouTube!

The 16 year old, Cree Ossner, built the machine during the coronavirus lockdown and, according to a story by Jerry Carino of the Asbury Park Press, using only household items that his parents already had. Some of those items include a toy railroad caboose, dominoes, a bicycle tire, a lawn chair, a cooler, paint cans, a skateboard, a wiffle ball, a wheel barrow, traffic cones, and, well, a ton of other items; the rake on the picnic table is particularly ingenious.

The video lasts three minutes and nineteen seconds and took at least 100 takes to get right; again, there are 70 steps involved in getting the ball through the hoop. The journey begins on his parents’ driveway, travels around the side of the house, up on the roof, through the backyard, down a hill, along a pond, into some woods, and, finally, into the last basketball hoop. It’s a long trip.

How does the creative process start? Ossner told Pix11 News New York the first thing he does is make a mess so he can see all the items involved and the possibilities they offer. Then he just starts playing around with the items (that include things that his neighbors were throwing out. The trick shot machinery has been disassembled, though, because his parents needed their stuff back.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle. Any opinions expressed are Bill Doyle's own.