The point guard position
is the most important position on a basketball court. They are required to
do many things in the game of basketball that are very different to the other
four positions on the court. While the other 4 positions are
mainly focused on putting the ball in the hoop, the point guard must have a
different, more team focused mentality.
They must lead the team
The point guard is the
extension of the coach on the court. They’re the ones that direct the team
and decide which plays the team is going to run. The point guard position is
the equivalent of the quarterback in football. This
includes providing encouragement to team-mates and pumping them up before the
game. There’s nothing better than team-mates slapping high-fives and shouting
words of encouragement at each other. The point guard must be the one that
initiates this.
They must have a
team-first attitude
As soon as your point
guard cares more about his own stats than the teams win/loss record, you’re in
trouble. It would be easy for a point guard to dribble down the floor and
call the play that will create a scoring opportunity for themselves, but a point
guard shouldn’t care about who scores. The point guards only goal on each
possession should be to provide the team with the best opportunity to score.
Irrelevant of who is the one shooting the basketball or getting credited with
the assist on the play.
They must be able to
control the ball
The point guard has a lot
of things on his mind during the first 8 seconds of an offensive possession. He
needs to get the ball down the court with his head up, read the defense, decide
on the best play to run depending on the opposing defense, and get his
team-mates in the correct positions. This leaves little time to worry
about if you’re going to lose the ball or how you’re going to get by your
defender. Which is why dribbling and ball-control skills are extremely important
to have if you’re a point guard.
They must have a high
basketball IQ
The point guard dictates
everything that happens on the offensive end of the floor. This requires
the point guard to have a high basketball IQ in order to control the tempo and
also to read the opposing defense and know which play will give you the best
opportunity to score.
They must know where
everyone should be during set plays
If your point guard knows
where everyone should be on every play it will give them the ability to decide
and run the best plays that will exploit the mismatches, or give the person
with the hot hand a scoring opportunity.
They must have great
passing skills
This one’s obvious. The
main requirement of the point guard is to distribute the ball to his team-mates
in positions that give them the opportunity to score. This often means tough
passes off of a pick-and-roll or being able to get the ball to the post-players
on the block. Great
passing skills are essential for all point guards.
They must know their
team-mates strengths and weaknesses
Again, this comes back to
being able to exploit the defense depending on mismatches. The point guard
must be able to utilize the strengths and weaknesses of his or her team-mates.
They need to be able to notice if a certain player has an advantage in the post
or off the dribble to call the right play accordingly.
Shared from
basketballforcoaches.com
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