How To Play The Different Positions In Basketball! Basketball Basics For Beginners.

Today I'm going to show you how to play the different positions in basketball and the skills you need for each of those positions. Here's what I recommend you do. Whatever position you're at right now, you want to focus mainly on that position throughout this video. But keep in mind, as you get older, you know, you might be shorter or taller, you know, you might have growth spurts, you might not grow as tall as you think you're going to be. So that position might change. So it's good to have an awareness of those other positions so you can be a step ahead and start developing at least a little of the skills, right, because if right now maybe I'm the tallest guy and I'm in the paint a lot. I'm going to look at this video saying, okay, I'm going to be a center. But let's say everyone else starts growing and you stop growing, then you might need to be on the perimeter more. So some of those other skills that you will need on those areas, I would recommend you develop at least a little bit of them so you have a starting point so you're not left in the dust. The other thing to keep in mind is if you have an awareness of all the different skills you need for the different positions, now you can have a better idea of the tendencies that those players are going to have, what they're good at, what they're not, where you should pass them the basketball, and that can help you play better as a team and help you play better at your position because you can make better decisions based on knowing what they have to be doing on offense, what their skills are, what their strengths and their weaknesses are. So the very first position is the point guard position. So usually the point guard is going to bring the basketball up the court all the way to the other end. So for starters, you're going to need to be pretty good at ball handling. And if you need work on that ball handling ability, because it is important for most of the positions, click the top link in the description. That's a free workout. It's already helped thousands of players, and I'm sure it'll help you too. Just click that link, pop in your email, and I'll send it to you instantly for free. You also need to be good at passing, and you'll need to be able to read the floor, read and react, and really see the court well. So your dribbling's got to be on point. You got to be able to get the basketball to teammates and do it in a way where you're not turning the ball over. And you'll also probably want to be either A, a good shooter, or B, a good finisher around the rim with your layups and stuff. One of the two. Ideally, you want to be at least decent at both. And usually the point guard's going to play a lot right here, and then a little bit more on the perimeter as well, except for, of course, when you're driving, setting picks, things like that, you might end up in the paint a little bit more there. But for the most part, you're going to at least start most possessions on offense around this area. On defense, you'll probably play in that area a lot as well, just on the other end of the court, except, you know, you'll just be a step in, usually around the three-point line. And there's a lot of other little tiny qualities you have to have as a point guard. I'll link you to a video at the end that goes really in-depth with that. Next position, shooting guard. You're going to spend a lot of time usually on the wings. So basically what that means is kind of more to the side, around the three-point line. And you'll spend some time off the basketball, cutting, coming off of screens, things like that. So you'll have to be efficient with using picks and things like that. The difference between the shooting guard and the point guard is usually the shooting guard has to be better at shooting the basketball. You have to be good at finishing at the rim. You'll want to have a pretty good ball handling ability, passing less so than the point guard. But again, when you're on the perimeter, you're going to need to be at least a decent passer. And then on defense, you're again, going to be on the other side of the court around that same area. So you're going to spend a lot of your time on the perimeter, a little bit more time in the paint and inside the three-point line than the point guard. But again, you're going to have to have good shooting layups. Ball handling will have to be at least decent. It's even better if you can have great ball handling. And then your ability to pass the basketball to the teammates, that's got to be at least decent. Okay, small forward. Here's where things get a little bit more difficult to pin down because the small forward probably has to be the most versatile player on the court. They could spend time on the wing, occasionally even come to the top of the key, just like the shooting guard might occasionally come to the top of the key. But they're going to spend a lot of time here, all the way down in the corner, all the way up by the three-point line. They could spend time up here. They could spend time, you know, in the post here. And same for the shooting guard. They might spend a little time here. They might spend a little time here, but the small forward is going to spend a lot more time depending on your offense, you know, mixed in different positions. And especially like when you talk about if you're switching from one offense to another or one play to the next or running zone or man-to-man type offense or defense, there's going to be a lot more flex with that small forward. So they have to have a lot more skills. For this position, you're going to need to be a decent passer, again, like the shooting guard. You're going to need to be probably a pretty good shooter, at least from 15 feet, ideally from three-point range. Just depends on, you know, your age level, younger levels, you're not going to need to be as great of a three-point shooter, but 15 feet, you'll want to be at least decent. Same thing goes for the shooting guard position, you know, depending on what age range you're at. You'll also want to be at least solid with your ball handling ability. Your chances of playing defense all around the court are a little bit higher, so you're going to need to be able to play post-defense. You're going to have to be able to play perimeter defense pretty well. And then on the skill set side of things, as far as scoring, you're going to maybe need some, you know, some post moves and things like that. So you're going to have to be decent with your back to the basket and things like that, that the shooting guard and the point guard aren't going to need as much. I would say one thing that across the board I could say is a skill you really need to be good at is finishing around the rim, but you're going to have to be able to do that in a variety of ways, you know, layups, post moves, things like that. Okay, moving on to the power forward position, here's where things get a little bit more defined again, but there's a little bit more flex in today's day and age. So for sure, a power forward, I would say you have to be good at post moves, back to the basket, playing defense down in this area. Ball handling doesn't have to be quite as good. Shooting doesn't generally have to be quite as good, but I would recommend you get the ability to make at least a 10-foot shot, if not out to 15, that can help stretch the defense and make you a more versatile player. Passing should be at least decent and from a different scenario, since generally you're going to have the ball more down in the paint here, passing out of that. But in today's day and age, a lot of times now power forwards are getting moved out further, sometimes even centers. So you want to have at least a comfortability and a familiarity with having the basketball in different areas on the court, you know, as far as being on the perimeter, being able to score from those positions, having a little bit of, you know, basic ball handling ability to get past the defender, maybe being able to shoot past 15 feet. And then on the defensive side of things, same thing goes, you're basically going to need to have that ability to play defense in the paint and possibly out a little bit further. And the power forward, possibly even the center, might spend some time out, all the way out on 15 feet here, you know, for setting picks, things like that. So you might occasionally even get the basketball out here, not quite as often as down in the paint when you're a power forward, but it could happen, so you've got to be comfortable in these areas as well. And like the small forward, you might occasionally end up down in the corner here, all the way up by the three-point line, and you might even end up from time to time setting picks all the way up for the point guard at the top of the key. So you want to be familiar and comfortable with those situations, setting picks for the point guard, and that really goes for all the positions, because a lot of the positions you're going to be needing to set more picks for the point guard or having a pick set for you and you want to be able to come tight, if this is a teammate, I want to come tight off that teammate, so now I can get open for catching the basketball, getting open shots, things like that. And then the center. Now this, like the power forward, they are getting stretched out a little bit more often nowadays in today's game, but for the most part, you're going to spend most of your time in the paint. So all the things we talked about with the power forward as far as being good with your back to the basket, playing defense down in this area, that's where you're going to spend the bulk of your time, especially at younger levels. As you get older, you might spend a little more time setting picks up for the point guard or teammates and things like that, you'll a lot of times do these screens where you screen up for a teammate, a shooting guard, or a small forward so they can cut down or vice versa. Or you might even start up at the elbow and then set a pick down, so now the teammate can come up and you're in a position here now to catch a pass, things like that. But for the most part, you're going to be closer to the basket. Now let's talk more details as far as how to develop those skills. Here's a playlist with a lot of the different skills you need to develop for all those different positions. Here's the video with more details on what a point guard needs to be a great point guard. Hit that like button if the video helped you out, drop me a comment and let me know what else you want to see in the channel, and I'll see you in one of these videos next.