Junior Hoops of America

The Defensive Specialist

The defensive specialist is often referred to as a "stopper" or "lockdown defender".   He is often assigned to guard the opposing team's best player.  With the license to shoot at will, the opposing team's best player will launch 20+ shots a game and will score at some point regardless how good the perimeter defender guards him.  

A good night for the defensive specialist is gauged on whether his team wins the game.   The role of stopper is not as glorious as his teammates who are assigned to score, but the defensive specialist is crucial to ultimately winning games.

The defensive specialist does not need the attention to play his game.  He is caught up in his own game, his own defensive world where his existence is all about the "match up" that night.   He does not want his assigment to score, shoot or even touch the ball if the defender can help it.  It is an obsessive grudge match against the best players with the end goal of shutting down or slowing down his opponent enough so that the win takes place.

The defensive specialist is a student of the game.  He studies all the possible moves from his opponents. He pays attention to detail and prepares for each game and each opponents as if he was going into a championship boxing match.   There is a pride in his defensive game that is above all else.  This type of player is loved by coaches and will always have a spot on a team.

Unfortunately, the defensive specialist is a rare bird that, once found, must be cherished and celebrated as a role model for others to follow.   

Are you known as a defensive specialist?  If you are a coach, do you give the proper accolades to the defensive stopper in your team?  Defense wins championships and it first begins with the defensive specialist leading the way.

The Point Guard

The point guard should not suffocate his teammates' play with excessive dribbling and shooting.  Too often point guards think too much like shooting guards and forget the true role of a point guard.    When it comes down to it, a point guard should almost be a reluctant shooter with a pass-first mentality.   Often, the point guard is the better shooter on the team but that does not necessarily mean that it is the best thing for the team for the point guard to be doing all the scoring.

The intangible benefits of the point guard passing up shots, especially early in games is a confidence payoff for his teammates when they get to shoot rather than the point guard.   In the long term of a full game, many opportunities to shoot will come back to the point guard for his teamsharing approach.

The sacred duty of a point guard is to make his teammates better.  Period.  He has to earn the trust of his teammates and maintain a sense of unity.  He should be a respectable shooter but first and foremost he is a playmaker.  Scoring is not his real function.  He has to keep the other four guys on the floor in the mix of the game passing out the rock to the player who is in the best position to score.

The nature of the point guard has to be one of wanting to be liked. Wanting to make others feel good about being a member of the team and being valued.   This is where the biggest weapon of the point guard, "the assist", comes into play.   The need to "set up" his teammates with assists must be the primary quality that a point guard must possess.    At the end of the day it comes down to the point guard being completely unselfish.  He understands that scoring 15 points with 5 assists does not affect the game near as much as the powerful results of scoring 5 points with 15 assists.  It is as simple as that.

One can say that a true point guard runs the team by keeping the players humming, involved, contributing to the win by capitalizing on the strengths of his teammates thus inspiring team moral and unity.   This result must be one of the key goals of the point guard before his own scoring stat sheet.   The natural point guard feels good about involving others before his own scoring results.  He knows that in the end, the team will be in a better position to win when everyone is involved as opposed to just one player doing all the scoring.

The consumate point guard is the one that moves the ball and who everyone else gets the ball to since they know the point guard will create the oppotunity to get it back to them for the score.  They know the point guard will make the game easier for everyone since the right thing will eventually get done. 

What kind of point guard is on your team?  Is he selfish and wants to score first and pass second?  Does he force up shots even though he has two or more defenders all over him?  Does he refuse to consistenly pass the ball to the open man?  Is he all about how many points he scored regardless if the team won the game?  If the answers are "yes" to the above questions, I guarantee you that your season record will be below .500. 

Unfortunately, the true point guard is a rare breed but if you have one on your team, cherish him because this type of point guard will bring the best out of everyone thus leading your team to a deep run in the playoffs and even to a very possible championship banner.

The Five Main Basketball Positions

There are five main positions on the court.  Since different players will possess a variety of skills, the coach will want different players with certain jobs on the court at any one time.  When it comes to the rules in terms of positions, the rules do not specify any positions whatsoever, they have evolved as part of basketball. During the first five decades of basketball's evolution, one guard, two forwards, and two centers or two guards, two forwards, and one center were used. Since the 1980s, more specific positions have evolved, namely:

 

1. Point Guard: usually the fastest player on the team, organizes the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that it gets to the right player at the right time
2. Shooting Guard: creates a high volume of shots on offense; guards the opponent's best perimeter player on defense
3. Small Forward: often primarily responsible for scoring points via cuts to the basket and dribble penetration; on defense seeks rebounds and steals, but sometimes plays more actively
4. Power Forward: plays offensively often with their back to the basket; on defense, plays under the basket (in a zone defense) or against the opposing power forward (in man-to-man defense)
5. Center: uses height and size to score (on offense), to protect the basket closely (on defense), or to rebound.

The above descriptions are flexible. On some occasions, teams will choose to use a three guard offense, replacing one of the forwards or the center with a third guard. The most commonly interchanged positions are point guard and shooting guard, especially if both players have good leadership and ball handling skills.