Baseline Killers

University of Arizona and former St. Mary’s High School star Jerryd Bayless is one of the featured hoopsters in Beastie Boy Adam “MCA” Yauch’s new film, Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot. The documentary about 24 of the best high school players in the country coming together on a basketball court in Harlem opens Friday, June 27, at various Valley theaters, a day after hometown hero Bayless was expected to be chosen fourth in the 2008 NBA draft.

Set to a Yauch-curated hip-hop soundtrack, Gunnin’ appears to be Hoop Dreams meets A Great Day in Harlem. Other shooting stars, including Kansas State’s Michael Beasley and UCLA’s Kevin Love, both of whom were expected to be drafted in the top 10, appear in the movie, which contemplates life as a teenage future superstar. Recruiters, fans, shoe companies, and NBA scouts all factor in the pressure-filled lives of fast-track kids like Bayless.

This film is also playing at AMC Deer Valley 30 and AMC Mesa Grand 24.