Basketball positions
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Anonymous
| Everyone wants to be point guard but what are the pros and cons of other positions? Looking to make sure my daughter gets played appropriately on her team. What's the difference between the SG and the wing? (Other than where they stand lol) |
Anonymous
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What grade is your daughter?
Here's a good explanation between a 2 (shooting guard) and a 3 (small forward). https://www.rookieroad.com/basketball/player-positions/shooting-guard-vs-small-forward/ |
Anonymous
| More teams are moving to position-less or near position-less. One of my daughter's teams plays bigs and guards and another has a center a PG and 3 wings. The important thing young is being able to defend as many sizes and positions as possible and to be able to play down low and to shoot. The most valuable kid at tryouts is someone the size of a big who can defend all five positions and handle the ball |
Anonymous
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The main potential of a negative I can think of is from people on this board mentioning if your player gets stuck in a position playing under the basket, like center and maybe power forward, they don't really develop other skills. Don't get me wrong, playing under the basket and the skills associated with it is important. A lot of times it takes some time to teach young players to be comfortable and how to play/get under the basket. But depending on the age group, you don't want your player to be stuck in one position and give them an opportunity to play in different positions. And the issue is that usually bigger kids get put in those positions and the concern is them not having an opportunity ty play anywhere else.
Not sure if I've seen the same thing that everyone wants to be PG. With point guard you need good court vision for good passes and possibly communicate and give directions to teammates. I personally prefer the forward positions, with preference to power forward, and think my beginner kids are good at that position. But a lot of my favorite NBA players are power forwards, which may be why I like their game better and try to emulate and is what I teach my kids. btw honestly at my kid's age/skill level they're still at positionless basketball but if I were to assign/designate a position I'd put them in the 4 position. If anything I'd think that most young players want to be a shooting guard. Where their primary position is to score and they get set up in places where a play can be directed towards them to score. |
Anonymous
| So if a kid is assigned a 4, can they move to play SG? I don't know the game enough to know if the positions rotate on offense |
Anonymous
Yeah as previous posters mentioned there isn't really any fixed positions in basketball anymore. At least at the level my kids are playing. ie when they're set on offense, players rotate positions while they're on the floor. So one is really assigned to play a specific position or to be at a definite spot. It's whoever is there. Then with most sports in general, while they're still in the learning stage, you'd want to see your players play different positions to learn the different parts of it and to get experience. I'd guess maybe they'd start to identify what position suits them and specialize in high school? That's just a guess on my part because we haven't gotten there yet. |
Anonymous
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I forgot, with positions you do have to be realistic about some things depending on the level you're playing.
ie if your player is undersized compared to the other players, they probably shouldn't be matched up with bigger players and fighting under the basket. Although some smaller players are pretty aggressive down there. And another thing that every player wants to do is tipoff. But depending on the level and stakes, you have to be realistic about who gets picked to do tip off. |
Anonymous
This. My tallish kid was content to shoot 3s, get putbacks, get rebounds, and guard bigs when he was in middle school. But by high school, the 1s and 2s were 6’4” or 6’5” so at 6’4” if he wanted to play, he had to be comfortable playing 1 or 2. It was a hard transition (many hours of ball handling drills), but he did it and it increased his ceiling a ton. - he was always a good shooter, but when he was a credible threat to get by a defender who was overplaying him, he suddenly had lots of options and playing was a lot more fun because he got a bit more space to work. |
Anonymous
| The more comfortable your kid is handling the ball regardless of size and position (and the earlier in their playing career they get there) the more fun they will have playing - both because it gives coaches more options of where to play them and also because they will be more comfortable and confident, be less likely to turn the ball over, and they will get more respect from defenders who will be less likely to try to bully them. |
Anonymous
Most teams play motion offense which means that players end up in other positions as the cut and return to the perimeter |
Anonymous
Does SG = shooting guard? Shooting guard, as the name implies, is usually a good shooter and a good all around scorer. They are usually pretty athletic and since they are guards, need to be very good ball handlers and have good speed/lateral quickness. Wings are very similar to shooting guards, they don’t always necessarily have the strong shooting skills, but they are usually very athletic and able to play in both the paint and on the perimeter. |
Anonymous
In a modern offense, threes and especially 4s are expected to be able to hit corner 3s |
Anonymous
Depends on what kind of offense is run, the personnel, and the level of play. |
Anonymous
If the play is high level, the kids will be able to hit baseline jumpers. By middle school, those baseline jumpers will be threes. There is no offense in which forwards aren't expected to be able to shoot unless you're talking about travel or very low level aau |
Anonymous
| Travel is aau. AAU is travel. |