Okay so listen up. I’m gonna tell you how this went down. It started simple. I just wanted a fair way to pick a random NBA player for our pickup game chat group. Like, “who should we pretend to be today?” kinda thing.
The Search Began (And Disappointed)
First thought? “Someone online must have already made this easy.” Big mistake. I typed “random NBA player picker” and clicked around for what felt like forever.
- Some were plain trash. You clicked generate, but it spat out the same three famous players every single time. No fun.
- Others were messy. Like, too many options. Filter by team? By position? By shoe size? Bro, I just wanna hit one button!
- A bunch straight-up didn’t work. Press the button… and nothing happens. Or the page screams at you. Ugh.
Basically, everything sucked. Wasted a whole coffee’s worth of time.
Fine, Guess I’ll Do It Myself
Got stubborn. Figured if nobody else could make a good one, I’d slap together my own janky version. What’s the absolute bare-bones need?
- A massive pile of all the current NBA player names. The whole list.
- One single button. Click it.
- Out pops one single random name from the big pile.
No fluff. Simple.
The Building Part (Simpler Than You Think)
I’m not building a rocket ship here. Found an old beginner tutorial for this type of thing. It involves:
- Making a big, ugly list (like typing out all the players, felt like doing taxes).
- Sticking that list into a basic web page thing.
- Adding a magic button that basically just shouts at the computer, “Yo! Grab one name from that list randomly!”
- A little box to show that one lucky player.
No fancy “if-then” boxes for filtering or anything. Just grab-and-show. The core code? Honestly, maybe 15 lines? Most of the effort was copying and pasting all those darn names.
Testing… Does It Actually Work?
Time for the fun part. Smashed that button over and over.
- Click! Jaylen Brown
- Click! Karl-Anthony Towns
- Click! Herbert Jones (Who? Exactly! Perfect!)
- Click! Stephen Curry
- Click! Brandon Podziemski (Again, perfect!)
It worked! It pulled superstars, it pulled bench guys, it pulled dudes I barely knew. It felt truly random. No repeats unless by pure chance. No bias. Just chaos. Exactly what I needed.
So, What Makes It “Great”?
After wrestling with the junk online, “great” meant different things:
- Truly Random: Every player has an equal shot. Every. Single. Click.
- Dead Simple: One button. One name. Done. Brain not required.
- Actually Works: Click the button, get a name. Every. Single. Time. No drama.
- Complete Roster: If they’re playing right now, they’re in the pile. No one’s missing.
That’s it. Anything more complicated? Probably overkill for grabbing a random hooper.
My homemade janky box nailed all that. Sometimes the best tools are the ones you build yourself when the internet lets you down.
