Spalding NBA 54" Glass U-Turn In-Ground Hoop System

My children and the neighborhood kids have got a lot of use out of this system! It was easy to assemble. The backboard is a great size!

My first online purchase with pickup at my local Walmart. It would have been helpful to know to claim pickup on the electronic device rather than customer service counter. Otherwise, the Walmart staff was more than helpful! Assembly was a bit involved, but not unexpected. The directions were helpful and this particular model came with the hoop pre-assembled, which was a nice discovery! I am satisfied with this product.

I paid $412 and believe this is a good value given the quality of the glass backboard, pole, and rim. The instructions were decent, but reading the other reviews was very helpful. Overall, I'm pleased with the install and quality (have been using it for 3 weeks now and no issues at all). The system is sturdy - just a minor vibration when hitting off center shots. A couple of comments regarding the installation: - I trashed the plastic sleeve after reading other reviews that it would make the pole vibrate. Think this is a good idea as the pole is solid in the ground. - I dug the hole deeper than required and added stone and concrete as a base so that the pole was at the correct depth (about 15 inches). - I used quick setting concrete with some rebar (approx. 700 pounds for the hole and 100 in the pole). - I didn't follow the directions for setting the pole. Since I didn't use the plastic sleeve, I filled the hole and then inserted the lower section of the pole (didn't need the bracket or wood support to level the pole as indicated in the directions - perhaps due to the quick setting concrete). - The next day, I installed the second section of the pole. The problem I had was fitting the two poles together so that the holes for the screw aligned. I had to drill a new hole for the center screw - fitting the poles together was too tight. I was within an inch - quick fix, not a problem since the pole is filled with concrete. - Prior to filling the pole with concrete, use heavy tape and perhaps paper towels over the center seam and other holes. I taped the holes and seam but it didn't prevent the concrete from running down the pole. I touched up the minor dripping stains with a matte type of spray paint. Looks much better. -Hanging the backboard requires several people. The glass is heavy and not easy to maneuver (unless you have a scaffolding type ladder). - Make sure the plastic cap on top fits tight to keep water/rain from entering the pole. My cap didn't fit tight (due to having to force the poles together), so I made a cover from galvanized sheet metal (can buy at home depot or lowe's for a dollar).

Recently purchased this goal with the exception that the one I purchased had an acrylic backboard. I am mostly pleased with the final result however I thought I would provide a few observations/suggestions to those considering buying one of these. The directions were decent. It would have helped to have actual size pictures of the hardware at each step. I found myself looking at the parts list alot and deciding which bolt, nut, etc was which. Take your time here so you use the right part at each step. The hardest part of this installation was digging the hole, filling with concrete, putting the pole together, and filling it with concrete. After that all the other steps were easy except for having to drill out a few previously drilled holes that were now to small to insert a bolt in due to the extra thickness from painting/powder coating. A few tips.... I ended up using a little over 12 bags of 80lb concrete. The hole is deeper than the actual sleeve depth so, I connected a piece of re-bar to a 2x4 to set in the middle of the hole at just the right depth to give the pole sleeve something to set on while the concrete dried. The hardest step of the entire project was getting the 3 pole sections to fit together to the correct overlap point. I tried about every trick in the book and still didn't get them to over lap as much as I wanted, but since they are concrete filled at the end, I don't think they will come apart. I did caulk and tape the joints of the pole before pouring concrete in them. This will minimize the concrete leakage before drying. Alot of hard work, but the goal seems great and the kids love it.

Good product at a great price, looks great after assembly. Adjusts up and down very easily, great for our six year old. Instructions were horrible - basically pictures only - but if you're handy at all it can be figured out pretty easily. Took two weekends to put up, but we spread out the work to let the concrete dry better. The backboard, pole and concrete are heavy - at least two strong adults are required, preferably three when installing the backboard. A tip - the pole fits into a sleeve which is embedded in concrete. The sleeve is not as long as the hole is deep, so we set it on a sand base directly under the sleeve and propped up the sleeve with rebar before adding the concrete, which later helped to support the pole as the concrete set. Also added some more rebar into the concrete - it's cheap and really strengthens the concrete. Lastly, after installation is done, caulk where the pole enters the concrete with flexible silicone caulk - it will minimize the amount of water entering the sleeve embedded in the ground.

Seems nice, but can't seem to get the poles together even with a sludge hammer. Will let you know when I receive the replacement pole in about 3 weeks

Had some minor issues getting pole sections together as described in instructions. After 3 days of setup (mostly for concrete to cure) the backboard shattered after 4 minutes of normal use. Although company said they had an issue and are replaceing them under warranty the wait time is 2 months for replacement backboard. No basketball for the summer. Kids are not happy.

Buy another system. Gorrilla makes a nice easy to install system. Bought this and it was an absolute night mare. The pole does not want to go back into ground sleeve and even when it does it will ALWAYS have a wobble. I wish I could have given 0 stars.

I am very handy and this design is a joke. Took 2 hours trying to fit the 2 pole pieces together, horrible design. Spent way too much time mixing and pouring concrete and then the next day doing it again. Hoop looks nice but way too much work for the value.

We purchased the Spalding 88454G system in July 2016 for our 10 and 12yr old boys and I installed it in August. Install was pretty straightforward and the system worked great until March 2017. At that time, our 10 yr old was shooting and the glass shattered. No dunking or hard play and certainly nothing was thrown at the goal other than a basketball. I contacted Spalding and they immediately sent out a replacement backboard. Great customer service and the new backboard was delivered within 3 days of my call. A+ Well, that new goal lasted about 6 weeks before it shattered as well. I called Spalding back and no dice on helping with a replacement. I had to pay full price for a new board (I opted for the plexiglass vs real glass this time). I was disappointed they would not even offer a small discount. After the first glass broke, I went through everything to make sure I did not over torque the bolts or inadvertently messed up with the original install. Everything was per directions and the 2nd install was textbook. I'm not sure why the glass keeps breaking but I will never buy another glass backboard and certainly could not recommend this model to anyone.