Basketball positions

[Anonymous]

Why is everyone obsessed with having their kid play guard? IMHO basketball is one of the few sports that has a team so small on the court that all positions are critical. Am I missing something? Should I be advocating for DS to play guard?

[Anonymous]

Are people obsessed with this?

Maybe they know their child isn’t going to be very tall?

[Anonymous]

If your kid is younger than high school, you should be pushing for them to be on a team with a positionless offense. While that isn't always the best way to win the 6th grade championship, it is the best way to develop players.

The reason people push for kids to be the guard is because in position based offenses, the guard is the one who dribbles, makes the passes, and usually shoots the ball more. They learn to read the court better. What happens is the taller kids are put down at the post and aren't taught to dribble or shoot or read the court, just to rebound and wait for passes. Those taller kids don't always remain the taller kids....almost all the kids on the high school and college teams were the relatively tall kids in 2nd grade basketball, and by that time it is tough to learn those ball handling/passing/court reading skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is younger than high school, you should be pushing for them to be on a team with a positionless offense. While that isn't always the best way to win the 6th grade championship, it is the best way to develop players.

The reason people push for kids to be the guard is because in position based offenses, the guard is the one who dribbles, makes the passes, and usually shoots the ball more. They learn to read the court better. What happens is the taller kids are put down at the post and aren't taught to dribble or shoot or read the court, just to rebound and wait for passes. Those taller kids don't always remain the taller kids....almost all the kids on the high school and college teams were the relatively tall kids in 2nd grade basketball, and by that time it is tough to learn those ball handling/passing/court reading skills.

How does one find those teams? We have been doing travel for a few years and from all observed, each kid gets assigned a position. Just curious on how to find this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is younger than high school, you should be pushing for them to be on a team with a positionless offense. While that isn't always the best way to win the 6th grade championship, it is the best way to develop players.

The reason people push for kids to be the guard is because in position based offenses, the guard is the one who dribbles, makes the passes, and usually shoots the ball more. They learn to read the court better. What happens is the taller kids are put down at the post and aren't taught to dribble or shoot or read the court, just to rebound and wait for passes. Those taller kids don't always remain the taller kids....almost all the kids on the high school and college teams were the relatively tall kids in 2nd grade basketball, and by that time it is tough to learn those ball handling/passing/court reading skills.

How does one find those teams? We have been doing travel for a few years and from all observed, each kid gets assigned a position. Just curious on how to find this.

Maybe it's because we have girls, but DD tried out for three county teams and two of the coaches were explicit that positions weren't based on height. One had a high school daughter who played 2 guard at 6'2 and said he was very against pigeon holing based on height.

[Anonymous]

Why do you think the coach's kids are always the point guards?

[Anonymous]

The 4s and 5s barely get to touch the ball in most games and when they get the ball, the coaches want them to get it back to their kid/the point guard.... They don't develop their skills.

[Anonymous]

It's basketball. Thinking there is a particular spot where the "tall kids should go" is terrible coaching.

[Anonymous]

If the tall kid is 7 feet tall, then they should be a 5. A five foot 2 kid playing with on a team with a bunch of kids who are 4'11 doesn't actually have much of an advantage in the post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The 4s and 5s barely get to touch the ball in most games and when they get the ball, the coaches want them to get it back to their kid/the point guard.... They don't develop their skills.

Not sure that is true. My kid is in one of those positions and scores most points in a game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The 4s and 5s barely get to touch the ball in most games and when they get the ball, the coaches want them to get it back to their kid/the point guard.... They don't develop their skills.

Sadly, this. Have now watched ten years of local youth (girls) basketball (Rec, FCYBL, and AAU) and can safely say 90% of the offense is designed to get a shot on a fast break, dribble penetration, or an open long-range jumper/3 pointer. Coaches rarely install offenses designed to get the ball to their bigs inside 12 feet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 4s and 5s barely get to touch the ball in most games and when they get the ball, the coaches want them to get it back to their kid/the point guard.... They don't develop their skills.

Not sure that is true. My kid is in one of those positions and scores most points in a game.

My daughter often got put in the 5 and scores a ton of points, but they are all put backs. The offense her rec coach had was centered around guards driving and setting picks for other guards. The 4s and 5s were involved to the extent that they were expected to clear the lane so that the guard could drive more easily. By shear coincidence, the point guard was the coaches daughter and she could neither dribble in traffic nor shoot layups. She did give the bigs a ton of rebound opportunities though.

[Anonymous]

OP here--so how do we advocate to get kids who are in 4s and 5s into better positions without being "that parent"? My DC shouldn't be PG but I'd like to see them play different positions on the court but I am not sure how to go about that since I don't know much about basketball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here--so how do we advocate to get kids who are in 4s and 5s into better positions without being "that parent"? My DC shouldn't be PG but I'd like to see them play different positions on the court but I am not sure how to go about that since I don't know much about basketball.

You leave rec and look for non-parent coached county or aau teams that plays positionless. I'm the PP with a DD who always played the 5. There is no chance that I would ask a rec coach who is spending serious time and having to deal with a top of crap to play my kid in a certain way. They are volunteers and they can have their teams play however they see fit- its a benefit of volunteering. It was obvious that he kept on drafting my DD, so we left rec and it worked out great. She loves the way her coach has them play- her philosophy is that if you are capable of playing a position, you can play that position in games. The team gets along great and she's having much more fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here--so how do we advocate to get kids who are in 4s and 5s into better positions without being "that parent"? My DC shouldn't be PG but I'd like to see them play different positions on the court but I am not sure how to go about that since I don't know much about basketball.

You leave rec and look for non-parent coached county or aau teams that plays positionless. I'm the PP with a DD who always played the 5. There is no chance that I would ask a rec coach who is spending serious time and having to deal with a top of crap to play my kid in a certain way. They are volunteers and they can have their teams play however they see fit- its a benefit of volunteering. It was obvious that he kept on drafting my DD, so we left rec and it worked out great. She loves the way her coach has them play- her philosophy is that if you are capable of playing a position, you can play that position in games. The team gets along great and she's having much more fun.

OP here-My kid is on an AAU team that has multiple PGs but they're all the short kids (or the coaches kid). So my kid is stuck playing the post positions. I just want them to move up the court and experience different positions. They love the team. And don't notice any issues. I just want them to work to their fullest potential.