Best player position

[Anonymous]

What position does the best player on your basketball team play?

[Anonymous]

It depends on the player. Last year our best player was our PG and that was the appropriate position for him. The year before our best player was our forward (he played both the 3 and the 4). You don't want to pigeonhole a player into a position that they aren't fit for.

[Anonymous]

Best player was our small forward

[Anonymous]

Honestly this question doesn’t make a ton of sense, unless you’re talking about really little kids. You need good players at multiple positions to do things like bring the ball down, drive to the basket, catch and shoot threes when the defense collapses, and rebound.

I’ve seen a lot of youth coaches focus too much on a small aggressive point guard with the idea that that kid can single handedly bring the ball down against an aggressive press. My kid played on an AAU team that did this, and that point guard had like 11 straight turnovers in one game against a good defensive team. DS switched teams not long after.

A better idea is to play team ball — have kids know 2-3 press breaks really well and do things like off ball screens to get open for inbound passes. When the team can do that, they can slice up a press and get easy layups. Also, it’s great for a team to have multiple kids that can bring the ball down — when a team is double teaming the point guard and suddenly a big with guard skills is bringing the ball down, it can really mess with the defense. My kid’s HS team had a big like this who also shot 3s, and I can’t count the number of times that the defense was focused on the point guard (who was great at annoying the other team and drawing their attention), so the big would bring the ball down almost unguarded and pull up for an open 3. It was a great momentum shifter because it made the other team look silly and they’d lose confidence.

The other similar thing is defense — aggressive defense is super demoralizing, and anybody can play defense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the player. Last year our best player was our PG and that was the appropriate position for him. The year before our best player was our forward (he played both the 3 and the 4). You don't want to pigeonhole a player into a position that they aren't fit for.

Agree with this, especially for tall kids when they are young.

A lot of time, those kids are slower and not as coordinated when they are little, so they get stuck at center or 4 and don’t develop a handle or jump shot. By high school, they are 6’3” competing with 6’8” kids for 4 or 5 spots.

If that same kid is pushed — especially in middle school — to develop good shooting form and a good handle; to sprint rather than jogging through drills; and to jump rather than relying on height, then by high school they can be a standout shooting guard or even point guard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly this question doesn’t make a ton of sense, unless you’re talking about really little kids. You need good players at multiple positions to do things like bring the ball down, drive to the basket, catch and shoot threes when the defense collapses, and rebound.

I’ve seen a lot of youth coaches focus too much on a small aggressive point guard with the idea that that kid can single handedly bring the ball down against an aggressive press. My kid played on an AAU team that did this, and that point guard had like 11 straight turnovers in one game against a good defensive team. DS switched teams not long after.

A better idea is to play team ball — have kids know 2-3 press breaks really well and do things like off ball screens to get open for inbound passes. When the team can do that, they can slice up a press and get easy layups. Also, it’s great for a team to have multiple kids that can bring the ball down — when a team is double teaming the point guard and suddenly a big with guard skills is bringing the ball down, it can really mess with the defense. My kid’s HS team had a big like this who also shot 3s, and I can’t count the number of times that the defense was focused on the point guard (who was great at annoying the other team and drawing their attention), so the big would bring the ball down almost unguarded and pull up for an open 3. It was a great momentum shifter because it made the other team look silly and they’d lose confidence.

The other similar thing is defense — aggressive defense is super demoralizing, and anybody can play defense.

I was thinking about starting a thread about this. I've noticed that trend at the very young ages. I don't understand why coaches do that. Handling the ball on the perimeter is too important to leave up to young players because the run out break aways are so easy. I get that many teams focus on steals in that area often times because they don't have bigs. EG the only way they can score is with wide open layups. So you get into that whole pressing layup cycle where neither of the teams have a guard that can handle the ball, but they can steal for easy layups, hack and slash, hack and slash.

I think true point guards are like true centers. Most teams just don't have a point guard that can handle the ball reliably and go into pick and rolls from the top of the key. Just like most teams don't have a glass cleaning center that is a head taller than everyone else.

If I were a coach, of a younger team, I would have the Bigs pass the ball up the court until it gets to the wing, then run the offense out of the wing. Any guards would be responsible for down running break away steals. EG they would be true "guards".

I also agree off ball screens should be emphasized more, get the ball to the wing. It's safer there. Off ball screens are easier to teach than on ball screens, you don't have to handle the ball at the same time, you can also just teach basic cutting and getting open without the ball.

I think it is a function of Daddy Ball, where the dad coaches their kid and wants their kid to score, so the focus is on giving the ball to the point guard (whoever is the coaches kid), and letting them walk it up the court, trying to help them with ball screens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly this question doesn’t make a ton of sense, unless you’re talking about really little kids. You need good players at multiple positions to do things like bring the ball down, drive to the basket, catch and shoot threes when the defense collapses, and rebound.

I’ve seen a lot of youth coaches focus too much on a small aggressive point guard with the idea that that kid can single handedly bring the ball down against an aggressive press. My kid played on an AAU team that did this, and that point guard had like 11 straight turnovers in one game against a good defensive team. DS switched teams not long after.

A better idea is to play team ball — have kids know 2-3 press breaks really well and do things like off ball screens to get open for inbound passes. When the team can do that, they can slice up a press and get easy layups. Also, it’s great for a team to have multiple kids that can bring the ball down — when a team is double teaming the point guard and suddenly a big with guard skills is bringing the ball down, it can really mess with the defense. My kid’s HS team had a big like this who also shot 3s, and I can’t count the number of times that the defense was focused on the point guard (who was great at annoying the other team and drawing their attention), so the big would bring the ball down almost unguarded and pull up for an open 3. It was a great momentum shifter because it made the other team look silly and they’d lose confidence.

The other similar thing is defense — aggressive defense is super demoralizing, and anybody can play defense.

Great post PP!