having a basketball hoop in your yard is a great way to have fun outdoors. Instead of buying a prefabricated backboard from a sports retailer, you can make your own out of recycled pallet wood.

Weighing 65 pounds, and spanning 3½ feet across with a circumference of 11 feet, his giant wooden basketball is 4½ times larger than a regulation ball. The idea came to him while on a stroll.

This would be a game changer. The German company ASB GlassFloor is looking to replace wooden basketball courts with glass ones — shattering hoops’ hardwood tradition. To create the floorboards ...